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

Quote:~"Certainly had a few people asking if the Collins was available in Turkish".


No Collins but we do have "Field Guide to Birds of the Middle East" in Turkish now,with bird names in English /Latin and of course Turkish ~ very handy.
 

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22/5/11 Istanbul (Camlica - Kadikoy)

256. Pallid Swift 3
257. Caspian Gull 2

The bus to Istanbul dropped me off sometime after midnight. A free minibus then dropped me at a bridge somewhere that I was assured was the nearest point to the famous raptor viewpoint that is Camlica. The guy sat next to me on the bus had said it was beautiful. I wouldn't go that far. Spurning the taxi, I then walked all the way to the top of the hill, considerably further at that hour than I would have liked if I'd been thinking straight. Kipped in the bushes, disturbed momentarily in the night by a hedgehog having trouble with my rucksack straps two feet from my head, to wake properly at half seven and the sound of voices. Lots of voices. Half seven and the place was already heaving! It was a sunday, which explained the myriads of people, young men in suits, families, extended and otherwise, but it didn't explain the early hour. Obviously the concept of the 'lay-in' isn't a part of the turkish national consciousness. Anyway, I tried to bird it. Blackcap, Turtle Dove and Eastern Olly the highlights in the quieter corners. I was hoping for some raptor passage but not a glimmer. The swifts were a surprise bonus early on, along with an Alexandrine Parakeet obviously on an important mission to another part of the city.

Lunchtime came and went mostly uneventfully. Walked back down the hill and to the area of Kadikoy, down by the river by the ferries that I had originally birded nearly 3 weeks earlier. Quiet. Found a hotel to dump my stuff and spend the last night for 30TL (£12 or so, most expensive so far, but cheapest in the area, and they weren't haggling), off out and belatedly discovered one of the most important facts of the trip; ice lollies are really cheap. Vanilla ... Pineappple ... and a Chocolate one. Half a turkish lira ... 0.75TL, 0.5TL. Still less than £1 combined. Along with the cheap kebab meal deals one of the bargains of the trip. I had hoped for Olive-tree Warbler in this, the final leg of the trip. Described as 'surprisingly elusive' in green areas in and around the city I had no hope really, considering I was finding those self-same green areas surprisingly elusive themseves; I'd identified a few good looking areas from Camlica, but could I locate them on the ground? So I took the ferry back to Europe and back instead. Two Caspian Gulls in particular standing out from the hundreds of Yellow-legged Gulls present on the breakwater, although there could have been more. Back in my hotel room and listening to the cheers greeting what were presumably the successes of the 'local' footie team Fenerbahca from the streets down below, I became aware of a strangely familiar twittering call emanating from outside the fourth floor window. Pulling the curtains back; Alpine Swifts on their late evening sorties. Ten or so in the immediate area, another twenty or more over the distant railway station. The baleful eye of a sitting Yellow-legged Gull on its chimney-top nest coldly regarding me from fifteen feet away, and yes indeed, almost the final curtain call of the city which has it all, the distant strings of Yelkouan Shearwaters moving out on the waters beyond.
 

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No Collins but we do have "Field Guide to Birds of the Middle East" in Turkish now,with bird names in English /Latin and of course Turkish ~ very handy.

Probably a lot more useful in some respects than the full Collins would be for the people who were asking me. A bit regretful in some respects I didn't have something to give (even a website address or two), as I could well have taken up a paid position as an 'ambassador for birds' given the generally interested response I received from the various people I showed the book to (useful way of 'explaining' why I was in Turkey, when you don't know more than a word or two of the language.) Food for thought re future trips.
 
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I could well have taken up a paid position as an 'ambassador for birds' given the generally interested response I received from the various people I showed the book to (useful way of 'explaining' why I was in Turkey, when you don't know more than a word or two of the language.) Food for thought re future trips.
Yes ,birding is getting quite popular in some areas , the crew at Kusbank(Turkish birding) and their partners RSPB,Birdlife International,do a great job spreading the word locally and are really helpful.
 
23/5/11

So, the very last day. Unfortunately not a lot more to add. Being told the bus would take an hour and a half to get to the airport, I just had time for a quick scout around the main areas again before going back to my room and getting out of there. I didn't really want to miss my flight home, much as I was enjoying myself.

Flights went smoothly, although it was a bit windy when we got into Luton mid-afternoon. Very windy in fact, shakiest landing I've experienced yet. The middle-aged woman and her mum in the seats next to me nearly had kittens. (Should probably be careful what I say, every chance I'm going to be middle-aged myself one of these days). My open return bus ticket was all very organized, but at 3 in the afternoon you don't want to be told the last bus that day left at eleven, and the next bus to Falmouth won't be till the following morning. Fortunately, through perserverance and using English, I found that I could get one to Truro at nine that evening, so I did. Picked up some milk and bread (but I forgot the potatoes) at Truro Tesco's by eight am the next morning, home to reality by nine.



Mammals I had forgotten to mention include a couple of dolphin sps from the coach in the Black Sea (probably Common Bottlenose going on fin shape), 'Red-and-Grey' squirrel sps in the Kazbegi conifer woodlands, Anatolian Sousliks at Demarcizek along with a few other interesting rodents along the way. A Porcupine quill at Nemrut Dagi, and various large droppings in the woods were interesting. A number of great birds (including 30 lifers or so) but still plenty of scope for future visits ... (that'll please the girlfriend ... not!)

Should probably end with a sunset or a humorous shot of something rare and exotic perched on the end of the scope, peaceful shot of boats bobbing in Kadikoy harbour will have to do instead.

Great country, great birds, great experience.
 

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No pics, but unless there's a pretty similar species occurring in the area that'll be the one going by google images, cheers. Seen daily at Kazbegi.

In the Kazbegi pines, they are not Persian, but Red. Note the ears amongst other points.
 

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In the Kazbegi pines, they are not Persian, but Red. Note the ears amongst other points.

My mistake Jos,here's a local Persian on my patch for comparision

Thanks for help in sorting this one out. Although now I have so many images of internet squirrels in my mind I can't differentiate from what I originally had in my mind's eye ... oh well.

What do we make of THIS DISTRIBUTION MAP - Persian/Caucasian squirrels at lower altitudes, or was the map maker really just trying to say 'here be dragons'.... ? I don't recall that 'blotchy' effect either. Any more pics Jos?
 
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Excellent trip report Dan..very envious. So much more exciting , challenging & dangerous than our trip to the Canaries at the start of the year or my recent jaunt in Finland.

The Little Owl was most likely 'lilith'..a potential split.

Turkey, Georgia & Armenia deffo goes to the top of the list now :)

Sean
 
Great trip Dazzer, like someone said, the sort of thing i used to relish but not sure i'd be up to it anymore! Though it has reminded me how interesting it can be to do things in a more Kerouac-type way!
And a great report - for me the quality is in the details provided, just glad your third biro made it ok.


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 ...

Kipped in the bushes, disturbed momentarily in the night by a hedgehog having trouble with my rucksack straps two feet from my head,

(It was at Trabzon that the second disaster of the trip occurred (if you ignore my pen leaking, losing the second, but managing to make my 3rd back-up biro last the remainder of the trip)

At the main road the kurds went their whey
Managed to slip that one in
 
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Excellent trip report Dan..very envious. So much more exciting , challenging & dangerous than our trip to the Canaries at the start of the year or my recent jaunt in Finland.

Cheers Sean. That shower tray was potentially lethal. To be honest, on the whole I felt pretty safe almost all the time - crime levels low and people friendly.
 
Great trip Dazzer, like someone said, the sort of thing i used to relish but not sure i'd be up to it anymore! Though it has reminded me how interesting it can be to do things in a more Kerouac-type way!
And a great report - for me the quality is in the details provided, just glad your third biro made it ok.

Glad you appreciated it. (Google and wikipedia are marvellous - although not sure I'm quite 'literary iconoclast' material myself.) Doing birding trips in a Bivouac-type way is certainly interesting and fun at times.

(And it was actually Suzi's biro, so I think we're all glad it made it through ...)
 
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