 hungary IN AUTUMN
Spectacular Crane migration and the best of autumn birding
Saturday 2 October - Saturday 9 October 2010
Price: £1195pp Single Supplement £105pp Deposit £300pp
 
Our main focus on this two-centre holiday is the spectacular migration
of Common Cranes through the Hortobagy National Park in eastern Hungary,
one of Europe’s great birding experiences. Each autumn up to 70,000
of these elegant birds from Fenno-Scandia, the Baltic States, Poland and
elsewhere in northern Europe congregate here. We will see cranes flying
to roost at dusk in vast skeins and feeding by day in crop fields. There
are also special resident birds including Great Bustard, Saker Falcon,
White-tailed and Eastern Imperial Eagle, eight species of woodpecker including
White-backed, Middle-spotted, Grey-headed, Syrian and Black, and winter
visitors such as Rough-legged Buzzard and Great Grey Shrike. The numerous
wildfowl present should include Greater White-front and some Tundra and
Taiga Bean Geese. Indeed, eastern Hungary is a key staging area for the
threatened Lesser White fronted Goose. Other birds should include Hawfinch,
Black Redstart, Rock Bunting, Short-toed Treecreeper, Marsh Harrier, Penduline
Tit and Dotterel. A tremendous autumn feast of birds!
Day 1 Sat 3 October
Arrive Budapest. Drive to the Bukk Hills (2 hours) and a 3 night stay in our well located family-run small hotel. Birds often in the garden here include Hawfinch, Black Redstart and Middle Spotted Woodpecker. Night Noszvaj.
Days 2 - 3 Sun 4 October – Mon 5 October
Birdwatching in the Bukk National Park. In particular we’ll look for Black, Grey-headed, Middle Spotted and White-backed Woodpecker in the area’s deciduous woods, and in the company of Gerard Gorman, author of "Woodpeckers of Europe". Syrian Woodpecker is usually found in and around villages in orchards and gardens. Other birds in these scenic hills with their rich autumn colours include Eastern Imperial Eagle, Goshawk, Common and Short-toed Treecreeper and Rock Bunting. As we will be in one of Hungary’s best wine regions we will visit a 100 year-old family-run wine-cellar on one evening. Nights Noszvaj.
Day 4 Tue 6 October
Today we leave the hills and forests and head onto the Great Plain. First we’ll stop in the Heves grasslands and see some of our first lowland birds of the tour. Finches and buntings are beginning to flock up in October and Great Grey Shrike can be seen on roadside wires or tree-tops. We may also locate our first Saker Falcon or Great Bustard today. Later we’ll scan the vast waters of Lake Tisza for gulls, grebes and wildfowl. Night Tiszafûred.
Days 5 - 7 Wed 7 October—Fri 9 October
During these days we will spend most of our time birdwatching in the famous Hortobágy National Park. Habitats here include fish-pond systems where geese, ducks and Common Crane roost and Marsh Harrier and White-tailed Eagle hunt. Drained ponds host passage waders and the reedbeds Penduline and Bearded Tit. The HNP’s grasslands are hunting grounds for raptors such as Saker, Merlin and Long-legged, Rough-legged and Common Buzzard. Flocks of Great Bustard and Stone Curlew also reside here. Little Owl are quite common and Long-eared Owl are often beginning to roost in numbers in this season. Dotterel spend their autumn here, with over 100 together not unusual in traditional places on the drier Hortobágy steppe. These same areas often host parties of Lapland Bunting and Twite. But arguably the main event of our stay will be the cranes. Each evening we’ll wait just before dusk at key spots to see the arrival of noisy flocks of these birds which come in from feeding fields to roost. This event is without doubt one of Europe’s great bird spectacles. We can expect to see and hear many thousands both in the air in family parties of three and in lines of many hundreds, and in trumpeting groups in surrounding fields.
Nights Tiszafûred.
Day 8 Saturday 10 October
After breakfast we head for Budapest. If flight times allow we will take a sightseeing tour of this attractive city before heading for the airport.
Price includes: return scheduled flight from London – Budapest, airport taxes, ground transportation, comfortable en-suite hotel accommodation, all meals, incidental tips, and the services of Leaders Gerard Gorman, joined with more than 7 clients by Dave Pullan. Max 14 clients.
Please note: all itineraries are given as a guide only. Actual
holiday content may vary according to the judgement of your guide, and
elements beyond our control (eg weather).
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