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Highlights
Bird photography tour
Eagle hide visits
Kingfishers & wetlands
Owls & Great Bustard walks
Outline Itinerary
Day
1. Arrive Budapest. Transfer 2h east. Overnight in a villa
2. Early morning transfer to eagle hide. Full day photography
3. Morning kingfisher photography. Afternoon birding walk
4. Return visit to eagle hide for photography
5. Transfer to depart Budapest
Cost
As each trip can be tailor made please contact us for prices
Departure Dates
January & February to your requirements
This winter short break will enable you some close encounters for bird photography of some characterful birds.
A transfer from Budapest eastwards for about 2 hours across the Great Hungarian Plain brings you to the edge of Hortbagy and Koros-Maros National Parks. Here we have arranged comfortable log cabin accommodation on the edge of a small town. The cabins are set by a thermal lake and kingfishers, herons, woodpeckers and wryneck frequent the vicinity. If there is time on arrival you may take a short walk in the woods or around the town centre in search of long-eared owls that can occur in numbers up to several hundred at their roost sites.
An early, self-prepared breakfast before transfer out to the eagle hide with your guide. You should be installed in the comfy hide before daybreak. Sorting gear and settling in the hide you will warm up with the heater on as photography is through specialised glass. Hooded crows and magpies are among the first to appear as the sun rises and you will almost certainly have visits from common and possibly rough-legged buzzards and from Imperial and white-tailed eagles. Hen harriers abound in the area. A full day is spent in the hide only returning to town around dusk.
The following day will be photographing kingfishers that come to fish in the thermal waters that remain ice-free in winter. Otters too occasionally visit. After a chilly time sitting stationary photographing the kingfishers you can warm up with some wonderful broth in the local fisherman's restaurant. In the afternoon take a walk around the wetlands in search of bearded reedlings and penduline tit plus plenty of wildfowl before walking out on the grasslands in search of great bustard for which the area is famous. In the evening there should be time to photograph short-eared owls and long-eared owls.
A further day is spent back at the eagle hide before finally returning to Budapest, memory cards full!
