Turkey Tales

Remarkably, I was able to "work from home" from my in-laws in Istanbul this February for a week - a nice change of pace from the same birds and cold. Ironically from 10 degrees and sunny in Fife I went to 4 degrees and snow in Turkey! The time differenced meant I could get a good birding session in before work started in the morning. I also didn't get to venture far to some of my favourite winter wetlands, so it was "urban" birding all the way.

That didn't stop my local patch having over 60 Flamingo on it, though no Smew this time around. There might have been Smew out on the lake, but I didn't have a scope with me this time.

There wasn't much by way of additions this time around. No lifers, but a couple of patch ticks at least, including this Black Redstart

There were some nice wagtails around

M. alba alba

The coastal path was chilly and breezy, but it had a smattering of the usual local fare - Pygmy Cormorant, Yellow-legged Gull and Laughing Dove being expected but interesting local species. I only saw one Med Gull - less than are around in Fife at the moment.

There were some Sandwich Terns and a lot of breeding-plumaged Cormorants.

Given the background of earthquakes severe enough to knock down 2000-year-old Roman castles it was poignant to see the signs of what to look for before there's a Tsunami and what to do in that event. I don't want to dwell too much on that, especially since earthquakes are always a possibility in many areas, including Istanbul.

Tsunami info and evacuation routes

Inland around the edges of the lake there were some Little Gulls and Green Sands

One of the benefits of the snow was that I refused to drive on a couple of days (Turkey driving is mental enough on normal days, thanks) and found a route to walk to my local patch via the coastal path. It held a nice flock of Serin, which I've seen here before but without camera in hand

My local patch "transect"

Bridge designed by Mimar (architect) Sinan

Serin

It also held Ruff and an obliging Spotshank

Ruff

Spotted Redshank

That about wrapped it up for birds this trip. Looking forward to the Easter hols, when I get to visit one of my favourite spring vismig spots in the world. It'll be too early for a stream of RF Falcons and Bee-eaters no doubt, but I can't wait to see what will be there.