SOUTH-EAST TURKEY
Western Palearctic Birding at its Best!

Visiting South-East Turkey in the springtime guarantees some of the most exciting birding in the Western Palearctic, lying in a spectacular avian and cultural crossroads between Europe and Asia. Nowhere else in this region offers such a complex mosaic of habitats and resulting heady mix of mouth-watering species. We will explore the south-east corner of this fascinating country amidst habitats ranging from Mediterranean maquis, saline lagoons, marshes and beaches, through flower field fields, steppe and semi-desert, to alpine meadows and all the way up to the snow-capped Taurus Mountains. 

Our first day will be spent along the coast looking for migrants and breeding species that could include the usual Mediterranean species such as European Roller, European Bee-eater and Eurasian Hoopoe, as well Black Francolin, Pygmy Cormorant, Eastern Olivaceous Warbler, Thrush Nightingale or even a Semi-collared Flycatcher. Then we will head up to the eastern Taurus Mountains and in particular, Aladag Mountain where we will stay for a couple of nights at a delightfully secluded pension. We will use 4x4's to head high up towards the mountain tops early one morning in search of the main prize - Caspian Snowcock. Other specialities include Lammergeier, Radde's & Alpine Accentors, Wallcreeper, White-winged Snowfinch and Crimson-winged Finch. Slightly lower down the slopes we will seek out Finsch's Wheatear, Western Rock Nuthatch, White-throated Robin, Sombre Tit, Red-fronted Serin, Black-headed, Ortolan & Cretzschmar's Buntings, Heading further east we will arrive at the famous town of Birecik, home to some amazing birds. Here we can find See-See Partridge, Pallid Scops Owl, Syrian Woodpecker, Eastern Rock Nuthatch, Iraq Babbler, Upcher's Warbler, Dead Sea & Yellow-throated Sparrows, Heading west we will explore some lagoons and steppe country where Kurdish Wheatear, Calandra & Bimaculated Larks occur, along with Pale Rock Sparrow, Cinereous Bunting and Desert Finch. And we will also look for White-headed Duck, Turkestan Short-toed Lark, Savi's & Moustached Warblers amidst the vast reedbed & marshes of Sultan Sazligi. Moving on we will explore rocky hillsides where we can see Ménétries’s & Ruppell's Warblers, along with Kruper's Nuthatches in the conifer forests. At this time of year anything can turn up and we should see some interesting migrants, as well as a good selection of shorebirds, egrets, herons, ibis, gulls and terns to end a fascinating trip to this Western Palearctic hotspot.