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istanbul raptor watching in october? (5 Viewers)

James Lowther

Well-known member
Hello,
i have a free day in Istanbul on October 6th. I fancy a trip to Buyuk Camlica for some raptor watching but most of the info i can find covers september.
Is it worth going at this date - if so what are the expected/possible species?
cheers,
James
 
I'm there 1st to 4th. Sightseeing rather than birding but the hotel I'm staying at has a roof terrace at Sultanahmet. How far is this from Buyuk camlica? Any chance of any birds??
 
don't ask me John!!!
Buyuk Camlica is on the asian side, but pretty easy to get to, ferry then dolmus. I would think that if there are raptors crossing the bosphorus at that time, which you'll appreciate i'm not 100% certain of :) , then you stand a chance of seeing them from sultanahmet but the views won't be as good.
Nearby you have Gulhane park which when i was last in istanbul had syrian woodpecker and lots of red-breasted flycatcher (but october might be a bit late?), also there are yelkouan shearwaters passing up and down the bosphorus.
cheers,
James
 
Hello,
i have a free day in Istanbul on October 6th. I fancy a trip to Buyuk Camlica for some raptor watching but most of the info i can find covers september.
Is it worth going at this date - if so what are the expected/possible species?
cheers,
James

I stayed on into October once after the madness of week 2/week 3 September was over- from what I remember raptor numbers drop off quite sharply but you get a more Falsterbo style of migration with lots of sparrowhawk, woodpigeon and only a few aquila eagles per day- but when an aquila does come through there's a good chance of it being Greater Spotted rather than Lesser.
 
Is there a chance i will encounter any raptors passing over around Bodrum outskirts and Tuzla lake im going there 25th september this saturday ?
 
I stayed on into October once after the madness of week 2/week 3 September was over- from what I remember raptor numbers drop off quite sharply but you get a more Falsterbo style of migration with lots of sparrowhawk, woodpigeon and only a few aquila eagles per day- but when an aquila does come through there's a good chance of it being Greater Spotted rather than Lesser.

thanks Ed,
gotta say woodpigeon and sparrowhawk not really getting the juices flowing! :)
great-spotted eagle a different matter however.
James
 
Just back from Istanbul.

We were staying in Sultanahmet and I spent quite a lot of time with beer in one hand and binos in the other. all records below are bins only as I didn't take the scope - you need to do this if the Raptor spotting is high on the agenda (when I was there you couldn't get beyond aquila sp).

Good passage of lots of birds overhead in Sultanahmet but no raptors bar the local Peregrines and the odd Hobby. I guess there were loads up the Bosphorus on the narrow points but they weren't coming south of the Golden Horn.

Daily totals from the terrace (at Empress Zoe)

1-5 Storks
20+ Bee eater
50+ Yellow Wagtails
10-100+ Swallows

Single records
Common Rosefinch (good record I think?)
Serin
Ortolan Bunting
Crossbill
Purple Heron
Hoopoe

Local stuff
Parakeets
Alpine Swift
Laughing Dove
Ring Necked Parakeet
Sparrows and normal Tits

Other goodies

Topkapi Palace (trees in first courtyard best) and “Gülhane Park” see map http://maps.google.co.uk/maps/ms?hl...8643187656295.000490ca7971c9c43985d&t=h&z=17l

30+ Red Breasted Flycatcher after overnight rain on one day, 5-10 most days
Spotted Flycatcher
Olivaceous Warbler 1-2 in Gulhane, 1 in Empress Zoe garden terrace
1 x Green Warbler and another possible Green Warbler (is this species exceptional in Turkey? I am certain of one of this species)
Blackcap
Red Backed Shrike
Syrian Woodpecker quite easy in Gulhane
Alexandrines Parakeet in the next boxes - very vocal

Further up the Bopshorus (Asian side)
Levant Sparrowhawks - hundreds!
2-3 Lesser Kestrel
15 Honey Buzzard
20+ Short Toed Eagle
Other larger Eagles, Aquila 20+
Many Yerlkouan Shearwaters including some views from a boat on the Bosphorus down to 20 yards. Interesting birds in moult that I was pleased to photograph and get to grips with.

Other stuff
Hummingbird Hawkmoth species
Other butterflies and lizards to be id'ed

Will be posting some shots soon. All in all pretty decent for casual birding in a big citywhilst with the family :t:
 
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thanks Ed,
gotta say woodpigeon and sparrowhawk not really getting the juices flowing! :)
great-spotted eagle a different matter however.
James

haha- my thoughts at the time too - although seeing anything on passage has a certain magic

a good plan if you have a day free woudl be to take a book, laptop or whatever and do a 10-4 shift at the restaurant at buyuk c with an eye to the sky: you just never know
 
Just back through door. Saw loads of raptors and storks (through bins) on the Saturday 2nd on the western side of the Bosphorus (including overhead during lunch at the Istanbul Modern). Any ideas how I might get results of any counts that took place that day. Is their an online data base. I wasn't birding just walking from Galata bridge down to the Istanbul modern followed by a stroll to Dolmabache then up to Taksim before afternoon tea at the Pera Palace hotel. There were loads of birds moving and it seemed a wide range of species.
 
I found one report from some-one who was on the other side of the Bosphorus and they recorded Lesser Spotted, Short Toed, Booted eagles plus White/Black storks, Steppe Buzzard and Levantine Sprawk. I thought I'd had all these species plus one/two Big eagles. One bird seen twice in stacks that was noticably bigger than any other Eagle seen. Another site Medraptors promises to publish full details of counts over that weekend "soon".
 
best location depends on the wind

I've just come back from four days of migration watching on the Asian side. Büyük Camlica proved to be fine on 23 September, specieswise. But most birds were either very far away, or they passed very high up. During the day, migration shifted southward. On the next day (24 September) there was a cloud cover moving in from where the birds should have taken off. So virtually no gliders, only a few Marsh Hawks early on. 25 Sept. provided optimal viewing conditions, but no birds from Büyük Camlica. There was a rather strong wind from the south. This leads to a more northerly migration path. We were lucky that a local birder (Ümit) took us along to a more northerly observation point from where we saw thousands of Lesser Spotted Eagles, plus a variety of other species. Again, a majority was still further north, essentially following the Black Sea coast. The birds were visible from our observation point, but only identifiable by scope. But thermals of up to over 500 eagles are impressive even at such distances. On 26 Sept. we only had the morning for birding. And as there was again a mostly strong southerly wind, we saw no migration from Büyük Camlica.
 

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