Richard Prior
Halfway up an Alp
As in May 2018, this autumn’s nine day visit to Armenia was not a 100% full-on birding trip, nevertheless we managed some very nice sightings in fantastic scenery on our wanderings around the centre and southern areas of the country.
Instead of flying from Geneva (our nearest airport) which has no direct flights to Yerevan (so plane changing involved in e.g., Brussels, Vienna, Kiev, Moscow to name but a few possible routes) we took advantage of the fairly recently established Lyon to Yerevan flight with AirCompany Armenia, a twice a week service which neither arrives in the middle of the night in Yerevan nor departs for the return at an ungodly hour.:t: The 23 year old Boeing 737 (reg. EK73736 (for Farnboro John and co.)) had perhaps seen better days but it got us to Yerevan on time, though my plan to pick up the hire car and drive the 35kms to our hotel on the slopes of Mt Aragats in daylight were scuppered by me forgetting sunset was an hour earlier in Armenia than France, plus a 25 minute wait at the Europcar desk while the only operative on duty had to deal with a ‘problem’ customer. As in 2018 for our ‘off the beaten track’ adventures we hired a Lada Niva, costing 342 Euros for the nine days.
The Lada’s headlights were not particularly powerful and the roads unlit but we succeeded in getting lost just the once (OK, twice) on the way to our accommodation (Hotel Amberd) and thanks to my wife having learnt some rudimentary phrases AND (more difficult) the Armenian alphabet we were able to ask for directions or read signs only in Armenian or Russian and got to the hotel just before they stopped serving food. A tasty mushroom omelette and deep fried cheese balls (with an Armenian beer to celebrate our safe arrival of course) followed and we hit the hay.
13 September
A pre-breakfast walk in new surroundings and a different country has been one of the joys of birding for me for longer than I care to mention and the hotel was well placed on a hillside overlooking Yerevan in the distance and the snow on the Armenian people’s beloved Mt Ararat (in present-day Turkey) was shining away beyond the city. The parched grassland was a huge contrast to the greenery and flowers that we experienced on our May 2018 trip and naturally birdsong was virtually absent, just a trilling Western Rock Nuthatch and a Black Redstart to be heard. Other species present were Barn Swallow, House Martin, Water Pipit, Tree Pipit, White Wagtail, Common Chiffchaff, Great Tit, Red-backed Shrike, Hooded Crow, Magpie, House Sparrow, Goldfinch and Linnet. After breakfast (copious doesn’t come near it as a description!), a nice rufous Steppe Buzzard and 30-odd European Bee-Eater were overhead. In fact, Bee-Eater, Steppe Buzzard, Red-backed Shrike and Tree Pipit migration was strong all through the first seven days.
Mount Aragats (4090m) is the highest mountain in present-day Armenia and according to nearly all the birding trip reports one reads, Radde’s Accentor is ‘easy’ or ‘numerous’ on the lower juniper clad slopes. Having managed to miss it on our traumatically curtailed afternoon visit last year (petrol gauge on red etc etc) I was bound to see it this time wasn’t I, having set aside all day for mountain walking?
We drove slowly from the hotel which is at c1800m altitude, right up to the end of the road at Lake Kari (3190m), stopping several times to check likely-looking habit for the ‘Common as muck Accentor’ but also to watch other avian activity. Lots of Common Kestrel hunting the slopes, as were Steppe Buzzard, a handsome Long-legged Buzzard and Eurasian Sparrowhawk. The raptor highlights though were two adult male Pallid Harrier which seemed in a hurry to go south towards the sunshine we’d now left below us. The temperature had plummeted and a little sleet had started falling so I couldn’t blame them. A cracking female Rufous-tailed Rock Thrush posed obligingly on a rock to have its photo taken and Raven cronked overhead.
When the extinct volcano that is Mount Aragats erupted it must have made quite a bang, the lunar landscape created by the volcanic rocks strewn everywhere is dramatic, much appreciated though by the many Northern Wheatear perching on them. The lake at the end of the road is artificial and search as I might, I couldn’t find any Citrine Wagtail as some have done here, plenty of White Wags and surprisingly a Great Crested Grebe snoozing on the water.
We walked up towards one of the four peaks of the mountain but turned around at around 3500m altitude because I was knack…, er, because the cloud closed in. Water Pipit were numerous as were Horned/Shore Lark ssp penicillata and ‘Caucasian’ Twite ssp brevirostris. Red-billed Chough were kchouawing on the crater’s edge, and smart Black Redstart (the red-bellied ssp ochruros) and Alpine Accentor were also present. We weren’t brave enough to try the famous Khash dish (a sort of cow heel soup) at the little restaurant by the lake but warmed up with kebab and chips and a fizzy drink to restore energy after our chilly high altitude walk.
In the afternoon we descended into the sunshine at around 2250m and added more species (a magnificent Lammergeier, Woodlark, Mistle Thrush, Blackbird and still singing Mountain Chiffchaff) at various stops where the ‘Piece of cake Accentor’ has been seen (by others) and around the picturesque Amberd Church and fortress.
So, another spectacular Radde’s Accentor failure on my part, the next day we were to go north to Spitak with the supplies and winter clothes we’d brought for the refugee and villager project we’re involved with, looked like the pre-breakfast sortie was going to be a bit ‘stressful’…………..:eek!:
Instead of flying from Geneva (our nearest airport) which has no direct flights to Yerevan (so plane changing involved in e.g., Brussels, Vienna, Kiev, Moscow to name but a few possible routes) we took advantage of the fairly recently established Lyon to Yerevan flight with AirCompany Armenia, a twice a week service which neither arrives in the middle of the night in Yerevan nor departs for the return at an ungodly hour.:t: The 23 year old Boeing 737 (reg. EK73736 (for Farnboro John and co.)) had perhaps seen better days but it got us to Yerevan on time, though my plan to pick up the hire car and drive the 35kms to our hotel on the slopes of Mt Aragats in daylight were scuppered by me forgetting sunset was an hour earlier in Armenia than France, plus a 25 minute wait at the Europcar desk while the only operative on duty had to deal with a ‘problem’ customer. As in 2018 for our ‘off the beaten track’ adventures we hired a Lada Niva, costing 342 Euros for the nine days.
The Lada’s headlights were not particularly powerful and the roads unlit but we succeeded in getting lost just the once (OK, twice) on the way to our accommodation (Hotel Amberd) and thanks to my wife having learnt some rudimentary phrases AND (more difficult) the Armenian alphabet we were able to ask for directions or read signs only in Armenian or Russian and got to the hotel just before they stopped serving food. A tasty mushroom omelette and deep fried cheese balls (with an Armenian beer to celebrate our safe arrival of course) followed and we hit the hay.
13 September
A pre-breakfast walk in new surroundings and a different country has been one of the joys of birding for me for longer than I care to mention and the hotel was well placed on a hillside overlooking Yerevan in the distance and the snow on the Armenian people’s beloved Mt Ararat (in present-day Turkey) was shining away beyond the city. The parched grassland was a huge contrast to the greenery and flowers that we experienced on our May 2018 trip and naturally birdsong was virtually absent, just a trilling Western Rock Nuthatch and a Black Redstart to be heard. Other species present were Barn Swallow, House Martin, Water Pipit, Tree Pipit, White Wagtail, Common Chiffchaff, Great Tit, Red-backed Shrike, Hooded Crow, Magpie, House Sparrow, Goldfinch and Linnet. After breakfast (copious doesn’t come near it as a description!), a nice rufous Steppe Buzzard and 30-odd European Bee-Eater were overhead. In fact, Bee-Eater, Steppe Buzzard, Red-backed Shrike and Tree Pipit migration was strong all through the first seven days.
Mount Aragats (4090m) is the highest mountain in present-day Armenia and according to nearly all the birding trip reports one reads, Radde’s Accentor is ‘easy’ or ‘numerous’ on the lower juniper clad slopes. Having managed to miss it on our traumatically curtailed afternoon visit last year (petrol gauge on red etc etc) I was bound to see it this time wasn’t I, having set aside all day for mountain walking?
We drove slowly from the hotel which is at c1800m altitude, right up to the end of the road at Lake Kari (3190m), stopping several times to check likely-looking habit for the ‘Common as muck Accentor’ but also to watch other avian activity. Lots of Common Kestrel hunting the slopes, as were Steppe Buzzard, a handsome Long-legged Buzzard and Eurasian Sparrowhawk. The raptor highlights though were two adult male Pallid Harrier which seemed in a hurry to go south towards the sunshine we’d now left below us. The temperature had plummeted and a little sleet had started falling so I couldn’t blame them. A cracking female Rufous-tailed Rock Thrush posed obligingly on a rock to have its photo taken and Raven cronked overhead.
When the extinct volcano that is Mount Aragats erupted it must have made quite a bang, the lunar landscape created by the volcanic rocks strewn everywhere is dramatic, much appreciated though by the many Northern Wheatear perching on them. The lake at the end of the road is artificial and search as I might, I couldn’t find any Citrine Wagtail as some have done here, plenty of White Wags and surprisingly a Great Crested Grebe snoozing on the water.
We walked up towards one of the four peaks of the mountain but turned around at around 3500m altitude because I was knack…, er, because the cloud closed in. Water Pipit were numerous as were Horned/Shore Lark ssp penicillata and ‘Caucasian’ Twite ssp brevirostris. Red-billed Chough were kchouawing on the crater’s edge, and smart Black Redstart (the red-bellied ssp ochruros) and Alpine Accentor were also present. We weren’t brave enough to try the famous Khash dish (a sort of cow heel soup) at the little restaurant by the lake but warmed up with kebab and chips and a fizzy drink to restore energy after our chilly high altitude walk.
In the afternoon we descended into the sunshine at around 2250m and added more species (a magnificent Lammergeier, Woodlark, Mistle Thrush, Blackbird and still singing Mountain Chiffchaff) at various stops where the ‘Piece of cake Accentor’ has been seen (by others) and around the picturesque Amberd Church and fortress.
So, another spectacular Radde’s Accentor failure on my part, the next day we were to go north to Spitak with the supplies and winter clothes we’d brought for the refugee and villager project we’re involved with, looked like the pre-breakfast sortie was going to be a bit ‘stressful’…………..:eek!: