Day 1: After an apparently very smooth flight from London to Budapest my latest WildWings group came through into the arrivals lounge having already changed money and safely collected all their luggage. I introduced everyone to Attila, our trusty driver, who has driven almost every WildWings group that has visited Hungary, and who birding-tour-driving-skills are now legendary, and we were soon away, heading east from the airport and Budapest. After just over an hour we stopped alongside the motorway at a rest area so we could have a "comfort-stop" and a picnic lunch, as the weather was fine. As we ate we watched Crested Larks trotting around the car park, Tree Sparrows in the bushes and Turtle Doves and Corn Buntings zipping to and fro over nearby fields. We then continued towards today's destination, our hotel near the village of Noszvaj in the Bukk Hills. As we went along roadside birds included White Storks, Great White Egrets, Marsh Harriers, Common Buzzards and a few Lesser Grey and rather more Red backed Shrikes. After checking into our hotel I offered the option of everyone relaxing before dinner or doing some birding around the hotel. Almost everyone rejected the option of relaxing, being keen to start birding and to stretch their legs after a day of travelling, so after dumping our luggage we explored the hotel garden picking up several Great Spotted Woodpeckers, Black Redstart on the hotel itself and a fly-over Raven. For several years a pair of Black Woodpeckers had nested locally and though the breeding season was over, I thought I'd give it a try and see if the birds were still around. So, I suggested that we leave the Black Redstarts head for the large trees where the hole was located. All went well, as the Black Woodpeckers were there and active and everyone who was present had good views of these magnificent birds. Later we had a typical 3-course Hungarian dinner, followed by a run-through the days sightings and then discussed the plans for the following day. Most of the party then retired to bed (though one or two stayed up a little longer to sample the local beverages including a few shots of barack palinka, a.k.a. apricot schnapps and unicum, a traditional liquer).

Day 2: A pre-breakfast walk along a nearby fruit-tree lined lane produced several songbirds which were feeding on the ripe fruits and berries: Tree Sparrow, Greenfinch, Yellowhammer and Blackcap were all seen. Just before breakfast a Green Woodpecker turned up in the grounds of the hotel. After a substantial buffet breakfast we headed by bus to the pastures and karst habitats of the southern Bukk, just 30 minutes away. Some villages still had White Storks on nests. We spent the morning walking in rolling country seeing many Red-backed Shrikes, Yellowhammers and Bee-eaters hawking for insects. Woodpeckers included two Middle Spotteds in some old oak trees, a Lesser Spotted and several Great Spotteds. We also found a Sand Lizard basking in the sun. Later we watched a Short-toed Eagle hanging in the air, not close but when found in our telescopes it was clearly a Short-toed. A short drive took us to the warm habitats of a limestone quarry and here we watched a singing male Rock Bunting. We took our picnic lunch in a large clearing in the forest while several Common Buzzard circled above, but the highlight here was superb views of a Corncrake which made two short flights in the meadow with its legs dangling typically down, jsy as they do in the field-guides! Everyone agreed that this would be bird of the day. Before dinner we visited a 100 year old, family-run wine cellar for an hour, touring the cellars and tasting the reds and whites. Though not hassed to do so, everybody purchased a few bottles "just in case".

Day 3: We birded around the hotel before breakfast adding Grey-headed Woodpecker to our list and getting more views of Black and Middle Spotted Woodpeckers. After breakfast we checked out of the hotel and loaded our bus and headed south for the Great Plain. It wasn't long before we started to see birds of open country such as Skylark, Grey Partridge and Lesser Grey Shrike. Our picnic spot by a tree-lined canal produced Green Woodpecker, Golden Oriole and various raptors soaring above the farmlands. Next Attila drove us carefully along some dirt tracks through flat, open farmland. Our objective here was to find Saker Falcon and Eastern Imperial Eagle. After a few false alarms we finally saw the huge form of a raptor and tumbled off the bus to watch an adult Eastern Imperial Eagle. Within minutes we also picked up two Sakers, first in flight but then they perched on some electricity pylons and we were able to 'scope then at leisure. Next up was Lake Tizsa where we saw our first Yellow-legged and Black-headed Gulls, Whiskered Terns, Common Cormorants and Great Crested Grebes. Herons here included Night, Squacco and Purple and a superb flight view of a Little Bittern. Penduline Tits zipped by several times, until finally we had views of one perched in the high reeds. Just half an hour later, in the late afternoon, we checked into our accommodation near Tiszafured at the edge of the Hortobagy National Park, which would be our base for 5 nights.

Day 4: A pre-breakfast walk at 6 am was very productive with numerous birds being seen, though all agreed that the confiding Red-footed Falcons, males, females and juveniles, were the highlight. After an 8 am breakfast we set off to explore some of the many fish-ponds of the Hortobagy area. The varied habitats of these carp-rearing ponds includes open water, drained ponds with exposed muddy, reedbeds, sedge-beds and bushy areas. Hence a wide range of waterbirds were seen both on the ground, in flight and on the water itself: including many herons, Pygmy Cormorant, Little and Great White Egrets, Spoonbill, both Black and White Storks, Ferruginous Duck, Marsh Harries galore and glimpses of several Great Reed Warblers. We explored the area on foot and by driving on hard, dirt tracks stopping as the birds demanded. We had a picnic in the shade of some robinia trees and later watched a soaring White-tailed Eagle. As today was rather hot we even found time to stop at a roadside inn for ice-creams and cold beers. By the time we returned to our base at 6 pm we had seen why the Hortobagy is now regarded as one of Europe's best birding areas, having run up a fine list of species, seen masses of birds, and with everyone (except me, of course!) coming away with a "lifer" or two. Dinner was another traditional hearty Magyar affair.

Day 5: Some of the party decided to lie in a little today whilst others went out on a pre-breakfast walk, mainly to take photographs of the local Red-footed Falcons. Little Owl, Roller and Hoopoe were all seen before breakfast, too. Later we drive to new areas of the National Park with the main habitats being grasslands, known as puszta in Hungarian. Before long we came across some feeding and flying Common Cranes and soon after that another Saker and then our first Montagu's Harrier of the trip. Once again, we explored by bus before making short walks on foot in the best area. After lunch I decided to take everyone to an area of marshes a few miles away in the hope of adding some waders to our trip list. This was a place were our telescopes came in useful and soon people were spotting and pointing out Wood and Green Sandpipers, Common Curlew, as well as more views of Pygmy Cormorants and all the, by now usual, herons and egrets. Later we stopped by some ponds with deeper water than those we had visited previously and saw our first Red-necked and Black-necked Grebes. I pointed out a Caspain Gull amongst the more numerous Yellow-legged Gulls.

Day 6: Today our pre-breakfast walk produced a new bird for the tour: Common Quail. Our main destination today was the grasslands at the northern edge of the Hortobagy, and area with plenty of Susliks (a ground squirell species) and which thus often hosts large raptors. On route we saw the "usual" roadside Lesser Grey Shrikes, Rollers and Red-footed Falcons, mostly sitting on telegraph poles or wires or hawking for insects over the puszta. From an observation tower we scanned the vast grasslands and sky aboves and eventually picked out a pale Long-legged Buzzard perched upon a sweep-well and a soaring Lesser Spotted Eagle. These were two species of raptor that I had hoped we would find in this area, and I was well pleased that they obliged. Cranes seemed to be everywhere hereabouts, too, many no doubt non-breeding birds that had started to head south early from Fenno-Scandia. In the afternoon, after another shady picnic and an ice-cream stop (which had become popular) we returned to some of the better fish-ponds which were easy to work via surrouding dykes. New birds for this trip this afternoon included Avocet, Ruff and Dunlin and a singing Savi's Warbler.

Day 7: Today our main objective was to search for and watch Great Bustards. Everyone was keen to see this large, stately bird, but with this being our last full day some of the party were a touch nervous thinking that we may have left it too late and that if we failed we would have no time left to get a second chance. However, we have never failed to see this species on WildWing trips to Hungary, so I was quietly confident. In addition I had asked my good friend Gabor Kovacs to "stake out" the birds prior to our arrival. We arrived in the village of Nagyivan to pick up Dr. Kovacs at 8 am and soon we were driving through open country keeping our eyes on the large crop fields. We then set off on a mile-ling walk towards some fields of lucerne where we believed the bustards would be. On route we saw Whiskered Terns hawking for insects over the crops, far from the fish-ponds where they usually feed, and the only Hobby of the week flashed by, too. Red-footed Falcons and Yellow Wagtails were everywhere. Another new bird was Northern Wheatear and we saw another Little Owl perched upon a farmstead. Finally, we quietly approached the target area and there they were, a small group of Great Bustards, wary of us and not totaly in view in the high crops. Gabor and I tried to make sure everyone had seen the birds before we then asked everyone to come forward onto a raised patch of ground to get better views. We left the Nagyivan area after leaving Dr Kovacs to continue his important work in the National Park, and headed for our final afternoon tour of the region's wetlands. Our last evening was spent sampling more of rural Hungary's cuisine and wines as we ran through our species list for the last time.

Day 8: Most of us took one final pre-breakfast walk down the lane near our accommodation to watch the Red-footed Falcons and Lesser Grey Shrikes. After breakfast we loaded up and Attila drove us back to Budapest which took just over 2 hours. After a brief sight-seeing tour of the city we dropped off one or two who were staying on in the capital, and then headed to the airport after an eventful and bird-filled week in Eastern Hungary. I would like to thank all the members of the 2004 WildWings group for their participation in a successful tour.

Gerard Gorman, August 2004.