A couple months ago, I posted a note to Tweeters about my recent
(September) trip to England and Turkey. Several of you responded with
helpful information about the first leg of my trip. Unfortunately, no
one could offer help with the Turkish leg, though I was pleased that
several individuals were interested in birding there in the future (or
had never thought of Turkey as a birding destination and my posting
piqued their interest). I was encouraged to post information on
Tweeters upon my return.

This trip was my 13th trip to Turkey, spanning from 1976 to present.
With my husband who is not an "extreme birder" as he calls us, we spent
nearly 2.5 weeks in Turkey, mostly in the SE area along the Euphrates
River near the Syrian border. We also birded around Istanbul and the
Black Sea area near Sile. Without a guide and birding in between
sightseeing and visiting old friends, we did our best to identify what
we saw. Nearly all species seen were life birds for me (about 80). If
anyone is interested in details, you can contact me off this listserv.


If you've always wanted to go to Turkey and you're a serious birder, I
just learned of an amazing tour there in June 2005, which will be guided
by Cagan Sekercioglu who is a postdoctoral researcher at Stanford.
Check it out at www.turkishbirding.com. I'm not affiliated with this
organization in any way, and had I known about their upcoming tour, I
would have postponed my trip to join them.

Georgia Conti
Seattle, WA