I'm now back from Armenia, I'm not planning to make a full day by day trip report but just some remarks about the trip.
I was there from September 19th to the 30th, much of the early migrants were gone (Bimaculated Lark, RT Scrub Robin, White Throated Robin...) but I still managed to get 11 lifers (Lesser Spotted Eagle, Blue Cheeked Bee Eater, Radde's Accentor, Siberian Stonechat, Finsch's Wheatear, Menetries's Warbler, Mountain Chiffchaff, Eastern and Western Rock Nuthatches, Twite and Common Rosefinch). I saw 116 species in total.
Also 5 lifer reptiles and one mammal lifer
I include a checklist of all species observed (lifers in bold).
As I said, it was not a strictly birding trip and we didn't visit Armash or southern Armenia.
The key sites were :
Vedi Gorge
We explored the "Eastern Wadi" (track begins just at the entrance of Dashtakar village). Both Rock Nuthatches (although Western was uncommon) and Finsch's Wheatears were easily found there. No EBE or Isabelline Wheatears , already gone on migration I guess.
Fish ponds near Masis
Very birdy location with White Winged Terns, Pygmy Cormorants, both Bee Eaters...
This waterbody had the most birds 40.036422, 44.404218
The fishponds on the otherside of the road are private so it might no be a good idea to enter without authorization. The owners saw me watching birds from outside and invited us to enter and offered us coffee. Nothing special seen in this private part of the ponds but apparently fields around it are good for both pratincoles (I guess I was just a little late for this).
Mount Aragats
Not much to say about this location that hasn't been said in other trip reports except that most alpine birds were difficult (Horned Lark) or not seen (Crimson Winged Finch, White Winged Snowfinch...), I guess late spring is much better for these !
I had trouble finding Radde's Accentor and had to try several times (much like mentionned in Richard Prior's trip report). Found only one at the beginning of the juniper zone, saw it for about 5 seconds and it disappeared. It was with a group of Rock Buntings.
While coming down from Lake Kari (40.422977, 44.243599), I noticed birds of prey migrating, turns out we had about 200 Steppe Buzzards migrating in a few minutes, some at eye level ! There were a few Marsh Harriers, Black Kites and an eagle sp. (likely LSE) with the Buzzards. One of the highlights of the trip for me !
Lake Sevan
Nothing particular to say, Armenian Gull is very common, Mountain Chiffchaff and Red Breasted Flycatcher are very common in the bushes around the lake.
Note that to enter Norashen Reserve, we had to pay a fee of 6000AMD to park rangers (for both of us, not each).
Victory Park (Yerevan)
Quite birdy park, lots of RB flycatchers, Redstarts, Lesser Whitethroats, Syrian WP...I guess a visit earlier in September or in Spring could be interesting too if you plan to spend a couple of days in Yerevan.
Fields near Yerevan airport
Saw two Menetries's Warblers there (40.156625, 44.404264; 40.156479, 44.398319) also one in another location near Byurakan (40.310330, 44.285667). All were 1cy birds, I guess all adult males are already gone on migration by this time of the year.
A couple "non birding" things are worth mentionning. We felt very safe everywhere and found people generally extremely kind and welcoming (several times in the countryside, people invited us for coffee/tea/vodka/fruits).
The only exception to this rule is Amberd Tavern on the road to Kari Lake (Aragats) : staff non friendly at all, no smiles and they were clearly serving/taking orders of Armenian customers before foreigners, seeing this, I decided to leave the place.
All the guesthouses/hotels were very nice but I want to mention especially
Sargsyan Eco House in Tsaghkunk near Sevan : very clean, modern rooms with private bathroom, tasty breakfast with eggs and fruits from the garden, homemade jams...
Vertoni Hotel in Yerevan was also great (also very clean, nice breakfast, nice room...) with an especially kind and friendly lady at the reception/breakfast.
A couple of restaurants that are worth mentionning :
Lavash in Yerevan,
Glxatun in Tsaghkunk (slightly fancy places, with tasty food and cocktails),
Rshtuniq in Ohanavan (great chachlyk, communication a little difficult with the waitress despite my girlfriend being fluent in Russian...but very kind anyways !).
It was a very pleasant trip, I was really impressed by the hospitality of Armenians, the stunning landscapes and the birds of course. I'm actually thinking about going back to Armenia for a Spring visit (late May or early June) to see the species I missed and maybe more reptiles/insects (I photographed some Orthoptera during the trip but still have to ID most of them).
Will post a few pics here once I've sorted everything
