Full-Day Birding at Sodic lakes of Upper Kiskunság - March 10

Spring Birding at the Sodic Lakes of Upper Kiskunság

On March 10, we set off from downtown Budapest at 7:00 a.m. Our plan was to visit the soda lakes of the Upper Kiskunság. Our route to the lakes passed through Bugyi and Apaj, so we stopped at several places in the open steppe to look around.

Here we saw 12 Great Bustards (Otis tarda) relatively close in beautiful light. In several places Eurasian Skylarks (Alauda arvensis) and European Stonechats (Saxicola rubicola) were already singing, which created a real early spring atmosphere. In the steppe we also saw an Eastern Imperial Eagle (Aquila heliaca).

After this we continued our journey towards the soda lakes, which are about half an hour from Apaj. On the way we noticed quite a lot of birds on a flooded field from the car, so we decided to stop and take a closer look. It turned out to be a very good decision, as we managed to see Garganeys (Spatula querquedula) (my first ones of the year), and we also observed large numbers of Ruffs (Calidris pugnax) and a few Common Redshanks (Tringa totanus).

About fifteen minutes later we reached the soda lake, where we walked along a recently established nature trail very close to the shoreline. During the walk Bearded Reedlings (Panurus biarmicus), Eurasian Penduline Tits (Remiz pendulinus), Water Pipits (Anthus spinoletta), and Meadow Pipits (Anthus pratensis) showed themselves very well, and European Stonechats (Saxicola rubicola) were singing and moving through the area in several places.

There were not large numbers of waders on the soda lake. We saw only 7 Pied Avocets (Recurvirostra avosetta) (my first of the year), 3 Green Sandpipers (Tringa ochropus), and a few Eurasian Curlews (Numenius arquata). On the lake there were also a few thousand Greater White-fronted Geese (Anser albifrons), as well as Northern Shovelers (Spatula clypeata), Northern Pintails (Anas acuta), Eurasian Wigeons (Mareca penelope), and Eurasian Teals (Anas crecca).

After this we decided to return to Apaj, where we planned to check a very promising flooded grassland in the afternoon light. It turned out to be an excellent decision, as we encountered a huge concentration of waders.

Some of the more interesting species we saw included Common Ringed Plovers (Charadrius hiaticula) (a new species for me this year), Spotted Redshanks (Tringa erythropus) (also a new species for me this year), Black-tailed Godwits (Limosa limosa), many Ruffs (Calidris pugnax), Pied Avocets (Recurvirostra avosetta), Dunlins (Calidris alpina), and the biggest surprise was a Temminck's Stint (Calidris temminckii), which I had never seen this early in the year before.

Sunset found us here. We spent a very pleasant day birdwatching in truly spring-like weather (17°C), and in total we observed 75 species.