Hungary Day 4 – Woods and the River Again

Wed 8 May 2013

I rose early to go for a walk along the lane near the hotel. All the usual birds were singing as I wandered slowly along. I had not gone far when I bumped into Steve on his way back. Steve had seen a hawfinch and together we found a nuthatch and saw golden oriole chasing around in the foliage. We encountered a woodpecker, which on close inspection turned out to be a Syrian. The differences between this and great spotted are subtle. The most obvious is the white gap in the black neck-band, and its call was slightly softer than the harsh kick of the great spotted.

Nosvaj

The second pre-breakfast visit of the week to this woodland (though not the same spot as on Monday). We had not gone far when the shrill flight call heralded the arrival of a black woodpecker. It perched on a tree trunk allowing us good views. Red-backed shrike and hawfinch were seen, and a short-toed treecreeper located from its song. We played a recording of middle spotted woodpecker in the hope of attracting one, but without success.

 

We crossed the road to explore more woods. After patiently watching and waiting in a clearing for several minutes two lesser spotted woodpeckers eventually showed up, and then a middle spotted put in an appearance as well. Oh, and we saw a hoopoe too!

Kerescend Sewage Works

Our first port of call after breakfast was to these sewage works. Lesser whitethroat, corn bunting and greenfinch were singing as we arrived. We had not walked far when we stumbled upon a small flock of bee-eaters sat in the top of low shrubs. They soon flew off, maybe because of the Saker falcon that flew across in the middle distance. Buzzard, marsh harrier and kestrel were also around and in the bushes a whitethroat was delivering its scratchy warbled song. A water rail and the unmistakable racket of a great reed warbler were heard and finally, and less impressively, a pheasant was spotted.

 

As we pressed on we stopped for five minutes at a closed down hotel to take a look at the souslik (aka European ground squirrel, and a favourite meal of Saker falcon) that had made their homes in the lawns.

 

Another hotel/restaurant complex with a small lake afforded us great views of a very tame black-crowned night heron, which was content to pose no more than three metres away from us as we photographed it. It seemed more interested in the extremely large carp that was surfacing next to the platform it was sat on. The heron definitely had eyes bigger than its stomach as the fish looked big enough to swallow the bird! A squacco heron was patrolling along the far side of the lake, but close enough for fine views. We found another wryneck for Brenda.

  

 

Across the road from the hotel, a reed bed next to a fishing lake held sedge, Savi’s, reed and great reed warblers. A cuckoo was calling from some electricity cables and Roy spotted bearded reedling on distant reeds. We thought we heard the call of penduline tit in the willow trees, but we did not see it. Another night heron was on the lake.

Tiszaörvény

After a coffee stop we visited this spot on the east bank of the River Tisza. A long, straight walkway over a reedy pond afforded good views into the reeds, but the hoped for little bittern did not materialise. A reed warbler flitted amongst the stems and a great reed warbler delivered its raucous song from the tops of the reeds. Without doubt the best find here was a penduline tit. It was collecting the downy seeds of willow and bulrush and then flying, usually under the walkway we were stood on, across the pond to a stand of trees where, we assumed, it was busy constructing its nest. We watched for several minutes as it made numerous return trips. As we were leaving a female cuckoo flew silently over the reeds and dropped down into them, presumably to deposit an egg in an unsuspecting reed warbler’s nest.

Near Egyek

Travelling on a dusty track in the Hortobágyi park we stumbled upon a group of waders on a tiny wet area. There were several wood sandpipers and a single curlew sandpiper, but they were spooked by our presence and quickly flew off.

 

Searching around farm buildings we found crested lark and several jackdaw (apparently not common in Hungary). On some open water there was quite a gathering of species – garganey, ferruginous duck, lapwing, coot, greylag, pochard, black-necked grebe, marsh harrier, whiskered tern, and white-winged tern. Around the buildings were swallow,  yellow wagtail (blue headed variety), rook, wheatear, house sparrow, white wagtail, magpie, collared dove and, on the roofs, some strange ornamental pigeons.

Ároktő-Tiszacsege Car Ferry

We had lunch at a famous fish restaurant near the river. Steve continued birding while the rest of us lunched and added kingfisher and redstart to our list.

 

After crossing the river on the ferry we continued on a quiet track beside the Tisza. A hoopoe flew over as we drove. We eventually arrived at a lake only partially visible through the trees. Great crested grebe and black-headed gull took second place to the group of pygmy cormorants (eleven in total) perched on posts in the water.

 

On the journey back to the hotel we stopped again by the pylons just south of the M3 motorway. Two birds that could have been Saker were sat on a distant pylon, but they were too far away to tell for sure. We could only use binoculars as we had pulled-up on a fairly busy road with no parking area, so it was not safe to stop long, or to get out of the minibus.

 

The scops owl was calling again at 9.30pm.

 

Species added today

Black-necked Grebe	Pygmy Cormorant
Saker Falcon	Water Rail
Curlew Sandpiper	Kingfisher
Middle Spotted Woodpecker	Redstart
Reed Warbler	Bearded Reedling
Short-toed Treecreeper	Jackdaw
12 Species

Hungary Day 3 – The Bükki and the River Tisza

Tues 7 May 2013

In his usual early morning ramble, Steve found (and photographed) a Syrian woodpecker.

Novaj

Roy and Lewis again arrived early to take us out before breakfast; Roy’s home village was this morning’s destination. We parked at the edge of the village and began to walk along a track that had become very muddy after the previous day’s rain. Steve cried out for us to stop as there was a wryneck sat on a fence post 10m in front of us. This delighted Brenda as this was the species that she really wanted to see. A bit further on Roy pointed out the nest hole that the wryneck was using. It goes without saying that cuckoo, nightingale and turtle dove were heard. The first two soon seen as well. Tree sparrows were on the buildings to our left.

The track continued to lead us across a meadow. In the surrounding trees there was a red-backed shrike and golden oriole. Swallow swooped low over the grass. A bird flying into a tree caught my eye. I got my ‘scope on it, but then had to call Roy to have a look as I did not recognise it. Roy identified it as a barred warbler, a first for me. It’s song was very similar to that of whitethroat, and it had a very distinctive yellow eye. As we viewed it another bird flew over in fast undulating flight – a hawfinch, and the drumming of a great spotted woodpecker came from afar.

Crossing the field, we continued on a narrow muddy path. We paused to scan the trees across another meadow which was a good spot for woodpeckers, but did not find any. As we continued the path become much muddier before leading into a field with knee-high, wet grass. The loud drumming of a black woodpecker carried across to us, and soon after its shrill flight call heralded the arrival of the bird into a tall tree across the field. It paused there for a couple of minutes, occasionally drumming, before flying off in the direction from whence it came.

We could hear the chugging song of a river warbler nearby, so we walked further into the field to try to locate it. Sadly, I could not repeat my success of yesterday, so the bird remained unseen. A marsh harrier patrolled over the distant reed bed and the yaffle of a green woodpecker was heard.

Retracing our steps, we arrived back at the wryneck’s nest to find one of the pair perched by it. The second bird arrived and they began mating. We watched for as long as we could, but eventually had to leave as there was a danger we would be too late back for breakfast.

Whilst waiting for the minibus to arrive after breakfast, a sparrowhawk passed over, the only one seen during the week.

Omya Hungaria Limestone Quarry

Our next destination was a limestone quarry a few kilometres to the north of Eger. We waited at the main entrance whilst our entry was negotiated. This was a working quarry and so we were not allowed to move around at will; we had to be accompanied by the quarry’s young safety officer (who looked remarkably like Ayrton Senna). We followed the road as it zig-zagged high up into the quarry and stopped to view a rock face hoping to find eagle owl. No luck, but we were rewarded with a fine honey buzzard flying over. A couple of other locations were tried in the quarry, but nothing much was found. Jay, black redstart, house martin, buzzard, wheatear and white wagtail was the limit of our sightings. A brief shower of rain sent us scurrying for the minibus.

Bükki National Park Education Centre, Felsőtárkány

A short 5km drive from the quarry for a brief visit to this education centre at the edge of the Bükki National Park. The attraction here was the possibility of collared flycatcher, and we found one immediately – a first for many of us. Serin and nuthatch were also detected from their calls, and located in the tops of the trees. A lesser whitethroat was singing in full view (why do they never do that in the UK?).

Having seen what we had come for, we drove to the nearby Bambara Hotel (built in African style) for our morning coffee stop. A white wagtail was perched on the roof and in the car park a great spotted woodpecker (carefully checked to make sure it was not a Syrian). In the nearby woods coal tit was heard, and the only marsh tit for the week was found by Steve.

River Tisza

We headed south toward the River Tisza for the afternoon’s birding. Roller, lapwing, white stork and buzzard were seen en route, and we stopped briefly  by the roadside just south of the M3 motorway to try to spot the Saker falcon that nest on an electricity pylon. No sign of them though.

A 15 minute stop by small lake beside a quiet road was quite productive. The pick of the birds here were ferruginous duck, garganey, wood sandpiper, little stint, little ringed-plover and an icterine warbler (heard only).

We drove along a single-track road south of the Tisza, with a screen of trees blocking our view of the river. We halted at a spot where Roy hoped to find penduline tit. We did not find any, but Savi’s and great reed warblers were singing and purple heron flew over. As we continued a black stork flew past.

After another quick stop beside the river where we unsuccessfully searched for kingfisher, we moved on to the village of Tiszabábolna where we stopped for refreshment (the last place David remembers having his hat!). White stork were nesting on a roadside telegraph pole, and right next to where we parked the minibus a house martin was busy constructing its nest.

   

Borsodi Mezőség Plain

This was the last visit of the day, a long dirt track across the Borsodi Mezőség Plain. Exploring around some farm buildings next to a small pond produced roller, corn bunting, red-backed shrike and tree sparrow amongst others. Coot and moorhen where on the pond and golden oriole in the trees behind. Hoopoe and lesser grey shrike were seen by a lucky few. A bit further along the track a small wetland area had all three species of marsh terns - whiskered, black and white-winged tern. The whiskered we had already learned how to identify. The black, despite its name, is mainly dark grey in colour with just the head and breast black. The white-winged has a jet-black body and underwing coverts and gleaming white on the the tail. Steve’s photo illustrates this well.

As we continued along the track we stopped again to investigate the distant electricity pylons as Saker falcon were known to use them. Two very distant birds on them disappointingly turned out to be hooded crows. Avocet, grey heron, kestrel, more very close white-winged terns, and even a pheasant, noted here.

We continued along the track, but the surface had become very soft from the recent rain and Louis was concerned that the minibus could get stuck. As we were in the middle of nowhere this was the last thing we wanted, so we turned around and returned the way we had came.

On the way back to the hotel Shelagh pointed out a woodpigeon - which I missed. This was becoming a bit of a running joke as I had mentioned that I was surprised that I had not seen any.

After dinner as we returned to our rooms at 8.45pm, the Scops owl that others had heard on previous evenings, began to call. In fact, it sounded as if there were two birds calling in turns from either side of the hotel grounds.

Species Added Today

Mute Swan	Garganey
Black Stork	Honey-buzzard
Sparrowhawk	Moorhen
Little Ringed Plover	Little Stint
Black Tern	Woodpigeon
Scops Owl (h)	Hoopoe
Great Spotted Woodpecker	Syrian Woodpecker
Black Woodpecker	Collared Flycatcher
Long-tailed Tit	Coal Tit (h)
Marsh Tit	Nuthatch
Total added 20