Hungary Day 5 – Exploring Hortobágy

Thurs 9 May 2013

No before breakfast excursion this morning, so no need to get up so early. I left my morning walk until 6.50 and just had a short (30 minute) stroll along the lane that lead uphill from the hotel entrance. The lane eventually opened out onto fields of grape vines. Nothing new to report, but a pair of red-backed shrikes were nice.

Psychiatric Hospital

After breakfast our first visit was to the woods surrounding a psychiatric hospital (I do not know the location). The sharp clicking call of a hawfinch led to the discovery of a pair attending to their nest. At last I managed to add woodpigeon to my list when one was spotted perched high on a dead tree. A woodpecker did not remain long enough to be identified – was it a great spotted or Syrian? Both Savi’s and river warblers were singing, and we spent a few minutes trying to locate the latter. Though it was probably no more than five metres away we could not find it.

Karcag

As we travelled south we stopped at a hotel in the small town of Karcag for our morning coffee. In fir trees in the adjacent park we were lucky enough to find a firecrest, another scarce species for Hungary.

A large fish farm 4 km south west of Karcag was our next destination. In only a short twenty minute visit we added several new species to our tally. Yellow-legged gull and teal were fairly run-of-the-mill but collared and black-winged pratincole were more exciting. These two species are incredibly difficult to tell apart, but we were confident that we had seen both as they flew over our heads. Roy was later able to confirm this when Sandor, the park ranger that we met earlier in the week, told him that both species were present at this lake. A white-tailed eagle flew over in the distance (but close enough to see that it had one of its primary feathers missing). Stonechat, avocet, great egret, marsh harrier, mallard, grey heron, ringed plover (little?), and black-headed gull were also ticked. An interesting yellow wagtail with a white supercilium, dark grey ear coverts and a yellow throat was probably the Romanian sub-species dombrowskii.

Near Nádudvar

We moved on to the southern end of the Hortobágy National Park in the vicinity of the village of Nádudvar (I am not sure of the exact location). We explored around the neighbourhood, occasionally stopping to see what was about. At one such stop a group of seven common crane were soaring high above and a red-footed falcon passed over. Steve found a hoopoe and a stonechat. We left the metalled road and continued on a dirt track.  Several ruff were close to the track, along with lapwing, purple heron and assorted marsh terns. 

The track led us to a derelict control tower, which suggested we were on an old
airfield, though I could not see evidence of any runways in the extensive wetlands that surrounded it. A reed filled ditch had many whiskered and white-winged terns patrolling along it that did not seem to be particularly bothered by our presence. A pair of black-necked grebe were diving for food on an area of open water and the deep booming of a bittern could be heard occasionally from somewhere close by. Steve photographed an interesting barn swallow with the usual white belly and chest showing as a rusty-red colour. We think it was probably the sub-species transitiva from the eastern Med/Levant, though it could have been savignii  from Egypt.

We discovered that the bricked up entrance to the control tower had been broken open, which allowed us to climb a couple of flights of stairs and emerge onto a flat roof that gave us a great viewing platform (taking care not to go too close to the unguarded edge). There was an incredible number of great egrets – Peter stopped counting at 98! A bittern flew across, disappearing into the reeds, where a bit of a commotion ensued. Whether it was a scuffle with another male, or some interaction between a male and female, we could not tell. Three individuals were eventually seen.
 

Coot, cuckoo, reed bunting, purple heron, tree sparrow, greylag, marsh harrier, garganey and little grebe (a new bird for the list) were all seen as well. Great reed warbler and skylark were heard.

In the distance we could see a small lake that appeared to be worth investigating so we moved on to try and get a bit closer. Here we found pochard, corn bunting, black-winged stilt, white-winged tern, black-necked grebe and ferruginous duck. The fast, rippling call of a whimbrel was heard. A farmer on horse-back and his dogs were slowly driving a herd of cattle towards us – a pleasantly bucolic scene.

Journey Back

On the way back we called into a lake/wetland run by the Hortobágy Environmental Association. Time was pressing, so this was only to be a quick visit, but in the brief time we were here we found black-winged stilt, little ringed plover, and new species for the week,  common tern, shoveler and redshank.

Those travelling in Roy’s car had a fleeting glimpse of a moustached warbler as it flew across the road in front of them.

Back at the hotel a huge moth that had been there in the morning was still on the wall of the hotel. It was a Giant Peacock Moth, Europe’s largest species and without doubt very impressive.

Additions today

Teal	Shoveler
Little Grebe	White-tailed Eagle
Crane	Collared Pratincole
Black-winged Pratincole	Whimbrel (h)
Redshank	Yellow-legged Gull
Common Tern	Moustached Warbler
Firecrest
13 additions