As part of this year’s ‘Great and Little Tisý Expedition’ in September, we had the chance to observe what has so far been the largest flock of grey cranes we’ve ever seen. And as I’m something of a Czech patriot and mainly go birdwatching in the Czech lands, I’m boldly calling this encounter my ‘Czech Hortobágy’.
Hortobágy National Park in eastern Hungary is currently one of the most significant – or, according to the Hungarian park authority, the most significant – gathering place in the world for common cranes. In autumn, the number of cranes here regularly exceeds 150,000.
And the figures here are truly impressive:
194,750 cranes – recorded in the Hortobágy area on 20 October 2023.
In 2018, the peak was around 160,240 birds.
During the autumn season of 2025, for example, 140,000 cranes were recorded on 9 October.
Best time to visit: primarily October, with the peak usually occurring in the first to third ten-day periods of the month. A typical experience is watching the enormous flocks return to their roosts in the evening and take off again in the morning in search of food.
Compared with the number of birds observed in the Hortobágy area, the numbers of grey cranes I observed in the Velký and Malý Tisý Nature Reserve are rather disappointing; nevertheless, it was an unforgettable experience. Here is a record of my sightings:
7 September 2026 – 71 birds
8 September 2026 – 79 birds
10 September 2026 – 70 birds
12 September 2026 – 74 birds
My highest recorded number at this same location over the last 10 years remains 39 common cranes.
