Birds

[tarla kusu]

I watch all sorts of hawks hunting over the marshes, can anyone tell me what they are? For sure some are buzzards, i recognise their flight patterns and calls ,but others look like eagles or harriers. Some years ago , a man on a boat told me there aren't harriers in Dalyan.I couldn't argue.
Is there a group of people in Dalyan, who can help me identify what i can expect to see? Hoopoes, kingfishers are obvious but the warblers and raptors are a complete mystery. So are the waders. I saw flocks swooping low over the marshes in March but have no idea what they were.
PS what the hell are the hunters after? do they eat them?

[Dalyansteve]

Believe it or not but in the special protectorate area of Dalyan which includes the lake and surrounding areas, HUNTING IS NOT ALLOWED!!!!
Some people must think it does not apply to them.
Around the lake they used to hunt duck, but the population was almost decimated, part of the reason for the ban. They also hunt wild boar in the mountains. You will also see farmers shooting at bee eaters and treemice((either a rat or squirell not sure which) I like to think they shoot at the bee eaters to scare them away from the hives but I suspect a few get shot.
As for other birds I do know there are Peregrin Falcons, Eagles and other birds of prey but I am not an expert.
There should be some expert ornithologists around soon and I believe there are websites for them.

[RAYZOR]

I can't wait to see the STORKS gliding on the air currents over the mountains,such a wonderful sight ,less than 8 weeks to go:Cool:

[John Codling]

Birds you are likely to see in Dalyan are:-

Masked Shrike
Olivaceous Warbler
Syrian Woodpecker
Black headed bunting
Scop's Owl
Squacco Heron
Purple Heron
Night heron
Spur-winged plover
Penduline Tit
Reed Warbler
Great reed warbler
Roller
kestrel
Cetti's warbler
River warbler
Marsh warbler
Ruppell's warbler
Barred Warbler
Whitethroat
Lesser whitethroat
Blackcap
Creztchmar's Bunting
Rufous Bush Chat
Red-rumped swallow
Crested Lark
White breasted kingfisher
Pied kingfisher
Wood sandpiper
Ruff
Grey Plover
White winged black tern
Black-eared wheatear
Rock nuthatch
Little egret
Great egret
Middle spotted woodpecker
Long legged buzzard
Krupers nuthatch


This is by no means a comprehensive list as I am sure there are others but these were listed in Dave Gosneys pamphlet "Finding birds in Western Turkey" however there are several trip reports on the net with this one http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=115569&highlight=turkey being the most recent one I can find. You can find the others by googling "birdwatching Turkey"

You have all the regulars as well such as greenfinch, goldfinch etc. The Jay's you will see are I believe a sub-species as they have black cap rather than the streaked cap the english ones have.

We have seen a bonelli's eagle over our place in Okcular, and I am pretty sure I have seen Marsh Harriers over the reed beds on the way up to Iztuzu.


There is someone in Dalyan called John Lyles who is I believe an avid birder and will take people out. I hope to arrange a meeting with him when I am out in a week's time. I will post a report of any birds I see.

[tarla kusu]

Thanks John, i'll think i'll have to buy a book which includes pictures of the more obscure species. My "Birds of the Mediteranean" is pretty good but by no means comprehensive. Specific books on birds in turkey were pretty expensive last time i looked on Amazon. I'm sure I've met John in Dalyan a couple of years ago.
In the meantime I'll keep watching.
In March I'm sure there were stonechats around the house but not having seen them in the summer i suspect they were migrants.
PS I know hunting is banned but like so many rules and regulations in Turkey theyare considered optional extras.

[Dalyansteve]

See I told you there were experts and websites. I am afraid John Lyles is not here at the moment and I have not had an email for ages, as you may know they were trying to sell their property in England but I don't think that has happened yet.
I am sure there are other experts around, I have met many over the years but can,t always remember their names, just hope I do when I see them.

[John Codling]

For Info, Steve I have been in email contact with John and he is back in Dalyan on the 18th April.

Unfortunately I am no expert, I do enjoy walking and bird watching and intend to do a lot more when we are in Turkey full time. Just bought some new bins so will be trying them out in April.

Apparently April-Jun and Sept-Nove are the best bird watching times as this is when the migrating birds are in the area, increasing the number of types of birds you can see.

[Dalyansteve]

Now that there are flights earlier in the season we will probably get more twitchers, those that arrived with normal tourists in May used to complain that they had missed most of the migratory ones.
As for books, we bought a very expensive one from Cafe Iz and have been told by John Lyles, I think, that it was as good if not better than most. It is called 'Birds of the Mediterranean' by Paul Sterry ISBN 0-7136-6349-9 I see the cover price is ?19.99 but that was a couple of years ago.

[tarla kusu]

I bought my copy of Sperry, second hand on Amazon. Less than a tenner. Amazon USA are often cheaper than amazon UK even when you take account of postage and exchange rates. There's usually a few available.

[John Codling]

Just as an update to this thread, you can get a dvd from birdguides http://www.birdguides.com/products/dvt/specieslist.asp by Dave Gosney for £9.95