Trips

Back From Birding Hungary

June 17, 2012 by Corey 10 Comments

I’m baaack! And what a trip to Hungary it was! Before I get into the nitty-gritties of my awesome birding experiences in Hungary I thought I would just share a few of the shots that I got during the trip. My life list has increased by 33 which, considering I tallied 137 species during the trip (out of the 160 that the group got), is a pretty significant total. My year list also jumped by a whopping 122 species! But there was more than birds – there were great mammals, insects, landscapes, food, and people. If you ever get the chance to visit Hungary you should take it: you definitely won’t regret that choice.

Enough chatter – on to the pictures!

the Hungarian flag

Eurasian Wryneck Jynx torquilla

Bearded Reedlings Panurus biarmicus

Common Blackbird Turdus merula

European Hedgehog Erinaceus europaeus

Eurasian Nuthatch Sitta europaea

High Brown Fritillary Fabriciana adippe

Great Reed Warbler Acrocephalus arundinaceus

Budapest

It’s going to take me awhile to get this trip blogged. Stay tuned for much, much more!

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My week-long trip to Hungary was a familiarity trip organized by the wonderful folks at Swarovski Optik to introduce their new line of superior spotting scopes, the ATX and the STX modular telescopes. We visited Hortobágy National Park, the Bükk Hills and places in between. Many thanks to Swarovski Optik for inviting me along and letting me experience both some awesome new optics and the natural wonders of the wonderful country of Hungary.

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Written by Corey

Corey is a New Yorker who lived most of his life in upstate New York but has lived in Queens since 2008. He's only been birding since 2005 but has garnered a respectable life list by birding whenever he wasn't working as a union representative or spending time with his family. He lives in Forest Hills with Daisy and Desmond Shearwater. His bird photographs have appeared on the Today Show, in Birding, Living Bird Magazine, Bird Watcher's Digest, and many other fine publications. He is also the author of the American Birding Association Field Guide to the Birds of New York.

10 Comments

Clare and Grant-Broome Western Australia June 17, 2012 at 7:39 pm
Looking forward to upcoming posts! 🙂
Robert Mortensen June 17, 2012 at 7:44 pm
Awesome!
Nate June 17, 2012 at 7:51 pm
Forget the photos. Have you eBirded your trip yet?
Corey June 17, 2012 at 7:52 pm
@Nate: Finished it up this morning when I woke up very early as a result of still being on Hungary time…and I have gotten through the raptors on my year list!
Nate June 17, 2012 at 7:54 pm
Extra impressive since Hungary appears to have very few hotspots!
Corey June 18, 2012 at 6:51 am
@Nate: Yeah, and a couple of my locations might be plotted wrong but I made them as accurate as I could. The proper plotting of the birding sites is difficult when you were, say, birding a random field on the side of the road, especially when you can’t remember what road it was or what town you were in…
Renato June 19, 2012 at 9:08 pm
Great, looking forward to the rest. Great shots.
Yoav Chudnoff June 21, 2012 at 2:33 pm
I think one of the items that was left out is the situation in Hungary – obviously major drought – but – an endangered species has not been found in the Hortobagy: Aquatic Warbler. Dr. Gabor Kovacs, who is well respected throughout the ornithological and ‘the keeper of the Aquatic Warbler location,’ has not seen the several pairs that usually stay there –
It is also important to note that migratory waders in S.E. Europe have been scarce as well – residents are holding up, but migratory waders, very few and far between – thus the question – are these two related in one way or the other.
Corey June 26, 2012 at 7:39 am
@Renato: Thanks!
@Yoav Chudnoff: I will get to the odd story of missing Aquatic Warblers in Hungary soon. And I’m glad that those of us on the trip aren’t the only ones paying attention!