29 Jun 2015

29 Jun 15 - Turkey - Storks, Sparrows & Owls

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: Male
Spanish Sparrow: Male
Spanish Sparrow: Female. The Females would be tricky identify if they were on their own
Spanish Sparrow: Male
Spanish Sparrow: Male
Spanish Sparrow: Male
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
Cretzschmar's Bunting
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
Long-eared Owl
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
Lesser Kestrel
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.