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"Surprising Eastern Turkey", early September 2001,

A birding trip from August 28^th until September 14^th

Trip scheme: Ürgüp - Nemrut Dagi - Tatvan - Van - Dogubayazit - Erzurum - Borcka - Trabzon (Sümela) - Bafra area - Ankara.

General information:
Car rental Europe Ürgüp: Fiat (2000) : 1.400 DM.

Hotels :

We saw a total of 181 species during our trip. Some "goodies" were seen in unexpected places, that explains the heading of this report. Although Hetty's interest is more focussed on cultural and archaeological facts, she managed to find many of the 181 species. In fact we experienced Eastern Turkey as an ideal trip to combine both interests. (Nevertheless I have to admit that a disproportionate amount of time was spent on birding!).

 This was our 2^nd trip to Turkey. Last year we made a trip from Antalya to Birecik and back.

At the end of the report, we'll present a complete list of species seen. Now follows a day-by-day summary of the highlights.

On the way to Nemrut Dagi:
Close to Ürgüp (near Kayseri) we saw an Eastern Rock Nuthatch alongside the road. Near Gürün we spotted a Wryneck, Rock Sparrows and the first Lesser Grey Shrike. At Malatya: an Egyptian Vulture.

- I - Nemrud Dagi
This famous cultural place (with the "heads") is also known as a very good place for Red-tailed Wheatears! The only risk was that they had already left (unlike "the heads"!). As I looked for this specie many hours without result last year (for example at Isikli), I was very pleased to find these birds (adults and 1^st winter plumages)  here quite easily! Other species seen: Isabelline and Black-eared Wheatears.

On the way to II:
A  stop at a river,  close  to Diyarbakir, produced 4 Pied Kingfishers. Also the first Curlew Sandpipers and many Yellow Wagtails (flava). Here we also spotted foraging Alpine Swifts (the only ones during the trip!) and White-winged Terns.

- II - Tatvan
The "Crater lake" Nemrut dagi produced: 4 Cinereous Buntings (semenowi), 5 Bimaculated Larks, Ortolan Buntings, Montagu's Harriers, Water Pipits, Shore Larks, Crag Martin, Little Owl, Choughs, 2 Ring Ouzels, Twites (brevirostris) and a Rock Thrush.

The "Van-Lake", various spots at Tatvan and later Van, also appeared to be a productive area with: Temmincks Sandpiper, Casarca, Hoopoes, Short-toed and Lesser Short-toed Larks( pseudobaetica). Here, very surprisingly, another 1^st winter Red Tailed Wheatear ("on migration", of course!), a male Redstart (ochruros), 3 female Citrine Wagtails, Red-throated Pipits, Olivaceous Warbler, Marsh Warblers and a Sedge Warbler (definately no "Moustached"!). 

- III - Van

Ercek:
Driving from Van to Erzek, after a few kilometres, you'll get a rubbish dump on you right-hand side and a water reservoir somewhat further down. After some 100 metres from there you'll see also a (train) tunnel on the right-hand side. The hills between the road and the tunnel easily produced an adult Grey-necked Bunting. Also adult male and 1^st years Ortolan Buntings were present.

Güzelsu (="good water")
You'll find Güzelsu an hour drive from Van in the direction of Hakkari. Some 18 km after the last sign for Güzelsu, you'll find a drinking place (with the text "Temiz Tutalim on it) on your left hand side. From there go 400 metres back (the first corner) and park here.

Going up the mountain you'll find a small slope, which at the beginning  of September was very productive with Crimson-winged Finches, Shore Larks, Snowfinches, Rock Thrush and a Griffon Vulture.

However, I found ny My target species ,on the other side of the road (down hill) in the scrub directly alongside the road. That was a beautiful Radde's Accentor. While trying to get this highlight in focus, the very same scrub (10x5 metres!) produced a Thrush Nightingale, a Mountain Chiffchaff and an Olivaceous Warbler!

-IV- Dögubayazit
We visited this place near the Ararat Mountain. In spite of the dipped Mongolian Finch (probably much higher in the mountains during this time of the year!), the place was well worth visiting.

Birds: Shore Larks, another Grey-necked Bunting and a male Black Redstart (ochruros).

On the way to -V-
After another night at Tatvan we drove to Erzurum. Alongside the road we counted at least 40 Rollers. At Vanto we saw 15 Lesser Kestrels.

-V- Gelinkaya
We followed the tip from Dave Gosney to visit Gelinkaya, a tiny village near Erzurum. This proved to be a perfect birding spot, which produced 2 female Semi Collared Flycatchers, at the first try. An orchard further down contained many Mountain Chiffchaffs. Alongside the river we found Cetti's Warbler, Orphean Warbler, Penduline Tits, Tree- and Waterpipits.

On the way back to Erzurum (near Ilica) we saw the only Lesser Spotted Eagle during the trip. After lunch and a visit to the Market of Erzurum we went to Borcka.

-VI- Borcka
After studying the notes by Dave Gosney, I knew that I had to invest some time in finding a nice raptor spot. At the end of the afternoon I investigated the road from Borcka to Hopa. After a few kilometres there were some possibilities to enter the mountains on the right-hand side. However, this did not produce good birding spots. So we went back to Borcka and tried to get information at the Hotel Demirkol Turistic (that we had already seen previously). There we were very lucky to find some English speaking people with knowledge of the surrounding area. We found the following to be So herewith I present a perfect raptor spot, were we stayed all of the next day.

Direction Camili:
From the hotel you'll drive in northeasterly direction to Camili (ask the locals for: "Tsjamili", everyone knows it!). Leaving town, you'll drive alongside a river in a northerly  direction. After 5 km you'll find a bridge (to the village Muratli). On the right-hand side of the bridge you'll find a signpost with Camili, so you know you're on the right road. From the signpost  you'll  drive 17,5 km in the direction of Camili. There you'll  find a dead end track of some 30 metres, going  south from a bend in the road. At this place we parked the car and could observe raptors for 5 hours, all the time in the shade with good views off the 3 northern mountain peaks.

In addition  we saw the only Green Warbler of the trip, in the very same spot! The bird sang, called and showed well in a dead tree on the track! Here follows an hourly overview of all the raptors we saw passing by during 5 hours on September 7th 2001:

Somewhere halfway down  the 17,5 km distance,  you'll find a very bad track to "Karagol" (=black lake), on your right-hand side. This 6 km track (which our Fiat negotiated  without problems!) leads to a very nice lake producing Dippers, Mountain Chiffchaffs and Yellow Wagtails. It seemed possible to sleep at this spot in the "basic" pension.

On the way to Sümela, near Trabzon, along the Black  Sea, we spotted 3 Shags and many Little Gulls, (During these days the weather was rather cloudy, so we skipped Sivri Kaya!).

-VII- Sümela monastery, 30 km from Trabzon
The Green Warblers and Red-breasted Flycatchers, that were expected here, seemed not to be present! Fortunately we saw 1 Green Warbler surprisingly at Borcka! At Sümela we saw: Coal Tit (abundant), Treecreeper (caucasica), Jay (krynicki), Dunnock (obscura) and a Siskin.

On the way to the Bafra area (via Kürtün) we spotted Rock Buntings.

-VIII- Bafra area
We stayed in a hotel with sea view at Yakakent, were we saw in the mourning Mediterranean Shearwaters (Yelkouan) passing by. We made 2 day-trips at Bafra. The first day we took the west bank of the river west of Bafra, leading finally to a lighthouse. The next day we started at "19^th of Mayo", a village some 10 km east of Bafra. From 19^th of Mayo we headed north west, ultimately also leading to a different lighthouse (on the east bank of the river!).

1^st day:
Squacco Herons, Little  and Great Egrets, Purple and Night Herons, Black (and 1 White) Storks. Gull-billed and White-winged Terns. Many Kingfishers, Whinchats, Spotted Flycatchers and Red-backed Shrikes.

2^nd day:
In the forests north of the village Yurukler (a few kilometres north of "19^th of Mayo") we found hundreds of Spotted Flycatchers!  Among them, at last, also 2 Red-breasted and 1 female Collared Flycatcher.

Further north many Herons and Storks, but also one "dark looking" Reed Bunting (= reiseri!).

After the productive Bafra area we headed for Ankara. Another cultural stop (Hattusas, Hittite temple 1650 BC, at Bogazkale), turned out to be also good for birds:

Bogazkale:
At the Hittite Milipark, a large rocky landscape: a Blue Rockthrush, Tawny pipits and many Rock Sparrows. In forests near a river a male Lesser Spotted Woodpecker and 2 more Collared Flycatchers.

The last 'birding' afternoon at Bogazkale, the day  before departure  from Ankara, produced 2 more surprises: a Short-toed Eagle and a ("pale footed"!) Black Vulture!!

Species List:

Great Crested Grebe
Black-necked Grebe
Little Grebe
Yelkouan Shearwater
Pygmy Cormorant
Cormorant
Shag
Little Bittern
Night Heron
Squacco Heron
Little Egret
Great Egret
Blue Heron
Purple Heron
Black Stork
White Stork
Ruddy Shelduck
Shelduck
Pochard
Gadwall
Wigeon
Garganey
Honey Buzzard
Black Kite
Red Kite
Egyptian Vulture
Griffon Vulture
Black Vulture
Short-toed Eagle
Marsh Harrier
Hen Harrier
Pallid Harrier
Montagu's Harrier
Sparrowhawk
Levant Sparrowhawk
Common Buzzard
Steppe Buzzard
Long-legged Buzzard
Lesser Spotted Eagle
Booted Eagle
Lesser Kestrel
Kestrel
Hobby
Moorhen
Coot
Little Ringed Plover
Ringed Plover
Lapwing
Little Stint
Temminck's Stint
Curlew Sandpiper
Dunlin
Ruff
Snipe
Redshank
Greenshank
Green Sandpiper
Wood Sandpiper
Common Sandpiper
Little Gull
Black-headed Gull
Lesser Black-backed Gull
Yellow-legged Gull
Pontic Yellow-legged Gull
Armenian Gull
Gull-billed Tern
Sandwich Tern
Common Tern
White-winged Tern
Rock Dove
Stock Dove
Collared Dove
Turtle Dove
Laughing Dove
Cuckoo
Little Owl
Tawny Owl
Alpine Swift
Kingfisher
Pied Kingfisher
Bee-eater
Roller
Hoopoe
Wryneck
Green Woodpecker
Syrian Woodpecker
Lesser Spotted Woodpecker
Calandra Lark
Bimaculated Lark
Short-toed Lark
Lesser Short-toed Lark
Crested Lark
Skylark
Shore Lark
Sand Martin
Crag Martin
Barn Swallow
House Martin
Tawny Pipit
Tree Pipit
Red-throated Pipit
Water Pipit
Yellow Wagtail
Citrine Wagtail
Grey Wagtail
White Wagtail
Dipper
Wren
Dunnock
Radde's Accentor
Rufous Bush Robin
Robin
Thrush Nightingale
Black Redstart
Redstart
Whinchat
Stonechat
Isabelline Wheatear
Wheatear
Eatern Black-eared Wheatear
Red-tailed Wheatear
Rock Thrush
Blue Rock Thrush
Ring Ouzel
Black Bird
Cetti's Warbler
Marsh Warbler
Reed Warbler
Eastern Olivaceous Warbler
Great Reed Warbler
Eastern Orphean Warbler
Whitethroat
Blackcap
Mountain Chiffchaff
Chiffchaff
Willow Warbler
Green Warbler
Goldcrest
Firecrest
Spotted Flycatcher
Red-breasted Flycatcher
Semi-collared Flycatcher
Collared Flycatcher
Bearded Reedling
Long-tailed Tit
Coal Tit
Blue Tit
Great Tit
Treecreeper
Short-toed Treecreeper
Rock Nuthatch
Eastern Rock Nuthatch
Penduline Tit
Golden Oriole
Red-backed Shrike
Lesser Grey Shrike
Woodchat Shrike
Magpie
Jay
Chough
(Russian) /Jackdaw
Rook
Hooded Crow
Raven
Starling
House Sparrow
Rock Sparrow
Snowfinch
Chaffinch
Greenfinch
Goldfinch
Crimson-winged Finch
Siskin
Linnet
Twite
Common Crossbill
Rock Bunting
Cinereous Bunting
Ortolan Bunting
Grey-necked Bunting
Reed Bunting

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