12 May 2025

1 Jul 15 - Turkey - Returning To Demirkazik

One of my two main reasons for returning to Turkey was to revisit Demirkazik to look for Radde's Accentor. This was my main dip on my first trip back in 1986 with Mark Ponsford, Nigel Goodgame and Dave Unsworth. Our original plan was to spent a day in Turkish Cyprus for the two known (at the time) breeding endemics, Cyprus Warbler and Cyprus Pied Wheatear. When we got to the ferry terminal, we found that the ferry wasn't day-tripping Cyprus and we would need to overnight on the island. I went as planned, but Nigel and Dave dropped out. The trade-off was they visited Demirkazik when I was on Cyprus. At the time, I thought I could catch up with the Demirkazik species later in the North East, but it was only when we got there I rechecked the gen and found we didn't have any sites for Radde's Accentor.
There is a large open area and distant mountains at the top of the Demirkazik track
My plan B was to hire a car for twenty-four hours and belted down to Demirkazik towards the end of the trip. I managed to see a couple of Finsch's Wheatears that had also eluded us in the North East, but I couldn't find any Radde's Accentors. It was a lovely site and I was keen to return some day. However, I never thought I would get back to Demirkazik until Nigel Jones starting talking of this trip to look for the newly-found Brown Fish Owls.
The basic camp of a local shepherd
The alarm woke me well and I joined the others on a very cold morning, well before dawn. We were soon in a trailer on the back of a tractor, which spent a good hour or more slowly bumping us up the mountain. We were all pleased when we finally stopped towards the top of the track at first light and the bumping stopped. It was time to start looking for the Demirkazik goodies.
Radde's Accentor: This monotypic species occurs in the mountains of Turkey, Armenia, North Georgia & Iran
Radde's Accentor: This Male was watched singing for a few minutes in the post-dawn light. However, it quickly disappeared and we never saw it again
There was a good selection of other species around the top of the track to keep us occupied.
Red-fronted Serin: Male (left) and Female
Red-fronted Serin: Male. I finally managed to get close to this Male as it sat above me
Red-fronted Serin: Male. This monotypic species occurs from the Mountains of Turkey to West China
Black Redstart: This is the ochruros subspecies which occurs from Central Turkey to the Caucasus & North West Iran
Black Redstart
Wheatear: Juvenile. This is the nominate oenanthe subspecies which occurs from the British Isles to the Mediterranean & East to Siberia, Alaska & North West Canada
Shorelark: This is the bicornis subspecies which occurs from the Taurus Mountains of Central Turkey to Lebanon & Palestine
Shorelark
Shorelark
Shorelark
Snowfinch: Female. This is the leucura subspecies which occurs in South & East Turkey
Snowfinch: Female
Snowfinch: Male looking down on me from a large rock
Finally, somebody picked up a couple of Caspian Snowcocks which were silhouetted against the skyline at the top of one of the cliffs. They weren't close, but it was good to see this regional endemic again.
Caspian Snowcock: This is the tauricus subspecies which occurs in the mountains of South & East Turkey & West Armenia
The Caspian Snowcocks were on the top left hand side of these crags: I did walk closer to get the poor photos above
Finally, it was time to shake all our bones again in the tractor trailer. We started to descend, but ran into a Finsch's Wheatear, which provided an excuse to stop for this local speciality.
It was time to head back to the village
It wasn't a comfortable ride
We had a lot of height to drop before we would be back in the village
Finsch's Wheatear: Male. This is the nominate finschii subspecies which occurs from South-central to South East Turkey to Israel, North Arabia & South Iran. They winter in Cyprus & Egypt
Finsch's Wheatear: Male
Finally, we were back in the hotel for late morning. There were a couple of Tree Sparrows nesting under the hotel guttering.
Back at the hotel
Tree Sparrow: This is the nominate montanus subspecies which occurs from Europe & North Africa to North Mongolia, Manchuria & the Sea of Okhotsk