Shetland Wildlife group arriving
The first time ever our partner Shetland Wildlife is starting a birdwatching tour in Hungary. They are doing our classic Hortobágy-Zemplén tour.
The weather is not looking good with plenty of rain in the forecast but I am sure the unusually wet Hortobágy will have a lot of surprises. There are plenty of White-winged Terns starting to breed and Broad-billed Sandpipers were seen in the last few days.
We will keep you updated about the tour!
Sakertour team
Limosa Hungary & Romania tour finished
Our two country classic tour, which was introduced by Sakertour in the early 1990´s was a great success again! We visited the famous Hortobágy National Park and Transylvania in a 9 days tour with our partner Limosa!
Temminck Stint
It was a keen party of birders and we worked hard to see as many special birds and moments as possible. We recorded 209 species in 9 days, which is a terrific total in Europe just over a week. There were many highlights but surely the fighting Wallcreepers were a great delight to all of us as it finished on the top of the ´Bird of the trip´ contest!
Red-throated Pipt in breeding plumage
Other memorable moments were displaying Three-toed Woodpeckers on the same dead treetop, thre Brown Bears in broad sunlight from a hide, all the possible warblers (17 species!) including River, Aquatic, Moustached and Icterine Warblers, superb male Red-breasted Flycatcher and many Collared Flycatchers, as many as 20 Red-throated Pipits, excellent views of Ural and Scops Owls, a fine male of the shy White-backed Woodpecker, many Temminck Stints and four summer plumaged Broad-billed Sandpipers were the icing on the cake. And this list could go on and on…but look out for the report on the Limosa website!
Ural Owl
Sakertour team
Ornitholidays spring tour finished
We can say that we were very lucky with the group as we encountered only a few quick showers in this very wet spring and the weather was exceptionally nice during the majority of the trip. We started with a nice Eastern Imperial Eagle view, just an hour after the plane touched down at Budapest airport. The Zemplén hills proved very productive and encounters during our two and a half day stay included two Ural Owls, Tawny Owl, male and female White-backed Woodpecker, Corncrake, Barred and River Warblers. A beautiful male Collared Flycatcher chasing away a Great Tit in the leaf litter of the nice beech forest just 5 meters from our feet was a memorable sight, while the view of White and 4 Black Stoks, 2 White-tailed Eagles, a Lesser Spotted Eagle, a Black Kite and a Hobby from one point was also very nice. On the Hortobágy we also managed to pick up the specialities during our four days stay, such as Ferruginous Duck, Stone Curlew, Saker Falcon, Great Bustrad, Aquatic Warbler, Moustached Warbler, many Pygmy Cormorant, many parties of Bearded Reedlings with freshly fledged juveniles, a Penduline Tit nest with the feeding adults, and as a bonus, we encountered two Broad-billed Sanpipers by a small pool. In the last morning in a nearby forest we completed our woodpecker list with Middle-spotted and Lesser-spotted Woodpeckers, and thus we saw all 9 species of this interesting family, which is available in Hungary.
Landscape in the Zemplén hills Photo: Gábor Simay
Ural Owl Photo: Gábor Simay
This spring White-winged Black Terns were numerous over the marshes of the Hortobágy Photo: Gábor Simay
Sakertour team
Successful Shinwa Hungary in Spring Tour
We had three days birding in the Hortobágy region with superb weather following two days in the Zemplén mountaines where we experienced heavy rain. After all we managed to see all target species in both areas and finished a great five days birding in Eastern Hungary!
Five minutes after we entered Hungary from Austria a female Pallid Harrier was flying slowly above us.
In the Hortobágy we encountered Ferruginous Ducks, Long-legged Buzzard, several Montagu´s Harriers, Saker, Red-footed Falcons, no less than 8 Great Bustrads some of them displaying for us, brilliant scope views of Sone-curlew, Mediterranean Gull, a beautifully perched European Nightjar, singing Aquatic Warblers, Moustached Warblers and a very late migrating Firecrest.
Mediterranean Gull Photo: János Oláh
In the Bihar plains we saw a total of 26 Glossy Ibises which was a record number in the area! We also saw Squacco Heron, Red-crested Pochard and close views of Little Crakes and Grasshopper Warbler.
In the vicinity of the Hortobágy we found five species of woodpeckers so we headed towards the mountains with great expectations.
Despite the bad weather in the Zemplén area we could see all our target species including Lesser Spotted Eagles, Short-toed Eagle, Corncrake, Eagle Owl, Tawny Owl, River Warbler and Rock Bunting.
On the way back to the airport we found an adult Imperial Eagle which proved to be a super ending of a very successfull tour.
Attila Simay
Sakertour team
Three tour starts on the 1st of May
We have three of our partner tours arriving on the 1st of May! This is the offical start of a very busy Spring (following our tour cancellations because of the volcano activities). Birds are abundant and most of the late arriving birds also returned from the wintering grounds. Even Corncrake, Aquatic Warbler, Marsh Warbler and Red-breasted Flycatcher is allready here.
The Hortobágy area is very wet this year and hence we are looking forward to a superb year for breeding marshterns. Already thousands of White-winged Black Terns looking for suitable breeding area.
White-winged Black Tern in the Hortobágy (2010) Photo: János Oláh
Hide Photography season is well under its way as well and not only two pairs of Red-footed Falcons occupying nest boxes close to our hide but most other hides also brilliant! The waterbird hides are great with up to 6 species of ducks are being photographed there daily!
Ferruginous Duck in front of the PygmyCormorant hide Photo: János Oláh
In the Passerine hide despite the rainy weather up to 24 species has been seen daily in the last days.
Hope to see you in Eastern Europe soon!
Sakertour team
Subalpine Warbler in Hungary!
A Subalpine Warbler was caught at Hódmezővásárhely in southern Hungary. This is the second ever observation of the species in Hungary!
This superb bird was caught by Borbáth Erna on the 17th of April so our great thanks goes to her!!!
A few images of the bird:
Subalpine Warbler after the realase Photo: Attila Szilágyi
Subalpine Warbler in the hand Photo: János Oláh
Subalpine Warbler in the hand Photo: János Oláh
Sakertour team
Owls and woodpeckers tour postponed
Our tour with Island Ventures was unable to come because of the Iceland volcanic activities!
Lets hope this event will not carry on throughout the Spring.
Check out the itinerary here and there could be one or two spare spaces left for 2011!
Sakertour team
Early Spring in the Carpathian Mountains
In the second half of April some of our guides spent a weekend in the Carpathian Mountains. The weather was nice although there were still 80cm of snow and the night temperature was down to -9C. We stayed in a so called ´lekking house´ close to a Capercaillie display area. We managed to see up to 8 Capercaillies.
The ´lekking house´ at night Photo: János Oláh
Surprisingly some Ring Ouzels were already in the breeding elevation though large number of migrants were seen on the lower pastures. Crossbills were busily feeding youngs and Three-toed Woodpeckers were starting to drumm.
Female Crossbill Photo: János Oláh
For more images please check out our Transylvania blog here.
Sakertour team