30 Jun 15 - Turkey - A Dry Country Turkish Valley

The previous two Blog Posts covered the our visit to the excellent Kayseri Sultan Sazligi Wetlands. We had one final stop that afternoon in a nearby dry country valley.

A scenery view of the upper part of the valley

These Sheep were well worth avoiding: These flocks are generally guarded by large aggressive guard dogs which defend the flocks from Wolves. Keeping well away from them is always a wise precaution

It's a wise decision to back off when the Turkish guard dogs spot you: The collars are to protect the dogs from Wolves. This photo was taken at Demirkazik (1 Jul 15)

The local shepherd

The others have clearly found something: There are no new species for me in this area, so I was happy to be more laid back and look for my own Birds and do a bit of photography

Another scenery shot

There was a nice selection of dry country species in the valley.

Lesser Grey Shrike: This monotypic species occurs from the Iberian Peninsula to Siberia & central Asia. They winter as far South as Southern Africa

Upcher's Warbler: This monotypic species occurs from Turkey to Israel & East to South Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan & Pakistan. They winter in North East Africa & South Arabia

Isabelline Wheatear: This monotypic species occurs in South-central Eurasia. They winter in North East Africa, Arabia & India

Bimaculated Lark: This monotypic species occurs from West-central Turkey to South Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, North East Iran & North Afghanistan, as well as, Lebanon, North Israel, West Syria & North Iraq. They winter in North East Africa & India

Bimaculated Lark

Bimaculated Lark: Doing a bit of song-flighting

After a bit of searching, we located a family of White-throated Robins.

White-throated Robin: Worn Male

White-throated Robin: Female

White-throated Robin: Juvenile

White-throated Robin: Another Female

White-throated Robin: This monotypic species occurs from Turkey to Iraq, Iran & South Turkestan. They winter in East Africa

Taurus Souslik: This lovely species is endemic to the Taurus Mountains

Taurus Souslik

Taurus Souslik

Taurus Souslik

We left late afternoon and arrived in Demirkazik in time for an early evening meal. The plan was to get to an early night, as we had a pre-dawn start for the following morning.

30 Jun 15 - Turkey - More Turkish Wetlands

The previous Blog Post covered the start of our visit to the excellent Kayseri Sultan Sazligi Wetlands, where we had seen a Ferruginous Duck, a few White-headed Ducks and a showy Moustached Warbler. We still had the walk back from the lake hide to enjoy the site.

European Pond Terrapin: We saw a few European Pond Terrapins around the lake hide

There was a good selection of Birds on view around the wet fields close to the car park and entrance to the reserve.

There were wet fields close to the car park

Squacco Heron: This monotypic species occurs in the Southern part of the Western Palearctic, Africa & Madagascar

Squacco Heron

Purple Heron: This is the nominate purpurea subspecies which occurs in the Southern part of the Western Palearctic, Africa & Madagascar

White Stork: It was nice to see another pukka White Stork, without any worries over its origin that we now have in the UK after the release of so many White Storks in Sussex

Gull-billed Tern: Not a great photo, but it was the only Gull-billed Tern we saw on the trip. This is the nominate nilotica subspecies which occurs in the Western Palearctic and winters to tropical Africa & the Persian Gulf to India

Whiskered Tern: This is the nominate hybrida subspecies which occurs from central & Southern Europe & North West Africa to South East Siberia, Eastern China & South to Pakistan & North India. They winter in Africa, and from South & South East Asia to the Thai-Malay Peninsula, Sulawesi & the Philippines

Whiskered Tern

Whiskered Tern

Whiskered Tern

Whiskered Tern

Whiskered Tern

Soner took us into a small grove of Willow Trees next to the car park, as he knew there was a pair of Penduline Tits that had a nest in the trees. There was also the first Syrian Woodpecker of the trip in the trees.

Penduline Tit: This is the nominate pendulinus subspecies which occurs from Europe to the Ural Mountains, the Caucasus Mountains & West Turkey

Penduline Tit Nest: They build an impressive nest

Syrian Woodpecker: This monotypic species occurs from South East Europe to Turkey, Israel, Jordan, Transcaucasia & Iran

There was a restaurant next to the car park, so that we could have lunch on the reserve.

Checking the reserve as we returned to the car park

Little Owl: This Little Owl was sitting out in full view by the car park. It is the indigena subspecies which occurs from the Balkans to Turkey, South Russia, Transcaucasia & South West Siberia

The tour was led by top Turkish Birder Soner

After lunch, we headed off to another part of the reserve. This was a more open area compared to the morning's location and we had good views of a couple of Collared Pratincoles here.

Our viewpoint over the open part of the reserve

Collared Pratincole: This is the nominate pratincola subspecies which occurs from Southern Europe to Pakistan and winters in Sub-Saharan Africa as far South as 5° North

Collared Pratincole

This mountain set our thoughts for the next day: We had an early pre-dawn start planned for our visit to the montane Demirkazik

We had one more stop, in a nearby dry valley before we reached the village of Demirkazik. I will cover that dry valley Birding in my next Blog Post.

30 Jun 15 - Turkey - Exploring Some Turkish Wetlands

After a twenty minute drive from the hotel in Eregli, we stopped at the nearby Lake Ivriz Baraji. This is actually a reservoir, that was built in 1984. The initial plan was to visit some local marshes, but these were largely dried up, so we ended up at the reservoir instead. It wasn't the best of locations that we visited. However, it was the only site we saw Greater Flamingos and Rose-coloured Starlings.

Black Kite: We stopped briefly for this Black Kite on the way to the lake, which surprisingly was the only one we saw in the trip

Black Kite: This is the nominate migrans subspecies which occurs from North West Africa & Europe to South-central Asia. They winters as far South as South Africa

Lake Ivriz Baraji

Lake Ivriz Baraji: It was a long, thin lake and the Greater Flamingos were at the far end. We had to get the telescopes out to see them properly

Another habitat photo from Lake Ivriz Baraji

It's pretty common to see Goats and Sheep being looked after by a local herder, as they graze in open countryside

Lesser Short-toed Lark: This is the minor subspecies which occurs from Morocco to North Egypt, South Turkey to West Saudi Arabia & West Iraq

Lesser Short-toed Lark

Lesser Short-toed Lark

Lesser Short-toed Lark

There were a couple of Rose-coloured Starlings where we parked the coach: They were the only individuals we saw

Long-legged Buzzard: We stopped for a quick look at this Long-legged Buzzard on its nest on a high crag next to the road

An uninspiring bit of Turkish architecture

After an hour or so at Lake Ivriz Baraji, we departed for the two and a half hour drive to the excellent Kayseri Sultan Sazligi wetlands. Unfortunately, a lot of the wetlands in this part of Turkey have drained in the last few decades.

A lot of the journey was across these dull-looking grasslands

By late morning we arrived at the excellent Kayseri Sultan Sazligi Wetlands. There was a long boardwalk through the reedbeds.

The boardwalk at the Kayseri Sultan Sazligi Wetlands

Bearded Tit: This is the russicus subspecies which occurs from Austria, the North Balkans & Turkey East through central Asia to North China

Moustached Warbler: This is the mimicus subspecies which occurs from West Turkey to South Russia, Iraq, Iran & Afghanistan

Moustached Warbler

Moustached Warbler: This must be a potential species to occur in the UK in the future. It used to be on the UK List, but it was removed many years ago. If I remember correct some of the first Cetti's Warblers were misidentified as Moustached Warblers and the evidence of earlier records wasn't sufficient to retain it on the British List

Reed Warbler: This is the fuscus subspecies, which is also known as Caspian Reed Warbler. This subspecies ranges from the Eastern Mediterranean to the Caspian & Kazakhstan. They winters as far South as South Africa

The boardwalk ended up at this good hide which overlooked a decent reed-fringed lake.

The Reedbed Hide

There was a Ferruginous Duck and a few White-headed Ducks at the far edge of the lake

Ferruginous Duck: This monotypic species occurs from West Europe & North West Africa to central Asia

White-headed Duck: Male. This monotypic species occurs from Southern Europe & North Africa to central Asia & North West China

White-headed Duck: Male

Water Rail: This is the nominate aquaticus subspecies which occurs throughout the Western Palearctic

Marsh Frog: This looks like the widespread Marsh Frog. There is a larger and similar-looking Anatolian Marsh Frog that occurs at Sugla Lake, but we were now too far East to be in range of that species

Marsh Frog

Marsh Frog: They appear to be a variable species

Scarlet Darter

I will cover the rest of the day in the next Blog Post.