Hungary Day 6 – Looking for Woodpeckers again

Fri 10 May 2013

Another early morning rise to go for a walk with Steve along Tulipántkert lane. All the usual cast of birds including golden oriole, hawfinch, wryneck and the Syrian woodpecker (which took ten minutes of patient searching to locate).

Bükki National Park

Roy and Lewis arrived at 6.15am for the pre-breakfast excursion. This morning’s destination was the Bükki National Park Education Centre at Felsőtárkány 13km distant, which we had previously visited on Tuesday. Our target species were woodpeckers, but we only managed to find green – but this was nice as it was the first time we had actually seen one this week (previously only heard). The collared flycatcher was again the star bird at this location, but we also saw spotted flycatcher, serin and the lesser whitethroat (again singing in full view).

We moved on to another site in the forest – the Tamás-Kút Nature Interpretation Trail at about 450m elevation. Being woodland, the birds were difficult to see, as indicated by a high proportion of them being listed in my notebook with a suffix of (h) i.e. heard only. With persistence though we managed to bag quite a few and the (h) crossed out. We heard a wren singing for the first time this week; surprising as wrens are found in every conceivable habitat in the UK from sea-level to mountain top.

Wood warbler, stock dove and redstart were three birds that were heard but not seen and to that was added white-backed woodpecker, which I had to take Roy’s word for as it is not a species with which I am familiar. A raven called high above us, but no chance of seeing it through the canopy of trees, and the shrill, flight call of a black woodpecker came from afar. The one woodpecker species we did manage to find was the middle-spotted. Good, clear views of it up in the trees before it descended to the ground to bathe in a trickle of water flowing on the forest floor. Another species added to the week’s list was grey wagtail, seen in the road as we drove back.

A quick stop on the way back in a territory where lesser spotted eagles breeding in the surrounding hills are known to come down to feed. A honey buzzard flew over and whilst we were admiring it David spotted (no pun intended) a large BOP flying low behind the hedgerow. It emerged into view and perched up on the hedge – a lesser spotted eagle. It remained for a minute or so before taking to the air again and disappearing from view.

After breakfast at the hotel the plan for the rest of the day was to visit the Borsodi Mezőség Protected Area to drive along the track we had only partially travelled on Tuesday. As we made our way there we took time-out to stop at a couple of places that Roy thought could be interesting. At the first, Hoór-völgye reservoir, we only stayed five minutes as the water level was too high and there was nothing much around. A possible stock/rock dove perched up across the lake caused some discussion but was probably just a feral pigeon.

We stopped at another lake with the hope of finding little bittern. This turned out to be a vain hope, but we did get close views of a pair of great reed warblers. A short walk across the road from this lake to a pond yielded tree sparrow, marsh harrier, cuckoo, red-backed shrike and a brief sighting of a penduline tit.

 

The day had turned into the hottest of the week (30°C), so at midday we stopped in a village for a cooling ice cream. A pair of white storks nesting on a telegraph pole treated us to their bill clattering display.

Borsodi Mezőség Protected Area

We travelled on the long track in the opposite direction from Tuesday, beginning at the northern end near the village of Szentistván. We drove slowly along (the surface was not suitable for doing anything else!), stopping occasionally as we noticed anything of interest. At the first of these stops in a dry area with a few tall trees, we saw quite a selection of good birds, including roller, red-footed falcon, red-backed shrike and spotted flycatcher. A long-eared owl sat quietly on its nest, warily watching us.

Further along, a wet area with plenty of reeds was excellent for warblers - reed, great reed, Savi’s, sedge, and whitethroat. Mallard and garganey flew over us, and was that a Saker falcon in the distance? It was too far away to be certain. A marsh warbler was singing from some low shrubs, and after waiting patiently it gave good views.

As we continued I noted down a possible tawny pipit, but this remained unconfirmed. The track now came to an end and we began the drive back to the hotel. As the rest of us continued in the minibus, Roy stopped the car in the village of Tiszabábolna so that David could pop into the coffee shop to try to recover his hat that he thought he left there on Tuesday. They had no knowledge of it!

One last stop at a small roadside lake that we had stopped at on Tuesday. Some of us walked back along the road a couple of hundred metres as we had spotted a wader that needed investigating. It was a wood sandpiper. A little egret flew off from the lake – another new species.

Species added today
Little Egret	Lesser Spotted Eagle
Stock Dove (h)	White-backed Woodpecker (h)
Grey Wagtail	Wren
Treecreeper	Raven (h)
8 Species