We had a great time with three Belgian birders. Despite having the only rainy day of the month we managed to get some superb birds. Raptors included 3 Short-toed Eagle, Long-legged Buzzard, 6 Montagu´s harrier, 2 Saker and many wonderfull Red-footed Falcons.

Adult Saker on a pylon Photo: János Oláh

Other highlights were a family party of Stone-curlews, Little Owl, up to 18 Long-eared Owls, hundreds of Cranes, Great Bustards and many many Tawny Pipits, Rollers and Lesser Grey Shrikes.

Juvenile Lesser Grey Shrike  Photo: János Oláh

Sakertour Team

We made a short visit to the southern border of the Carpathian Basin into Krassó-Szörény county in Romania. We had a wonderful morning seeing not less then five species of bunting species within a few hours. These were: Black-headed Bunting, Cirl Bunting, Ortolan Bunting, Rock Bunting and Yellowhammer.

The Black-headed Bunting is a rare breeding bird of the Carpathian Basin. As a fairly new colonizer it started to breed close to the Fruska Gora Mountains in Serbia. There is a small population there in the last 9 years. In Romania however it is a fairly common breeding bird outside the Carpathian Basin in the east. In the west the breeding has never been confirmed yet. A few years ago (2005) we saw two singing males just about two kilometer from the Romanian border. This year however we found this singing male well into Romania.

Black-headed Bunting (Emberiza melanocephala) is a rare bird in Transylvania

Photo: János Oláh

We also had several other interesting birds in this single day birding like Short-toed Eagle, Levant Sparrohawk, Red-rumped Swallow, Alpine Swift and Spansih Sparrow. The Red-rumped Swallow and the Levant Sparrowhawk are both scarce but regular breeding birds along the Danube River in Krassó-Szörény. This is the only regular breeding area for these species in the Carpathian Basin.

The Spanish Sparrow is also among the rarest of the breeding species of the Carpathian Basin. There are about 3-4 colonies known and they seem to change places after a few years. There is a decrease in the population in Serbia. In Krassó-Szörény we know two breeding locality.

Red-rumped Swallow (Hirundo daurica) is a regular but scarce breeder along the Danube in Transylvania

  Photo: János Oláh

For more images visit our Transylvania blog: http://birdwatchingtransylvania.wordpress.com/

Sakertour Team

The visiting team from naturArt managed to take some really nice images from our hides!

You can check thir selection here: http://www.naturart.hu/hortobagyi-hetvege

Sakertour Team

On the 11th and 12th of July the most well known Hungarian nature-photo organization naturArt (http://www.naturart.hu) has a weekend in our hides.

Sakertour is a sponsore of the The Wildlife Photographer Of The Year (naturArt) competition in 2009 and also offers a weekend for all the members of the naturArt group in our hides.

More will follow with images!

Sakertour team

It is really summer now with temperature up to 35C and the photo season is ending. Since mid April we had many photographers in our hides from all over Europe. Everybody enjoyed the photo themes and we shall be uploading many pictures to our galleries in the coming month!

Visiting photographers in the heron flight tower  Photo: János Oláh

One of our most popular hide was the Red-footed Falcon Tower which is still active and the last falcon chicks will probably fledge around the 20th of July. Take a look at a few image from this hide: http://www.sakertour.com/hidegallery.php?hide=3

Many photographers had excellent time in our Passerine Drinking Hide too where 47 species was recorded this Spring including goodies like Black Woodpecker, Middle Spotted Woodpecker (daily), Lesser Spotted Woodpecker, Collared Flycatcher (daily) and many others. Take a look at a few image from this hide: http://www.sakertour.com/hidegallery.php?hide=24&author=&text=

The Pygmy Cormorant Hide was excellent throughout the Spring with a different face every day. At the moment it is still very good with many herons and egrets visiting it. Images: http://www.sakertour.com/hidegallery.php?hide=5&author=&text=

The Panorama Hide was only good for about a month as we had a very dry Spring so the shallow wetlands quickly dried out. The latest images will be uploaded soon.

Rollers were great this Spring too. We had different locations and at the moment one hide still operating until about 10 July, Take a look at a few images: http://www.sakertour.com/hidegallery.php?hide=26&author=&text=

Also we used a few mobile hides and blindes. Mainly for Avocet mating and then later for Hoopoe. A few nice image were taken. Take a look: http://www.sakertour.com/hidegallery.php?hide=25&author=&text=

The Heron Flight Tower is not an actual hide but a few hours were spent here on most tours and it was very popular!

Pygmy Cormorant     Photo: János Oláh

Night Heron    Photo: János Oláh

We finished our nine-day Ukrainian tour organised by Liberty Tour. The tour focussed especially on the Crimean Peninsula. We were welcome by the endless and treeless steppe dressed in blue-yellow flowers with real sunny summer weather, and this perfect birding spell was disturbed only by smaller showers in one afternoon.

The days spent in the Crimea had a true eastern European atmosphere, although the vast habitats proved that we were somewhere in the easternmost corner of Europe. Besides flat and hilly steppes, extensive, brackish water lagoons, steppe lakes, limestone gorges, dry hornbeam-oak and coniferous forests, reed beds, patches of planted woods and seashores were visited by us.

Eastern European migrating and breeding species are really common here, such as Marsh Harrier, Red-footed Falcon, Crane, Black-winged Stilt, Little Gull, Mediterranean Gull, Scops Owl, Hoopoe, Bee-eater, Syrian Woodpecker, Tawny Pipit, Black-headed Wagtail, Great Reed Warbler, Icterine Warbler, Collared Flycatcher, Red-backed Shrike, Lesser Grey Shrike, Golden Oriole, Corn Bunting, Ortolan Bunting, Squacco Heron, Purple Heron, Glossy Ibis, Long-legged Buzzard, Honey Buzzard, Barred Warbler, Hobby, Avocet, Collared Pratincole, Kentish Plover, Brood-billed Sandpiper, Roller, Thrush Nightingale, Penduline Tit, Eastern Imperial Eagle, Great Bustard, Short-toed Lark, Red-necked Grebe, Alpine Swift, Rock Bunting, Firecrest, Black Stork, Rock Thrush, Siskin, Crossbill and Pygmy Cormorant.

Due to the closeness of the Black Sea, some marine species or species confined to the lagoons like Shellduck, Sandwich Tern, Grey Plover, Turnstone, Sanderling, Bar-tailed Godwit, Knot, Little Tern, Caspian Tern, Arctic Skua, Yelkoun Shearwater and Shag are also representatives of the avifauna here.

A real speciality is the presence of some real steppe range species that make the list of observed species extremely interesting, such as White Pelican, Ruddy Shellduck, Pallas´s Gull, Calandra Lark, Slender-billed Gull, Gull-billed Tern, Paddyfield Warbler, Booted Eagle, Demoiselle Crane, Little Bustard, Isabelline Wheatear, Rose-coloured Starling, Black-headed Bunting, Pied Wheatear, Black and Griffon Vulture and Citrine Wagtail.

It was a superb tour with 181 species recorded.

The Sakertour Team

Slender-billed Gulls

In a two full and two half day trip we visited the Zemlén-hills and the higher mountains around Rejdova (Slovakia), while the last evening and the next morning were spent in the Hortobágy with a couple from the US. In the first afternoon we managed to see 4 Ural Owls, White-backed Woodpecker and Collared Flycatcher. The following day despite the continous rain we saw a Nutcracker and had prolonged and very close views of a Three-toed Woodpecker. We also managed to see 6 other species of woodpeckers, Corncrake, Short-toed, Lesser Spottes and Eastern Imperial Eagles. Despite of the windy weather, some of the River Warblers were still singing form a pearch, while Barred Warblers were buisy to carry food for their nestlings. In the Hortobágy, beside many other we saw a diplaying Aquatic Warbler and a fine male Great Bustrad.

Simay Gábor

Lesser Spotted Eagle                                             Simay Gábor

Juv. Bearded Tit                     Simay Gábor

We had a fantastic 8 days tour with a very keen party of Lancashire birders in the Hortobágy and Zemplén from 16th to 23rd May, 2009. We were birding from dawn to dusk most days and recorded 183 species. Our final list although had not included Dunnock and Grey Wagtail but it was ´still´ impressive :).

Best 10 birds:

Dalmatian Pelican

Baillon´s Crake

Black-winged Pratincole

Terek Sandpiper

Broad-billed Sandpiper

Great Snipe

Ural Owl

Great Bustard

Aquatic Warbler

Moustached Warbler

Our tour started in the Zemplén Hills where we soon secured the most sought-after birds like White-backed Woodpecker and Ural Owl.

Ural Owl Photo: János Oláh

We also manged to see all the possible woodpeckers and had superb views of White-tailed Eagle, Eastern Imperial Eagle and Lesser Spotted Eagles too. From the passerines the Collared Flycatcher, River Warbler and Barred Warbler were the most appreciated.

Collared Flycatcher Photo: János Oláh

One morning after a superb encounter with Eurasian Eagle Owl we even had time to look for the rare Zephyre Blue (Plebejus sephirus) butterfly.

Zephyre Blue Photo: Zoltán Petrovics

After an action-packed two days we were birding in the Hortobágy National Park. Our first afternoon in the Bihar Plains gave us unforgettable memories with Great Snipe and Baillon´s Crake within 5 minutes! The latter is a rare breeding bird in Hungary and it was a new bird even for one of our senior guide Gábor Simay!

Baillon´s Crake Photo: Róbert Ványi

The next few days we managed to gather a few other rarities in addition to the fantastic resident birds like the Aquatic Warbler below!

Aquatic Warbler Photo: János Oláh

I must say this was a tour when everything was going well and I am sure there are not many tours in Europe where you can get shorebirds like Black-winged Pratincole, Great Snipe, Broad-billed Sandpiper and Terek Sandpiper just as a supporting cast.

Terek Sandpiper Photo: Tim Davie

This customized tour will surely be long remembered for the participants and also show you that the Sakertour team will get you the best possible birds available on your visit!

Sakertour team

Our 12 days tour with Birdquest was a great success again! We had recorded 220 species on the tour with some amazing highlights. The previous record of 222 species for this tour was not far but we simply run out of possible birds.

We started our tour in the Zemplén area where we had Black Stork, White-tailed Eagle and Black Kite upon arrival. Next day we had great encounter with Ural Owl, Eagle Owl and White-backed Woodpecker on the first full day of birding! The Corncrakes and River Warblers were late this year but we managed to get both at the very last morning in this remarkable area of rolling hills.

Ural Owl

White-backed Woodpecker

We also made a short visit to Slovakia where we saw many Crossbills (strangely absent of the higher regions this year) and a few Hazel Grouse and had an initial taste of the high altitude species. Although we heard Three-toed Woodpecker it proved elusive. Next day we made a quick visit to see the localised Short-toed Lark and continued our journey to Transylvania.

Short-toed Lark

Our first day in this forgotten corner of Europe produced Woodlark, Crag Martin, Rock Thrush, Scops Owl and Ortolan and Rock Buntings.

Ortolan Bunting

Later we drove to Székelyudvarhely in the heart of Hargita. In this pristine area we had two days of fantastic birding with many great birds like: Capercaillie, Hazel Grouse, Jack Snipe, Ring Ouzel, Black and Three-toed Woodpeckers, Red-breasted Flycatcher,Wallcreeper, Nutcraker, Red-throated Pipit, Crested Tit and many others.

Black Woodpecker

Three-toed Woodpecker

Red-throated Pipit

Thrush Nightingale

We also must not forget that despite positioning this tour mainly for the birds, in some years we are able to see a few bears at the very end of their viewing season. This year we got really lucky with six different bears seen in the late hours of the day!

Our last port of call was Hungary´s most celebrated birdwatching area: the Hortobágy National Park! And yet again this superb area did leave up to its billing as one of the finest birdwatching area in Europe. We had excellent looks of the star birds like Long-legged Buzzard, Red-footed Falcon, Saker, Great Bustard, Little Crake, Stone-curlew, Aquatic Warbler, Moustached Warbler, Lesser Grey Shrike and others. We also had a few surprises as usual in this bird-filled area. A magnificent Dalmatian Pelican and a flock of breeding plumaged Dotterels were unexpected.

Dalmatian Pelican

Dotterels

Bearded Tit

All photographs: Zoltán Baczó

All in all we had an action-packed holiday with a lot to remember!

Gabriella Tóth, Zoltán Baczó, Zoltán Petrovics

We had a classic Carpathian Basin transect tour between 27^th April and 6^th May 2009, during the 10 days of which we visited all of the important birding sites. In spite of the extreme drought in spring all specialist species were found on their habitats, in fantastic weather conditions, only one afternoon was rainy in the higher mountains of the Carpathians.

After one day of travelling we spent one whole day in the Hortobágy, where characteristic Hortobágy species, such as Red-footed Falcon, Stone-Curlew, Long-eared Owl, Moustached Warbler, Crane, Saker, Glossy Ibis, Ferruginous Duck, Pygmy Cormorant, White-tailed Eagle, Temminck´s Stint, Tawny Pipit, Hoopoe and several other species were “drawn out of a magician´s hat” one after another, and a total of 104 species were observed by the end of the second day.  

The next day we set off for Transylvania. There, having travelled through the wetland habitats as well as the Carpathian Foothills, we got into some higher lying regions, where patches of snow reminded us of the past winter and the change was welcome after the 30 °C hot weather of the previous days. We did not have to miss variety here, either: almost every moment brought some interesting species including specialities like Capercaillie, Red-necked Grebe, Goshawk, Lesser Spotted and Golden Eagle, Great Snipe (very rare in Transylvania), Little Owl, Scops Owl, Tawny Owl, Lesser Spotted, Syrian, Black and Three-toed Woodpecker, Nutcracker, Crested Tit, Red-throated Pipit, Rock Bunting, White-winged Tern, Little Gull, Wallcreeper, Dipper, Ortolan Bunting, Ring Ouzel, Alpine Swift, Thrush Nightingale, Great Grey Shrike and many more. And of course I must not forget to mention the seven Brown Bears we saw, which, just as in an action-packed theatre play, were walking up and down in front of the hide. Transylvania was simply amazing with its intact habitats and its traditional, landscape-friendly man-made environment.  It was a pleasant surprise for us that last year smaller roads were rebuilt, which also contributed to an even more convenient and enjoyable tour. 

Having arrived back into summer from spring, we spent the last days of the tour again in the Great Hungarian Plain, mainly in the Hortobágy, where we devoted our time to finding bird species missed earlier. Fortunately, species came on time, just as for a meeting: Great Bustard, Middle Spotted Woodpecker, Imperial Eagle, Montague´s Harrier, Aquatic Warbler, Marsh Warbler, Lesser Grey Shrike, Roller, Bluethroat, Collared Flycatcher, Long-legged Buzzard, and Saker Falcon again. A memorable tour, not just because of the nearly two hundred species we saw but also thanks to the delicious meals like the breakfast in Torockó.  

Gábor Simay