Subject: [Tweeters] Birding in Turkey - long
Date: Oct 10 10:04:07 2005
From: Georgia Conti - Georgia.Conti at Seattle.Gov


Tweets:

Last year, as some of you may remember, I posted a query about birding
in Turkey prior to my 3 weeks in the southeastern area. Several of you
asked me to share information about my trip, but I think the following
message from an acquaintance might be of more interest to anyone who has
been to Turkey or is interested in going, especially to bird. While my
13th trip to Turkey since 1976 was fun and bird-filled, I did not see as
many birds as this group did, probably because there were only two of us
and neither of us is as good as the birders who went this last spring.
If you want to see my checklist, please contact me separately.

Cagan H. Sekercioglu (Stanford University) sent the following report to
me:

I organized and led with my friend Soner Bekir Turkey's first
non-profit and most comprehensive birdwatching tour between May 27-June
19 2005. The highlights are below. Details and the trip list are on
www.turkishbirding.com

The tour took place in collaboration with Biyotematur, with the
logistical help of Funda Ozevin and Ismet Aydogdu. We had eight
participants from Canada, Great Britain, and USA who contributed to the
environmental programs of TEMA. The tour participants were among the
world's most experienced birders, collectively having visited over 100
countries and having seen more than 70% of world's bird species.
Nevertheless, each still managed to see 50 to 98 species s/he had not
seen before.

In this adventure-filled tour that visited the best natural areas all
over Turkey from Urfa's deserts to Antalya's forests, from Kackar
Mountains to Van Lake marshes, the 276 bird species seen was also a
Turkey birdwatching tour record. This number, attained in approximately
three weeks, constitutes 60% of all bird species ever recorded in Turkey
and roughly 75% of non-vagrant bird species that are regularly seen in
the country. The tour was widely covered in the press and the great
success of the tour led Doga Dernegi, the Turkish partner of BirdLife
International, to hire Soner Bekir to establish their non-profit birding
division, whose proceeds will go to bird conservation programmes. Soner
and I are pleased to announce that Turkish birding tourism is off to a
great start. Please let us know if you are interested in joining a
non-profit birding tour of Turkey.

Cagan Sekercioglu

Highlights: Arctic Loon, Cory's Shearwater, Yelkovan (Levantine)
Shearwater, Dalmatian Pelican, Pygmy Cormorant, Black Stork, Marbled
Teal, Ferruginous Pochard, White-headed Duck, Lammergeier, Cinereous and
Griffon Vultures, Imperial and Bonelli's Eagles, Lesser Kestrel, Lanner
Falcon, Caucasian Grouse, Caspian Snowcock, See-see Partridge, Black
Francolin, Demoseille Crane, Great Bustard, Cream-colored Courser, Terek
and Broad-billed Sandpipers, Auduoin and Caspian Gulls, Black-bellied
Sandgrouse, Great Spotted Cuckoo, Pallid Scops and Tawny Owls,
White-throated (Smyrna) Kingfisher, Middle Spotted and White-backed
Woodpeckers, Desert and Bimaculated Larks, Citrine Wagtail,
White-spectacled Bulbul, Alpine and Radde's Accentors,Graceful Prinia,
Mountain Chiffchaff, Moustached, Paddyfield, Caspian Reed, Marsh,
Upcher's, Olive-tree, Eastern Bonelli's, Green, Eastern Orphean, Barred,
Rueppell's, and Menetries' Warblers, White-throated Irania, Finsch's and
Persian Wheatears, Bearded Reedling, Kruper's and Persian Nuthatches,
Wallcreeper, Masked Shrike, Yellow-billed Chough, Rosy Starling,
Spanish, Dead Sea, Yellow-throated and Hill Sparrows, White-winged
Snowfinch, (Caucasian) Twite, Crimson-winged, Mongolian, Trumpeter, and
Desert Finches, Gray-hooded, Cinereous, Cretzschmar's and Black-headed
Buntings



Cagan H. Sekercioglu, Ph.D.
Stanford University
Department of Biological Sciences
Center for Conservation Biology
371 Serra Mall Stanford CA 94305-5020

Academic: www.stanford.edu/~cagan/main.html
Photography: www.naturalphotos.com
Ecotourism: www.turkishbirding.com

This posting is sent by:
Georgia Conti
West Seattle
Georgia.Conti at seattle.gov