The final Turkish Birding was at Durnalik about fifteen miles East of Gaziantep. This was a pretty site with a path which passed between some low cliffs, before we reached some Olive groves.
The first part of the path weaved between these high cliffs
There is a presumed Eastern Rock Nuthatch nest on these cliffs
A close up of the presumed Eastern Rock Nuthatch nest
Eastern Rock Nuthatch: This is the dresseri subspecies which occurs from South East Turkey to West Iran & Iraq
Eastern Rock Nuthatch: Eastern Rock Nuthatches are much longer-billed and have a bold black eye stripe that broadens behind the eye compared to their Rock Nuthatch cousins
Rock Nuthatch: A Rock Nuthatch from earlier in the trip at Akseki (28 Jun 15)
Sombre Tit: This is the anatoliae subspecies which occurs from South Greece to Turkey, West Georgia, Armenia, North Iraq & North West Iran
A distant Woodchat Shrike: This is the niloticus subspecies which occurs from East Turkey & the Levant to Iran. They winter as far South as central Africa
There were Olive groves after we had passed through the low cliffs
A wider view of the habitat
As the habitat opened up, Soner found a showy Cinereous Bunting.
Cinereous Bunting: This is the yellow-bellied semenowi subspecies which occurs in South East Turkey (as far West as Gaziantep) to the Zagros Mountains in South West Iran
Cinereous Bunting: The other subspecies has a greyish-belly. It occurs in West & South Turkey, as far East as the Eastern Taurus Mountains, so we should have been in range for it earlier in the trip
Cinereous Bunting: They are not a bright-coloured Bunting, however, they have a restricted world range
Cinereous Bunting: I saw them at two nearby sites on the first trip in 1986 and this was only the third time I've seen the species
We had seen our main target species within about thirty minutes of our arrival. Having checked there was unlikely to be any of species that would be new to the trip, I decided that it would be better to head back to the car and start the two hour journey back to Adana airport. This would provide some contingency time in case of road problems. We had no problems and used this extra time for a lunch stop, when we were close to the airport. Soner dropped me at the airport and I had a good flight home. It had been a good trip and an excellent one day extension. It's a pity that Nigel, Simon & Bob had been unable to join me for this extra day.
