Short Birding Break to Hungary
These trips can run any dates from late April to June for 4 days (3 nights) based in the Hortobagy National Park
Cost:
£400 GBP per person. Single room supplement £50 GBP based on 2 - 5 paying persons. Price for 6 – 10 persons is £360 GBP.
Cost includes:
Half-board (accommodation, breakfasts, packed lunches), ground transport by private vehicle, services of driver/English speaking guide, park permits).
Cost does NOT include:
Flights, personal travel insurance, evening meals and drinks, items of a purely personal nature, optional tips.
Itinerary
This short tour is based in one of Europe's best bird areas. The Hortobagy National Park in eastern Hungary. At the time of our visit the grasslands, farmlands, fishponds and marshes here teem with birds. Eastern Hungary is largely flat and dominated by the grasslands (puszta) and farmlands of the Great Plain.
Target Species: Saker, Eastern Imperial Eagle, Red-footed Falcon colonies, Long-legged Buzzard, Great Bustard, Stone Curlew, Roller and Lesser Grey Shrike.
Large fish farms and their adjacent marshes and reed beds host a rich range of breeding and passage wildfowl, herons, egrets, crakes, marsh terns and warblers.
The Hortobagy National Park is also home to a key population of the endangered Aquatic Warbler.
©Gabor Kovacs
Day 1: Arrival
The tour starts at Budapest airport. From here we head by road (about 2.5 hours direct) to the Hortobagy. We will make roadside stops for birds such as Eastern Imperial Eagle.
Days 2 & 3: Puszta
The grasslands of eastern Hungary are perhaps most famed for their Great Bustards and we will spend time in search of these magnificent birds.
©Gabor Kovacs
Other puszta birds include Common Quail, Tawny Pipit, Crested Lark, Corn Bunting, the blue-headed race of Yellow Wagtail, Little Owl, Stone Curlew, Black-tailed Godwit, Roller and Lesser Grey Shrike. Raptors include Long-legged Buzzard, Montagu’s Harrier, Saker and Red-footed Falcons, which nest in colonies and are often very photogenic.
A few wet grasslands are home to Aquatic Warbler and we will visit the best site in the company of a ranger. We will also no doubt come across the special livestock of the Hortobagy such as the very long-horned Hungarian Grey Cattle whose grazing is part of the habitat management of the park.
Large fishpond systems in the area are alive with birds.
Target Species: Pygmy Cormorant, Great White and Little Egrets, Squacco, Night and Purple Herons, Common and Little Bitterns, Spoonbill, Yellow-legged and Caspian Gulls, Bluethroat (white-spotted race), Penduline and Bearded Tits, Moustached, Marsh, Savi's and Great Reed Warblers and hordes of Whiskered Terns.
The Hortobagy also has some marshes and smaller wetlands
Target Species: Red-necked and Black-necked Grebes, Garganey, Ferruginous Duck, Black Tern and in some years colonies of White-winged Black Terns.
©Gabor Kovacs
Day 4: Breakfast Birding & Departure
Optional birding before breakfast. Later we head for Budapest airport (about 2.5 hours) or to your hotel in Budapest if you are staying on, where the tour ends.