The Hungarian Ornithological Society (MME) - http://www.mme.hu/ - had the 7th Hungarian Eagle count in January. On this event over 245 observers were counting the wintering eagles all over Hungary. The most common eagle was the White-tailed Eagle with 443-451 individuals. About 60 of these were in the Hortobágy region. Second most common was the Eastern Imperial Eagle with 125-127 individuals and also two Golden Eagles and a Greater Spotted Eagle was observed.

The activity around the Sakertour eagle hides in the Hortobágy National Park is still good with White-tailed Eagles being daily guests.

White-tailed Eagles fighting  Photo: János Perényi

Sakertour team

We were doing the annual midwinter waterbird count on the lower section of the Danube River (The Carpathian Basin part) from Orsova to Bazias. This cc. 130 kilometer of Danube section usually holds 25000-30000 waterbirds in winter. Numbers also depending on ice cover of the upper Danube sections (mainly Hungary) and the weather generally.

This year the count was 24 632 waterbirds. The absolute best count was the record number of Pygmy Cormorants. We have counted 3766 birds on the roosting place which also represents the biggest ever flock of this species in the Carpathian Basin. The grand total for this species was 3988.

Pygmy Cormorants along the Danube Photo: János Oláh

Other highlights included 15 divers, 10 Scaups, 9 Velvet Scoters, 8 Red-breasted Mergansers, 887 Smews and several Sombre Tits. The latter is a rare and restricted breeding bird in the Carpathian Basin.

The mammal highlight was a superb lynx in the Bihar mountains on our drive to the Danube near the village of Halmágygórós (Grosi).

Sombre Tit Photo: János Oláh

Sakertour team

There is a second calendar year Oriental Turtle Dove of the 'meena' race near Lake Fertő in Hungary. This is the second ever observation of the species in Hungary and in the Carpathian Basin too. The last record was on the 18th December, 1985 and it was not twitchable!

This superb bird was found by Sándor Mogyorósi the 11th of January so our great thanks goes to him!

Oriental Turtle Dove  Photo: János Oláh

Sakertour team

The winter in Hungary is certainly varied this year (2009/2010)! It changes almost weekly and we having all sorts of precipitation (rain, sleet, snow, ice, sleety rain) and we have a lot! Unfortunately the rapid change does not help with the eagles and they are rather unpredictable. Most of the time however at least one hide is visited by the eagles. See a few images below which were made in the last two weeks. Lots of images are due to upload into our galleries so keep checking:

http://www.sakertour.com/hidegallery.php?hide=1

http://www.sakertour.com/hidegallery.php?hide=19&author=&text=

White-tailed Eagles   Photo: Attila Szilágyi

Juvenile White-tailed Eagle landing at eagle hide II. Photo: Attila Szilágyi

Juvenile White-tailed Eagle on a dead fox at eagle hide II. Photo: Attila Szilágyi

Adult White-tailed Eagle   Photo: Attila Szilágyi

Our Eastern Imperial Eagle hide is operational but this year the Imperials not visiting it yet. We believe it is mainly bacause of the lack of autumn food in the area (so lots of juveniles left the area) and also the generally very mild winter. We still hope that it will get better in the second half of January.

Amazingly however an adult Eastern Imperial Eagle was seen and photographed for the first time on the 5th January this year by Csonka Péter.

Adult Eastern Imperial Eagle Photo: Péter Csonka

We will have the annual eagle count on the 15th january so we will get to know the number of wintering eagles in Hungary. We will keep you posted!

Sakertour team

There is a (White-winged) Snowfinch at Somoskő Castle, a few meters inside Slovakia (the village in Hungary, the castle in Slovakia), which is the first ever twitchable in the Carpathian Basin. Most of the previous observations are from present Slovakia but there are no records since 1968. Also it is not clear how many of the XIXth and XXth Century records are offically accepted.

This superb bird was found by Tímea Szederjesi and Eszter Angyal on the 29th of December so our great thanks goes to them!!!

A few images of the bird:

(White-winged) Snowfinch Photo: János Oláh

Sakertour team

We have made the video of the 2001 Slender-billed Curlew available for anyone to view! It is now viewable from the link (banner) on the SAKERTOUR front page (bottom of the page).

Or you can click on this: http://www.sakertour.com/slender-billed_curlew.php

Sakertour team

Although we had a short spell of 'proper' winter with -20C temperatures and lots of snow, the geese still hold on in the Hortobágy in tens of thousands! In two days the temperature increased to +12 and we had rain all the way through Christmas (32C difference in 36 hours!). Still several large flocks of Red-breasted Geese and a few Lesser White-fronted Geese can be found among the hordes of Greater White-fronted Geese.

Red-breasted Geese adult and juvenile (on the right) Photo: János Oláh

Sakertour team

In the last few weeks White-tailed Eagles have been regular visitors to our eagle hides. Also Common Buzzards are daily guests in good numbers.

Fighting Common Buzzards Photo: Miroslav Zítek

Three days ago the Hortobágy got snow-covered so the eagle photography likely to be even better now. Two days ago there were 12 White-tailed Eagles in front of eagle hide II.

Adult White-tailed Eagle Photo: János Perényi

For more images from these hides recently please visit our hide gallery:

http://www.sakertour.com/hidegallery.php?hide=1&author=&text=

http://www.sakertour.com/hidegallery.php?hide=19

Sakertour team

We have just uploaded a few new images to our ever growing Awards archive. This time a regular guest and friend Csaba Lóki shared a few more of his 2009 winning images from our hides. Please check them out: http://www.sakertour.com/awards.php

Cranes at night Photo: Csaba Lóki

Sakertour Team