Hungary Day 2 – Warblers and Woodpeckers

Mon 6 May 2013

Near Noszvaj

Our day started with a short drive from the hotel for a pre-breakfast woodland walk. The song of a barred warbler was briefly heard as soon as we got out of the minibus, but we did not find it. Nightingale and cuckoo soon followed. Our first yellowhammer and hawfinch were found, but as is usual in woodland, birds were easier to hear than see. We did manage to find turtle dove, golden oriole, red-backed shrike and a hobby that flew over. The call of wryneck came from deep within the woods, and for the only time during the week we heard the call of a grey-headed woodpecker.

The barred warbler was still singing back at the minibus, but it started to rain as we were looking for it, so we abandoned the search and returned to the hotel for breakfast.

Ostoros

After breakfast, with the weather now clear, we visited Ostoros  about 8km to the south-east of Eger. This was an open, grassy area with a few reeds and adjacent woodland.

A marsh warbler was singing low down in the reeds and we spent some time trying to find it. Some were lucky enough to see it as it moved around amongst the reed stems, but it eluded many. Walking on along a track with grassland on our left and woodland to the right, the continuous song of a river warbler came from the grassland. The song is similar to a grasshopper warbler, but with a chugging rhythm like an old steam train. Although we looked hard, we did not find the bird. A whitethroat delivered its scratchy warble from a shrub beside the track and occasionally circled around on a song flight.

Southern festoon and Hungarian glider butterflies were on the wing as we moved into the woodland, where we saw the only willow warbler of the trip. There was not a great deal found amongst the trees, so we made our way slowly back to the minibus. Determined to find the singing river warbler, I spent some time searching with my ‘scope in the area where the sound appeared to be coming from. Success! It was in a short, leafy tree about 1m off the ground and could be seen well. Only David and Graham saw it with me, as the group had split up as we made our way back. For the five minutes we stood watching it never moved from its perch.

We caught up with Steve to tell him about the river warbler, but he trumped it with a penduline tit! But it had now gone, chased off by a red-backed shrike. A shame to have missed it, but you can’t have everything!

Before climbing back into the minibus we spent a few minutes trying to find that marsh warbler again. Glimpses of it were the best we could get, but it was singing well at times with blackbird featuring heavily in its song. The unmistakable loud song of a great reed warbler was also heard close by.

Coffee Stop

As it was now late morning, it was time to find some coffee, and this was provided at a rather smart restaurant/hotel in Zsórifürdő, near Mezőkövesd. A pair of blackbirds were busy bringing food to their chicks in a nest in the garden, and swift, swallow and house martin swooped around overhead. A puddle in the car park was a popular bathing place for serin, goldfinch, linnet, greenfinch, chaffinch and house sparrow. Steve, Brian and Shelagh found a rather nice wood warbler nearby.

   

Old Russian Airfield, Mezőkövesd

Walking around the overgrown scrubland at this long since abandoned Russian airfield we had great views of four golden orioles as they flew around in the treetops. A tree pipit was singing (and seen) at the same spot. As we walked a bit further we found spotted flycatcher and a blackcap and heard nightingale, green woodpecker and wood warbler.

Roy led us to a clearing that he knew was good for woodpeckers. After five or ten minutes of patiently waiting we were lucky enough to catch sight of a lesser spotted woodpecker as it darted into its nest hole half way up a dead tree stump. It remained in the hole, poking out its red-capped head (indicating a male) every now and then. After a while in emerged from the hole and and perched out to give us good views.

Returning to the minibus we saw hobby and tree sparrow, and a large bird of prey in the distance. Although it was a long way off, Roy could identify it as an Eastern Imperial eagle. A nice addition to our list, even if it was too far away to see in detail.

Back in the minibus we drove along the runway looking for tawny pipits. We heard corn bunting and saw a whinchat. Peter spotted a pipit on a small tree. It was very pale in colour and seemed quite large, so this could have been a tawny, but as we did not stop we did not get good enough views to be certain.

Lunch Stop (Unknown location)

Whilst the others lunched inside, Steve and I continued birding. Nothing new, but a distant bird of prey was interesting. I spotted it in flight and it looked eagle-like to me, gliding with its wings held horizontal. It landed it the top of a tree about 2km distant. We could see that it was long-legged, but from such a distance we could not make out much other detail. We observed it for five minutes, but while we were looking at another possible interesting bird a bit closer it moved off without us noticing. It remained un-identified.

Fish Ponds (Unknown location)

We saw white stork whilst travelling to this next site. They are common, with many of the concrete telegraph poles in the villages having frameworks fixed to the top for them to build their nests on.

The unmistakably loud song of great reed warbler greeted us on arrival at the fish ponds, and the bird was immediately obvious at the top of some reeds. The many posts standing in the water each had a whiskered tern sat on them. I always find it tricky to identify marsh terns, but Roy’s tip was that whiskered are the grey terns with a common tern’s face pattern. Learning how to separate black from white-winged would come later in the week.

Four cuckoos were chasing each other around, a great crested grebe was on the water and a great egret at the water’s edge. Hobby and marsh harrier flew over, and grasshopper and Savi’s warblers were singing. Brenda thought she saw treecreeper.

Lewis came to warn us that he had heard on the radio that there was a thunderstorm over Budapest with golf-ball sized hailstones, and it was heading our way. We did not want to get caught out in it.

Near Mezőcsát

Now on the way back to the hotel because of the impending storm, roller perched on wires was found near this village. A passing farmer informed Roy that he had hoopoe around his farm (in fact, most of the farms have a resident hoopoe), so we walked across the grassland toward the farm in the hope of finding it/them. No luck, but we did find wheatear, black redstart, tree sparrow, skylark, swallow, feral pigeon and a splendid yellow wagtail (blue-headed race).

With the storm getting closer, prudence dictated that we called it a day and returned to base. The rain and lightning began as we travelled home, and the thunderstorm continued into the early hours of the morning.

Species Added Today

Pheasant (h)	Great Crested Grebe
Eastern Imperial Eagle	Hobby
Green Woodpecker (h)	Lesser Spotted Woodpecker
Grey-headed Woodpecker (h)	Tawny Pipit
Tree Pipit	River Warbler
Marsh Warbler	Great Reed Warbler
Barred Warbler (h)	Whitethroat
Willow Warbler	Penduline Tit
Greenfinch	Hawfinch
Yellowhammer
19 Species