Days 1-2

After arriving in Budapest we travel towards Kiskunság National Park, birding en route, concentrating on Great Bustards, Stone Curlews and other grassland species. During a full day discovery of the lakes and marshy areas we hope to find many different migrating species.

Days 3-4

On the way from Kiskunsag to Hortobagy we will visit fantastic oxbow lake areas with thousands of birds. At the Hortobagy we will explore the fishponds, including the famous Hortobágy Halastó. We visit Northern Hortobagy, the typical Puszta habitat to experience masses of Cranes flying overhead and raptors including Rough-legged Buzzard and White-tailed Eagle. We will visit day roosts of hundreds of Long-eared Owls. The fishponds attract many waterbirds including Pygmy Cormorant, Ferruginous Duck, Lesser White-fronted Goose, ducks and waders. The reedbeds are home to Penduline and Bearded Tits.

Day 5

We head towards the Bükk hills and en route we stop at suitable places to search for Saker Falcon and Imperial Eagle.

Days 6-7

We spend 2 full days in the Bükk National Park visiting beech woods, scenic valleys, old quarries and limestone meadows for raptors, woodpeckers, owls and woodland passerines.
Pre-breakfast walks around our hotel are always productive. 6 species of woodpecker, Treecreper, Hawfinch were all found in this area of orchards and oak forests.
We spend some time in the scenic Hór Valley searching for Rock Bunting, Grey-headed and Black Woodpecker, Common Crossbill and raptors such as Imperial Eagle and Goshawk. We might also visit Lillafüred, a popular place with tourists where sometimes Wallcreeper can be found on the walls of the palace.
One day we drive up to the Bükk Plateau to explore extensive oak and beech woods, an excellent area for Hawfinch, Treecreeper and woodpeckers, including the elusive White-backed. Even Ural Owl has been seen here.

Day 8

Travel to Budapest Airport stopping en route to look for some extra species.

Day 1

After arrival at Budapest Airport within half an hour we will be already at Kiskunság National Park area. The Northern part is home to the strongest populations of Great Bustards and it also has several fishponds and grassland with various species ranging from Collared Pratincole through Stone Curlew till Purple Heron and many more.

At the end of the day we arrive to our own wonderful, traditional Kondor Ecolodge where you can enjoy garden and near garden species such as Golden Oriole, Bee-eater, Roller, Tawny Pipit, Turtle Dove, Hoopoe, Tree Sparrow, Montagu's Harrier, Lesser Grey and Red-backed Shrike.

Days 2-3

During wet years Lake Kondor in front of us, once the best bird ringing station during the last couple of years started to get back its great species such as Bittern, Black-necked Grebe, Ferruginous Duck, Avocet, Black-winged Stilt and many more.

We spend the days with discovering the grassland areas of the Kiskunsag Puszta with various species including Stone Curlew, Lesser & Red-backed Grey Shrikes, Tawny Pipit and much more. Among the raptors we should find Red-footed Falcon, Montague's Harrier. Honey Buzzard, Sparrowhawk and Hobby. Really common birds should be Kestrels and Common Buzzards. We also can spend some time at alkaline and freshwater lakes to look for various Herons, Egrets, waders and waterfowl.

Days 4-5

Today we leave Kondor EcoLodge, our favourite base and start to travel further East, first stopping at a fantastic oxbow-lake system full with birds, including Ferruginous Ducks, Pygmy Cormorants, Purple Herons, Squacco Herons, Spoonbills and many more. No wonder that White-tailed Eagle regularly hunts the area and sometimes Saker Falcon also checking it for food.

Later in the day we travel to the famous Hortobágy National Park, where we stay for 2 nights. We visit the best sites of the Hortobágy. In the Northern part we look for raptors including Long-legged Buzzard, Lesser Spotted and Short-toed Eagle. This is the best time of the year for migrating Pallid Harrier and with a bit of luck beside Montague's Harrier we might see one of these rare birds as well. We search the Southern steppes for flocks of Dotterel and Stone-Curlew. The fishponds are ideal for Pygmy Cormorant, Squacco Heron, Ferruginous Duck, White-tailed Eagle, Penduline and Bearded Tits, as well as for migrating waders, warblers and flycatchers including Marsh Sandpiper, Icterine Warbler among others. We also visit a roosting site of Red-footed Falcons, where sometimes several hundreds or thousands are present at this time of the year.

We leave the Hortobágy National Park and head north to the Zemplén Hills. En route we stop to look for Saker and Imperial Eagle in the Borsodi Mezőség area.

Days 6-7

Based close to Tokaj we visit the Zemplén Hills for most of the country's raptor and woodpecker species. Beech and oak forests are home to woodpeckers including Black, Grey-headed, White-backed and Middle Spotted. Syrian Woodpecker inhabits orchards in scenic villages. Golden, Lesser Spotted, Short-toed and Imperial Eagle, Honey Buzzard, Goshawk are all present in the Zemplén Hills. We look for Eagle Owl in abandoned quarries and Ural Owl in old beech woods. Rock Bunting, Dipper, Hawfinch and the white-headed race of Long-tailed Tit will also be on our menu in this untouched part of Hungary.

Day 8

Travel to Budapest with more opportunities for birding en route. Afternoon flight back home.

Days 1-4

Our Kondor EcoLodge is less than 60 miles from the Budapest airport in the heart of the Kiskunsag National Park, so we cross some of the attractive parts of it after your arrival. The lodge grounds itself can yield some of the birds that could become easily the highlight of our day in the field. Bee-eaters abound in the National park and a few breed nearby as well as Rollers and Red-footed Falcons. Other birds that can postpone our morning departures from the lodge are Golden Oriole and Hoopoe. Common and Black Redstart both breeding in the garden, Spotted Flycatcher as well. Mammals are also noteworthy – Eastern Hedgehog, Steppe Polecat, Red Squirrel, Otter, European Souslik – but with the exception of Souslik they are usually more difficult to be located.

One of the typical habitats of Kiskunsag is the flat, perfect plain of the "puszta" which has several different types ranging from dry grassland to marshy meadows. Kiskunsag grassland is the typical habitat for population of Great Bustard. This is also a home to Stone Curlew, Tawny Pipit, Lesser Grey Shrike, Wheatear, and a set table for foraging Imperial Eagle, Red-footed and Saker Falcon. If we want to see Collared Pratincoles we should go where puszta meets arable land. Occasionally a Black-winged Pratincole can be spotted there too.

If we should choose the flag species of this area we would go for Roller and Great Bustard. The best Hungarian populations for both are at Kiskunsag. To see the Great Bustard we have to drive to vast plains of north Kiskunsag while Roller core breeding area can be found right where our hotel is. Sightings of displaying bustards or roadside feeding Rollers are truly an unforgettable experience. Red-footed Falcons are also numerous and they add to the colour range of local birds. Indeed, the most colourful species seem to abound here.

During our stay we will check the most important natural alkaline lakes which generally have very high salt concentration. They are rather flat and rich in nutrients and thus very suitable for thousands of birds that stop by, namely large flocks of Ruff and Dunlin. Different species can be found at gravel pits and alongside the canals connecting Tisza and Danube rivers with drier areas. Floodplains of River Tisza and its several oxbow lakes are also perfect birding spots. This group of breeding water birds are include Avocet, Black-winged Stilt, Kentish Plover, Pygmy Cormorant, Black-necked Grebe, Squacco and Purple Heron or Spoonbill. Reedbeds are teeming with Penduline Tit, Bearded Reedling, Great Reed, Savi's and Moustached Warbler. It is usually more common to hear than to see Bittern, Corncrake, Spotted Crake and Little Crake, but we should be able to catch a glimpse of some of these. Marsh and Montagu´s Harriers hover over the fields and sometimes a Short-toed Eagle turns up.

A panic in the flocks of Ferruginous Duck, Shoveler, Garganey and Red-crested Pochard announces a presence of White-tailed Eagle or Saker Falcon. Whiskered Tern breeds in a common way while Black and White-winged Black Terns do so in favourable years only. Alongside Black-headed and Yellow-legged Gulls there are a few colonies of Mediterranean Gulls as well.

We shall visit one of the seasonal farms on puszta and observe livestock and birds like Tawny Pipit, Crested Lark, Little Owl or Lesser Grey Shrike. We will also try to go out at night to watch and listen to some of the local Scops Owls and Nightjars. The hotel surroundings may offer a chance to see a display flight of the latter.

Days 4-7

On the way towards the Bukk Hills we will visit a fantastic wetland, breeding site of Pygmy Cormorant and Glossy Ibis. Squacco Heron, Purple Heron, Night Heron are here in good numbers along with Ferruginous Ducks. We have good chances to see all 3 marsh terns. Black Stork and White-tailed Eagle breed in the gallery forest of the River Tisza and Spotted and Little Crake calls from the reeds this time of the year. Later in the day we travel towards the Eastern part of the country where we will spend 3 nights in an excellent family run hotel, by the foot of the Bükk Hills. It has probably the best cuisine in the region. On our way we check some good sites for Imperial Eagle and Saker Falcon.

It is a good place to search for Middle-spotted and Syrian Woodpecker in the orchards of the village where Wryneck, Hawfinch and Golden Oriole is also possible. We visit the entrance of a valley where several pairs of Rock Bunting breed in an abandoned quarry. We enter the old beech forests of the hill searching for Grey-headed, Black and the elusive White-backed Woodpecker. The wet mountain meadows hold Corncrake, River Warbler and the dry scrub is inhabited by Barred Warbler. From mid May several pairs of Red-breasted Flycatcher are found here, but Collared Flycatcher and Wood Warbler is singing from earlier on. If time permits we can try to see Ural Owl in appropriate habitats. We also check the Southern slopes of the hills for Imperial Eagle and Saker Falcon. Here we often see Goshawk and Lesser Spotted Eagle too. Depending on time we might have opportunity to visit the nearby Borsodi Mezőség or so called "Little Hortobágy". It is a wonderful area of wetland and grassland habitats with a healthy population of Imperial Eagle, Saker, Roller, Red-footed Falcon and Lesser Grey Shrike. Finally on the last day we travel to Budapest, birding en route.