Nice, compelling and detailed description of the places. Too bad I found your post quite late. We visited Hortobagy at the beginning of October, all I can say is that the Cranes are a "must see", all 100000 or so... We had a white tailed eagle fly above us quite close while we were waiting in the hides at the last pond and we watched the Curlews feed for quite some time. We also had a tip about a common feeding area North-West of Balmazujvaros (5-6kms) that payed off.
For your next trip it might be worth to add a day or to for Tisza lake, it's easy to rent boats at any harbor and you can find good maps too, both in Tiszafured and Poroszlo. We went there in May last year, with a little bit of luck and advice from the locals you might be lucky enough to catch closeups of some of the birds, we've seen a female marsh harrier fishing for example, night herons from up close, egrets, both little and great, and a squacco heron. White tailed eagle and cormorants flying above our heads and even a pygmy cormorant quite close. And on top of all that, it's a pleasure to row a boat on those tight canals filled with vegetation and wildlife (I don't really miss the mosquitoes, though).
For your next trip it might be worth to add a day or to for Tisza lake, it's easy to rent boats at any harbor and you can find good maps too, both in Tiszafured and Poroszlo. We went there in May last year, with a little bit of luck and advice from the locals you might be lucky enough to catch closeups of some of the birds, we've seen a female marsh harrier fishing for example, night herons from up close, egrets, both little and great, and a squacco heron. White tailed eagle and cormorants flying above our heads and even a pygmy cormorant quite close. And on top of all that, it's a pleasure to row a boat on those tight canals filled with vegetation and wildlife (I don't really miss the mosquitoes, though).
