Azerbaijan - end Feb 2023 for a week (Siberian Crane, Caspian Tit, White-winged Redstart) (1 Viewer)

[Mike Hunter]

Hi

I've planned this trip around the spring northbound Siberian Crane - the main target - but aiming to see Caspian Tit and White-winged Redstart too.

I was doing this week long trip with my wife but as she must now work I can open it up as a birding trip.

I've not yet booked flights and have a 4x4 car lined up. I've been planning this trip for some time so I'm 'genned up'.

Anyone interested do drop me a message.

I'm on the Birding Down Under tomorrow and will have no phone signal or access to WiFi and I'll respond to messages sometime after 19 December.

Thanks

Mike

 

[Bewick]

How much is the estimated amount of money needed to have a trip in that area?

 

[Mike Hunter]

How much is the estimated amount of money needed to have a trip in that area?

Hi - difficult to know as I've never been before. The 4x4 car is £35 a day which pretty good, there's accommodation for 7 nights plus food and fuel. And then flights to get there. All in, say £300 for flight, £210 for hotel (at average £30 pppn), say £100 for fuel and park fees (could be less with more people), plus shared cost of car - it should be a reasonably inexpensive trip overall.

More importantly, it gets you to a remote part of the Western Palearctic, and a good chance of seeing Caspian Tit, not easy anywhere in its range, and a shot at Siberian Crane. Can't be many more years left in that crane sadly.

Hope this helps.

Mike

 

[Jos Stratford]

More importantly, it gets you to a remote part of the Western Palearctic, and a good chance of seeing Caspian Tit, not easy anywhere in its range, and a shot at Siberian Crane. Can't be many more years left in that crane sadly.

Azerbaijan will be excellent, tempted myself 👍

PS Caspian Tit is fairly easy in the heart of its range in northern Iran (and of course the Siberian Crane), but difficult now for British passport holders - along with Canadians, tourist entry only given if on an organised tour .

 

[Andy Adcock]

Azerbaijan will be excellent, tempted myself 👍

PS Caspian Tit is fairly easy in the heart of its range in northern Iran (and of course the Siberian Crane), but difficult now for British passport holders - along with Canadians, tourist entry only given if on an organised tour .

Me too until I looked at what I thought would be reasonable flights and costs from Cyprus. Either 11-15hrs with two stops on a range of budget airlines for c£300 or direct with Qatar airlines for £1100-1500.

 

[Jos Stratford]

Me too until I looked at what I thought would be reasonable flights and costs from Cyprus. Either 11-15hrs with two stops on a range of budget airlines for c£300 or direct with Qatar airlines for £1100-1500.

If you go Wizz, possible from 50 euro return from Larnica to Budapest in February, then 70 euro return Budapest to Baku. Was a random check, didn't look at best possible connections.

 

[Paul Chapman]

I had already looked at departure dates of the Crane from Iran on Birdforum threads & it looks as if you should target it during the first 10 days of March?

04.03.11
02.03.12
28.02.15
02.03.16
04.03.17
03.03.18
28.02.20
08.03.22

Last year was later than usual.

I will be away this year during that period. Otherwise I would definitely be up for this...

Good luck.

All the best

Paul

 

[opisska]

Be ready for ... an experience when going to Azerbaijan. I have not been there myself, but talked to several people who have and it's always the same story: problems, harassment of foreigners by police, corruption ... The country looks really impressive when it comes to birds (and even mammals) but I have personally crossed it from my target list unless it significantly improves.

 

[Mike Hunter]

PS Caspian Tit is fairly easy in the heart of its range in northern Iran (and of course the Siberian Crane), but difficult now for British passport holders - along with Canadians, tourist entry only given if on an organised tour .

That's a fair challenge Jos - my shorthand attempt which was intended to mean access to Iran. As you say this isn't easy nowadays. One day I hope Iran opens up properly - looks like a fab birding and cultural experience if they do open up.

Thanks

Mike

 

[Mike Hunter]

I had already looked at departure dates of the Crane from Iran on Birdforum threads & it looks as if you should target it during the first 10 days of March?

04.03.11
02.03.12
28.02.15
02.03.16
04.03.17
03.03.18
28.02.20
08.03.22

Last year was later than usual.

I will be away this year during that period. Otherwise I would definitely be up for this...

Good luck.

All the best

Paul

Thanks Paul

I've more or less got the same dates. If you absolutely had to see the crane you'd do a fortnight. As you say dates vary markedly. Taking the last three years the 'arrival span' is 13 days alone (though 2022 a significant outlier):

Left Iran	Arrived Shirvan NP, Azerbaijan
8 March 2022	13 March 2022
Not known	1 March 2021
27 February 2020	1 March 2020 (late afternoon)

Another factor is the time it takes for Omid to get from Iran to Azerbaijan. In 2022 it appears to have taken 6 days, but in 2020 a more typical 4 days. I had to choose a week and admit to being influenced by the 2021 & 2022 dates, and for my proposed week (25 February to 4 March) it also gave me a few days extra.

Thanks for sharing your date information. One day we'll do a WP trip together!

Mike

 

[Mike Hunter]

Be ready for ... an experience when going to Azerbaijan. I have not been there myself, but talked to several people who have and it's always the same story: problems, harassment of foreigners by police, corruption ... The country looks really impressive when it comes to birds (and even mammals) but I have personally crossed it from my target list unless it significantly improves.

I guess Azerbaijan isn't Majorca, and there are likely to be more issues going to an obscure part of the Western Pal, where tourism and tourism infrastructure are not that well developed. Birders I've talked to who have been to Azerbaijan are generally positive about the country, and they emphasise good planning is helpful, as is having a local guide. There has been corruption at one national park (over-charging) but I'm hearing they will back down on polite challenge.

I may well go with my non-birding wife and her main concern is the standard of accommodation - something I need to look at.

If you don't go you don't see....

Mike

 

[Mike Hunter]

If you go Wizz, possible from 50 euro return from Larnica to Budapest in February, then 70 euro return Budapest to Baku. Was a random check, didn't look at best possible connections.

Hadn't considered Wizz - thanks Jos, will look at this.

Mike

 

[Steve Lister]

I went to Azerbaijan on a rather informally organised trip in 2016. We were let down badly by the ground agent ripping us off over car hire - never got our large deposits back - and booking totally unsuitable accommodation at exorbitant prices, plus charging us ridiculous amounts for national park entries which were actually hardly anything.
The trip only succeeded at all because of a very helpful local guide, not a birder but he had accompanied birding groups before, spoke good English, drove one of our cars, and was incredibly good as a 'fixer'. His name is Elvin Alimuradov: not been in contact with him since but back then he expressed an interest in doing more birding trips. I don't remember any problems with police etc. Elvin got us into old athletics training facilities as a much better alternative to the very basic homestays that we had been booked into, one of which would have involved all ten of us sleeping on the floor of one room with one toilet and one sink, outside. We stayed in a proper hotel in Baku and a rather basic one in the town south of Shirvan NP, and another OK one in the town near the Caspian Tit forest. We had no idea where to look for the tits and failed.

 

[Mike Hunter]

I went to Azerbaijan on a rather informally organised trip in 2016. We were let down badly by the ground agent ripping us off over car hire - never got our large deposits back - and booking totally unsuitable accommodation at exorbitant prices, plus charging us ridiculous amounts for national park entries which were actually hardly anything.
The trip only succeeded at all because of a very helpful local guide, not a birder but he had accompanied birding groups before, spoke good English, drove one of our cars, and was incredibly good as a 'fixer'. His name is Elvin Alimuradov: not been in contact with him since but back then he expressed an interest in doing more birding trips. I don't remember any problems with police etc. Elvin got us into old athletics training facilities as a much better alternative to the very basic homestays that we had been booked into, one of which would have involved all ten of us sleeping on the floor of one room with one toilet and one sink, outside. We stayed in a proper hotel in Baku and a rather basic one in the town south of Shirvan NP, and another OK one in the town near the Caspian Tit forest. We had no idea where to look for the tits and failed.

Hi Steve

Sorry you missed the key bird. It seems much easier now the main site is known (having been superbly found by Ben Macdonald).

Elvin is still around, still a fixer, and extremely helpful. I got some prices off him in September (you can see how long I've been planning this!):

• two days at Lerik, from Baku was 330 AZN (£160) } CAR AND DRIVER ONLY
• day trip to Shivran NP (from Baku) £170 AZN (£83) }

I could see the cost of a car and driver amounting to £500 to £600 for the week. Not that expensive split 4 ways for example, and you've got a local driver to keep you out of trouble and who knows the sites!

I prefer to be independent, partly to avoid precisely the kind of problems you sadly encountered, and partly to increase flexibility, hence the preference to hiring my own 4x4.

There's clearly a bit of interest in Azerbaijan, matched by some anxieties, so I'll do a report after my trip.

Mike

 

[Bewick]

Hi - difficult to know as I've never been before. The 4x4 car is £35 a day which pretty good, there's accommodation for 7 nights plus food and fuel. And then flights to get there. All in, say £300 for flight, £210 for hotel (at average £30 pppn), say £100 for fuel and park fees (could be less with more people), plus shared cost of car - it should be a reasonably inexpensive trip overall.

More importantly, it gets you to a remote part of the Western Palearctic, and a good chance of seeing Caspian Tit, not easy anywhere in its range, and a shot at Siberian Crane. Can't be many more years left in that crane sadly.

Hope this helps.

Mike

Sounds really cool, in Uni just thinking of birding trips I could take.

 

[Mike Hunter]

I'll aim to do a proper write-up but may not be until June when I have time. On the day Omid left Iran on 5 March I was on a flight to Azerbaijan.

All the information indicated that Omid had successfully paired with Roya, a female released the previous autumn (from the Belgium captive breeding centre).

Whilst leaving Iran at a date towards the end of the normal range, everything looked set for a touchdown in Azerbaijan as limited data from recent years had shown.

However, it now seems clear the released female's migration instincts weren't strong and eventually news came through on 11 March that Roya had been seen further west from the wintering grounds in Iran, but without Omid.

Omid hasn't been seen anywhere since leaving the wintering site in Iran with Roya. It's entirely possible that we won't get any more news until the autumn when Omid hopefully returns to Iran safely from Siberia.

The birding in Azerbaijan was a revelation. Lots of birds everywhere: straightforward Caspian Tit, exceptional vis-mig at times including as many as 100,000 Little Bustards filling the sky in a line from one horizon to another, and multiple sightings of Wolf and Golden Jackal adding to the mix.

Delighted to have tried. Azerbaijan is transforming into an accessible country, relatively inexpensive visa is easy to get (and quickly issued), cheap flights from Budapest, even direct flights from London, there are a number of car hire companies, main roads are good, hotels and other accommodation increasing, extremely helpful local birder/guide/fixer Elvin who is amazing, and no bribery attempts by the police which some birders in past years have faced.

Azerbaijan is on the very extremities of the classic Western Palearctic area, but now well and truly on the beaten track with surprisingly good accessibility and infrastructure.

Mike

 

[opisska]

Wow that's good to hear. Maybe it's time to put it back on the map!

 

[Mike Hunter]

Wow that's good to hear. Maybe it's time to put it back on the map!

It was never off the map for many!

Mike