Below are brief notes on the birds seen on two family holidays to S Turkey in the first week of June 2013 and first 2 weeks of July 2014. These were not birding holidays but I did take my bins.
We stayed at Blacktree Farm about 45 minutes up a track from Fethiye, at about 1000m above sea level and so appreciably cooler than down by the coast or lower elevations. I would thoroughly recommend Blacktree if you are looking for some peace and quite away from the crowds (the birding is quite good too). More details can be found at http://www.blacktree.net/ .
Birds seen on or immediately surrounding Blacktree included:
Short- toed Eagle- breed in area, seen daily June, less so July
Long-legged Buzzard- seen occasionally in June and July
'Steppe' Buzzard- seen occasionally in June and July
Sparrowhawk- seen occasionally in June
Goshawk- seen once in June
Kestrel- seen frequently in June
Hobby- family group in July
? Peregine- seen occasionally June
Scops Owl- heard every nigh June and July, occasionally seen
Little Owl- regularly seen morning and evening June and July
Swift- seen occasionally June
Middle Spotted Woodpecker- seen regularly June and July
Syrian Woodpecker- seen regularly June and July
Swallow- seen occasionally June and July
Red-rumped Swallow- seen occasionally June
Grey Wagtail - regular along stream gully by road in June
Black-eared Wheatear- commonly seen June and July (more obvious June)
Northern Wheatear - towards treeline on Baba Dagi.
Blackbird- seen frequently June and July
Mistle Thrush - family parties in July (breed on Baba Dagi)
Mistle Thrush- family group July
Ruppell's Warbler- breeding in/ around farm, more obvious June
Eastern Bonelli's Warbler - seen occasionally in July
Blue Tit- seen regularly around farm
Great Tit- seen regularly around farm
Coal Tit- seen regularly in woodland must up road from farm
Sombre Tit- seen regularly on farm June and July
Long-tailed Tit- seen regularly in woodland up road from farm
Rock Nuthatch- seen and heard daily in/ around farm, more obvious and vocal in July
Krupers Nuthatch - seen older growth with Cyprus pine
Masked Shrike- breeding in/ around farm, more obvious in June
Woodchat Shrike- breeding in surrounding area, more obvious in June
Jay- seen every day, all around.
Alpine Chough- seen daily overhead in June but rarely at close quarters, occasionally overhead in July.
Raven- seen regularly overhead
Chaffinch- breeding on/ around farm
Goldfinch- frequently seen
Greenfinch- frequently seen
Cretzschmar's Bunting- breeding on/around farm, more obvious June, fledged young July
Cirl Bunting- breeding around farm, more obvious June, fledged young July.
About 15 minutes drive from Blacktree is the village of Aslan where:
Bee-eater - seen once in June
Olive-tree Warbler - seen and heard singing June and seen in July, just outside village.
Eastern Bonelli's Warbler - seen June.
During June 2013 a flooded area to the East of the road at the West end Patara Beach ( 45 minutes drive from Blacktree) held some good birds. The area was dry in July 2014. Birds seen in June 2013 included:
Eleanora's Falcon
Cetti's warbler
Spur-winged Lapwing
Ringed Plover
Yellow-legged Gull
Lesser Kestrel
Black-winged Stilt
Little Bittern
Squacco Heron
In July 2014 we drove up to Lake Girdev. Whilst I had not seen any information on birding there, based on GoogleEarth it seemed likely to be of interest. We first drove to Seki (for the obligatory white-throated robins) before heading up towards Lake Girdev from Temel. The road from just beyond Temel is a dirt track and whilst caused no problems at all for our generic white hire car, it may be more problematic during spring snow-melt or after heavy rains. We met less than ten other cars during the day and the track was wide with plenty of space, meaning that there was great freedom to stop and bird (perhaps unlike some more well known sites).
There are no houses from when you leave Temel until you get to Lake Girdev, just some seasonal shepherd huts. When we finally dropped down to Lake Girdev we turned left and drove around the shore until we got to Girdev Camping, a hotel and restaurant on the shore. We had lunch there (very good) and it would be a great place to stay and bird for a couple of days. I understand that mains electricity has recently arrived at Lake Girdev, and so it will be interesting to see whether this results in increased development (and loss of habitat).
The birding was excellent and I would strongly recommend the area. I'm sure that spending more time in there than we were able to, particularly at the higher passes would have been even more productive. The bird list below is in the order that birds were seen during the drive to Seki and then Girdev Lake i.e. starting down in the intensive agriculture and working our way up to Lake Girdev itself.
Collared Dove
Crested Lark
House Sparrow
Starling
Lesser Grey Shrike - on wires during drive
Roller - pair on wires during drive
Calandra Lark
Turtle Dove
White-throated Robin - Seki plus immature in scrubby gully above tree line on drive to Girdev Lake
Rupelle's Warbler
Great spotted woodpecker
Lesser spotted woodpecker
Blackbird
Black-headed Bunting
Red-rumpled Swallow
Red-backed Shrike - very common from Temel village up
Rock Nuthatch
Corn Bunting
Tawny Pipit - common above tree line
House Martin
Red-fronted Serin - common from treeline including around Lake Girdev itself
Northern Wheatear - common above tree line and around Lake Girdev
Rock Bunting - frequent above tree line
Linnet - above tree line
Finschs Wheatear - rocky slopes above tree line, 5+ seen
Stonechat - above tree line
Short-toed Eagle
Steppe Buzzard
Long-legged Buzzard
Hoopoe
Great Tit
Coal Tit
Blue Tit
Sombre Tit
Blue Rock Thrush
Isabelline Wheatear - around Lake Girdev
Coot - very common
Ruddy Shellduck - c. 20 on shore
White Stork - 10 on shore
Black Stork - 4 on shore
White-tailed Eagle - adult on shore
Marsh Harrier - female along shore
Pochard - 5 on lake
Grey Heron
Night heron - 2 adult on lake
Great Crested Grebe - common breeder
Black-necked Grebe - breeding colony of c. 15 pairs
Spanish Sparrow - common around Camp Girdev restaurant
Swift
Citrine wagtail - pair seen damp pasture by Camp Girdev
White wagtail
Black-headed wagtail - damp pasture by Camp Girdev
Squacco Heron - one
Serin- on Lake shore and above tree lime
Rock Sparrow - on rock outcrop on lake shore and near tree line
Ortolan Bunting - higher slopes
Krupers Nuthatch - woodland above Lake Girdev
Sardinian Warbler
Mistle Thrush
Jared Wilson
We stayed at Blacktree Farm about 45 minutes up a track from Fethiye, at about 1000m above sea level and so appreciably cooler than down by the coast or lower elevations. I would thoroughly recommend Blacktree if you are looking for some peace and quite away from the crowds (the birding is quite good too). More details can be found at http://www.blacktree.net/ .
Birds seen on or immediately surrounding Blacktree included:
Short- toed Eagle- breed in area, seen daily June, less so July
Long-legged Buzzard- seen occasionally in June and July
'Steppe' Buzzard- seen occasionally in June and July
Sparrowhawk- seen occasionally in June
Goshawk- seen once in June
Kestrel- seen frequently in June
Hobby- family group in July
? Peregine- seen occasionally June
Scops Owl- heard every nigh June and July, occasionally seen
Little Owl- regularly seen morning and evening June and July
Swift- seen occasionally June
Middle Spotted Woodpecker- seen regularly June and July
Syrian Woodpecker- seen regularly June and July
Swallow- seen occasionally June and July
Red-rumped Swallow- seen occasionally June
Grey Wagtail - regular along stream gully by road in June
Black-eared Wheatear- commonly seen June and July (more obvious June)
Northern Wheatear - towards treeline on Baba Dagi.
Blackbird- seen frequently June and July
Mistle Thrush - family parties in July (breed on Baba Dagi)
Mistle Thrush- family group July
Ruppell's Warbler- breeding in/ around farm, more obvious June
Eastern Bonelli's Warbler - seen occasionally in July
Blue Tit- seen regularly around farm
Great Tit- seen regularly around farm
Coal Tit- seen regularly in woodland must up road from farm
Sombre Tit- seen regularly on farm June and July
Long-tailed Tit- seen regularly in woodland up road from farm
Rock Nuthatch- seen and heard daily in/ around farm, more obvious and vocal in July
Krupers Nuthatch - seen older growth with Cyprus pine
Masked Shrike- breeding in/ around farm, more obvious in June
Woodchat Shrike- breeding in surrounding area, more obvious in June
Jay- seen every day, all around.
Alpine Chough- seen daily overhead in June but rarely at close quarters, occasionally overhead in July.
Raven- seen regularly overhead
Chaffinch- breeding on/ around farm
Goldfinch- frequently seen
Greenfinch- frequently seen
Cretzschmar's Bunting- breeding on/around farm, more obvious June, fledged young July
Cirl Bunting- breeding around farm, more obvious June, fledged young July.
About 15 minutes drive from Blacktree is the village of Aslan where:
Bee-eater - seen once in June
Olive-tree Warbler - seen and heard singing June and seen in July, just outside village.
Eastern Bonelli's Warbler - seen June.
During June 2013 a flooded area to the East of the road at the West end Patara Beach ( 45 minutes drive from Blacktree) held some good birds. The area was dry in July 2014. Birds seen in June 2013 included:
Eleanora's Falcon
Cetti's warbler
Spur-winged Lapwing
Ringed Plover
Yellow-legged Gull
Lesser Kestrel
Black-winged Stilt
Little Bittern
Squacco Heron
In July 2014 we drove up to Lake Girdev. Whilst I had not seen any information on birding there, based on GoogleEarth it seemed likely to be of interest. We first drove to Seki (for the obligatory white-throated robins) before heading up towards Lake Girdev from Temel. The road from just beyond Temel is a dirt track and whilst caused no problems at all for our generic white hire car, it may be more problematic during spring snow-melt or after heavy rains. We met less than ten other cars during the day and the track was wide with plenty of space, meaning that there was great freedom to stop and bird (perhaps unlike some more well known sites).
There are no houses from when you leave Temel until you get to Lake Girdev, just some seasonal shepherd huts. When we finally dropped down to Lake Girdev we turned left and drove around the shore until we got to Girdev Camping, a hotel and restaurant on the shore. We had lunch there (very good) and it would be a great place to stay and bird for a couple of days. I understand that mains electricity has recently arrived at Lake Girdev, and so it will be interesting to see whether this results in increased development (and loss of habitat).
The birding was excellent and I would strongly recommend the area. I'm sure that spending more time in there than we were able to, particularly at the higher passes would have been even more productive. The bird list below is in the order that birds were seen during the drive to Seki and then Girdev Lake i.e. starting down in the intensive agriculture and working our way up to Lake Girdev itself.
Collared Dove
Crested Lark
House Sparrow
Starling
Lesser Grey Shrike - on wires during drive
Roller - pair on wires during drive
Calandra Lark
Turtle Dove
White-throated Robin - Seki plus immature in scrubby gully above tree line on drive to Girdev Lake
Rupelle's Warbler
Great spotted woodpecker
Lesser spotted woodpecker
Blackbird
Black-headed Bunting
Red-rumpled Swallow
Red-backed Shrike - very common from Temel village up
Rock Nuthatch
Corn Bunting
Tawny Pipit - common above tree line
House Martin
Red-fronted Serin - common from treeline including around Lake Girdev itself
Northern Wheatear - common above tree line and around Lake Girdev
Rock Bunting - frequent above tree line
Linnet - above tree line
Finschs Wheatear - rocky slopes above tree line, 5+ seen
Stonechat - above tree line
Short-toed Eagle
Steppe Buzzard
Long-legged Buzzard
Hoopoe
Great Tit
Coal Tit
Blue Tit
Sombre Tit
Blue Rock Thrush
Isabelline Wheatear - around Lake Girdev
Coot - very common
Ruddy Shellduck - c. 20 on shore
White Stork - 10 on shore
Black Stork - 4 on shore
White-tailed Eagle - adult on shore
Marsh Harrier - female along shore
Pochard - 5 on lake
Grey Heron
Night heron - 2 adult on lake
Great Crested Grebe - common breeder
Black-necked Grebe - breeding colony of c. 15 pairs
Spanish Sparrow - common around Camp Girdev restaurant
Swift
Citrine wagtail - pair seen damp pasture by Camp Girdev
White wagtail
Black-headed wagtail - damp pasture by Camp Girdev
Squacco Heron - one
Serin- on Lake shore and above tree lime
Rock Sparrow - on rock outcrop on lake shore and near tree line
Ortolan Bunting - higher slopes
Krupers Nuthatch - woodland above Lake Girdev
Sardinian Warbler
Mistle Thrush
Jared Wilson
