We started the morning with a couple of Birding stops around Akseki town, where we saw a Middle Spotted Woodpecker and some Kruper's Nuthatches. After good views of these species, we carried onto Sugla Lake. There was a couple of White Stork nests on posts close to the lake. A closer view confirmed there were a few Spanish Sparrows nesting in base of the White Stork nests.
White Stork nest: With a group of Spanish Sparrows nesting in the base of the White Stork's nest
Another White Stork nest with a juvenile
White Stork nest with a juvenile: This is the nominate ciconia subspecies which occurs in Europe & West Asia and winters to tropical & Southern Africa. The other subspecies occurs in Turkestan and winters in Iran & India
This Adult White Stork drifted over, but didn't land on a nest
Spanish Sparrow: Male. This is the nominate hispaniolensis subspecies which occurs in Cape Verde, the Canaries, Madeira, Southern Europe & North Africa. The other subspecies occurs from Iran & Transcaspia to East Kazakhstan & Afghanistan
Spanish Sparrow: Female. The Females would be tricky identify if they were on their own
Nigel photographing one of the White Stork nests
We carried onto the lake, which proved disappointing as it was a large body of water, with narrow reed edges.
Sugla Lake: It was disappointing as there wasn't a lot of nice edges to the lake
Sugla Lake: A small patch of reeds further out in the lake
Little Egret: This is the nominate garzetta subspecies which is widely spread across Eurasia, East & Southern Africa
Azure Damselfly: It was disappointing when I check the options for blue Damselflies in Turkey to find this was an Azure Damselfly, a species that breeds in my garden pond
We stopped for lunch somewhere along the road from Sugla Lake to Karaman.
Spiny-tailed Lizard: This species looks to be a good fit for these Lizards
Spiny-tailed Lizard: They are found in North Turkey & South to Anatolia & the Taurus Mountains, as well as, Georgia, Russia & Azerbaijan
Simon and Nigel keeping up the ice cream eating traditions from our previous trips: I'm sure I would have joined them in this tradition
After a lunch stop, we carried on driving East for a couple of hours, before a roadside stop near Karaman. The highlights here were Black-headed Buntings and Cretzschmar's Buntings, neither of which were new to the trip. I think the stop was to relieve the tedium of the drive to Eregli and probably as a comfort break. It wasn't a long stop before we carried on towards Eregli, which was another hour of driving East of Karaman.
A habitat shot at the roadside stop
Black-headed Bunting: Male. This monotypic species occurs from Italy & the Balkans, Greece & Turkey to South East Ukraine, South West Russia & the Caucasus, to North Israel, North Jordan, North West Syria, North Iraq & Iran to India
Cretzschmar's Bunting: This monotypic species occurs from South Albania, Greece, Crete, Turkey & Cyprus to Israel & West Jordan. They winter in North East Africa & Arabia
Roughtail Rock Agama: This is a common Agama species across Greece, Turkey, North Syria, North Iraq & the Lebanon
There were also some Blue Butterflies, but I've not managed to figure out which species they were.
Turkish Blue sp.: I've been unable to figure out which species of Blue Butterfly this is
Turkish Blue sp.: I've been unable to figure out which Blue this is
Turkish Blue sp.: This looks like a different species. Again, I've been unable to figure out which species of Blue Butterfly this is
Our next stop was when we pulled off on a side road for a few minutes' drive, before stopping at some tall trees. This was a breeding site for a pair of Long-eared Owls which had been successful with fully grown youngsters. We quickly found a couple of Long-eared Owls sitting in the trees.
Long-eared Owl: This is the nominate otus subspecies which occurs in Europe, Asia & North Africa
Long-eared Owl: Unfortunately, one of the other punters got a bit too close for this individual and it flew off to trees about a couple of hundred metres further along the road. We left it in peace at this point
As we got closer to Eregli, the landscape changed into an extensive grassy plain. There seemed to be little birdlife, apart from a party of at least ten Lesser Kestrels.
The extensive grassy plain near Eregli: If we had had the time, it would have been interesting to stop and spent thirty minutes to see if it was a birdless as it appeared. Perhaps there were Larks out in this grassland
Lesser Kestrel: This monotypic species occurs from the Mediterranean basin to E China. They winters to South Asia & Southern Africa
The hotel in Eregli was the poshest of the trip. However, it had a very poor selection of food, to offset the better quality of the rooms.
