Great bustard display on the Parndorfer Platte and Hanság
Great bustard (Otis tarda) — c. 600 birds, the largest population west of Hungary; montagu's harrier, short-eared owl, imperial eagle. Andau / Hanság, Parndorfer Platte, Heideboden (Burgenland); Westliches Weinviertel (Lower Austria), Austria.
Best time: 25 Mar – 5 May (March to May). Where: LIFE+ Großtrappe observation tower, Andau (Waasen–Hanság), Parndorfer Platte (Zurndorf – Nickelsdorf), Westliches Weinviertel (Zwingendorf – Alt-Prerau) (Austria). Time of day: Display from about 30 min before sunrise for 2 h, with the steppe chorus at its densest (frost fog lifts about 07:00 in April).
- You can go on your own
- Free
- Telescope recommended
- Sound 1/5
Open it in the interactive calendarSunrise and sunset listening times for the day you pick, and the map.
When is the best time?
Peak: 25 Mar – 5 May. Last week of March to early May, at first light on calm mornings
Active from 10 Mar to 20 May (March to May) in a typical year.
Time of day
Display from about 30 min before sunrise for 2 h, with the steppe chorus at its densest (frost fog lifts about 07:00 in April); a second, shorter bout in the hour before sunset.
- Dawn display: 30 min before sunrise → 2 h after sunrise
- Evening display: 1 h before sunset → sunset
What will you hear?
Bustards are near-silent; the payload is the steppe dawn — skylark, corn bunting, quail, lapwing, grey partridge, crane pairs in the Hanság, marsh harrier, and the reed edge of the Neusiedler See a few kilometres away.
Binoculars?
Telescope recommended. Bustards display 500 m from the Andau tower and are near-silent; a scope is the whole point, the steppe chorus needs nothing.
Where to go
- LIFE+ Großtrappe observation tower, Andau (Waasen–Hanság) — Purpose-built tower south of the Kommassanten meadows; free access; the best legal view of a display ground. Map
- Parndorfer Platte (Zurndorf – Nickelsdorf) — Rolling arable plateau; roadside viewing only; the A4 motorway and wind farms are the backdrop. Map
- Westliches Weinviertel (Zwingendorf – Alt-Prerau) — Smaller population on the Czech border; observation point at Zwingendorf. Map
How to go on your own, and what it costs
Andau tower: drive south from Andau on the Hanság road and park at the signed LIFE+ Großtrappe tower — free, open at all hours; the Zurndorf and Tadten towers are the same. Parndorfer Platte: roadside only. Never walk into the meadows.
Cost: Free.
Field-recording notes
The bustard fields are fenced and the birds flush at 500 m — the tower is the only ethical vantage; no walking into the meadows, no drones (Natura 2000 and Austrian species protection law). Wind turbines are the acoustic problem across the whole Parndorfer Platte (a rhythmic swish in any wind); the Hanság tower is better positioned. Cold, still mornings in April: frost fog lifts at 07:00. Hunting for other species is closed in spring; the area is quiet apart from the A4 and farm traffic.
Sources
- Österreichische Gesellschaft für Großtrappenschutz – observing bustards
- Nationalpark Neusiedler See – Seewinkel
- Blühendes Österreich – Die Großtrappe
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More: all spectacles in Austria · leks · March · Austria in April · Austria in May