Data Zone
Country/territory: Hungary
IBA criteria met: C1, C2, C3, C6 (2002)
For more information about IBA criteria, please click here
Area: 90,000 ha
Site description (2000 baseline)
Situated on the Hungarian Great Plain east of the River Tisza, Hortobágy is the largest puszta landscape in Hungary; an open plain dominated by saline grasslands and extensive arable lands. Depressions contain saline marshlands, with seasonal wetlands appearing in spring and autumn. Fish-ponds cover about 5,000 ha. Human activities include arable farming, cattle- and sheep-grazing, goose-farming, haymaking, angling, birdwatching, hunting and reed-harvesting (`Other' land-use, below). This area includes four sites that were treated as separate IBAs in the previous international IBA inventory (Grimmett and Jones 1989): `Hortobágy' (former site HU016), `Pusztakócsi mocsarak' (former site HU018), `ágota-puszta' (former site HU020) and `Nagyszék' (former site HU043).
Key biodiversity
The most important site in Hungary for steppic birds and waterbirds.
Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Important Bird Area factsheet: Hortobágy and Tisza-to (Hungary). Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/hortobágy-and-tisza-to-iba-hungary on 22/11/2024.