Thursday, January 7, 2010 - The White-winged Snowfinch story

White-winged Snowfinch is a mostly resident species of high mountains breeding closest to Hungary in the Alps and the Dinari Mountains of Croatia and Serbia. There are no snowfinches breeding in the Carpathians.

There was an older record of White-winged Snowfinch in Hungary but it was recently deleted because it turned out from the original photographs that the plants on the picture are not occurring at the reported site in Hungary, so it was probably a falsified record.

On 29th December local birdwatchers observed and photographed a White-winged Snowfinch in the castle of Somoskő in Slovakia. After World War I the village of Somoskő with its medieval castle was given to Tchechoslovakia but after 2 years the village was reattached to Hungary due to the important road linking other villages in Hungary. The castle however remained on the other side of the border. The border now runs between the last houses of the village and the castle walls. The snowfinch was detected inside the castle walls and was observed again on 30th December in heavy fog. Although the bird flew shortly from the walls it didn't reach Hungarian air space, so twitchers had to be content having close views of the bird in Slovakia.

The next day then the bird was seen flying into Hungary and returning to the castle. Thus it became a first for Hungary. It was since seen by many Hungarian and Slovakian birdwatchers and is still in the castle together with 1-2 Alpine Accentors.

White-winged Snowfinch can be seen on Ecotours's tours to Slovenia and Montenegro.

Friday, July 17, 2009 - Butterflies in Northern Hungary

Hungary is a major destination for butterfly enthusiasts boasting some 170 species and many sought-after ones among them. Our group on an Ecotours Butterfly holiday visited the Bükk Hills, Aggtelek National Park and the Hortobágy in July.

During 8 days we recorded an amazing 95 species including 18 species of fritillary, 24 blues and 10 skippers. We saw Safflower and Orbed Red-underwing Skipper, Berger's and Eastern Pale Clouded Yellow, Alcon, Large, Iolas, Zephyr and Anomalous Blue, Purple and Lesser Purple Emperor, Common and Hungarian Glider, Pallas's  Fritillary and Dusky Meadow Brown among others.

Dragonflies seen included Club-tailed Dragonfly, Small Pincertail and White-tailed Skimmer. Although bird activity was lower than in spring we still saw a nice array of birds including Grey-headed, Black, Middle Spotted and Syrian Woodpecker, Lesser Spotted, Eastern Imperial, White-tailed and Short-toed Eagle, Red-footed and Saker Falcon, Roller, Penduline and Bearded Tit, Lesser Grey Shrike and Golden Oriole to name but a few.

Sooty Copper

Hungarian Glider

Common Glider

Spotted Fritillary

Wednesday, April 8, 2009 - Birding holiday to Ghana

We had a very succesful tour in both the number and quality of bird species observed. We saw 358 bird species and heard further 14 species. We recorded 8 Upper Guinea Forest endemics, among them 3 wonderful White-necked Picathartes seen very well.

During the tour we observed 9 species of kingfisher including Chocolate-backed Kingfisher, 9 hornbills including Black Dwarf, Red-billed Dwarf and Yellow-casqued Hornbills, 8 bee-eaters including Black, Blue-headed and Swallow-tailed Bee-eaters, 10 barbets and tinkerbirds including Hairy-breasted Barbet, 16 sunbirds, plus Fox Kestrel, Olive Long-tailed Cuckoo, White-headed Woodhoopoe, Fire-bellied Woodpecker, displaying Rufous-sided Broadbill, Forest Robin, White-tailed Alethe, Tit-hylia, Dusky Tit, Spotted Creeper, Sabine’s Puffback, Red-billed Helmet-shrike and Black-faced Firefinch.

Mammals seen included African Elephant, Black-and-white Colobus Monkey, Bushbuck, Kob, Waterbuck, Red-flanked Duiker, Common and Blotched Genet.

Thursday, April 2, 2009 - Birding holiday to Ethiopia

In November 2008 we had a fabulous birding tour to Ethiopia. We visited the famus Rift Valley lakes, Bale Mountains National Park, two importanst sites in the south: Negele and Yabello, as well as the Central Highlands including Jemmu Gorge and Ankober.

We recorded 445 species of birds including 15 endemic and 11 near endemic birds. We had great views of Prince Ruspoli's Turaco, Yellow-fronted Parrot, Sidamo Lark, White-tailed Swallow and Stresemann's Bush-crow among many others.

Mammals were also well represented during the tour. We enjoyed a hunting Ethiopian Wolf for quite some time, we had close views of a troop of Gelada Baboons and even encountered a Spotted Hyena at Wondo Genet.

Below you can enjoy some pictures of endemic birds seen. Others will soon follow.

Yellow-fronted Parrot

Spot-breasted Lapwing


Prince Ruspoli's Turaco


White-tailed Swallow

Tuesday, November 11, 2008 - Another succesful crane tour in Hungary

We had a 6-day short Crane Spectacular holiday  in Hungary based in the Hortobagy last week. We had a very good start as in the first 3 hours of the first day the group already enjoyed cracking views of Imperial Eagle, Saker Falcon, Peregrine, Long-legged and Rough-legged Buzzard, about 30 Hen Harriers, Great Bustards and Stone Curlews. The afternoon brought close views of the last flock of Dotterels and a Merlin.

The Long-eared Owl roost held more than 100 birds and we also had good views of Barn Owl. The returning Greater Spotted Eagle performed nicely for the group and a visit to the fishponds produced close views of Penduline and Bearded Tits and the usual numbers of water birds.

The evening crane spectacles were one of the many highlights of the holiday, when we enjoyed thousands of Common Cranes flying low overhead into their fishpond roosts.

Excursions to the Bukk Hills brought further wonderful sightings with 3 Wallcreepers chasing each other and a flock of 4-5 Alpine Accentors. We had incredible views of White-backed Woodpecker and enjoyed several Middle Spotted, Grey-headed and Syrian Woodpeckers. The group was lucky enough to see one of the Spotted Nutcrackers that invaded Hungary in the last weeks.

Last day we watched 4 Imperial Eagles, adults and immatures hunting for hares en route to the airport and ended an unforgettable holiday in Hungary.

Tuesday, October 28, 2008 - Crane Spectacular tour October 2008

We experienced beautiful weather and fabulous birding during last week's Crane Spectacular tour. Highlights included Red-breasted Goose, Greater Spotted Eagle, Spotted Nutcracker and White-winged Crossbill.

Several stops during the drive from Budapest to the Hortobágy produced scope views of an immature White-tailed Eagle, 2 Imperial Eagles and a Saker Falcon.

We spent 4 days in the Hortobágy where we enjoyed great views of 8 Dotterels, 4 Stone Curlews and 10 Great Bustards on the first day. 3 Great Bitterns along a canal were a nice surprise some of them very close to our van.


We saw White-tailed Eagle each day on the Hortobágy, but had to work hard for Long-legged and Rough-legged Buzzard. An adult Great Spotted Eagle was a nice addition to the tour list and the area produced good views of 2 Black Woodpeckers and Bramblings.

A visit to the Hortobágy Fishponds was rewarding as ever. Flocks of Penduline and Bearded Tits entertained us while walking from hide to hide. We had good views of a flock of 33 Lesser White-fronted Geese and many Common Cranes on the biggest pond. The first Red-breasted Goose of the season mixed in a flock of Greater White-fronted Geese and ducks was a wonderful sight, as were 3 Water Rails and a juvenile Little Crake feeding on the edge of the reedbed.


We visited a roost of Long-eared Owls where we counted at least 60 birds some of them fairly low in the trees. The last day in the Hortobágy produced another surprise as we have found the sixth Spotted Nutcracker for the region. On the same day we succesfully twitched the fourth and fifth White-winged Crossbill for Hungary conveniently located en route to the Zemplén Hills.


As we reached the Zemplén Hills the weather changed to dull overcast. Still we had great birding with 2 White-backed Woodpeckers seen at two different sites. Middle-spotted Woodpecker was also located at two places and we had great views of Syrian Woodpecker as well. 2 adut and a subadult Golden Eagle crossing a valley were a great sight. Flocks of Common Crossbill, Fieldfare and Mistle Thrush were a common sight with a few Redwings present as well. We saw a nice female and an immature Goshawk hunting and a visit to a quarry produced a nice Eagle Owl.


A short visit to the Bükk Hills en route to the airport produced a very obliging Grey-headed Woodpecker and 3 Black Woodpeckers.

The Crane Spectacular holiday proved to be a great tour again. We also recorded other wildlife such as Souslik, Fire Salamander, Fire-bellied Toad and Large Copper.

Friday, October 10, 2008 - Great news of Red-footed Falcons

There was a simultaneous count of gathering Red-footed Falcons conducted at the end of September in Hungary and Transylvania, Romania. It resulted in a record number of specimens in the Carpathian Basin and a record of specimens sleeping at one sight.

Members of the Red-footed Falcon project counted 5800 specimens in the Carpathian Basin and there were 1800 birds gathering at a single roosting site!

Since then most of the birds migrated south to Africa. The best way to see them is to join our Best Birding in Hungary tour in the spring or if you want to see flocks of Red-footed Falcons before migration then join the Raptor Special tour.

Tuesday, September 30, 2008 - Raptor special holiday

Friday, September 19, 2008 - Bat watching holiday in Hungary and Slovakia

We had the first Bat watching holiday in Hungary and Slovakia this July. The holiday was a great success with 17 bat species recorded and many of them were seen in the hand of local bat experts who were conducting their yearly monitoring work. The list of bat species included Mediterranean Horseshoe, Particoloured, Schreiber's, Lesser and Greater Mouse-eared and Geoffroy's Bat.

Participants also recorded interesting birds among them Grey-headed and White-backed Woodpecker, Red-breasted Flycatcher and Lesser Spotted Eagle. There were some exciting butterflies seen during the tour. No wonder since Aggtelek in Hungary and the Slovak Karst belong to the most exciting sites for butterflies in the region. The long list included Hungarian Glider, Meleager's Blue, Purple-shot Copper, Lesser Purple and Purple Emperor among others.

Wednesday, September 10, 2008 - Raptor special holiday in Hungary

This year's holiday was really raptor special as we saw 19 species of raptors. There were many memorable moments and sights during the tour and we saw many good birds, butterflies, dragonflies and other wildlife.

On the first day a roadside stop produced a Long-legged Buzzard and a male Pallid Harrier, while the next stop a Short-toed Eagle and several Red-footed Falcons. We saw 2 adult Imperial Eagles and a Saker at a site within 5 minutes. At another place in the Little Hortobágy we watched 3 immature White-tailed Eagles, a juvenile Imperial Eagle and 3 juvenile Montague's Harriers. The Zemplen Hills were productive too with 2 Golden and 3 Lesser Spotted Eagles, a white phase Booted Eagle, Goshawk, Hobby and Peregrine. The number of raptors was also amazing. We counted over 40 Marsh Harriers during a day in the Hortobágy, but Common Buzzard, Kestrel and Red-footed Falcon was also numerous.

Other interesting species included 26 Dotterels in the Hortobágy, most of them still in breeding plumage. In the Kiskunság we observed 10 Great Bustards feeding on a meadow. The 10 Long-eared Owls roosting in a tree were a nice surprise for everybody, as was the Eagle Owl discovered in a quarry at daylight. It was nice to watch a juvenile Little Crake walking on the floating vegetation of a canal picking insects. We enjoyed a similar rare sight when a Water Rail was walking on the edge of a drained fishpond disturbing a Squacco Heron. Of the early migrants there were still many Rollers and Bee-eaters around and we found a juvenile Lesser Grey Shrike too. The Hortobágy and Csécs Fishponds were very productive with many Pygmy Cormorants, Ferruginous Ducks, Cranes, 26 Black Storks and other waterbirds.

Typically for a Raptor special holiday the last bird species we saw during the tour was Imperial Eagle and Raven at a motorway stop en route to the airport, where we watched 3 juvenile Imperial Eagles landing on the field in front us and one of them feeding on its prey.

Wednesday, August 6, 2008 - Birding holiday in Cuba

Our latest 2-week-long Cuban birding holiday was a great success again. We found most of the Cuban and many Caribbean endemics, took nice photographs of most including the smallest bird in the World, the Bee Hummingbird, the unique Cuban Trogon, Cuban Parrot, Giant Kinbird, the ever attractive Cuban Tody and even the most elusive Gundlach’s Hawk.

We visited the hilly region of Soroa and La Güira, then birded the famous Zapata Peninsula. We continued our tour with exploring La Belén area and finally enjoyed 3 days at the best birding cayes of Cuba and finished our tour with the incredible Havana.

There were many endemics and other great birds to look for during this tour, but we did not miss the opportunity to enjoy sunshine, music, old timers and mojitos!

Cuban Tody

Cuban Trogon

Great Lizard-Cuckoo

Cuban Parrot

Friday, August 1, 2008 - Birding holiday in Costa Rica

Just a few nice photos from our latest Costa Rican birding holiday taken by the tour leader Gabor Orban.  Enjoy!

Chestnut-mandibled Toucan

Boat-billed Heron

Green Honeycreeper

Pale-billed Woodpecker

Wednesday, June 25, 2008 - Birding holiday in Romania

Our holiday The land of Dracula and the Danube Delta was a great success.

The tour visited the Southern Carpathians where the group saw 11 Brown Bears on one evening from a hide and another bear along the road. Other highlights included Wallcreeper, 8 woodpecker species including Three-toed Woodpecker and Shore Lark.

The Black Sea Coast produced Booted Eagle, Stone Curlew, Black-winged Pratincole, Short-toed and Calandra Lark, Isabelline and Pied Wheatear among others.

The two days spent on a floating hotel in the Danube Delta was easy birding at its best with hundreds of Pygmy Cormorants, White and Dalmatian Pelicans, Glossy Ibis. The group enjoyed the song of Thrush Nightingales and a Bluethroat was also a welcome addition to the list.

Monday, June 16, 2008 - Birding holiday in Bulgaria in June

Our June holiday to Bulgaria was a great success producing 22 species of raptors and many other exciting birds, mammals, reptiles and butterflies.

Durankulak and Shabla Lakes were again very productive with many breeding specialities including singing Paddyfiled Warbler, Red-footed Falcon, Roller and Lesser Grey Shrike. Pied Wheatears were singing on the cliffs around Cape Kaliakra while we watched Harbour Porpoises in the sea. Thousands of Rose-coloured Starlings flew in for night roost and two majestic Eagle Owls patrolled the gorge late afternoon.

The lakes around Burgas harboured nice flocks of both White and Dalmatian Pelicans and waders were still on passage including Marsh Sandpiper. A Golden Jackal walking into a roosting pelican flock was a pleasant surprise at Atanasovsko Lake.

The Sakar Hills produced Imperial Eagle, Long-legged Buzzard, Masked Shrike, Olive-tree Warbler and Ortolan Bunting among others.

The Eastern Rhodope Mountains were among the highlights with fantastic scenery and great birds including 6 Black Vultures,  4 specimens of Eleonora's Falcon, a perched male Levant Sparrowhawk, Chukar, Eastern Orphean and Eastern Bonelli's Warbler.

The group also enjoyed beautiful butterflies includding Eastern Festoon, Grecian and Balkan Copper, as well as Spur-thighed Tortoise and Large Whip Snake. 

Monday, May 26, 2008 - Birding holiday in Croatia

Friday, May 16, 2008 - Birding in Bulgaria

Our birding tour to Bulgaria was once again very succesful with 184 species of birds seen at the end of April.

Migration was well underway along the Black Sea Coast with Steppe Buzzards and the first Honey Buzzards passing through. White Storks, White Pelicans and Glossy Ibises were also migrating.



Durankulak and Shabla Lakes in the North and the lakes close to Burgas were all very productive with Ruddy Shelduck, Dalmatian Pelican, Little Crake, Marsh Sandpiper, Gull-billed and White-winged Tern. Stone Curlew, Calandra and Short-toed Lark, Tawny Pipit, Pied and Isabelline Wheatear were easy to find.


In the forests of Kamchia and Ropotamo Semi-collared Flycatchers and Sombre Tits were busy singing, and Woodchat Shrikes were occupying their breeding sites. The Strandja and Sakar Hills were a good place to see raptors including Booted, Lesser-spotted and Short-toed Eagle, Black Kite and Long-legged Buzzard.


The Eastern Rhodope Mountains were full of nice birds. Griffon and Egyptian Vulture, Black Stork, Golden Eagle was soaring above while we were admiring Western Rock Nuthatch, Blue Rock Thrush and Eastern Bonelli's Warbler to name just a few.

Thursday, April 10, 2008 - Owls and woodpeckers in Hungary and Slovakia

If somebody wants to observe woodpeckers and owls April is one of the best months in Hungary and Slovakia. It is perfectly possible to see all the 10 species of woodpeckers of Europe and 5 owl species including Ural, Pygmy and Tengmalm's Owl during a birding tour to Hungary and Slovakia.

The woods in the Northern Hungarian and Slovakian Hills are at this time loud of the calls of Black, Grey-headed and Middle Spotted Woodpeckers. Most trees in the forest are still bare providing a good visibility. With some expert help it is possible to find the elusive White-backed Woodpecker in old beech forests and the silent Three-toed Woodpecker in pine woods. Great Spotted, Little Spotted and Green Woodpecker are fairly common and around habitations with old orchards we can find Syrian Woodpecker and Wryneck.

Pygmy Owl and Tengmalm's Owl are still actively calling at dusk early April, while Ural Owls are incubating eggs and Eagle Owls feeding their young chicks.

Naturally there is a lot more to see in the hills. Lesser Spotted and Golden Eagle is hunting on hillside meadows, Hazel Grouse walk secretly along the trails, Ring Ouzel sings on tops of pine trees and Nutcrackers are calling. Red-breasted and Collared Flycatchers sing in beech woods, Corncrakes call from wet meadows and Hawfinches are a common sight.

Friday, March 14, 2008 - Kingfisher heaven in Mole, Ghana

We were walking on the Samole Floodplains in Mole National Park one afternoon and found a small water body with a lot of activity all around. Red-billed Firefinches, Orange-cheeked Waxbills, Red-cheeked Cordon-bleus came in to drink. Then an African Pygmy-Kingfisher appeared and sat motionless in a bush. Not much later a colourful Blue-breasted Kingfisher flew in and perched in a tree in front of us.

We watched it hunting for a while and then walked to the other side of the pool. There we first discovered a Malachite Kingfisher sitting atop a branch above the water. Not much later we realised that another kingfisher is sitting motionless in the shade. To our great surprise it was a Shining-blue Kingfisher, a species we haven't expected to see due to its shy habits.


We were very content seeing 4 species of kingfisher in 30 minutes. Besides the kingfishers we also recorded a Saddle-billed Stork, several Hammerkops and Hadada Ibises, White-faced Whistling-Ducks, Striated and Night Herons around the pool.

To make our kingfisher list of Mole even better the next day we recorded Giant Kingfisher, Grey-headed Kingfisher and Striped Kingfisher (see pic).


A trip report with the list of species seen will soon be posted on Ecotours website Birding in Hungary and Eastern Europe.

Friday, March 7, 2008 - Spring arrives to Hungary

Bird migration usually starts at the end of February when short distance migrants start arriving back from the Mediterranean region.

This February flocks of Lapwings and Golden Plovers appeared 2 weeks ago with the first warmer winds, but it was during last week when numbers started to build up. Black-tailed Godwit, Curlew, Dunlin, Common Redshank, Ruff, Little and Common Ringed Plover appeared at the wetlands and the first Garganeys and Ferruginous Ducks arrived too. Skylarks and Corn Buntings have been back and singing for more than a week and Woodlarks started to occupy their territories as well.

The first Barn Swallow was also reported but it will take at least 2 weeks until their numbers will build up.

Monday, February 25, 2008 - Bird Safari on the Gold Coast, Ghana

We had a very succesful Ecotours birding holiday in January-February in Ghana, West Africa. We recorded 394 species during the 2 weeks. Bird of the trip was Yellow-headed Picathartes with 4 birds seen extremely well at one of their nesting sites.

There were many trip highlights, as we saw 10 hornbill species including Black-casqued, Brown-cheeked, Red-billed Dwarf and Black Dwarf Hornbills, 9 species of kingfishers including Chocolate-backed and Shining-blue Kingfishers, as well as 8 species of bee-eaters, including Black, Blue-headed and Rosy Bee-eaters.

Kakum with the Canopy Walkway and Aboabo was very rewarding. We recorded Long-tailed Hawk and African Cuckoo-Hawk, Latham's Francolin, Red-fronted and Grey Parrot, Yellow-billed Turaco, Black Bee-eater, Little-green and Fire-bellied Woodpecker, many greenbuls, flycatchers and sunbirds, White-tailed Alethe, Finsch's Flycatcher-Thrush, Kemp's Longbill, Blue Cuckoo-Shrike, Copper-tailed Glossy-Starling to name just a few.

Another highlight was Mole National Park with many mammals, including African Elephant, 3 species of monkeys, 4 species of antelopes including Roan Antelope, and of course fabulous birds. The unbelievable male Standard-winged Nightjar or the pair of Greyish Eagle-Owls sitting quietly in a tree or the Denham's Bustard recorded only a couple of times in Mole were all unforgettable. Our long list in Mole included such gems as Saddle-billed Stork, White-headed Vulture, Martial Eagle, Red-headed Lovebird, Violet Turaco, Pearl-spotted Owlet, Black Scimitarbill, Blue-breasted Kingfisher, Swallow-tailed Bee-eater, Abyssinian Ground-Hornbill, Fine-spotted Woodpecker, Sun Lark, White-fronted Black Chat, African Blue Flycatcher, White-shouldered Tit, White Helmet-Shrike, Western Violet-backed Sunbird, Black-headed Weaver and Black-faced Firefinch.



We also visited Sakumono Lagoon and other coastal wetlands for Black Heron and Yellow-throated Longclaw, Bobiri Forest for Shining Drongo, Preuss's Weaver and lots of colourful butterflies, and Atewa Hills for Blue-headed Bee-eater, a nice array of barbets, greenbuls and flycatchers.

Ghana once again proved to be a very exciting birdwatching destination with a good combinatin of Upper Guinea Forest and Savanna specialities, nice hotels, good food and friendly people.