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Eurasian Marsh-Harrier (Photo by participant David Woods)

Our inaugural Hungary & Romania tour took us from the Danube Delta and the Black Sea coast to the Carpathian Mountains, Torda Gorge, and Hortobagy and Kiskunsag national parks. With our itinerary beginning in Bucharest and finishing in Budapest, many of the group added extra days to see some of the historical sites in these two famous cities.

Our birding began after a five-hour drive to Tulcea, the gateway to the Danube Delta. Once aboard our floating hotel, we headed into the delta with a small 'tug' pulling us and an extra third, smaller boat to allow us to venture into some of the smaller, shallower, side channels where most of the birds are found. We spent three nights here, mooring up at different spots and then using the smaller boat for excursions. The weather turned out to be much colder than the norm, but we slowly added a great selection of waterbirds including 11 species of waterfowl (Red-crested Pochard and Ferruginous Duck were two of the less common ones), Red-necked and Great Crested grebes (nesting and displaying), Pygmy Cormorant (hundreds), Great White and Dalmatian pelicans, a good variety of herons and egrets, Glossy Ibis, Eurasian Spoonbill, Ruff (with several males in exotic breeding plumage), Collared Pratincole, Caspian Gull, and Black, White-winged, and Whiskered terns (all in breeding plumage). Trees along the banks were perches for White-tailed Eagle, and the reedbeds held Savi's Warbler, Bearded Reedling, and Eurasian Penduline-Tit. Our walks on land produced a variety of open woodland species, varying from Common Cuckoo to Eurasian Hoopoe, Gray-headed Woodpecker, Spotted Flycatcher, Northern Wheatear, and Corn Bunting.

We then spent two nights based at Constanta on the Black Sea coast, here we explored woodlands in the Dobrodgea area and the extensive wetlands that run for hundreds of kilometers to the north. Just some of our more memorable sightings included White Storks on their nests (one pair with Spanish Sparrows breeding in the underside of these huge twig structures), Steppe Eagle (rare here), Booted Eagle, Long-legged Buzzard, hundreds more herons, shorebirds, gulls, and terns, European Roller, Middle Spotted Woodpecker, Red-backed Shrike, Calandra, Greater Short-toed, Crested, and Sky larks, Sombre Tit, Eurasian Nuthatch, Willow Warbler, Blackcap, Common Nightingale, Black Redstart, Ortolan Bunting, European Greenfinch, Hawfinch, and a delightful little rodent known as Souslik.

We then headed west to our base at Desag near Mt. Hargita in the Carpathian Mountains. During three nights here we visited the Bicaz Gorge, where Wallcreeper was a highlight on the cliff face and a very tame White-throated Dipper was along the rocky stream. In the open country we enjoyed Lesser Spotted Eagle, Northern and Lesser Gray shrikes, Fieldfare, Ring Ouzel, Water Pipit, European Goldfinch, and Serin, while in the forests Eurasian Pygmy-Owl, Crested and Coal tits, and fabulous close Firecrest were all seen well. Even the local city park provided highlights, with Collared Flycatcher in the day and European Scops-Owl at night. Most fabulous though was a visit to a blind where Brown Bears put on a fabulous show; for more than two hours we watched interactions between two mothers with their young, another lone female, a younger male, and finally a large male as they fed on the provided meat and offal -- sometimes walking in front of us only a few meters away!

The final part of our birding in Romania was to the Apuseni Hills and Torda Gorge. Based in a lovely hotel, we saw our first Black Stork and watched a Golden Eagle on a nest with two young, while other additions to our list included Little Owl, Alpine Swift, Wood Lark, Eurasian Crag-Martin, Red-rumped Swallow, Greater Whitethroat, Rock Bunting, and Yellowhammer.

We then began the Hungarian part of our tour with a two night stay at Hortobagy National Park -- a mix of controlled traditional farmland, marshes, woodland, and "Puszta" grassland. In addition to many species of waterbirds we had enjoyed previously, we added Common Crane, Black Woodpecker (super close views), Eurasian Green Woodpecker, beautiful male and female Red-footed Falcons, Saker Falcon, Eurasian Golden Oriole, Marsh Tit, Short-toed Treecreeper, and Moustached Warbler (for a few of the group).

For our last stop we stayed in the Kiskunsag National Park near to Budapest. Our main target here was Great Bustard, for this is their European stronghold. We were not disappointed, seeing at least a dozen during our first afternoon. Once again the marshes held a wealth of waterbirds, while in the farmlands we saw Gray Partridge, Black Stork, Eurasian Thick-knee, wonderful Mediterranean Gulls in breeding plumage, Imperial Eagle (unfortunately only a distant silhouette), Syrian Woodpecker, and Barred Warbler. Most bizarre however was on our final morning when most of the group saw a Great Bittern -- standing right in the open in the middle of the road!

Till next time, good birding!

--Terry

KEYS FOR THIS LIST
One of the following keys may be shown in brackets for individual species as appropriate: * = heard only, I = introduced, E = endemic, N = nesting, a = austral migrant, b = boreal migrant

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS

Totals for the tour: 203 bird taxa and 7 mammal taxa