The Eagles

No, I am not talking about the Hotel California etc... rather, I am thinking of the Eastern Imperial Eagle we saw being mobbed by a Common Buzzard today. And the 2 Lesser Spotted Eagles that flew almost over our heads yesterday and the one that did this afternoon in the Bukk Hills. Tomorrow we move on, onto the lowlands.

One tour finishes, another begins

I have just finished a tour with a group from the UK, in 2 hours I go back to the airport to pick up another one. This is the busy season. We visited the Bukk and Zemplen Hills, Hortobagy and sites between. There were many highlights, Great Bustards, Red-footed Falcons, Sakers, Lesser Spotted and Eastern Imperial Eagles, Ural Owl, a family of Eagle Owls, Aquatic Warbler, Collared Pratincoles and nesting woodpeckers. But a bonus were two views of flocks of Rose-coloured Starlings... are they going to invade and breed this year... all will be clear soon.

Today's bird

There are several candidates for the best bird seen today. The two Lesser Spotted Eagles in the Bukk hills this morning performed well... the Eastern Imperial Eagle in the Zempen hills that soared overhead was not close, but was a lifer for most... and after hard work, the Wryneck showed well, too. We are seeing good birds...

Ural Owl

We had the most superb views of a Ural Owl today. I took 16 UK birders to a site in the Bukk Hills in Hungary, but we had to search au naturel, as I have not found the nest in this area this year. I stopped our bus at the first likely spot and there it was, the bird was sitting out in the open, hunting by day. Everyone got views from the vehicle, then the bird flew off. So we crept off the bus, and relocated the beauty. More great views, an incredibly confiding bird.

Just had an hour free. Lots to do regarding my manuscript for the new book. The publisher is now sourcing the photos and I have been discussing this and letting all my photographer friend in the region know. So just popped up into the beecj woods above Budapest. The Black Woodpeckers were there, surprisingly noisy after a week or two of relative silence. They tend to go quiet when raising new chicks, then get active and loud again later. I have seen lots of Black Woodpeckers, but I never tire of them.

Photographs of C & E European wildlife

The publishers (Bradt) of my next book - Central and Eastern European Wildlife: A Visitor's Guide - are now looking around for high quality colour photographs to illustrate it. If YOU have any good shots of birds, reptiles, amphibians, mammals, butterflies, dragonflies, landscapes or habitats, taken in the region (from the Baltic States south to the Balkans) that you'd like to see published... then drop me a line and I'll put you in touch with the right person. They will pay a fee for all photos published.

Red-breasted Flycatcher

Well, they have arrived. The Red-breasted Flycatchers. I have heard and seen a few singing in the broadleaved forests of the Bukk Hills, and friends have seen them elsewhere. They are scarce thesedays in Hungary, Collared Flycatcher is much more common. They are superb little birds, especially the males with bright red throats, though not all males show much red.