Year: 2015

Our 2015/2016 winter eagle photography season started on the 1st of December as usual. We are only two weeks into the photography but we are on a 100% eagle appearence so far, everybody had White-tailed Eagles from our hides. Although the weather is mild with 0-5C at night and up to 8-10C daytime – nowadays this is the usual early winter weather – the activity at our eagle hides is amazingly good in terms of numbers too! Up to 30-40 eagles were seen at the two main hides and already Eastern Imperial Eagle was seen and photographed several times as well as Peregrine, Hen Harrier and Common Buzzrad. When we have so many eagles around you can be prepaired to see plenty of action. January is fully booked but if you interested in a short eagle photography tour we still have some available places for the first week of February!

Come and experience these amazing creatures with us! You can only appriciate a wild White-tailed Eagle when you have seen it from a mere 5-10 meters away. They are majestic and proud birds, certainly a top predator.

You can find a few images below. These were all taken in one single day from one hide!

An adult male (6+ years old) White-tailed Eagle (Photo: János Oláh).

If we have as many eagles around some action is guaranteed (Photo: János Oláh).

A big juvenile female calling from a perch (Photo: János Oláh).

 Portrait of juvenile bird with a subadult in background (Photo: János Oláh).

Eagle fight is regular when there are many eagles and limited food around (Photo: János Oláh).

Sakertour team

We are pleased to announce that we have created a tour calendar for birdwatching and hide photography tours as well so now you can easily see what kind of tours running in a given year, what are the dates, availabilities and if it has a guaranteed departure or not yet!

This will certainly help to get an overview of our tours!

We also have new tours available from 2016! The birdwatching section has a new Red-breasted Goose Special in Hungary while the hide photography section has a new Danube Delta Special in Romania which is a tour based entirely on our photo-boat!

Red-breasted Geese in the Hortobágy area (Photo: Sándor Borza). Now we have a new tour to see this amazing bird!

Squacco Heron in the Danube Delta (Photo: Richard Steel). The new Danube Delta Special photography tour is based on our fantastic photo-boat!

Sakertour team

It is a such a great news – though following the succesfull breeding year we were expecting it – that record number of Lesser White-fronted Geese arrived to the Hortobágy!

A total of 131 birds were counted by János Tar on the 29th September 2015. There are minimum 45+ juveniles in the flock.

Last time we had such a large number was back in 1992 and it is amazing to see the numbers climbing back after so much conservation efforts in Europe! Most of the young generation of birdwatchers were only dreaming about this event: to see over hundred Lesser Whitefronts!

You can see and follow the observations here!

Lesser White-fronted Geese on the Hortobágy (Photo: János Tar).

Lesser White-fronted Geese flock (32) on the Hortobágy (Photo: János Oláh)

Sakertour Team

Early this Spring we had a wonderfull and very productive short break  to Transylvania with our partner company.  No doubt this will be a regular tour after such a success!

Our main goal was to study Carpathian Brown Bears and to find some local breeding  and migrant birds.

We are especially proud to find all the 10 species of European Woodpeckers within this 4 days of birding – as well as many Carpathian Brown Bears and a total of 113 bird psecies. 

You can enjoy images in our Transylvania Blog or read the detailed trip report here.

The group encountered 70+ Ring Ouzels in one group (Photo: Zoltán Baczó)

Brown Bear family  (Photo: Zoltán Baczó)

Sakertour team

Although the Crane migration is one of the most prominent feature of the autumn Hortobágy, the photography season is very short. Our Crane photography Tour targeting the Cranes when they are drinking and bathing – this is a unique subject. Every year we run a single tour only in early September. The 2016 tour date is already online and you can book it here!

Another highlight in early September is the arrival of the mighty Dotterels. If the summer is dry – as usual – several trips arriving by late August. Some of them still in the remnants of the breeding plumage and also juvenile birds present. We allways devote some time to photograph these charismatic waders on this tour!

Other possibilities in the late summer period could include waterbirds like Little Crake and migrants from the various drinking hides.

The 2015 tour was yet again a good one with Cranes and Dotterels. Join us for 2016!

Drinking and bathing Crane is one of the main subject. Great to see these birds in action (Photo: János Oláh).

Drinking and bathing Crane is one of the main subject on this tour. Great to see these birds in action (Photo: János Oláh).

Cranes are very social birds and often trumpetting together (Photo: János Oláh).

Dotterels were photographed on the 2015 tour again (Photo: János Oláh).

Juvenile Dotterel (Photo: János Oláh)

Sakertour team

The autumn migration is already in full swing with up to 20 000 Cranes now in the Hortobágy area. We expecting the Lesser White-fronted Goose arrival in any day now too – they had an excellent breeding in 2015 so we hoping to a record flock of over hundred birds!

We still have places left on the Hortobágy-Zemplén (Hungary) Autumn tour. If you feel like to join in for a short break in Eastern Europe do not hesitate to contact us!

Long-eared Owl (Photo: János Oláh)

Ural Owl is more tricky to see in the autumn but we usually able to find it (Photo: János Oláh).

Sakertour team

We had a highly successful custom tour in early June and despite of the late date and sometimes warm weather we recorded almost 200 species.

We had a good overview of the region's habitats, as we visited the high Carpathians and the mature woodlands and flowering meadows (with many orchids) of Transylvania, fantastic alkaline ponds, the vast reedbeds of the Danube Delta and the always exciting Dobrudja region.

Among others we had great views of Three-toed Woodpecker, Ural Owl, Red-breasted Flycatcher in the woods and also Wallcreepers and Thrush Nightingale. We had a good ranage of raptors, among them Levant Saprrowhawks, many Lesser Spotted, Short-toed and Booted Eagles. We had great views of Pied Wheaters, Rufous-tailed Rock-Thrush, Black-haeded Buntings and Pallas's Gulls in Dobrudja, just to name a few.

Landscape in the Southern Carpathians

Alpine Accentor is an inhabitant of high mountains

Brown Bear cubs in Transylvania

Thrush Nightingale is one of the specialities of the trip

Collared Pratincole was a commonly encountered species

Great White Pelican is a caractheristic species of the Delta

We had great views of singing Paddyfield Warblers (photos: Simay Gábor)

Sakertours team

In 2015 July there will be possibility again to photograph these magnificent creatures in a full yellow (sunflower) background. This only happens in every 4-5 years so this is a special occasion.

We still have some limited places in this hide for the first two weeks of July. You can see images with yellow background from the previous occasin (July 2011) HERE.

Red-footed Falcon male (Photo:János Oláh)

Red-footed Falcon male with yellow background (Photo:Attila Szilágyi)

Sakertour team

The latest report of the very popular and highly successful Hungary, Slovakia & Transylvania tour is now online and you can see it HERE!

The leader in 2015 was Gábor Simay and it was again an amazing tour with a wide range of great birds:

'This year’s highlights were nine species of owls including Ural, Eagle, Scops and Tengmalm’s Owls, ten species of woodpeckers (all the European breeding species) including superb views of White-backed and Three-toed Woodpeckers; nineteen species of raptors including Short-toed and Eastern Imperial, Lesser and Greater Spotted Eagles, Long-legged Buzzard, Red-footed Falcon and Saker; Great Bustard, Little Crake, Corncrake, Collared Pratincole, Broad-billed Sandpiper, Great Snipe, Wallcreeper, Thrush Nightingale, Moustached and River Warblers; and even some local rarities were found by the group, namely Pectoral Sandpiper and Slender-billed Gull.'

We still have available places for the 2016 tour! For more information of the tour and booking CLICK HERE!

Three-toed Woodpecker (Photo: Gábor Simay).

Yesterday late evening an Isabelline Wheatear was found by János with our hide photography group. This is the first ever record of the species on the Hortobágy and only the second for Hungary! More images on our FaceBook page what you can see HERE.

Isabelline Wheatear (Photo: János Oláh)

Isabelline Wheatear (Photo: János Oláh)

Sakertour team

We still have some places left for the 29 August to 5 September 2015 Danube Delta and Dobrudja tour! This is a fantastic tour to witness the autumn migration along the Black Sea coast with a whole range of exciting species! There will be plenty of raptors such as Booted Eagles, Lesser Spotted Eagles, Honey Buzzards, Levant Sparrowhawks as well as a wide range of waders which could include Borad-billed Sandpiper, Eurasian Dotterel and even Terek Sandpiper.

Surely some lingering breeders will be present like Pied Wheatear and Eurasian Rock Thrush.

You can check out the itinerary HERE.

If you interested to book this tour you can do it HERE!

Juvenile Honey Buzzard (Photo: János Oláh)

Pied Wheatear (Photo: János Oláh)

Juvenile Terek Sandpiper (Photo: János Oláh)

Sakertour team

The spring has arrived soon at the Hortobágy. The Great Bustard's lekking has begun sooner because of the unusual warm March. But the cool and windy first half of April has postponed it again so the best activity was at the end of April. Around our hide there were bustards regularly in late April. Here are some pictures by Ivo Paulik.

Sakertour Team

In April the birdwatching tours started! We have got very succesfull tours behind us! All tours in April managed to see excellent displaying Great Bustards, all nine species of woodpeckers possible in Hungary, Saker and Great Snipe on migration. It is not a particularly good owl year but Ural and Eagle Owls performed very well too.

The birdwatching tours which also cover the Carpathian mountains are just about to start in the coming days. Our annual scouting trips however were sucessfull so we are looking forward to a bird-filled May as well!

Great Snipe was seen on all tours in April (photo: János Oláh)

Moustached Warblers were also performing well (Photo: Gábor Simay)

Ural Owl (by tour leader David Tomlinson)

Three-toed Woodpecker in the Carpathians (Photo: Gábor Simay)

Sakertour team

The Sakertour website had reached one million visitor early this morning (4th April, 2015). This is certainly a milestone and hopefully with more and more new images we will be able to make it even more attractive for our visitors.

A great number of images were taken by our guests so we would like to say thank you for all our clients, visitors, supporters!

Sakertour team

Geese season have been always one of the highligts when it comes to birding in Hungray. However in the last few years it is getting even better and better year-by-year. Not only the sheer number of geese but also its species composition is getting more exciting. In this last fanatstaic season we experianced an unprecedented Red-breasted Goose influx (you can read about it in out former post). Also the records of Lesser White-fornted Goose is evidently increasing. While the regular, and highly endangered european flock stage and pass through Hungary both in autumn and spring, in the time between – usually in the huge flocks of  Gretaer White-fronetd Geese – Lesser Whitefronts turn up with an ever increasing certainty. These birds are from the siberian population – probably another sign of the westerly shift of the migration rout of some goose population. 

With great luck, recently we even manged to photograph an immature LWfG, which was in a flock which contained no less then seven species of geese! 

You can find another image of this fantastic bird here:

http://sakertour.com/world_bird_gallery.php?text=&typ=3&viewer=classic&cat=79

Lesser White-fronted Goose with Greater Whitefronts

A portrait of the same bird

Greater Whitefront

Big flock of Greater Whitefronts

Red-breasted Goose

(Photos: Simay Gábor)

Sakertour Team

Although the winter of 2014/2015 was not a particularly cold one on the Hortobágy, still it had been the best and the most successful season of the past few years. There were not many opportunities to shoot those ever popular pictures with the snow covered landscape, but the length of the season could compensate our many photo friends. The White-tailed Eagles were in great numbers, it was not rare to see 12-20 birds in front of our hides. The most was 36 eagles all at once! We could even see young Imperial Eagles (maximum of 2) many times. In other years, the season is usually over by the end of February, but even though the spring came early this year, 12-16 eagles were at the hides even on the 10th of March.

If you are interested in an exclusive eagle photography option, please ask for our tours for the next season:

http://sakertour.com/hungary-white-tailed-eagle-photography-tour.php

Photos: Gábor Simay

Photos: János Tar

Photos: Sándor Borza

Sakertour Team

Dear Photographers!

We have just uploaded the May dates for the 2016 season for our Danube Delta tours. As usual the group size limit is 4 person for the 8 days 'Danube Delta and Dobrudja Bird Photography Tour in Spring' and it will fill up quickly.

Please take a look at the tour itinerary and look at the galleries of the tour.

If you would like to book any of these tours, you can do it HERE.

Glossy Ibis in the Danube Delta in May 2014 by tour participant Richard Steel.

Fighting Common Terns in the Danube Delta in May 2014 by tour participant Richard Steel.

Sakertour team

It came as a great Valentine's Day suprise when the Birdline reported a Snowy Owl in western Hungary. The bird was found by Baráth Tamás in the village of Bóly as it was perched on a house. Later more birders has arrived to confirm the observation (the founder was not a birder – great thanks for him to report it to local birders) and then the news was broadcasted.

The bird flew off west from the original place and has been relocated by arriving birders on a different house on the edge of town. It was perched at this location until 17:20 when it was last seen to fly out of the settlement.

A handful of birders managed to arrive in time to see this much sough-after rarity. The last officially accepted record dates back to 1891. There were a few undocumented observations in the 20th century but lately none of these were accepted by the Hungarian Rarity Commitee. In the Carpathian Basin there are also several observations from Slovakia but none of those were documented either.

So all in all this is the first fully documented observation of the species in Hungary and the Carpathian Basin for 124 years.

No doubt it was a very special treat and a great luck to see this magnificent bird in Hungary.

Snowy Owl at Bóly, Hungary 14th of February 2015 (Photo:János Oláh).

Snowy Owl at Bóly, Hungary 14th of February 2015 (Photo:János Oláh).

Snowy Owl at Bóly, Hungary 14th of February 2015 (Photo:János Oláh).

János Oláh

The national eagle census of Hungary was conducted by Birdlife Hungary on the 16-18th of January, both national park employees and many volunteers were involved. Hortobágy has been the most popular wintering site of white tailed eagles for a long time due to the many wetlands and numerous waterbirds. This year 154 White-tailed Eagles, 8 Imperial Eagles and 1 Great Spotted Eagle had been counted on the area of the Hortobágy National Park and its surroundings (Nagykunság, Lake Tisza). During the census 50 White-tailed Eagles were counted at the hides.
The presence and activity of the eagles by the hides has been outstanding in January. On several occasions up to 30 eagles could be counted all at once, causing unforgettable moments (and thousands of shots) for the photographers.

Amazing old eagles in front of the hide (Photo: Tamás Mali)

Immature eagle come to the feeder (Photo: Tamás Mali)

'Singing' chorus (Photo: Márk Kovács)

'Eagle mafia' on the tree (Photo: Márk Kovács)

A nice old eagle walks next to the hide (Photo: Attila Szilágyi)

High competition for the food (Photo: Attila Szilágyi)

Sakertour Team