We are continuously uploading the changes on our website in January 2012. Our Danube Delta operation will start in full swing. You will find more birding and photo tours, more hides and more information! We plan to have all up-dates online by the end of January.

Juvenile White-tailed Eagle in dawn light                                                        Photo: Csaba Lóki

Unfortunately after 3 years we had to amend our prices according to increased petrol and service prices. You can find our new prices on the website. ALL booking made in 2011 will not be effected by the price change!

Adult Sparrowhawk                                                                           Photo: Johannes Ferdinand

We wish you all a successful and bird-filled New Year!

Sakertour team

Our partner Wild Images had his first ´eagle tour´ of the 2011/2012 season from 9-13 December. You can find more info and dates of their second tour in February here. Although the weather was not wintry at all with daytime temperature up to 11C the activity was good. Partly because of the mild weather there are still hordes of geese in the Hortobágy region and the eagles are a little bit unpredictable at the hides. All the hides have regular eagle visitors but one day can be very different from another. It is easy to get no eagles one day and then several the next day at the same spot. Tour participants had a special last day with 11 White-tailed Eagles around them for hours!

White-tailed Eagles                                                                             Photo: Pauline Thompson

Juvenile White-tailed Eagle                                                                            Photo: James Brier

Adult White-tailed Eagle                                                                      Photo: Pauline Thompson

We still have not received any images from our French partners but hopefully they will come soon as well and we add a few eagle images to the galleries!

Sakertour team

Sakertour is committed to nature conservation and we yearly dispose several nest boxes for owls. This winter we have made 25 Ural Owl boxes. Half of these will be for the Zemplén Hills, the other half for Transylvania. The owl boxes were created by Zoltán Petrovics our famous local guide (known as the ´woodpecker man´). Each of them weigh about 6kg and made out of oak so they will last for up to 12 years. We also have a small mirror to help the survey work without actually disturbing the breeding owls. These type of boxes proved to be very popular for the owls over the last 20 years. This winter Sakertour spent 800 euros on the owl box project.

Ural Owl nest boxes ready for put-out                                                    Photograph: János Oláh

Sakertour team

Gábor just uploaded the latest Ornitholidays tour report to our trip report gallery. You can find it here.

Bearded Tit                                                                                      Photographer: Gábor Simay

Sakertour team

Our partner tour with Terres Oublies has started today and we hope for some nice images of raptors and woodpeckers in the next week! The weather will be rainy in the first two days but hopefully the second part of the tour will be cold and sunny. At the moment eagles and buzzards regularly visit our hides and sometimes even the scarce Rough-legged Buzzard puts up an appearance. We will keep you posted of the first tour of the 2011/2012 Season.

Rough-legged Buzzard (female)                                                                     Photo: János Oláh

Sakertour team

The 2011/2012 eagle season is just starting from 1st December 2011. There are many White-tailed Eagles around the Hortobágy at the moment as still lots of geese present. The night temperature is down to -5C now but daytime weather is still not cold. We hope to see you in our eagle hides soon!

White-tailed Eagle                                                                                           Photo: János Oláh

Sakertour team

Late Autumn was lovely dry and sunny in Hungary and there were some fantastic possibilities for photography. Our drinking hides are still in full operation and in 2011/2012 winter we will try for the first time to keep some drinking water at the hide throughout the coldest periods as well (heating).

Although we have subzero temperatures now every night the drinking pool attracts many birds in daytime. Thrushes, woodpeckers, tits, finches are abundant!

Slowly the superb colours of October and November are disappearing but it is not far now for the eagle season! Look out for raptor images on our website and hope to see you in Hungary this winter!

Mistle Thrush

Eurasian Sparrowhawk

Eurasian Jay

Black Woodpecker

All photos by János Oláh

Sakertour team

The trip report of our successful 2011 Autumn Tour has just been uploaded and you can see it here. All the possible targets has been seen including a large flock of Lesser White-fronted Goose, 8 species of woodpeckers including White-backed Woodpecker and 5 species of owls including Ural Owl.

This tour will run again next year from 6-12 October.

White-backed Woodpecker                                                                             Photo: János Oláh

Sakertour team

This tour concentrated on the spectacular Crane migration and the arriving masses of northern Geese in the Hortobágy area and its surrounding. We spent a week in the Hortobágy and we did well regarding both of our targets, and we did see many more. 

Smaller and bigger flocks of Common Carnes were seen every day feeding on stubble fields and grasslands but the real spectacle was when we visited their biggest evening roost, and seen more than 30.000 Cranes flying line after line.

Though we had several encounters of bigger geese flocks, we had a special day, when we recorded no less, than 9 species of geese! (considering Taiga and Tundra Bean as separate species) Among them especially good views of Red-breasted Geese.

Beside we saw Imperial, two Great Spotted and many White-tailed  Eagles, Saker Falcons, Long-legged and Rough-legged Buzzard. 23 Great Bustards and 18 Dotterels. 

Regarding the woodpeckers we were also lucky with 6 species recorded what is really good in the lowlands.

We also recorded a mega rarity! We were close enough to a ringing station in Hortobágy Fishponds to see Hungary´s third Pine Bunting without a real effort!  

This trip was special weather wise too – we had seven days sunshine and warm weather, often reaching 15 Celsius degree. 

Common Cranes flying to their night roost

Adult and juvenile (1y) Great Spotted Eagle

Dotterel

Black Woodpecker

Male Bearded Reedling

Penduline Tit and its nest 

Juvenile (1y) female Pine Bunting        All photos: Simay Gábor

Sakertour team