The Danube Delta photography season started and the first tour has just finished. The vegetation in the delta is usually not existing in the early May period but still there were magical encounters in the delta. This time it was wild cat as well as the usual Black-necked and Red-necked Grebes, pelicans, egrets, ibises. The Macin National Park was great with superb Rock Thrush, Ortolan Bunting and other goodies! There is a little selection from early May 2016 below. For more images see our FB page or the hide gallery!

We have 2 last place available for 2016. The date for this tour is 18-25 June. You can find more information here.

Wildcat in the Danube Delta gave us an amazing 30 minutes drive away view in May 2016 (Photo: Zoltán Nagy).

Rock Thrush male in front of our hide in May 2016 (Photo: János Oláh).

Red fox looking for food (Photo: János Oláh).

Ortolan Bunting in front of our hide in May 2016 (Photo: János Oláh).

Collared Pratincole is allways a favorite (Photo: Zoltán Nagy).

Sakertour team

Our eagle photography season of 2015/2016 winter has finished and now we looking into the busy spring photography! However we have decided to summerize the past 90 days which also give you information in case you have not been with us yet and planning an eagle photography tour to Hortobágy National Park in Hungary!

We use two main hides for the eagles and we primarily feed the eagles with fish. Our company operates two of the three eagle feeding stations of the national park. The weather has been very mild in the past years and it was pleasantly better in 2015/2016 as we have had daytime subzero temperatures from 27th December to 18th January. This was often paired with frost  or even snow on the ground (snow cover was 12 days – twice as much as in 2014/2015). At the same time the weather was extremly mild in February which is very unusual.

Our season was 88 days this year and we had information on the eagle activity every day. White-tailed Egales were present 88 days at one hide (100%) and 86 days at the other (cc 98%) which is an amazing result. Even our buzzard hide have had 24 eagle-days (27%). The numbers were variable but usually 5-12 White-taild Eagles were present, though occasionally only 2-3 showed up. Especially in February – with the mild weather – the activity was even stronger and the record number was 62 White-tailed Eagles at one hide, and 9 at the other hide plus 3 at buzzard hide in the same day. This is 74 White-tailed Eagles in one single day at our 3 raptor hides! This season was also very good for Eastern Imperial Eagle as we had 22 days when this species was seen and photographed from our hides. They occured at all three raptor hides. A total of minimum 5 different birds were photographed. This year we also had Golden Eagle on 3 days. Some lucky photographers have had three eagle species in one single day!

Our next eagle photography season is starting on the 1st of December 2016. If you still looking for a short photography tour in winter check out our dates for the 2016-2017 eagle season!

Eastern Imperial Eagle was regular in 2015-2016 eagle season (Photo: Paul Bestall)

White-tailed Eagles were daily visitors at our hides (Photo. Otto Samwald)

Adult White-tailed Eagle face to face with photographer (Photo: János Oláh)

Sakertour team

We have launched our new Transylvania Birding Tour. Please take a look and join us for this exciting birding adventure!

Transylvania's special birdlife is amazing and Sakertours have been visiting Transylvania since 1996! In 20 years we have built up a great knowledge of the best birding places, and after running an extension to this area for some years we realized the need of a proper tour to this magical place. Finally we have a tour on its own which can still be combined with our Danube Delta – Dobrudja Spring Tour offering a unique 15 days birding in Eastern Europe.

If you looking for a late spring birding tour, Transylvania is a fantastic place to visit!

Alpine Accentor is one of the many exciting birds we see on this tour (photo: János Oláh)

Sakertour Team

We have just uploaded tour dates for 2017 Danube Delta tours as well as for Hungary. Please check out the tour calendar for more details!

Ferruginous Duck in the Danube Delta (Photo: Richard Steel)

Sakertour Team

Our guest Richard Tyler managed to photograph three eagle species from our hide in a single day! This is certainly a record for us but I believe this is only possible in the Hortobágy NP in Europe!?If you know and other place please let us know!

He saw about 20 different White-tailed Eagles of all ages, a juvenile Eastern Imperial Eagle and a juvenile Golden Eagle. At one stage all three spceis was seen on a single tree together! This was certainly the highlight of 2015 regarding our egale photography!

Three eagle species in one tree (Eastern Imperial Eagle on the left, Golden Eagle in the middle and White-tailed Eagle on the right) is a special event! (Photo Richard Tyler).

Our hides are essentially for feeding the White-tailed Egales present in the Hortobágy National Park in winter. There are up 200 White-tailed Eagles wintering in this area and we regularly have Eastern Imperial Eagle too. In the last three winters they getting more and more regular in fornt of the hides as well. However the Golden Eagle is very rare and only been seen and photographed once beofre this special event (back in 2009).

Juvenile Eastern Imperial Eagle by Shetland Wildlife pho-tour leader Mick Durham.

Juvenile Golden Eagle. (Photo Richard Tyler).

The 2015/2016 winter season is well on its way and there are a limited few places left if you want to see these majestic creatures close up. It is a unique experience indeed! Please visit our tour calendar to see available places and dates!

Sakertour Team

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