SE TURKEY TOUR 2 TRIP REPORT 2026
Our second SE Türkiye tour this spring continued to provide a veritable feast of all that is best in Western Palearctic birding. The itinerary ran in reverse from our first spring tour, starting in Sanliurfa where the shallow valleys are proving THE place to see Red-wattled Lapwing, with 3 pairs located. We also found See-See Partridge and many Desert Finches. Stopping at the fantastic Blue-cheeked Bee-eater colony en-route to Nemrut Dagi was a superb experience and a real highlight of the tour. Once we reached Mount Nemrut we set about nailing the specialities and in pretty quick time we found Kurdish & Finsch's Wheatears, Upcher's Warbler, White-throated Robin, Cinereous Bunting and others. Moving on to Birecik our birding along the Euphrates River was notable for some of the best sightings of the tour with numerous Black Francolins, Pygmy Cormorants, Northern Bald Ibis, Western Swamphen, many herons & egrets, several Iraq Babblers, Menetries's & Moustached Warblers, Dead Sea & Yellow-throated Sparrows. Moving on to the hills above Gaziantep we quickly scored Eastern Rock Nuthatch and then headed for the night at Sultan Sazligi Marshes where the reedbeds were alive with Little Bitterns, Moustached & Savi's Warblers, Bearded Reedlings and more! Nearby Turkestan Short-toed Lark posed beautifully, whilst in the foothills of the Taurus Mountains we eventually tracked down Bimaculated Lark. Our stay in the mountains is always headlined by seeing Caspian Snowcock, although we saw many other great species here including Kruper's Nuthatch, Radde's Accentor, Red-fronted Serin, Crimson-winged Finch, White-winged Snowfinch and Alpine Accentor. We ended the trip along the coast with some nice views of White-throated & Pied Kingfishers amongst others.
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DAY 1: SANLIURFA - NEMRUT DAGI
Our second Türkiye tour started in Sanliurfa where we’d spent the previous night after picking up our new group from the local airport just after 8pm. We were speeding along the highway at 6am this morning headed to a secluded valley just over half an hour away. We quickly nailed the first of 6 Red-wattled Lapwings (WP gold) along the roadside and watched a pair for quite some time. With outstanding views of many Desert Finches, Booted Eagle, our first Spanish Sparrows and even a couple of Great Spotted Cuckoos, we were having a ball. Oh and let’s not forget a great scope view of a See-See Partridge on a hillside above us.
Next up was a Blue-cheeked Bee-eater colony where we enjoyed a couple of hours of easy birding, just watching the antics of the bee-eaters as they filled the sky with their bubbling call. We watched them perched on telegraph wires, perched in trees, and passing food on the ground at their nesting holes. Superb! A few European Bee-eaters were also nearby, along with Rufous Bushchat, Great Reed & Eastern Olivaceous Warblers, Black-headed Bunting and distant White Storks. Across the road was a small wetland where a Pied Kingfisher was seen, along with Little Ringed Plover and an Eastern Olivaceous Warbler in the bushes. But our primary focus was watching a couple nests of Dead Sea Sparrows where the males were present and singing away continuously. We were absolutely flying and had nailed all of our target species so far, and with that headed off on the longish 2.5 hour drive to Nemrut Dagi.
We reached the base of the mountain at 2pm and pulled off the road for a picnic lunch. And what a stop this was, as we had a mad half an hour with a pair of White-throated Robins, a pair of Upcher’s Warblers, Black-headed Bunting and a Sombre Tit constantly on view and moving about the trees in front of us in a seemingly constant frenzied state. We had decent views of everything but it took some persistence.
Then we headed higher up to the Kurdish Wheatear stake-out, only to find that they were high up the slopes and needed scope views, unlike on our previous visits. But we also had Northern Wheatears, Western Rock Nuthatch, Long-legged Buzzard, a cracking scope view of a Chukar, and several nice encounters with Cinereous Buntings. After a buffet dinner and some cold beers we watched some of the Champions League final before retiring for a much deserved night’s rest.
Day 2: NEMRUT DAGI - BIRECIK
After a later than usual start following a 7am breakfast at the hotel we retraced our steps from yesterday and drove back up the mountain. Our first stop was for a very confiding White-throated Robin that flew around us several times, stopping occasionally to sing from an exposed branch or on top of a low bush. Amazing! We followed this with much closer views of Kurdish Wheatear, with a male posing nicely from some large boulders below the road. There were, of course, further sightings of Black-headed and Cinereous Buntings, a couple views of Syrian Woodpecker, another obliging robin, Finsch’s Wheatear and others. Trisha went up to the summit to view the archaeological site, which was enhanced by seeing White-winged Snowfinch, whilst the rest of us enjoyed some really decent views of Horned Lark around the car park. The visitor centre was also good for many Rock Sparrows, and there was also a Tawny Pipit and 3 Eurasian Hoopoes too. A superb male Eastern Black-eared Wheatear posed beautifully for us as we drove back down to the hotel, where a pair were discovered nesting in a wall. As usual, the Red-rumped Swallows here proved to be very obliging.
The next 3 hours were taken up with the long drive to Birecik, but this area is a must-visit site for all birders. Stopping at an overlook at the Euphrates River we could see that it was still bursting its banks, and as soon as we stepped out of the minibus we were right in amongst the action. Pygmy Cormorants and Northern Bald Ibis were flying across the river, a Purple Heron appeared, a Delicate Prinia sang behind us, Great Reed Warblers were seen and lots of other commoner species were present.
We drove further along the river bank where we found Iraq Babbler quite easily, another Dead Sea Sparrow on a nest, and several Menetries’s Warblers were giving repeated views. A splash of colour was added by European Roller, Rose-coloured Starling and many European Bee-eaters in the vicinity. We ended our birding in Birecik Park with Long-eared Owl and a nice encounter with a Pallid Scops Owl, followed by a fine dinner along the banks of the Euphrates River.
DAY 3: BIRECIK
We woke to a flat tyre this morning, which delayed our 6am departure a bit. However, once down alongside the Euphrates River we enjoyed watching a very obliging Black Francolin that had chosen to call from a large tower in the middle of a field allowing us tremendous scope views. We also found a Moustached Warbler and saw plenty of previously seen species. At our breakfast spot a group of Iraq Babblers kept distracting us from our cereal and we were able to watch them at leisure as they lingered for quite some time at the edge of the nearby reedbed. At least 2 pairs of Menetries’s Warblers were nearby and seen feeding young, and a European Roller was perched beside its nest hole in a tall bank.
Moving on to Yeniakpinar we set about seeing Mediterranean Short-toed Lark, which we did easily along with a few Calandra Larks and some Greater Short-toed Larks as well. Returning to the hotel to pack we drove down to the Bald Ibis Centre and purchased a few items, enjoying the shade on this particularly hot day and watched an Eastern olivaceous Warbler feeding its young in a head high nest.
Our final site of the day was a reservoir where we secured nice views of another Western Palearctic mega - Yellow-throated Sparrow. Around the shoreline we also found another pair of Black Francolins, several Whiskered Terns, more Calandra Larks, a very confiding Delicate Prinia, and plenty more commoner species. At the end of the day we relocated to a nice modern hotel in the city of Gaziantep for the night.
DAY 4: GAZIANTEP - SULTAN SAZLIGI MARSHES
We left Gaziantep early doors and drove 25 mins to Yesilce where we walked up a rocky track to get decent scope views of Eastern Rock Nuthatch, and we were able to find two different active nests. These rocky slopes also held a couple pairs of Cretzchmar’s Buntings, whilst a singing Desert Finch was also scoped as it posed beautifully on top of a bush. Both Upcher’s Warbler and White-throated Robin were seen again, along with Eastern Black-eared Wheatear and Finsch’s Wheatears amongst others. Once again we failed to locate any Pale Rockfinches, a highly nomadic species that just doesn’t seem to be at any of their usual haunts this year. But we just had to try.
En-route to a new site for Pale Rockfinch one of our vehicles became stuck in a ditch but with the help of a local farmer who towed it out we didn’t lose any time, but had to ‘ditch’ (pardon the pun) our attempt at getting to the new rockfinch site. So we went over to Sof Dagi where we had closer views of an Eastern Rock Nuthatch at a nest, whilst having a cup of coffee.
And then we set out on the 5 hour drive to Sultan Sazligi Marshes, where we would be staying the night. Arriving at 5.30pm we quickly dropped our luggage into our rooms before walking out into the marshes via a boardwalk. A singing Moustached Warbler took most of our attention and the scope views were superb. We also saw Ferruginous Duck, 2 Ruddy Shelducks, Red-crested Pochard, Long-legged Buzzard, 4 White Storks, Eurasian Hobby and plenty of other common species to round off another great day in fabulous Türkiye.
DAY 5: SULTAN SAZLIGI MARSHES - DEMIRKAZIK
At around 5.45am we started walking to the end of the boardwalk, some 1.5kms away where we were to head out into the marshes on a boat. Along the way we found a most cooperative Savi’s Warbler that came to the edge of the reedbed to check us out and what views we were treated to. We also saw a Little Bittern and several Bearded Reedlings. In fact we estimated at least 11 reedlings, 5 Savi’s and heard probably 3 Moustached Warblers too. The boat trip itself for 2 hours was rather quiet and we did not find the hoped for White-headed Duck, but instead saw quite a few Ferruginous Ducks and Red-crested Pochards, along with flyover Pygmy Cormorants and other species.
After a late breakfast we left the pension and drove to my site for Turkestan Short-toed Lark, which performed right on cue. And from here it was only a 45 minute drive to a good site for Bimaculated Lark, but along the way we stopped to take some photos of the scenic Taurus Mountains and for a Lesser Grey Shrike. At the lark site we firstly saw a Tawny Pipit before the Bimac appeared and we were able to get some great scope views, along with some ‘decent-ish’ record shots. A male Red-backed Shrike was also present here. Over at Demirkazik Gorge our first Rock Bunting and Red-billed Choughs were seen, plus our best view to date of a Long-legged Buzzard, but these were overshadowed some time later when at a different site we had lengthy scope views of at least 2 Crimson-winged Finches. We also enjoyed a flyover Golden Eagle, Alpine Choughs, numerous Red-fronted Serins, along with Finsch’s & Isabelline Wheatears, plus some commoner species. By early evening we were at Ozsafak Pension and enjoying some nice cold beers!
DAY 6: DEMIRKAZIK
The day started with the usual 5am departure up the steep track to Aladaglar Mountain, but no tractor & trailer scenario this time as the track was too muddy and slippery due to the excessive recent rain so we made the journey in a couple of four-wheel drive vehicles. It’s always pretty chilly up here early in the morning and today was no exception but what do you expect at xxxm altitude. As always we had great views of a pair of Caspian Snowcocks on the cliffs above, with several other sightings of other individuals further away. Just listening to their evocative calls echoing across the cliffs above is something tht you never forget. With the snowcock safely ticked off we enjoyed pretty much all of the other target species up here, none more so than two pairs of Radde’s Accentors. There were plenty of White-winged Snowfinches around, a brief Crimson-winged Finch, a pair of Ring Ouzels, Common Rock Thrush, Alpine & Red-billed Choughs and eventually most of the group caught up with Alpine Accentor.
Once we’d seen everything we returned to the pension for a very late but distinctly leisurely breakfast, extremely happy with our haul. Once we were ready, we drove the short distance to the scenically superb Emli Valley. Working our way along the valley bottom, after a couple of failed attempts we eventually had some decent views of both Barred Warbler and Eastern Orphean Warbler in roughly the same section of bushes. We spent quite a while securing the views we wanted as both species were initially elusive but it was fun birding. At the far end of the valley, around the picnic site, where Lynzi set up a superb lunch for us, we saw a very confiding Western Rock Nuthatch that literally hopped around my feet, Red-fronted Serin, Blue Rock Thrush and European Serin. After lunch we followed a trail into a side valley where we stumbled across a very aggressive Kruper’s Nuthatch that circled us several times and allowed us to get some decent photos.
From here we went over to Demirkazik Gorge in search of the frustratingly elusive Wallcreeper and despite hiking into the gorge quite a way we just couldn’t locate it. Scant consolation came with a nice performance from an Ortolan Bunting feeding in the grass around some roadside bushes - and that was our day.
DAY 7: DEMIRKAZIK - ADANA PENINSULA
Sadly, we had to leave the mountains and after a 90 minute’s drive towards the coast and stopped at one of my favourite little spots where a Kruper’s Nuthatch showed well, but not nearly as well as a fine male Ruppell’s Warbler. It was at this point that we discovered we had a flat tyre, but this being Türkiye I just drove up to the nearest village and got it sorted in double-quick time. So then we drove further towards coast, stopping for lunch a picnic lunch where another Ruppell’s Warbler was seen. We then spent the rest of the day birding our way across the Adana Peninsula notching up a good selection of species including Collared Pratincole, Greater Short-toed Lark, Eurasian Stone-Curlew, and best of all a cracking White-throated Kingfisher. On top of that we also had some Pygmy Cormorants flying over, Black-crowned Night-Herons, Purple Herons and more.
DAY 8: ADANA PENINSULA - CUKUROVA
With most of he groups' flight brought forward to early this morning we bade our farewells and it was just Mark and I that drove back to the coast, where we enjoyed both Pied & White-throated Kingfishers and finished off with a couple of extremely confiding Eurasian Penduline Tits. And that was it. Time to get back to the hotel, shower, pack and head to the airport. For me, I’d be heading to Kazakhstan for the next adventure. See you there?
