What is your favorite bird species?
Rather than a species, I can say a family: woodpeckers, the Picidae.
Syrian Woodpecker
What is your name, and where do you live?
Gerard Gorman, Hungary
What are the main regions or locations you cover as a bird guide?
Mainly Central and Eastern Europe: Austria, Hungary, Croatia, Romania, Bulgaria, and Poland, but I have guided in many other European countries and on other continents.
Eurasian Wryneck
How long have you been a bird guide?
Almost 40 years now, my first trips as a guide were in Hungary and Romania in the late 1980s.
How did you get into bird guiding?
I have been interested in all wildlife since I was a kid, and it just grew from that.
Great Bustard
What are the aspects of being a bird guide that you like best? Which aspects do you dislike most?
I enjoy challenges, using my local knowledge and skills to find the tough birds that people want to see, species that they “need”. But I also enjoy taking around “casual” birders, less “hard-core” birders who just want to take everything in. I am flexible, happy to guide in a way that people want. On the negative side, I am sometimes frustrated by the new generation of birders who seem to trust birding “apps” and social media reports more than what local guides know or say.
What are the top 5-10 birds in your region that are the most interesting for visiting birders?
Based on what visiting birders most often request, I’d say White-backed Woodpecker, Saker, Ural Owl, Hazel Grouse, Rock Partridge.
Rock Partridge
Can you outline at least one typical birdwatching trip in your area? Please briefly describe the locations, the key birds, and the approximate duration of such a trip.
It is hard to state a “typical” trip as so many factors are involved, but one week in any of the countries in C and E Europe where I operate is usually enough to see the key species, of course, depending upon the season. Particularly great locations are the Kiskunság plain in Hungary, the Danube Delta in Romania, the Bia?owie?a Forest in Poland, the Palava Reserve in the Czech Republic, and Paklenica in Croatia. All of these have their habitat and species highlights, and I have been birding them for decades.
Red-footed Falcon
What other suggestions can you give to birders interested in your area?
Ultimately, for most breeding birds, spring is best, late April to June, but other times of the year can be better for certain species. For example, Red-breasted Geese in winter and most woodpeckers are resident, so can be found almost all year round.
White-backed Woodpecker
If any readers of 10,000 Birds are interested in birding with you, how can they best contact you?
probirder.gerard@gmail.com
Is there anything else you would like to share with the readers of 10,000 Birds?
In addition to guiding, I do many other bird-related things. My main personal ornithological interest is in woodpeckers, and I do research and head a woodpecker group in Hungary, and have published eight books on the family. I take photos, of course, like most do these days, but I am also a keen sound recorder.
Leave a Comment