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ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

Turkey, with a bit of Causacus on the side, 2nd to 23rd May 2011 (1 Viewer)

14/5/11 Nemrut Dagi (the ex-volcano)

..... Stonechat sp., 1 male

Given the location, quite possibly Caspian, however it flew off whilst I was fumbling with my optics...

... and then another snow shower set in. I had made the journey a little further around the massive lake that is Van Golu in the hope of finding the Velvet Scoters (nearest breeding population over 2000km away) in their high altitude isolation. Didn't connect - either they were still on the main lake, hiding, or I'm a rubbish birder. Still, it was an experience, if I'd seen them it would have been well worth while (Radde's Accentor was another 'goodie' potentially on offer). Had a couple of handy lifts up the 20km road to the volcanic rim. The few cars present were waiting for a collapsed section of the ash road to be filled in; I was able to just walk past. Birds included my only Ring Ouzel in Turkey, with a few migrants and high altitude species. Flagged the one car down that I'd seen in the crater; didn't fancy the 8km walk back up from the lake to the rim in the conditions, and had other places to go. The 6 Kurdish gentlemen who then miraculously disembarked had apparently been having a picnic on the edge of the lake! (I was even given some for later), and I was very grateful, if a little squashed, to accept a lift back to civilisation with them. At the main road the kurds went their whey, I went mine, on down to Bitlis and an overnight coach to the next stop ...
 

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Great Stuff Dan. Well envious of the Grey Necked bunting. Dipped that on my run through the van, Isaak pasa area, in miserable weather.

Owen
 
[I. Somewhat of an ironic injury considering I'd been boulder-hopping across streams and traversing dangerous scree slopes and mountainsides all day - [/I]

Nice report! At kazebegi 2-3 years ago I managed to slice my thumb open on some scree and has to get to a doctor for some stitches. Most alarming was the argument between the (drunk!) russian doctor and the nurse when the stitches got all tangled up in a sort of cats cradle; as I lost half a pint of blood on the floor. It was all worth it for the mega views of the gamebirds and the rosefinch..but like you dipped the redstart. The stitches were fairly rudimentary and I had to have it done again when I got to Baku a few days later!

cheers, alan
 
Very entertaining report. Anybody desperate to see the redstart and not bothered about a WP tick should go to the indus valley in ladakh in winter - it is the commonest bird there by two orders of magnitude!
 
(Common Snipe a rare migrant in the region by May, not breeding in the country)[/I]


I'm certainly not questioning your Great Snipe, but just to correct a couple of things. Common Snipe actually almost certainly does breed in Turkey; we have good circumstantial evidence (drumming) from several areas in the centre and north of the country, and Common Snipe certainly remains present in East Anatolia until late May, and chances of seeing one that late are still better than seeing a Great, sadly.

Congratulations on the type of trip that some of us only used to go on!
 
15/5/11 Birecik

202. Long-eared Owl (heard only, 1 ad and young)
203. Tawny Owl 1
204. Striated Scops Owl 1
205. Collared Dove
206. Cattle Egret
207. Bald Ibis 30+
208. Graceful Prinia
209. Dead Sea Sparrow, lots
210. Black Francoline 3m

211. Marsh Warbler 6+
212. Iraq Babbler 2
213. 'Grey-headed' Purple Swamphen 1

214. Yellow-vented Bulbul
215. Common Tern 2
216. Short-toed Eagle 1
217. See See Partridge 1
218. Great Spotted Cuckoo 2
219. Yellow Throated Sparrow 10+
220. Upcher’s Warbler 1

221. Nightingale (1st to be seen; heard earlier)
222. Blue-cheeked Bee-eater 2
223. Pied Kingfisher 1

Arrived at this acclaimed birding location at the somewhat unsociable hour of 2:20am. Took me a little while to find my bearings, but after wandering alongside the river near town, 4:00am found me outside the Cafe Gulhane. Entering the garden next to the owl sculpture itself, I had barely removed my rucksack before a security guard silently materialised from behind the cafe building. 'Baykus?' I asked... Silently he pointed to the trees, and a moment later a soft 'whoo whoo whoo ...' could be heard. The bird materialised a few minutes later, and performed right up until just before dawn itself, showing rather well in the half-light. Elation tempered with a degree of relief; a species I hadn't seen back in '97 (not sure I was even at the right cafe to be honest). A Little Owl hunting from the football pitch fences, with the Tawny calling from a nearby 5 storey building, no Scops unfortunately, and Eagle Owl probably long gone. Still ... The day progressed well - the northern gravel pits giving me some more great birds including a couple I'd missed out on earlier in the year on my Israel trip. Mid morning nap after finding a hotel to dump the rucksack, north out of town, including a 2pm See See Partridge from the main Wadi (The Bald Ibis guy said no chance) and some impromptu mountaineering, up towards the orchards out of town, and back to the gravel pits for a second session, where it turned out some German birders had located the Bee-eaters. Actually the only other birders of the entire trip apart from a large Dutch group at Kasbegi were seen on this day; also ticked two Brits, four Swiss and four Spanish birders, with several additional distant unidentified groups. Other highlights included a Tortoise having a bath in the wadi, at least 11 Little Bittern, showy Menetries Warblers etc etc. A most excellent days birding all told.
 

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Thanks all for the kind comments. Was certainly a most enjoyable top birding experience, would go back tomorrow if I could ...

Well envious of the Grey Necked bunting. Dipped that on my run through the van, Isaak pasa area, in miserable weather.

Smart birds ... ;) It's certainly a rare trip where you (or at least I) manage to clean up entirely; weather, itinerary decisions, luck, timing etc etc. Hindsight is great ...

At kazebegi 2-3 years ago I managed to slice my thumb open on some scree...

You were probably lucky to get out of their alive ... I was organized enough to have a basic first aid kit with me, I think I even managed to take it out with me each day, but rather grateful I didn't have to use it tbh.

Would've liked to know if the Dutch group, or indeed anyone connected with the Redstarts this May. Or maybe I wouldn't.

Anybody desperate to see the redstart and not bothered about a WP tick should go to the indus valley in ladakh in winter - it is the commonest bird there by two orders of magnitude!

Not in the WP? :eek!:

;)

Common Snipe actually almost certainly does breed in Turkey ....

Thanks for the update. (Had based my assertion on the statement in the Olsen trip report). Goes to show the potential for new information and discoveries in such a generally underwatched country? Certainly had a few people asking if the Collins was available in Turkish.
 
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16/5/11 Birecik - Nemrut Dagi (the other one)

224. Rufous Bush Robin 1
225. Desert Finch 5
226. Blue Rock Thrush 2+y
227. Sombre Tit 3
228. Cinereous Bunting 2
229. Eagle Owl (heard only)

Managed to get up early (but not early enough for the owl), and headed southwards to the southern gravel pits, which were just that little bit further south than I would have liked. Managed not to lose my bins to an elderly construction worker en route, and enjoyed a further couple of hours of good birding. 100% more wildfowl than the north, with Shoveler, Ferruginous Duck and Red-crested Pochard. Another Iraq Babbler, this one performing very well on an isolated willow-type shrub mid-stream, and the Desert Finches drinking and feeding by a puddle outside the gravel pit area, Black Francolines calling, and a snake swimming out in the river.

Having seen most of the good birds of the immediate area (and all my real target species), and being without a car (probably would have done Halfeti otherwise, although I read it is not what it was), I decided to keep the ball rolling and head to another good birding area. Travelling through the heat of the day, and with a few minor hiccups (like finding the last minibus to go to the mountain was actually the one I'd just got out of), and I arrived at Nemrut Dagi early evening. Shared the almost obligatory cay (glass of strong tea - pronounced 'Chi') with the attendant on the barrier, paid my 7TL entry fee, and I was on my way again. Walking uphill, lots of birds, but I took a short lift, before walking on again to find a suitable place to camp for the night. Birds seemingly everywhere on the scrubby hillsides. Found my perfect spot - a drainage culvert running under the road. Should be perfectly safe and dry from the dew and any light rain in the night ... unless it rained properly, in which case I would probably be washed away ... Felt a little like one of the characters from 'The Three Billy Goats Gruff', although not having shaved for 2 weeks either, probably beginning to resemble most of them. Realised I was sharing my humble abode with a pair of Red-rumped Swallows with a nest a little further up the tunnel, and went to sleep lulled by the courting calls of an Eagle Owl (or 2) up the valley, and the stream burbling gently below ...
 

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Really enjoying thr trip report Dan I'll have to go back to Turkey soon & take in Georgia at the same time.

Cheers! Enjoying writing it, although seems to be taking longer than planned. Would certainly recommend it (doing the trip, not necessarily writing about it), very do-able. Just a shame the Turkey/Armenia border is closed ...
 
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17/5/11 Nemrut Dagi

230. Eastern Rock Nuthatch 8+
231. Spanish Sparrow 2
232. White-throated Robin 17+
233. Red-tailed Wheatear 8+

234. Finsch’s Wheatear 5

Hoping I hadn't caused too much stress to my new neighbours of the night before, I was up early and raring to go. The immediate area eventually gave me good views of the nuthatches I was sure I had heard the evening before, along with excellent views of one of my 'most wanted' from the trip, the rather smart 'Irania guttaralis'. Walking for a couple of extended sections with a handy lift from a village teacher brought me out above the treeline where a couple more rather handy and desirable birds showed themselves well.

Escaping the overly jovial cafe owner (I was his 'nephew', and an elderly American tourist his 'uncle' ... hmmm) I made my way to the summit, which held a few Snowfinches, Shore Larks and a passing Eastern Olivaceous Warbler. The carved heads were disappointingly less impressive than the pundits had suggested, although the location and their circumstances were actually quite so (placed there, along with the 50m high burial cairn capping the mountain, by the same tribe as had inhabited the previous Nemrut Dagi earlier in their history. Hence the rather similar name ...)

Plenty of good birds on the day, such as twenty or so Cinereous Bunting throughout, more Sombre Tits and Upchers Warblers, and lower down, half a dozen Rufous Bushchats and a Masked Shrike. Regained the town of Kahta, where after a bit of confusion, managed to book onto the 6:30pm bus to Pozanti. At least that's where I hoped it was going.
 

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18/5/11 The road to Camardi - Demirkazik

235. Blue Tit
236. Stonechat (1f, presumed nominate!)
237. Common Rosefinch 3
238. Lesser Whitethroat
239. Serin (heard only)
240. Caspian Snowcock pr + 3m heard
241. Alpine Accentor 1
242. Radde’s Accentor 1

After a late-night unscheduled bus transfer I did indeed reach Pozanti, sometime after 2am. The alleged 6am bus northwards didn't happen, however, so 6:15 saw me walking alongside the dustiest road I've ever walked alongside at that time of day. The road I turned onto after 4km or so has been described as 'probably the best road for birding outside South America'. That wasn't quite my experience, although I did have my first Blue Tit of the trip. The Common Rosefinches were a good bonus, a late migrant that I'd not seen in the north, possibly breeding given the potentially suitable habitat? Red-rumped Swallows were common, nesting on the buildings in the villages, along with a range of other nice birds. Didn't really check out any 'steppe' type habitats, and as usual soaring raptors were in very short supply (ie none).

After a further 10km or so walking/birding a pair of generous lifts (one took me 6km further than they were actually going, the other before I'd even started hitching) and I was below another rather well-known location on the turkish birding trail ...

And so midday saw me starting up the infamous 'tractor track', with a range of good birds popping into view before me over the next hour or so as if on cue. By half two and after a brief nap I was hearing that curlew-like call high above me, and by 4pm I was enjoying excellent scope views of a smart pair of Caspian Snowcock on one of the lower buttresses at the edge of the scree slopes. Such a shame my camera was so indisposed. Top birds, the male intermittently throwing his head back for that evocative call, before they took off and landed even closer on the snowy scree slopes to one side. I had intended camping overnight if required, but that was no longer necessary. I hoped. The Radde's Accentors were not playing, it taking me nearly 2 hours to eventually locate a single bird in the dried-up stream running through 'the bowl'.

It was interesting to note a beat up old Renault (most probably without 4*4 capabilities) appearing at the top of the mountain; along with the target birds showing so well mid-afternoon (it was overcast, but not especially cold or poor weather), making me wonder what was really going on; the birds are meant to be only showing at daybreak, necessitating parting with up to 80 euros each or more and a 3am start by most birding groups. Or maybe I just got lucky? ...

Eight pm, and darkness, saw me back down by the main road, having come down the ravine route. Because it was there, and I was curious as to how bad it actually was. (And I'd connected with all the good birds I had otherwise hoped to see on the walk up). A bit of a mistake really given I couldn't really see where I was putting my feet due to the daysack across my chest obscuring my view, and a bit of a fear of heights. A handy lift took me into town, where after a bit of unwarranted socialising I caught yet another onward bus, at the unseemly hour of 1:30am.
 

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19/5/11 Manyas Golu

243. Dalmation Pelican
244. Spoonbill
245. White Pelican

The bus I took was going to north west Turkey; Bursa to be precise. I still had a few days birding to go and it seemed like a good idea to finish within striking distance of the airport and my flight home. Hindsight and a better knowledge of the bus timetables and journey durations would have been useful, but there were supposedly some good birds, both year ticks and lifers to be had in the north. Scrubbed the Med and sites such as Goksu Delta and Akseki.

It didn't take much more than 12 hours to reach the city, a sprawling mess of nearly 2 million inhabitants, with a minibus beyond and to Turkey's first bird reserve, Kuscenneti (Manyas Golu) by about half six that evening. The reserve had officially closed, but the english speaking guy in charge told me that since I'd made the effort to get there, he could hardly turn me away, could he? Refreshing attitude, and obviously a relief to me, potentially on a tight schedule and wanting some proper fresh air and some good birding after being cooped up for so long. Star birds here were the Dalmation Pelicans on their breeding platforms, with 2 of their commoner cousins hiding in the vegetation, not that handy when you're trying to do a direct comparison.

A lift out via the bus full of school children who had been making an evening visit to the reserve (actually the whole lake is a reserve now, apparently), and a hotel in the nearby town of Karacebay, where bizarrely my day's birding and ability to read roadsigns would have enabled me to get at least one question right on that evenings episode of 'The Million Turkish Lira Drop'. (It was indeed No. 3)
 

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Another superb trip, and I'm barely containing my jealousy, being a veteran of the deprivations required.

When I told the missus about you 'phoning home for directions, she wasn't even surprised! Made me laugh, though.

Found the photo below on my laptop and thought of our mountain drive...
 

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Another superb trip, and I'm barely containing my jealousy, being a veteran of the deprivations required.

When I told the missus about you 'phoning home for directions, she wasn't even surprised! Made me laugh, though.

Found the photo below on my laptop and thought of our mountain drive...

Deprivations? - camping out in the garden shed for a week with a box of unopened turkish delight and half a Shell guide to the Birds of Europe probably wouldn't do it then? (And you'd have to buy your own turkish delights - the only ones I saw out there were at the airport for about twenty euros and up.)

re the photo, yes someone had to lower the tone lol ;) . The advantage of taking those mountain roads at speed by night of course is that you can't see the near-vertiginous drops either side as you go ... apologies again. Mind you, I'm a bad passenger when it comes to things like that. Had a few mad bus/minibus drivers in Turkey/Georgia. They basically did own the road ...
 
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On the subject of 'humerous photos' (which this probably isn't), had a closer look at one of the tuna tins I was making my delicious daily sandwiches from (bit of a dearth of savoury sandwich fillings out there, tbh).

Certainly a bit of a 'tunamare' when you read the label properly and realise that the contents have actually been pre-licked by cats - katkisses anyone .... ??
 

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20/5/11 Kocacay/Dalyan Golu

246. Black Stork 5+
247. Pheasant (h)
248. Collared Pratincole 2 over
249. Kentish Plover 4+
250. Black Tern 1

Headed the 30km north out from my overnight rest stop (shower and shave handy too) via a couple of short lifts, the final one with an elderly gentlemen experiencing an enjoyable resurgence in his latent english vocabulary. He took me to an alternative bend in the road which he said would give me access to the lake - it did, although not prime habitat and probably added a few kilometres to my days walking it was pleasant enough. I couldn't really complain. The point where the river meets the sea held a deserted 'temporary' fishing village, not even any dogs which was nice. Three of 'my own' Dalmation Pelicans the highlight on the point, with the first Ravens in Turkey and a large platoon of Ruddy Shelducklings which rapidly disappeared out to sea, mother mostly in attendance. Plentiful Tortoises, the world's cutest calves, myriads of dung beetles industriously deconstructing cow pats (in direct contast to much of the manufacturing industry of much of the human race these days (basically making S***?)) and a cockroach of the wild sand dune variety the other main highlights. Having a nap on the short turf I was rudely awakened by a heavy munching sound nearby - a cow having a not-so-quiet graze a few yards away. In annoying cow fashion it had obviously investigated my nearby rucksack, judging by the large swathe of saliva slathered down one side. Coming to put my shoes back on, I found the heel of one of socks rather damp and sticky too ...

The lake itself was very quiet, but not a bad day list overall, with just a little too much walking. By the end of the day just grateful to find a logpile to sleep up against not too far from the road, fixing up some kind of shelter with the aid of a handy tree.
 

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21/5/11 Dalyan Golu - Uludag

251. Green Woodpecker 2
252. Cirl Bunting 2
253. Song Thrush 2
254. Goldcrest
255. Kruper’s Nuthatch 3

The slow change in species composition continuing ... target species for the area was actually Lesser Spotted Eagle, which are meant to breed in the area (along with White-backed Woodpeckers amongst other things). I did see some fairly distant eagle sp's, but I would have been heading towards Greater on the features I did see ... so best to leave them as eagle sps altogether. By 11am I still hadn't had any good views, so rather than backtracking to the coast, I headed back south with the aim of getting to a new site with a rather important bird of the area (the eagles being rather more widespread, there was always a chance elsewhere later in the year) ...

Hitching south and then east (I was trying to make it to the end without drawing any more funds out), I made it to the foot of the mountain of Uludag, still managing to dominate the city of Bursa, by early afternoon. I then waited over an hour and a half for the minibus up the mountain to get more passengers. It didn't, and I then found the road up the mountain was actually only just around the corner anyway. Doh! Making my way fitfully up the mountain, I eventually had a good lift off a police superintendent and half his family, scored the nuthatches (top birds, it has to be said), and then managed to get a lift back down with the same guys an hour or so later.They managed to drop me off in some random suburb, from where I made my way to the bus station and a bus north to Istanbul.
 

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