Tour information

Winter brings unique photography opportunities. This is a fantastic tour focusing on photographing the shy eagles of the well-known Hortobágy National Park along with some other interesting species. In this region up to 200 White-tailed Eagles wintering and if the weather conditions good some of them regularly visiting our hides.

Tour starting and ending time: It is important to book your flight according to the official starting and ending times of the tour! Our bus and guide will be waiting all participants in  the Liszt Ferenc Airport at Budapest. Please make sure you can reach the starting point in time at 14:00 on the tour starting date! If you wish to arrive earlier to Budapest our office can help you to book accommodation and logistics. However if you arrive early you need to make your way to the airport for the meeting time. In some cases we can pick up clients from the nearby airport hotels (please check with our office). Also very important that the tour only ends at 13:00 on the last day so please do not book flights out of Budapest earlier than 16:00 on the last day!

Timing: Fixed dates but also available upon request
Recommended period between 1st December and 1st March

Duration: 6 days (5 nights)

Photo hides and species: We have four full days for photography in the different „Eagle Hides”. It is possible to use a different hides every day but this is all subject of discussion with the guide on the first evening. If somebody want to spend several days in the same hide it is also possible. We will have four full days for photography during this tour which allows three days in the eagle hides and one day in the „Passerine drinking hide”. We could use different hides, depending on the eagle activity. We will visit the „Well Hide” located in a steppe habitat near an eagle-roosting area, and also the newly rebuilt „White-tailed Eagle Hide No 2.” located close to a major fishpond system. These hides usually suitable for photographing other bird species as well (Common Buzzard, Caspian Gull, Jackdaw etc.). Our main target is the White-tailed Eagle however so all other subjects depend on the success with the eagles. Our visits to the „Passerine drinking hide” vary greatly but in winter we feed the woodpeckers and seed-eating birds (Lesser and Middle-Spotted Woodpeckers, Siskin, Hawfinch, Bullfinch etc.). We will also visit one of the extensive Long-eared Owl day-roosts with up to 200 birds present in winter.

Upon request we organize one day for „stalking photography” targeting any possible species available in the area. For more information (available hides, comfort, hide technical informations, bird species) visit our hides menu item.

Logistics: Our daily routine is different from the spring-summer tour as the eagles are so shy that we cannot leave the hide during daylight hours at all. This means we usually enter the eagle hides at about 05:30 and leave the hide at ca. 17:00. After an early breakfast at the hotel, lunch and snacks are taken into the hides. One day we will visit the „Passerine drinking hide” where photography takes place from 07:30 to 15:30.

Recommended equipment: This tour will offer you very diverse photographing opportunities. Therefore, we suggest that you bring along lenses from fish-eye and wide angle to 300mm and 500mm ones.

Expected number of birds species photographed on this tour: 10-20 species

What to bring: torch, binocular, tripod, warm clothing

Accommodation & Road Transport: We use the fantastic Bíbic Nature Lodge in Balmazújváros which is perfectly located to reach any of our hides. Road transport is by car (4×4 if required) and depending on weather conditions can be bumpy and rough on some tracks to some hides.

Walking: The walking effort is mostly easy throughout the tour if the weather conditions are normal. In this case we should be able to drive close to most hides.

Climate: In winter the weather is generally cold with daytime temperature is ranging between -15 and 5C. All the hides are heated and 15-20C is the normal temperature inside hide