For my “stag do” (or “bachelor party” as it is known in the US), I decided upon the rather unconventional choice of a four-day birding trip to Hungary. My best man is just as keen a birder as I am, and with lifetime Western Palearctic lists for the both of us comfortably in the mid-500s, we are on the stage of “mopping up” one or two birds here and there, having seen the vast majority of what there is to see in Europe. Hungary seemed like a good choice for a long weekend, offering both of us the chance of Saker Falcon, while I needed Ural Owl and Tim was targeting Eastern Imperial Eagle. In addition, mid May would offer some excellent forest and wetland birds, with nine woodpecker species likely, and a spectacular birding bonanza in the marshes of the Hortobagy.

Tim made the arrangements through Saker Tours, and we were generally very impressed, both with the Zemplen Hills bird guide and the quality of the accommodations.

Day One: We picked up our rental car at Budapest airport and headed east. A rest stop along the main M3 motorway, about an hour from the airport, is frequently mentioned in the gen as being a good spot to try for Eastern Imperial Eagle. We spent an hour here and finally came away with superb views of a near-adult, which passed almost over our heads, at one point being mobbed by a ringtail Hen Harrier. This was our only Eastern Imperial Eagle of the trip, so making a stop here proved to be well worthwhile.

We also saw a single Montagu’s Harrier from the motorway, and this also proved to be our sole sighting of this species, which surprised us as we expected this species to be fairly common. Western Marsh Harriers, on the other hand, were abundant in many habitat types.

Gardens, hills and woods near our overnight accommodation in a small village near the Zemplen hills provided many of the common species of Hungary, including White Stork, Crested Lark, Black Redstart, Hawfinch, Red-backed Shrike and Corn Bunting.

Day Two: We picked up our guide at 7am, and birded various locations in the Zemplen hills. The lower levels of these hills are covered in vineyards and orchards, which give way to unspoiled beech, oak and hornbeam forests higher up. Early on, we lucked out on superb views of a Lesser Spotted Eagle, sometimes a tricky bird to find. Our first stop in some mature forest was productive for woodpeckers, with White-backed Woodpecker at its nest hole, a pair of Black Woodpeckers coming in to imitations of their call, and a pair of Middle Spotted Woodpeckers feeding young. Collared Flycatchers were singing, but proved extremely hard to catch sight of in the dense canopy. We heard this species frequently, but my only sightings all day were a briefly seen female, and a male glimpsed in flight.

The highlight of the day – and the trip – was without a doubt the magnificent Ural Owl. Only four nestboxes are occupied in the whole of the Zemplen hills this year – compared to up to 50 in good years – so a guide is essential if you want to find one. We scored with not only a magnificent female in trees near the nest, but also brief flight views of the male in nearby forest. A bird I won’t forget in a while and certainly one of my “birds of the year” so far.

Later in the day we stopped at a quarry, where three well-grown Eagle Owl nestlings were showing, but neither of the parents seemed to be around. A singing Barred Warbler gave us the runaround near the quarry, but we saw many others of this species at another location near Tokay. One bird we heard quite often but never managed to see was River Warbler, so unfortunately it cannot go on my year list ….. it’s 17 years since I had good views of this species, in Germany.

We drove south to the Hortobagy, and arrived shortly before dark, just in time to be shown to a Eurasian Scops Owl nest box, complete with calling male at the entrance – owl species number three for the day.

Days Three and Four: We focused on the Hortobagy marshes, especially the accessible area at Hortobagy-Halasto. In the afternoon of the first day, we were taken to a restricted area where a Red-footed Falcon colony made for interesting viewing. During the course of the afternoon here, we enjoyed five sightings of a huge subadult female Saker Falcon as it hunted for sousliks in the area – which, along with the arctic-dwelling Gyrfalcon, is probably Europe’s most impressive falcon. Also here, a distant Long-legged Buzzard, a pair of Black Storks, and several Lesser Grey Shrikes.

The marshes themselves were nothing short of spectacular, with many species of ducks, herons, and reed bed birds. Of particular interest were abundant singing Bluethroats and Savi’s Warblers, a passage Marsh Warbler seen well, Moustached Warbler and Penduline Tit, a big gathering of ten White-tailed Eagles, a Great Bittern in flight, breeding Red-necked and Black-necked Grebes, gulls including a lone adult Slender-billed and breeding Caspians, and passage waders including both Temminck’s and Little Stints.

Lifers: Saker Falcon, Ural Owl (total 1,903).

Western Palearctic tick: Eastern Imperial Eagle (total 528).

2015 World Year List: 711

Hungary Trip List:

1. Great Crested Grebe
2. Red-necked Grebe
3. Black-necked Grebe
4. Little Grebe
5. Great Cormorant
6. Pygmy Cormorant
7. Great Bittern
8. Black-crowned Night Heron
9. Squacco Heron
10. Little Egret
11. Great Egret
12. Grey Heron
13. Purple Heron
14. White Stork
15. Black Stork
16. Eurasian Spoonbill
17. Mute Swan
18. Greylag Goose
19. Common Shelduck
20. Mallard
21. Gadwall
22. Pintail
23. Northern Shoveler
24. Common Teal
25. Eurasian Wigeon
26. Garganey
27. Common Pochard
28. Ferruginous Duck
29. Tufted Duck
30. White-tailed Eagle
31. Eastern Imperial Eagle
32. Lesser Spotted Eagle
33. Short-toed Eagle
34. Black Kite
35. Western Marsh Harrier
36. Hen Harrier
37. Montagu’s Harrier
38. Long-legged Buzzard
39. Common Buzzard
40. European Honey-Buzzard
41. Eurasian Sparrowhawk
42. Common Kestrel
43. Eurasian Hobby
44. Red-footed Falcon
45. Saker Falcon
46. Common Quail (H)
47. Ring-necked Pheasant
48. Common Moorhen
49. Eurasian Coot
50. Common Crane
51. Eurasian Oystercatcher
52. Pied Avocet
53. Black-winged Stilt
54. Little Ringed Plover
55. Northern Lapwing
56. Dunlin
57. Sanderling
58. Curlew Sandpiper
59. Little Stint
60. Temminck’s Stint
61. Wood Sandpiper
62. Common Redshank
63. Eurasian Curlew
64. Black-headed Gull
65. Slender-billed Gull
66. Common Gull
67. Little Gull
68. Caspian Gull
69. Yellow-legged Gull
70. Black Tern
71. White-winged Tern
72. Whiskered Tern
73. Common Tern
74. Feral Pigeon
75. Woodpigeon
76. Stock Dove
77. Turtle Dove
78. Collared Dove
79. Eurasian Cuckoo
80. Eagle Owl
81. Ural Owl
82. Eurasian Scops Owl
83. Common Swift
84. Hoopoe
85. European Roller
86. Black Woodpecker
87. Grey-headed Woodpecker
88. Great Spotted Woodpecker
89. Syrian Woodpecker
90. Middle Spotted Woodpecker
91. Lesser Spotted Woodpecker
92. White-backed Woodpecker
93. Eurasian Wryneck
94. Eurasian Skylark
95. Crested Lark
96. Woodlark
97. Sand Martin
98. House Martin
99. Barn Swallow
100. White Wagtail
101. Yellow Wagtail
102. Eurasian Wren
103. European Robin
104. Rufous Nightingale
105. Bluethroat
106. Common Redstart
107. Black Redstart
108. Northern Wheatear
109. Whinchat
110. Common Stonechat
111. Song Thrush
112. Blackbird
113. Barred Warbler
114. Blackcap
115. Lesser Whitethroat
116. Common Whitethroat
117. Sedge Warbler
118. Moustached Warbler
119. Savi’s Warbler
120. River Warbler (H)
121. Reed Warbler
122. Marsh Warbler
123. Great Reed Warbler
124. Icterine Warbler
125. Willow Warbler (H)
126. Wood Warbler
127. Chiffchaff
128. Spotted Flycatcher
129. Collared Flycatcher
130. Great Tit
131. Blue Tit
132. Marsh Tit
133. Long-tailed Tit
134. Bearded Tit
135. Eurasian Penduline Tit
136. Eurasian Nuthatch
137. Red-backed Shrike
138. Lesser Grey Shrike
139. Common Magpie
140. Eurasian Jay
141. Western Jackdaw
142. Rook
143. Hooded Crow
144. Common Raven
145. Common Starling
146. Golden Oriole
147. House Sparrow
148. Tree Sparrow
149. Chaffinch
150. Linnet
151. European Goldfinch
152. European Greenfinch
153. Serin
154. Northern Bullfinch
155. Hawfinch
156. Common Reed Bunting
157. Yellowhammer
158. Corn Bunting