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. 

We will begin by meeting in Istanbul before a short, domestic flight to Adana where we will arrive mid-morning. 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 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 Asian 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 Nutjatch, 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, Pale Rock Sparrow, Cinereous Bunting, Desert Finch and we will also look for Turkestan Short-toed Lark. Moving on down to the famous Goksu Delta will take us across rocky hillsides where we can see Ménétries’s & Ruppell's Warblers, with Kruper's Nuthatches in the forest just inland, before reaching the lagoons, reedbeds and marshes a the delta. Here, anything can turn up and we should see some interesting migrants, as well as many shorebirds, egrets, herons, ibis, gulls and terns to end a fascinating trip to this Western Palearctic hotspot.