In the year of 2020 when travelling was restricted we devoted our time to plan and design as well as try out our ideas for a mammal watching tour. The inaugural tour was a great succes (report of 2020 tour) and now we offer two different tours for those interested to watch mammals!

One of the tour is a full 9 days adventure to Romania and try to see as many species on a single tour as possible. While the other is a short tour focusing on the Danube Delta and trying to see the critically endangered European Mink.

We hope to see you on any of these tours – adventures!

European Mink (Photo: Zoltán Nagy)

Brandt's Myotis (Brandt's bat) (Photo: János Oláh)

Sakertour team

Despite the challenges this year brought us, our team tried their best and at least we were enjoying the time we spent with the specialties here, even without our guests.
All our blogs are now complete with posts from the main season of this year with more images than words. Check & enjoy the summaries and share if you liked them.

Our base in the Hortobágy was productive with all our hides productive in their season. Check the blog posts by visiting the main page of. https://birdphotographyinhortobagy.wordpress.com

A male Red-footed Falcon displaying (János OLÁH)

Our blog of the magic found in Transylvania – of course mainly from a birdwatcher’s perspective – has some nice images of the birds around and a few from our Bear Hides of the Carpathian Brown Bears which were visiting the hides this Spring. https://birdwatchingtransylvania.wordpress.com

A Capercaillie at the lekking ground from our new hide on the Hargitha Mountain (Zoltán BACZÓ)

And finally, the masses of birds from the Danube Delta and the surrounding area which provides probably one of the best destinations both for those searching for an unforgettable birdwatching experience and for bird photographers as well. https://birdwatchingdanubedelta.wordpress.com

Pallas's Gulls were one of the main targets in the Danube Delta this year again (Dániel BALLA)

Despite not running, we drove through the whole itinerary of our new Hungary-Austria-Slovenia-Croatia Spring Tour for a short birdwatching as the borders opened. Even a shortened version  sqeezed into a few days produced most of the gem species of this special programme.
In the high Alps we tracked down the alpine species including Lesser Redpoll, Ring Ouzel, Alpine Chaugh and the European endemic Citril Finch just to mention a few.

Male Citril Finch by János OLÁH

Further South, on the Adriatic coast we found a bunch of mediterranean specialties like Black-headed Bunting, Blue Rock Thrush, Sardinian, Eastern Orphean and Subalpine Warblers and many others. However the highlights of the whole tour were the Eleonora's Falcons, which were hunting for insects around us in a flock like Red-footed Falcons do in Hungary.

Dark morph Eleonora's Falcon from Croatia by Dániel BALLA

Woodchat Shrike from Croatia by János OLÁH

Hortobágy is definitely one of the best places to collect big numers of Ruffs on migration. From the middle of March to the middle of May birdwatchers going around in the area can feel that they are always surrounded with Ruffs almost everywhere in the open areas. Despite being a very common bird in Spring, it is very hard to properly photograph them, as they don't tend to stay at the same place, instead their small to huge sized flocks are always keep moving and moving and changing their feeding sites.

This year – finally – our team managed to find a spot where the habitat was so reach in food and the conditions were perfect to have shorebirds always there, that we decided to try it for our shorebird hide. It finally turned out to be a successfull move, as we had several species of waders in front of it in April and the first half of May. Black-winged Stilts, Common Redshanks, Northern Lapwings and Green Sandpipers were nearly every day photographable but for the most luckies Hungarian photographers, in the first half of May Ruffs were appearing in front of the hide's glass sometimes the males fighting and displaying to the females.

We put together a short summary on our blog with smart illustration how it looked from the hide, click and enjoy.

Flock of Ruffs turning above a wetland in the Hortobágy National Park by János Oláh

Male Ruff starting his display by János Oláh

The MME/BirdLife Hungary organized the 3rd Pannonian Eagle Count (which was also the 17th Hungarian), where experts from seven countries were involved to search and count all the Eagles possible to assess a wintering population in the area. Besides the Eagles other raptor species were counted as well.
A total of 396 observer from Austria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania, Serbia and Slovakia counted more than 1,100 White-eailed Eagles and more than 530 Imperial Eagles and for addition almost 13,000 other raptor species were taken into account including an interesting number of almost 9,000 Common Buzzard.

For more detailed information visit the site for the conservation of the Pannonian population of Imperial Eagles. 

This season the Hortobágy was again the No.1 site for White-tailed Eagles (again) and the feeding stations operated by Sakertours (within the Hortobágy National Park) are important for the wintering eagles.

For more pictures and a short summary about the 2019/2020 winter season in the Hortobágy please take a look at our Hortobágy Photography blog.

Juvenile Imperial Eagle surrounded by White-tailed Eagles in the Hortobágy by ©Jure Novak

Adult White-tailed Ealge from the Hortobágy by ©Jure Novak

Sakertour Team

In 2020 we are also launching our exciting Zemplén Photo Safari Extension which is a great photo experience in old style stalking photography and using mobile blinds / tents for various subjects in the World Heritage Tokaj area. Altough its famous for its superb and unique white wine the region also has amazing natural resources! This tour can be linked as a pre or post tour extension to our Spring-summer Hide-Photography Tour in the Hortobágy area. Also recommended for birder / photographers as some scarce species possible. In late April and early may we target Ural Owl and various woodpecker species (like Black, White-backed and Middle and Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers) while later in the season (from mid May) the unique Wryneck is the star of the show. We have hundreds of owl nest boxes in this area as Zemplén has been one of the main areas our owl nest box project was running.

Ural Owl in its special breeding cravices in the Zemplén Hills (János Oláh)

Sakertour Team

In 2020 we are a launching our One Day Hortobágy Crane Photography Tour in the Hortobágy National Park. This tour was designed for anybody who want to make the best of the Crane experience when visiting this fabulous park in the October Cranes season when up to 150 000 birds staging in the area. Of course the weather is unpredictable but this tour was designed to make the best of the day in any circumstances. We only take up to 3 person a day from 1st to 20th October in every year. Read more about this at the tour page. The 2019 testing of this tour was a great success with many happy clients and some superb Crane experiences. The Crane Spectacle in the Hortobágy can be amazing when 50 000 Cranes roosting together!

Roosting Cranes in the Hortobágy National Park by drone – right in front of our Roosting Crane Hide (Attila Szilagyi)

Cranes right in front of the hide at dawn (Attila Szilágyi)

Sakertour Team

It seems that photographing Saker Falcon from our Buzzard Hide is reliable when the weather is getting a bit more cold and harsh. The pair showing itself in the first half of December disappeared when warmer winds and the sunny weather melted the snow and the daily temperature increased far above – in winter terms – 0° Celsius. In the past days the temperature dropped with early mornings sometimes under -5 °C together with chilli wind resulting an unpleasant weather – the Falcon pair is back in front of our hide. Surprisingly another individual turned up in front of our White-tailed Eagle Hide No.2. Besides the Sakers, Common Buzzards and White-tailed Eagles, fortunately, are visiting continously our hides.

Male Saker Falcon from our Buzzard Hide by Attila Szilágyi

Common Buzzard by Attila Szilágyi

Saker Falcon pair by Attila Szilágyi

Sakertour Team

In late May and early June we will run one single Special Brown Bear Photography Tour every year when we have the best circumsatnces for special images. We will try to capture bears in backlit conditions, with flowers, mother and cub actions as well as bears in landscape. This is a special tour dedicated to take unusual bear images! If you inetersted in such images, this is your tour to join! Check out the dates for 2020!

Steaming Carpathian Brown Bear in Transylvania (Photo: János Oláh)

Sakertour Team

We have just revised our Danube Delta – Dobrudja Spring Tour and now incorporated yet another special bird into the itinerary. Semicollared Flycatchers were only found breeding a few years ago in Romania but now they are reliably and regularly seen. Our new tour offers the chance to see this bird as well as the usual specialties like Broad-billed Sandpiper, Pallas's Gull, Levant Sparrowhawk, Paddyfield Warbler, Rose-coloured Starling etc. Come and join us in 2020!

Semicollared Flycatcher male in Romania (János Oláh)

Sakertour team