• Welcome to BirdForum, the internet's largest birding community with thousands of members from all over the world. The forums are dedicated to wild birds, birding, binoculars and equipment and all that goes with it.

    Please register for an account to take part in the discussions in the forum, post your pictures in the gallery and more.
ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

Spring Break in Turkey (1 Viewer)

Ruby

Ruby

Well-known member
Hi Guys,

From what I can gather, Turkey is a red-hot birding destination but I was wondering if it is posible to mix a family holiday with a bit of birding too??

In other words, are there some areas of Turkey where the 'normal' holiday requirements (beach, half-decent grub/accomm, car-hire etc) can be found alongside a few good birds....quite appreciate that this will probably leave vast areas of the country untouched and miss out on many of the bird specialities....

We are contemplating a few options for last week in May 2008 and wondered whether Turkey might be a good choice...we've never visited the country at all.


All the best.... Ray
 
Try Dalyan - easy reach of Dalaman, great birding on your doorstep, reasonably placed for a few of the SW Turkey specialities and a beach to die for.

Try searching on BF - there are several threads covering Dalyan and surrounding areas.
 
Cheers Rob - had a look through a few of those...

Would you recommend it? You seem to have had some good birds, but I noted your comments saying that the area around Dalyan was a bit quiet...
 
May is one of the best times for the weather(usually not too hot)and for the birds here in Turkey, with a little home work before you arrive you should find plenty of birds within driving distance of most of the usual resorts.
 
The Fethiye region is worth a look as well.

The Kaya valley looks great for migrants; the area around Patara has bags of potential; loads of woodlands for more interesting species etc. Check out the Gosney guide for more information.

I had a week there last week and it was a very poor time for birding - lashed it down on and off. The place was alive with redstarts, black redstarts, lesser whitethroats, sardinian warblers etc. My highlights were a feeding Eleanora's Falcon, Kruper's Nuthatch and an immature Isabelline Shrike. Well worth a revisit in spring.
 
Spring (like many places) can be the best - we went once in April (it's hard to get there by Charter in April as the "summer brochures" usually start in May - and for 12 years I've been tied to school holidays.

In April, the fields are often flooded attracting waders, terns plus passerines in their hundreds - large flocks of Glossy Ibis, marsh terns, Red-footed Falcon etc are not uncommon.

Even in a quiet week the bird list is impressive, it may be shorter, but the resident or early arrival migrants are pretty good.

When do you think you might go?
 
Hi Guys,

We will go last week in May (Whitsun school holiday!).....

I've just ordered a copy of the Gosney book from Birdguides so that'll be a help.

Problem is that I don't know the first thing about the geography of Turkey, so most of the place names being mentioned don't mean very much. Despite having the hugely impressive (well, it weighs a ton anyway!!!) Times Atlas of the World, it seems very sketchy regarding details of Turkey and most places that seem to be good for birds don't rate a mention...

Obviously I've got loads of time to bone up before we go, just really trying to get a feel for whether this would be a viable destination - sounds like it probably would be...


All the best.... Ray
 
I agree with Dalyan for a great mix of family holiday & birding.

It has a great 'villagey' feel to the place, lovely restaurants and friendly locals with cracking variety of habitats in the area and all doable by public transport be it Dolmus, river boat, taxi or on foot.

Not loads to do for kids in Dalyan though, unless they're happy playing in the hotel pool? There's a beach that can be reached by river boat and taxi/bus about 20 minutes away though (costs pennies to get there) which is backed by pine forest, dry hillside, reedbeds and lagoons......ideal really?

You'll need a car to get to the Korkuteli mountain areas (is: Seki, Cavdir, Camelli, Gogu Beli pass) which are a couple of hours drive away - its well worth having a full day up there though as it was cracking in May this year.

As suggested above, take a browse on Surfbirds, Birdtours & on here for trip reports from Dalyan.

Think I've got the shell of of Trip Report from May lying around somewhere - as ever, I lost interest halfway through but I'm sure I listed the main sites visited, how to get to them and the birds seen - can email you it should you wish?

Alan
 
Last edited:
Ruby said:
Problem is that I don't know the first thing about the geography of Turkey, so most of the place names being mentioned don't mean very much. Despite having the hugely impressive (well, it weighs a ton anyway!!!) Times Atlas of the World, it seems very sketchy regarding details of Turkey and most places that seem to be good for birds don't rate a mention.
All the best.... Ray
Click to expand...

Sections D1 & D2 are the bits you're interested in:

http://www.adiyamanli.org/MapofTurkey/turk_map.htm

Handy as a road map as well although I had no problem getting around as the main places are all well-signposted.
 
Alan G said:
Sections D1 & D2 are the bits you're interested in:

http://www.adiyamanli.org/MapofTurkey/turk_map.htm

Handy as a road map as well although I had no problem getting around as the main places are all well-signposted.
Click to expand...

Cheers Alan - I'll have a close look at the map when I get a minute...

I'll PM you my e-mail address - I wouldn't mind having a look at your trip report if you get it chance to send it to me...

Now that I'm starting to narrow down some options I can probably find some stuff on Travelling Birder etc.....I spotted yesterday that there are 100s of trip reports for Turkey - but it's a big country!

It'll just be me and the Mrs - we're not really bucket and spade types....a holiday where you can do a bit of birding, a bit of travelling/sightseeing, but have a beach/pool available if its really hot would sound about the ideal mix...

Also quite keen (collective waist-line is a testament to this) on nice local restaurants etc ....


All the best... Ray
 
Last edited:
The food in Dalyan is good - there's a good variety of eating places from local Pide pizza cafes where you can eat well and very cheaply to riverside fish restaurants where you can spend a lot more if you choose some of the fresh fish options - check the price before they cook it!!

Some of the riverside cafes have great views of the tombs which are floodlit at night - and you get some good birds and bats flying up and down the river!

That's it from me, unless the Dalyan Tourist Board come up with a free holiday!!
 
I would agree with Rob that there will be plenty around Dalyan to keep you interested for a week and the restaurants are numerous, generally very good and really cheap. Distances can be quite deceptive in Turkey and car travel isn't too quick (thankfully) so you should be conservative in your travelling ambitions.

When I went there I managed to get a cheap flight and booked accommodation/ airport collection etc separately and this was also very good value. The tricky thing is trying to get Saturday flights at reasonable cost but the sooner you start trying the better.
 
That's it, the deed is done!

Heading out May 23rd via Directline Holidays and 'Jewel in the Crown' - quite a good looking spot we thought. Flights only seemed to be pretty expensive and tended not to be on the days of the week that we wanted, so we ended up booking a package - first time we've done that for a while!!

http://www.directline-holidays.co.uk/moreDetails.cfm?accID=3&TSAccId=197106&BrochId=&xmlID=xml0A50AFBDFFBBC197CE6E207CD2C90BE0&&RESORTNAMES=Dalyan&RESORTNAME=Dalyan&DORESORTSEARCH=1&RESORTSEARCHMULTIPLE=0&DESTCODES=DLM&DEPTCODES=LGW,LGS,LGN&DATEDAY=23&DATEMONTHYEAR={ts%20'2008-05-01%2000:00:00'}&DD_LASTDAY=31&DAYSLATER=1&NIGHTS=7&FRM_ROOMSREQUIRED=1&FRM_ADULTSROOM1=2&FRM_CHILDRENROOM1=0&BOARDBASES=RO,SC,BB,HB,FB,AI,FI&ST=&X=16&Y=9&filterApplied=false

Gosney book arrived yesterday, so I can spend some of the long Winter evenings planning where we might go...

Thanks for your help everyone...
 
The area surrounding the hotel has breeding Woodchat & Masked Shrike, Penduline Tit etc - should be excellent - you can even bird on the riverside walk in to town in the evenings.

Hope you have a great time.
 
Rob Smallwood said:
The area surrounding the hotel has breeding Woodchat & Masked Shrike, Penduline Tit etc - should be excellent - you can even bird on the riverside walk in to town in the evenings.

Hope you have a great time.
Click to expand...

Yes. Must say that this was pretty much my thought too.....

The brochure copy mentions a 15 min river-side walk to get into town for dinner etc, and I was thinking that this could be a great opportunity to see the local species in a relaxed fashion.

Subsequent to making the booking, I've spoken to a few people who have previously visited the area, and all of the feedback has been v positive, so here's hoping for a good trip...
 
Warning! This thread is more than 16 years ago old.
It's likely that no further discussion is required, in which case we recommend starting a new thread. If however you feel your response is required you can still do so.

Similar threads

F
Ecuador eastern slope birding
Replies
7
Views
874
Dortmundbirder
Dortmundbirder
Swindon Addick
January 1st joint Birdforum list (2024 edition)
7 8 9
Replies
163
Views
7K
Oregonian
Oregonian
Andrew Whitehouse
Birding Japanese: Japan in summer June-July 2023
2 3 4
Replies
66
Views
6K
Frank van Drogen
Frank van Drogen
lgonz1008
South Texas: Mexican Specialties in the US
2
Replies
22
Views
2K
pbjosh
pbjosh
TicoTyler
Target List Generation
Replies
0
Views
360
TicoTyler
TicoTyler

Users who are viewing this thread

Total: 2 (members: 0, guests: 2)
Back
Top