Hungary 🇭🇺

Birding in Hungary 🇭🇺

Location

Hungary is quite a small country at around 100,000km2. It has a small population of 10M, most of which packed into the capital city, Budapest. Hungary is located between the Balkans and Central Europe but is usually considered as part of Central Europe rather than the Balkans. Hungary is land-locked meaning it has no access to a sea or ocean. It borders countries including, Ukraine, Romania, Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, Austria and Slovakia. Hungary is situated on the Hungarian Plain, a vast area of lowland with one of the most endangered habitats in Europe: the puszta. The two main rivers, the Danube and the Tisza that flow through Hungary are often popular with non-birder tourists. 

Birdlife  

Due to its location in central Europe, Hungary is a great place for many types of bird. Hungary has an astonishing 9 species of woodpecker - Green, Lesser + Great spotted, White-backed, Black, Grey-headed, Syrian, Middle-spotted and Wryneck. Hungary is also famous for its eagles with another 8 species. As well as this, the renowned Hortobagy National Park attracts birders from all over the continent. Hortobagy holds a great portion of the remaining wetland and grassland expanse in all of Europe. This habitat allows for threatened species such as Great Bustard and the European Ground Squirrel to exist.

On Holiday

Since my mother's parents live in Hungary, we visit them most years and get to do some birding meanwhile. While we stay at their place in Békéscsaba, we often visit a series of lakes and ponds which are great for birds. Since we stay in the suburbs, this area is only a few minutes walk from my grandparents' house.