TURKEY & CYPRUS – endemics and regional specialities of Cyprus, the Taurus Mountains and southeast Turkey

PRICE INFORMATION

Birdquest Inclusions: Our tour prices include surface transportation, accommodations, meals and entrance fees.

We also include all tipping for local guides, drivers and accommodation/restaurant staff.

We also include this flight in our tour price:

Ercan-Adana (Çukurova)

Deposit: 20% of the total tour price. Our office will let you know what deposit amount is due, in order to confirm your booking, following receipt of your online booking form.

TO BOOK THIS TOUR: Click here (you will need the tour dates)

The single supplement will not apply if you indicate on booking that you prefer to share a room and there is a room-mate of the same sex available.

This tour is priced in US Dollars. Amounts shown in other currencies are indicative.

Air Travel To & From The Tour: Our in-house IATA ticket agency will be pleased to arrange your air travel on request, or you may arrange this yourself if you prefer.

TURKEY & CYPRUS BIRDING TOUR: DETAILED ITINERARY

Turkey & Cyprus: Day 1  Our Turkey & Cyprus birding tour begins this afternoon at Ercan Airport in Northern Cyprus.

(Ercan is served by frequent flights from Istanbul and from other major Turkish cities.)

From Ercan, we will transfer to the Girne area, where we will stay for three nights. Girne is an attractive town situated on the northern coast.

Turkey & Cyprus: Days 2-3  Near our hotel are extensive areas of fruit groves and small fields, divided by cypress trees and low limestone walls, as well as maquis-covered hills.

This is prime territory for all three of Cyprus’s breeding endemics and it should not take us long to track down the attractively marked Cyprus Warbler, whilst a strange buzzing song should lead us to the sprightly Cyprus Wheatear. Both species are pleasingly common on the island. Some careful searching may well reveal the presence of a diminutive endemic Cyprus Scops Owl at its daytime hideaway (although it is easy enough to locate at night if need be).

Some of our time in Cyprus will be spent in these types of habitats, and during our wanderings, we will encounter a number of other interesting breeding species, including the lovely Masked Shrike, Eastern Olivaceous Warbler, Spanish Sparrow and the smart Black-headed Bunting.

More widespread species include Common Kestrel, Common Wood Pigeon, Eurasian Collared and Laughing Doves, Little Owl, Common Swift, Eurasian Hoopoe, Crested Lark, European Red-rumped and Barn Swallows, Western House Martin, Cetti’s Warbler, Zitting Cisticola, Great Tit, Eurasian Magpie, Western Jackdaw, Hooded Crow, European Greenfinch, European Goldfinch, Common Linnet and Corn Bunting.

The areas of cultivated land and their brushy margins hold Black Francolin, an elegant and impressive gamebird still found in some numbers in Cyprus. Its strange, rather machine-like, grating call typically reveals its presence long before it can be seen. Often the guttural sounds of calling Chukars will herald the imminent appearance of a covey on the skyline. Once they see us, they will probably scuttle away, uttering their ‘chukar’ calls.

In some places invading Sardinian Warblers chatter away, having displaced the native Cyprus Warblers.

We will also try and locate marshy areas and pools that still hold water, as agricultural activities and climate change have had an impact here. During the migration period, these often hold interesting birds. Some spots can hold Little Bittern and Little Crake, although the secretive crake can prove hard to see.

Other species that we may well come across in wetland habitats or elsewhere include Little Grebe, Western Cattle, Great and Little Egrets, Black-crowned Night Heron, Squacco, Grey and Purple Herons, Glossy Ibis, Western Marsh Harrier, Common Moorhen, Eurasian Coot, Collared Pratincole, Black-winged Stilt, Spur-winged Lapwing, Little Ringed Plover, Common Greenshank, Wood, Green and Common Sandpipers, Ruff, Little Stint, White-winged Tern, Sand Martin (or Bank Swallow), Western Yellow Wagtail and Sedge, Common Reed and Great Reed Warblers. Black-headed and Slender-billed Gulls and Red-throated Pipit are also possible.

Richer areas of agricultural land hold Greater Short-toed Lark, while areas of low Salicornia scrub hold the sometimes secretive Spectacled Warbler.

To the northeast, the wild and rugged Karpaz Peninsula possesses a variety of beautiful landscapes. This is an excellent area for finding migrants in spring, and among those we will be looking out for here and elsewhere during our stay are European Turtle Dove, Great Spotted and Common Cuckoos, European Bee-eater, European Roller, Tree and Tawny Pipits, White Wagtail, Woodchat, Red-backed and Lesser Grey Shrikes, Common Redstart, Whinchat, Northern and Eastern Black-eared Wheatears, Eurasian Blackcap, Common Whitethroat, Spotted Flycatcher, the elegant Eurasian Golden Oriole and Ortolan Bunting. Common Quail, Barred, Garden and Willow Warblers, and Common Nightingale are also possible.

Here, one can also find Peregrine Falcons and truly wild Rock Doves (of the subspecies gaddi), though even here, there is probably now some limited hybridization with feral pigeons. Along the coast, Yellow-legged Gulls and sometimes Audouin’s Gulls can be seen, as well as European Shags of the interesting southern form desmarestii. A seawatch at the tip of the peninsula could produce Yelkouan and Scopoli’s Shearwaters, although both are uncommon here. With just a bit of luck, we will encounter the slim and dashing Eleonora’s Falcon. At this time of year, they occur regularly on migration or simply as wanderers prior to the late start of their breeding season. Eleonora’s Falcon has a most unusual breeding strategy, laying its eggs in July or August and raising its young on birds caught on the wing during the southbound migration. Eventually, both the adults and juveniles set course southwards in late autumn, bound for winter quarters in Madagascar.

Turkey & Cyprus: Day 4  This morning, we will return to Ercan airport and catch a flight to Adana (Çukurova) Airport, situated on Turkey’s southern coast.

From here, we will drive eastwards to the city of Gaziantep, famous across Turkey for its cuisine, for a overnight stay.

Turkey & Cyprus: Day 5  The drier country of the Gaziantep region holds some very interesting birds. Here we will explore the rocky hillsides, crags and scrub-covered slopes, looking in particular for the eastern, greenish-yellow-bellied semenowi form of the Cinereous Bunting (geographically separated from the nominate form and a potential split).

Other good birds in the Gaziantep area include Bimaculated Lark, Rufous-tailed Scrub Robin, Upcher’s Warbler, Eastern Rock Nuthatch, Desert Finch, the attractive, range-restricted Cretzschmar’s Bunting and White-throated Robin (which can often be seen display flighting over the maquis). We should also be able to find Pale Rockfinches (or Pale Rock Sparrows) trilling away like grasshoppers. More widespread species include Blue Rock Thrush.

Later in the cday we will head further east to Sanliurfa for a two nights stay.

Turkey & Cyprus: Day 6  Today we will explore the Birecik and Sanliurfa (or Urfa) areas. Amongst the rolling semi-desert with its steep erosion gullies or along the Euphrates River valley around Birecik, we shall look for such major specialities as See-see Partridge, Ménétries’s Warbler, Dead Sea Sparrow and Yellow-throated Sparrow. Even more importantly, this area harbours the restricted-range Iraq Babbler (a recent colonist from Iraq/Iran that first invaded Syria and then southeast Turkey along the Euphrates valley). We also have a good chance of finding the little-known Pallid Scops Owl, either at its daytime roost or after dark.

Other new birds we should find in the Birecik area include Pygmy Cormorant, Little Swift, Pied Kingfisher and Delicate Prinia. We may well see the impressive Calandra Lark displaying, when it appears even larger than usual, flying with wings outstretched in a manner resembling a pratincole! Grey-headed Swamphen and Red-wattled Lapwing are present here at the edge of their range in the Western Palearctic.

The captive breeding project for the last Northern Bald Ibises in Asia is based at Birecik. Our pleasure at seeing this rare species will be tinged with sorrow at its seemingly inexorable slide towards extinction in the wild: indeed, the species only survives here (in semi-captivity) thanks to intensive human assistance, although it is increasing thanks to supplementary feeding.

Turkey & Cyprus: Day 7  After some final birding in the Birecik or Sanliurfa areas we will head fopr Adiyaman for an overnight stay.

At Nemrut Dagi we will be looking for another very special bird, Kurdish Wheatear (the former Red-tailed Wheatear is now split into this species and the more easterly Red-tailed or Persian Wheatear).

Turkey: Day 8  Today, we will head west through Turkey’s mountainous interior as we make our way to the Demirkazik area in the Nigde region for a two-night stay.

Along the way, we will visit the famous marshes and lakes of Sultansazligi, an internationally important wetland area. Amongst the many species we may encounter in this fine area, dominated to the north by the towering volcanic cone of Erciyas Dagi (3916m), are Greater Flamingo, Ruddy Shelduck, Mallard, Red-crested Pochard, Ferruginous Duck, Long-legged Buzzard, Eurasian Hobby, Greater Sand and Kentish Plovers, Northern Lapwing, Whiskered Tern, Turkestan Short-toed Lark (found here in an isolated population, restricted to Central Turkey), Eurasian Skylark, Savi’s and Moustached Warblers, and perhaps Bearded Reedling and the nomadic Rosy Starling.

Turkey: Day 9  Today, we will explore the high valleys and mountain slopes of the Aladag range, part of the Eastern Taurus, which rises to 3910m (12,829ft) at the summit of mighty Demirkazik. The scenery is magnificent, and our birding will be carried out against a backdrop of snow-covered peaks, jagged crags and sheer cliffs. There are many interesting birds here, and we shall be looking in particular for Bearded Vulture (or Lammergeier), Finsch’s and Isabelline Wheatears, White-winged Snowfinch, the attractive little Red-fronted Serin and Crimson-winged Finch. By hiking to higher levels, we should see four other great birds: Caspian Snowcock, Radde’s Accentor, Alpine Accentor and the remarkable Wallcreeper. Also to be found are Griffon Vulture, Golden Eagle, Alpine Swift, Horned Lark, Eurasian Crag Martin, Grey Wagtail, Lesser Whitethroat, Black Redstart, Common (or Rufous-tailed) Rock Thrush, Alpine and Red-billed Choughs, Rock Sparrow and Rock Bunting.

Turkey: Day 10  Today, we will head for Side on the Mediterranean coast for a three-night stay. We should have time to make a stop or two in the western Taurus along the way.

First, we pass through mountain country, but soon, we emerge onto the dry, rolling uplands of the Central Plateau. Life in this harsh landscape has become easier in recent years, but the villages still seem pretty rough and ready, and the shepherds still have their flocks guarded by ferocious-looking dogs equipped with spiked collars to deter attacking wolves. Birds during the journey may well include Black Kite, Rook and Northern Raven.

Turkey: Days 11-12  Most of our time in the Side region will be spent exploring the southern slopes of the beautiful western Taurus Mountains, as far inland as the Akseki area. The Mediterranean scrub (maquis), limestone crags and forests in this area harbour a suite of restricted-range specialities that we will not have seen in Cyprus, and in particular White-spectacled Bulbul, the large Olive-tree Warbler, the smart Rüppell’s Warbler, Sombre Tit, Western Rock Nuthatch and the pretty little Krüper’s Nuthatch (virtually endemic to Turkey). Other new birds are likely to include Short-toed Snake and Booted Eagles, Syrian Woodpecker, Eastern Orphean Warbler, Coal and Blue Tits, Eurasian Nuthatch, Eurasian Jay and Eurasian Chaffinch.

Small wetland areas hold Little Bitterns as well as other waterbirds.

The Akseki area is still largely forested, with the rugged limestone peaks of the Taurus rising high above, and is an excellent place for finding Middle Spotted Woodpecker and Eastern Bonelli’s (or Balkan) Warbler. Birding in this lovely area is a pleasure, and we are also likely to come across European Green Woodpecker, Wood Lark, Common Redstarts of the interesting form samamisicus, which has an obvious white patch in the wing, and Common (or Red) Crossbill. White Storks still nest in good numbers in the Akseki area.

A big highlight during our visit to southern Turkey will be a visit to a recently discovered site for the magnificent Brown Fish Owl. The rare western form, semenowi, is paler and less heavily streaked than the eastern forms, so this is a possible split for the future.

Turkey: Day 13  Today, we will drive to Antalya airport, where our tour ends in the late morning.

(Antalya is served by frequent flights to Istanbul and other major Turkish cities.)