Winter of 2020/2021 – Eagles, Buzzards, Falcons and others

Winter fog and winter freeze. Hoarfrosty puszta with a pair of calling White-tailed Eagle (©János OLÁH)

Despite the unfortunate situation, the winter season of 2020-2021 has been pleasant with photographers (only Hungarians this time) staying in our hides. No question, the star besides the well-known guests in front of the glass was a Long-legged Buzzard, which started visiting the Buzzard and Falcon hide in late November and was photographable most of the days until mid-March. It was not uncommon that one could photograph both Long-legged Buzzard and Saker Falcon on a single day, however the latter – as always – was quite unpredictably turning up, staying a regular but not an everyday visitor. The same Saker Falcon pair was the quest as in the past years, a beautiful, pale headed male and the robust female with rigorous look and a massive body suggesting no mercy for other birds around.

It is hard to bear the look of an Eagle when staring at you (©Márk KOVÁCS)

Flying portrait from the Well Hide (©Viktor LEHMANN)

Imperial Eagle with a kamikaze Hooded Crow (©Attila SZILÁGYI)

Besides the Buzzard and Falcon Hide, Saker Falcon was photographable from the Eagle Hide Nr. 2 and sometimes from the Well Hide as well at both hides the plot was similar as the Saker was attacking Gulls feeding in front of the hide in hope of stealing some food from them. Fascinating actions for rapid-handed photographers.

This male Saker was one of the highlights of the Buzzard & Falcon Hide – no question why (©Ferenc SZABÓ)

The other star of the Buzzard & Falcon Hide – Long-legged Buzzard (©János OLÁH)

Long-legged Buzzard (©János OLÁH)

Common Buzzard chasing Hooded Crow (©Dániel BALLA)

Parallel look – Common Buzzards (©János OLÁH)

Mr Saker Falcon against the wind (©Erika GOMBOS)

Mrs. Saker is even more robust than Mr. (©Erika GOMBOS)

Eagle photography was extended spatially this season. We rebuilt the first eagle hide of our company (aka. Eagle Hide Nr. 1 – surprisingly 😊) taking all the tricks and lessons learnt in the past years into account and after a few attempts it started functioning well – Eagles were coming and the show was on. The main theme here are White-tailed Eagles while they are flying and trying to grab food from the ground or to steal from the gulls or each other in front of a dark background. Some real extraordinary opportunities were given for the lucky photographers making it down here.

Eagle arriving at the Eagle Hide Nr. 1 (©János OLÁH)

After touch down – Eagle Hide Nr. 1 (©János OLÁH)

Tagged with an “R”. Immature White-tailed Eagle landing at Eagle Hide Nr. 1 (©János OLÁH)

Jackdaw from Eagle-hide Nr. 2 (©Tibor JUHÁSZ)

Of course, the other eagle hides were also doing their job, the Well Hide was superb with numbers reaching 30 White-tailed Eagle together at once casually, while on the best days’ numbers were over 70 after counting the Eagles. Eagle Hide Nr. 2 was also exceptionally good, as Saker was a common visitor besides the White-tailed Eagles coming here which were joined by one or two Imperial Eagle a few times for the luckier ones.

Imperial Eagle with White-tailed Eagle (©Attila SZILÁGYI)

Adult White-tailed Eagle taking off (©Viktor LEHMANN)

Surprise guest at the Well Hide – Red Fox (©Éva GALAWATI)

Huge beast turning in front of Eagle Hide Nr. 2 (©Tibor HORVÁTH)

Not just Eagles around. Hen Harrier is common but hard to photograph winter visitor of the puszta (©Tibor JUHÁSZ)

Classic moments when insolent Raven is messing with White-tailed Eagle (©Mihály BODNÁR)

Another surprise guest – Rough-legged Buzzard at Eagle Hide Nr. 2 (©Ferenc SZABÓ)

Portrait of a beautiful adult bird from the Well Hide (©Attila FERENCZI)

Common Gull is a scarce one amongst other scavengers around the hides – image taken from the Well Hide by ©Attila FERENCZI

Magpie in snowfall from the Buzzard & Falcon Hide (©János OLÁH)

If you are interested in photographing White-tailed Eagles, Saker Falcon, Buzzards and the others, please visit sakertour.com for further information on the hides and contact details.

Sakertours Team