On the afternoon of January 23, 2026, we received a call from Péter Godó, a professional hunter from Kömlő, informing us that while hunting deer in the area, he had observed a large flock of Great Bustards (Otis tarda). That was all we needed to hear, and we quickly set off in pursuit of the birds. We found the bustards not far from the location mentioned by the gamekeeper, in a rapeseed field.
Unfortunately, the light and the approaching sunset made it difficult to observe them accurately, so we tried our luck again the next day. On the morning of the 24th, they had not yet flown away, so we were able to count the birds accurately. Our winter guests were a flock of 49 male birds of various ages. Unfortunately, we do not currently know exactly which region they came from. Hortobágy, Kiskunság, and Körös-Maros National Parks are all possible places of origin for the birds.
To our knowledge, they stayed in the area for two days and then flew on. In our opinion, they were wandering around in search of more easily accessible food due to the thick snow cover.
We witnessed a historic moment. In recent decades, the great bustard has almost completely disappeared from our region. In the past 10-12 years, the maximum number of individuals was around 10, but even when the Heves Grassland Steppes Protected Landscape Area was established in 1993, there were not that many individuals of the species in the region.
We would like to thank you for this information!