Birding in Hungary IX

Tuesday 16 July 2024

Sarud

On Tuesday moring, my dad and I woke up at 6am to go birding around the town of Sarud. Just as we left the house we saw a female Black Redstart on the roof of a building adjacent to us. Before long, I started hearing the Turtle Dove again but it was quite a distance away. Quite soon, we started seeing many Red-Backed Shrikes (males, females and juveniles). After watching a few Marsh Harriers, my dad turned around and found what he though was another Marsh Harrier, but under closer inspection with our binoculars we realised it was an Imperial Eagle! A lifer! Once the eagle flew out of sight we continued getting more good views of Red-backed Shrike and a female Golden Oriole flew into a tree only a few metres away from us! The oriole soon flew away and we turned back seeing even more Red-backed Shrikes and a surprise in the form of a Hoopoe perched beatifully in a tree! Just before arriving back to our accommodation, we were lucky to see two Grey Partridges and got views of 2 Turtle Doves.

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Lake Tisza - Sarud

After realising that everone was still sleeping, we took the car for a quick drive down to the coast of lake tisza at the other side of Sarud. We parked the car hearing Golden Oriole just as I was getting my scope. Down at the lake we saw many boats in the harbour. I saw that one of the piers connected to an island in the middle so we decided to go there. We were rewarded by views of my lifer Wryneck feeding on the ground! After finding a family of Spotted flycatchers and seeing another Hoopoe, we went back to the harbour where we got really close views of a Night Heron out in the open. Before long we had to start heading home in time to join the others to visit the town of Poroszló about 10km north of Sarud.

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Lake Tisza - Poroszló

After visiting the Tisza-tavi Ökocentrum in Poroszló, we went for a delicious lunch at the "Kormorán" (which is the Hungarian name for the Cormorants). On the way we saw some Cormorants in some trees and a soaring White-tailed Ealge. I ordered a Hortobágyi húsos palacsinta, since it was said to be really good. After trying it I was not dissapointed. It was the best food I had ever had! After a wonderful lunch, my mum, my dad and myself walked to the Vízi Sétány to get a boat ride to the reedbed.

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Lake Tisza - Vízi Sétány

Just before getting the before getting on the boat we got a flyover from my lifer Whiskered Tern! On the boat towards the island, we also saw a few Black Terns flying over. Once we arrived on the island we were given an introduction by a staff member on site. We soon started hearing Bearded Reedlings on the way to the first hide and when we arrived we found a whole family flying in the reeds giving great views, unfourcenatly however, we did not have our camera so all the photos we could take were from our phones. At the hide we did see a few Common Terns and got some better views. Later we saw a few more Bearded Reedlings and many frogs. On the way back we also got views of Spotted flycatcher in a woodland area and saw a Grass snake in the water.

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