Red-footed Falcon
Miles and miles of open skies, quiet villages, steppes and fishponds are some of the landscape features of Eastern Hungary. This is in stark contrast to the beautiful wooded valleys and limestone karst habitats in the Aggtelek National Park. This National Park, with its extensive cave systems on the border with Slovakia, is deemed a World Heritage Site. Our third spring visit will encompass all of the richly diverse habitats that give this land locked country such an amazing wealth of breeding birds. A nation with a turbulent past, Hungary is still an unexplored gem for most western birders. The sheer numbers of herons and raptors is one of the true spectacles in European birding. Species that are scarce or regarded as skulking in Western Europe are common roadside birds. All of the European Woodpeckers are possible and several scarce European breeding birds such as Lesser Grey Shrike and Aquatic Warbler have strong populations. Gerard Gorman; a name that will be familiar through many articles published in leading bird watching magazines and many books will lead the tour and will be assisted by various local wardens. We expect to walk three or four miles a day over mostly easy terrain. There are some unavoidable and necessary early starts and all participants should be aware of this, as these are not always optional. You can expect to see 150 – 175 species.
|
Introduction
