Some corner of an external hard drive, that is for ever Turkey

Digging out some 'Turkey 2009' information yesterday proved an excellent excuse to waste a while going back through a few photos,...

İshak Paşa Sarayı a classic WP birding location near Doğubeyazıt. Construction appears to have been quite a drawn out affair, started in 1685 by Ҫolak Abdi Paşa and completed by his grandson İshak Paşa in 1784. However, more importantly, the slopes above the palace were the original WP site for Mongolian Trumpeter Finch.

Van Kalesi, the Lonely Planet guide warns, rather ominously, "... the groups of men and children that tend to loiter at the site can be intimidating. Make sure you're back on the main road by sunset." Luckily having not read the guide, we spent an evening birding nearby and lived to tell the tale, the most memorable 'happenings' were Lesser Kestrel, Hobby and Alpine Swift hunting overhead at dusk; Citrine Wagtail and singing Marsh Warbler nearby; and a nice bowl of spicy soup in town.

The 'See-see' wadi near Birecik. Which lived up to its name and produced possibly the sighting of the trip when we bumped into birding Jedi/mystic Arnoud van den Berg coming the other way.

For the original Turkey tales click here.