This is the fourth and last trip report from the Bee-eater Bonanza 2015

The last two days of the European Bee-eater Bonanza was spent at a couple of different hides together with an afternoon safari trip to the rice fields looking for the Collared Pratincole.

Collared Pratincole bonanza — Collared Pratincole 150619

The weather had ups and downs and the temperatures stayed cooled which was to my surprise considering the high temperatures at first. I thought I would use shorts more than trousers, but it wasn´t to be like that this trip.

We were unlucky at two of the hides that didn´t produce much material for us. I suppose it was the wet winter couple with a period of really intense heat that made this trip to Hungary harder than its supposed to be. I feel that the general activity has been lower than expected. The food for the birds seems to be scarce which makes it hard to breed and the only insect that has been plentiful has been the mosquito.

We tried the Garden hide that had been rebuilt since my last visit in January. The hide had now plenty of storage space which it lacked the last time. A great addition I must say. This hide was one of most active I felt and it probably was because of the still active bird feeder.

It was great fun to watch the Syrian Woodpecker family at the Garden hide. The adults were busy feeding the young with seeds and it gave us plenty of opportunity to get some nice photos.

The last morning the group had a couple of different goals. The guys wanted to test the Bee-eater site once more and this time the activity was much higher. We did a couple of fixes last time there and they seemed to have worked in our favor.

My mission was completely different as I wanted to try the Little Bittern colony and have a go at the male Golden Oriole. To my pleasure my two sessions turned out as good as the guys Bee-eater session. There could have been more activity, but I got what I wanted so I really can’t complain.

I even added a couple of extras as we both had a Edible Frog and a Grass Snake at the Little Bittern place.

Grass snake bonanza — Grass snake 150621

We got a great ending to the trip and it was a small relief to hear that the last outing with the Bee-eaters had been better than the first. It is of course hard to predict the season, but I think this must be the hardest breeding season I have witnessed.

I will go back next year and you are more than welcome to join me there. The trip will most probably be between the 4^th and 11^th of June. I will keep the group size small, which is a huge benefit for everyone. Our lodging will probably move to a new place as my partner will start to build his own lodging this autumn and it is planned to be up and running in May if things work out well.

Please enjoy the photo gallery from the last days of the Bee-eater Bonanza 2015