Vacation with Cranes in Hungary
Hortobagy National Park in Hungary is a Memorable Vacation Destination for Bird Watchers
Aug 1, 2006
There is a place in Hungary that should be the dream vacation destination for every avid bird-watcher. It's called Hortobagy National Park, an 80,000 ha UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, home to hundreds of species of birds as well as other wildlife. In the second half of October each year, migrating birds make bird-watching in Hortobagy unforgettable.
Common Cranes (Grus grus), also often called Eurasian Cranes or trumpeting cranes, visit Hortobagy each fall in such astounding numbers that it is not unusual to see flocks of 20,000 or more roosting together for the night. The approximately 60,000 Common Cranes that pass through Hortobagy represent about a quarter of the worlds population. The sight and sound of thousands of these huge birds arriving together is overwhelming.
The Common Crane is a tall and graceful bird with a wingspan of about 220 cm (7 feet). Adults are grey with a white streak running back from the eye and a red crown on the top of the head. The ends of tail and wing feathers are black, coming together to form a generous plume at the back when the wings are folded.
Common Cranes nest in the north, mostly in Russia and Scandinavia, and spend winters in southern Europe and Asia, and in Africa. They fly in a V formation and can go very high, routinely flying over the peak of Mount Everest. They are not fussy eaters, enjoying a varied diet of berries and other plant parts, insects, worms and even small animals.
Common Cranes are at home in Hortobagy. About one third of the park is wetlands, the preferred habitat of most crane species, providing ample food and roosting sites for large flocks. Because the environment at Hortobagy has been protected, the Common Cranes return every year producing a spectacle that is attracting a growing tourist trade from all over the world.
The rest of the park is made up of varied forests and grasslands - a perfect mix for attracting a vast variety of other birds. Other migratory species include the spectacular Great Bustard, a large vulnerable bird that has died out or dwindled alarmingly in much of its range.
If you go to Hortobagy, go in the second half of October to view vast migrating flocks of trumpeting Common Cranes, and Great Bustards. Accommodation and bird-watching tours are available, and ecotourism is a growing interest. Read more about Hortobagy National Park and research tourism possibilities - a quick internet search will yield lots of intriguing ideas for a birding holiday in this unique and wonderful place.
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