Winter birdphotography tour

Winter is the time for photographing from a heated hide

The Hungarian winter used to be cold and harsh, but in the last twenty years it has been changed, so we have the winter, but not as cold, snowy and harsh as it used to be. The time is changing, but we still have many birds for photographing during the winter. We can find them on the filds, on the lakes, but many shows up in the towns also. If we have a walk around the town we can see deer and hares also.  We feed the birds as well, which provide good activity in front of our hides. One of the highlights can be the hundreds of Long eared owls in a same roosting place near at hand from your camera. During our trip I will guide you around Kisújszállás and Túrkeve, where many natural resources such as steppes, forests and marshes can be find with many interesting subjects for our wildlife photo tour. During our tour we will combine hide photography and outdoor photography, so warm clothes and hot tea will be an important part of our equipment.

Destination: Hungary, Kisújszállás, Túrkeve

Date: any time between 10th December – 22nd February

Size of group: 1-6 participants

Cost of the tour: 1230 EUR/person

I will meet you at the Airport and after one and a half hour drive we will arrive at your accommodation to the Villa Aquila. After you are settled in, depending on the time of our arrival, we will have lunch or dinner in a local restaurant. If we have time, we will take a walk around the town with our cameras and binoculars.

On the 2nd day we will visit our Raptor hide, where you will have opportunity to take photos of birds of prey. Based on previous years’ experience we will be able to photograph White-tailed Eagles, Buzzards and Crows front of the hide. Furtermore the following species can also appear here: Imperial Eagle, Hen Harrier, not to mention the occasional foxes.

In the morning we will visit me Garden hide, where we photograph the Sparrowhawk. This bird hunts around my birdfeeder. During the winter at my birdfeeder there are many three sparrows, Great and Blue tits, Green finch and the Syrian woodpecker is also daily visitor there.

During the afternoon we will take be shooting Long-eared Owls which roost around the main square in town. We will also visit their traditional winter spots, where sometimes we can observe hundreds of these birds. Hidden among the Long-eared Owls we can often catch a sight of Short-eared owls too.

On the 4th day we will visit my other Raptor hide where we will have the opportunity to take photos of birds of prey again. We can picture Buzzards, Ravens in front of the hide and at time other species such as Hen Harrier, White tailed Eagle can appear too, not to mention the occasional foxes or Golden jackal.

On our 5th day we will take a Jeep Safari on the fields. We look for Short eared owls, Roe deer, Hare, Great Grey shrike. In the afternoon we will try to spot and photograph the Hawfinch coming to the feeder from a different hide. We will see Blue and Great Tits, Woodpeckers and different Finches as well. This hide is good places to see Robin, Long tailed tit and Brambling too.

During the 6th day we will go back to the Raptor hide where we will have the opportunity to take photos of birds of prey again. No two visits to these hides are ever the same, there are always surprises to come. We have already experience from both Raptor hides, so you can choose whichone you prefer to visit on this day

Before our way to the airport if we have enough time, we will visit a fishfarm, where we try photograph the bearded tits. With a bit of luck we will see Bittern, Long tailed tit and Penduline tits also.