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A Report from birdtours.co.uk |
Turkey 9 – 13th July 2012,
Introduction
The purpose of this short tour to Turkey with Birdfinders (www.birdfinders.co.uk) was to see the recently (re)discovered Brown Fish Owl and to catch up with Krüper’s Nuthatch that I somehow managed to miss during an earlier trip to Turkey.
I flew to Antalya before the group from London arrived and was picked up from the airport by Soner Bekir. In the afternoon we did some birdwatching in the surrounding of Antalya. Despite the heat we saw a showy Krüper’s Nuthatch and had a swim afterwards before we picked up the rest of the group from the airport.
The group was so eager to see Brown Fish Owl that we went out the same night and luck was on our side: from some distance we saw a nice bird sitting in a tree for a long time. We saw the same or another bird much closer two nights later, after drawing a blank the night before. As you can understand I cannot give any details about where we saw the owl, but it was not at the usual place, the Oymapinar reservoir, where most birders see the owl. Some general information about the (conservation of) Brown Fish Owl can be found on the Birdfinders website.
During the mornings and afternoons of the other 4 days we watched birds in the general area of the Taurus mountains, usually having a siesta at noon. The general area was full of birds and the array of different habitats (high mountains, lakes) produced a wide range of different species. In the countryside I had the best views ever of Olive-tree Warblers and Scops Owl with a supporting cast of Rock Nuthatch, Eastern Bonelli’s Warbler, Finsch’s Wheatear, tephronotus Long-tailed Tit, Cretzschmar’s Bunting and Rüppell’s Warbler among others. In the mountains we saw Snowfinch, Crimson-winged Finch and Red-fronted Serin. At Beysehir Gölü (=lake) the most remarkable birds were Lesser Spotted Eagle and an adult White-tailed Eagle. .
On the last day Soner dropped me near a rather kitschy hotel in Antalya and I used a taxi to get to the airport the next day to catch the flight back to Amsterdam.
Despite the heat (especially in the coastal areas) I had five days of relaxed birdwatching with many birds seen well, nice scenery and good company. I saw both my target birds with ease and a handful of new and interesting subspecies as well.
I used the following itinerary:
Su 8 |
train to Schiphol, hotel CitizenM |
Mo 9 |
flight HV525 from Schiphol (06.05) to Antalya (10.50) |
Tu 10 |
Taurus-mountains birding |
We 11 |
Taurus-mountains birding, visit to Beysehir Gölü |
Th 12 |
Taurus-mountains birding |
Fr 13 |
Taurus-mountains birding |
Sa 14 |
flight HV816 from Antalya (09.20) to Schiphol (12.35) train home |
Birds seen
|
Subspecies |
9 |
10 |
11 |
12 |
13 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Great Crested Grebe |
cristatus |
|
|
+ |
|
|
Little Grebe |
ruficollis |
|
|
+ |
|
|
Cormorant |
sinensis |
|
|
+ |
|
|
Grey Heron |
cinerea |
|
|
+ |
|
|
Purple Heron |
purpurea |
|
|
+ |
|
|
Little Egret |
garzetta |
|
|
+ |
|
|
White Stork |
ciconia |
+ |
|
+ |
|
1 |
Mallard |
platyrhynchos |
|
|
+ |
|
|
White-tailed Eagle |
monotypic |
|
|
1 |
|
|
Short-toed Eagle |
monotypic |
|
1 |
|
1 |
|
Marsh Harrier |
aeruginosus |
|
|
+ |
|
|
Sparrowhawk |
nisus |
|
|
|
|
1 |
Buzzard |
buteo |
|
1 |
|
|
1 |
Long-legged Buzzard |
rufinus |
|
|
1 |
1 |
|
Lesser Spotted Eagle |
monotypic |
|
|
1 |
|
|
Kestrel |
tinnunculus |
|
+ |
|
|
|
Chukar |
cypriotus |
|
|
|
1 |
|
Coot |
atra |
|
|
+ |
|
|
Avocet |
monotypic |
|
|
+ |
|
+ |
Little Ringed Plover |
curonicus |
1 |
|
|
|
+ |
Kentish Plover |
alexandrinus |
|
|
|
|
1 |
Collared Pratincole |
pratincola |
|
|
|
|
1 |
Spur-winged Lapwing |
monotypic |
|
|
|
|
3 |
Temminck’s Stint |
monotypic |
|
|
|
|
1 |
Common Sandpiper |
monotypic |
|
|
|
|
+ |
Green Sandpiper |
monotypic |
|
|
+ |
|
+ |
Wood Sandpiper |
monotypic |
|
|
+ |
|
|
Redshank |
totanus |
|
|
|
|
1 |
Black-headed Gull |
ridibundus |
|
|
+ |
|
|
Yellow-legged Gull |
michahellis |
+ |
|
|
|
+ |
Sandwich Tern |
monotypic |
|
|
|
|
2 |
Common Tern |
hirundo |
|
|
|
|
|
Whiskered Tern |
hybrida |
|
|
+ |
|
|
White-winged Tern |
monotypic |
|
|
+ |
|
|
Rock Dove |
livia |
|
|
+ |
|
|
Woodpigeon |
palumbus |
+ |
|
+ |
+ |
+ |
Collared Dove |
decaocto |
|
|
+ |
|
|
Turtle Dove |
turtur |
+ |
+ |
+ |
+ |
|
Laughing Dove |
phoenicophila |
|
+ |
+ |
+ |
+ |
Brown Fish Owl |
semenowi |
1 |
|
1 |
|
|
Scops Owl |
cycladum |
|
1 |
|
3 |
|
Tawny Owl |
sylvatica |
|
|
|
H |
|
Nightjar |
meridionalis |
|
|
1 |
|
|
Swift |
apus |
|
|
+ |
|
|
Bee-eater |
monotypic |
|
|
+ |
|
+ |
Roller |
garrulus |
|
|
|
1 |
|
Hoopoe |
epops |
|
+ |
|
1 |
+ |
Syrian Woodpecker |
syriacus |
|
+ |
+ |
+ |
+ |
Middle Spotted Woodpecker |
anatoliae |
|
|
+ |
+ |
+ |
Lesser Spotted Woodpecker |
danfordi |
|
|
|
1 |
|
Sand Martin |
riparia |
|
|
+ |
|
|
Crag Martin |
monotypic |
|
+ |
|
|
|
House Martin |
meridionalis // urbicum |
+ |
|
+ |
|
+ |
Red-runped Swallow |
rufula |
+ |
|
|
|
+ |
Tawny Pipit |
monotypic |
|
+ |
|
|
|
Black-headed Wagtail |
monotypic |
|
|
+ |
|
|
Grey Wagtail |
cinerea |
|
+ |
|
+ |
|
White Wagtail |
monotypic |
|
+ |
+ |
+ |
+ |
Wren |
seilerni |
|
|
|
+ |
|
Dipper |
olympicus |
|
+ |
|
+ |
|
Yellow-vented Bulbul |
monotypic |
+ |
+ |
|
|
+ |
Graceful Prinia |
akyildizi |
|
|
|
|
1 |
Reed Warbler |
fuscus |
|
|
+ |
|
+ |
Great Reed Warbler |
arundinaceus |
|
|
+ |
|
|
Olive-tree Warbler |
monotypic |
|
|
|
3+ |
|
Rüppell’s Warbler |
monotypic |
|
|
|
+ |
|
Eastern Orphean Warbler |
crassirostris |
|
|
+ |
+ |
|
Whitethroat |
communis // icterops |
|
+ |
|
+ |
|
Eastern Bonelli’s Warbler |
monotypic |
|
|
+ |
|
+ |
Goldcrest |
buturlini |
|
|
|
+ |
|
Isabelline Wheatear |
monotypic |
|
+ |
+ |
|
|
Wheatear |
libanotica |
|
+ |
+ |
|
|
Eastern Black-eared Wheatear |
monotypic |
|
+ |
+ |
+ |
+ |
Finsch’s Wheatear |
finschii |
|
+ |
|
|
|
Blackbird |
syriacus |
+ |
+ |
+ |
+ |
+ |
Mistle Thrush |
viscivorus |
|
|
+ |
+ |
|
Bearded Tit |
russicus |
|
|
+ |
|
|
Long-tailed Tit |
tephronotus |
|
+ |
+ |
|
|
Blue Tit |
caeruleus // persicus |
|
+ |
+ |
|
+ |
Great Tit |
major |
|
+ |
+ |
+ |
+ |
Coal Tit |
abietum |
|
+ |
|
+ |
|
Sombre Tit |
anatoliae |
|
|
+ |
+ |
|
Krüper’s Nuthatch |
monotypic |
1 |
+ |
|
|
+ |
Nuthatch |
levantina |
|
|
|
|
2 |
Rock Nuthatch |
zarudnyi // syriaca |
|
+ |
|
|
|
Short-toed Treecreeper |
stresemanni |
|
|
|
1 |
|
Red-backed Shrike |
monotypic |
|
+ |
|
+ |
|
Lesser Grey Shrike |
monotypic |
|
|
|
+ |
|
Masked Shrike |
monotypic |
|
+ |
|
+ |
+ |
Jay |
anatoliae |
+ |
+ |
+ |
+ |
+ |
Magpie |
pica |
|
|
+ |
|
+ |
Starling |
tauricus |
|
|
+ |
|
|
Alpine Chough |
digitatus |
|
+ |
|
|
|
Chough |
docilis |
|
+ |
|
|
|
Hooded Crow |
pallescens // sharpii |
|
+ |
+ |
|
+ |
Raven |
corax // laurencei |
|
+ |
|
|
+ |
House Sparrow |
balearoibericus |
|
+ |
+ |
+ |
+ |
Spanish Sparrow |
hispaniolensis // transcaspius |
|
|
+ |
|
|
Rock Sparrow |
exigua |
|
+ |
|
|
|
Snowfinch |
leucura |
|
+ |
|
|
|
Chaffinch |
schiebeli // syriaca |
|
+ |
+ |
+ |
|
Red-fronted Serin |
monotypic |
|
+ |
|
|
|
Serin |
monotypic |
|
+ |
|
|
1 |
Greenfinch |
muehlei // chlorotica |
|
|
+ |
|
+ |
Goldfinch |
niediecki |
|
+ |
+ |
+ |
+ |
Linnet |
bella |
|
+ |
|
+ |
|
Crimson-winged Finch |
monotypic |
|
+ |
|
|
|
Ortolan Bunting |
monotypic |
|
+ |
|
|
|
Cretzschmar’s Bunting |
monotypic |
|
+ |
+ |
+ |
|
Black-headed Bunting |
monotypic |
|
+ |
+ |
+ |
|
Corn Bunting |
calandra |
|
|
|
+ |
|
If you would like more information please contact:
E.J. Alblas, the Netherlands.
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