Turkey 2024 - Day 1

After last night’s first dinner together, our Trans-Atlantic group from the UK and USA flew to Adana this morning. Upon arrival we picked up our rental vehicles and headed south, exploring several different areas close to the coast. At the first stop beside a water-filled channel we clocked up some really good sightings over a couple of hours beginning with a Bimaculated Lark on the road, followed by Little Bittern and a flyover Calandra Lark. As I parked the minibus a pair of Penduline Tits appeared beside me but promptly disappeared as the group approached! We walked across an open area where several Greater Short-toed Larks were songflighting, and we saw 3 Rufous-tailed Scrub-Robins with two of them singing from rather prominent perches. We particularly enjoyed the numerous Collared Pratincoles flying around us constantly, their distinctive calls seemingly everywhere. In the same area we also had Delicate Prinia, White Stork, Western Marsh Harrier, Purple Heron, 2 Pied Kingfishers, Red-backed Shrike, Eastern Olivaceous Warbler, and Common Reed Warbler. Not a bad haul at all. 

Little Bittern

From here we headed further south, ending up at a dead end but a Black Stork was seen. Thanks Google Maps! But that in turn led to us finding a lovely little spot with tall reeds, a marshy area and some pools. A pair of Penduline Tits showed to all here, a couple Wood Sandpipers were present, a pair of Spur-winged Lapwings were seen, at least 3 Squacco Herons were seen, along with another Purple Heron and 2 Little Bitterns. One of the latter was very confiding and allowed us to approach him quite close as he fished at the edge of a line of reeds. Vince picked up a few European Turtle Doves, and we had some repeats from our first stop. 

Squacco Heron

 Our last stop was in the early evening around Milli Park where a couple Scopoli’s Shearwaters passed out to sea in the rather rough conditions. New sightings were Black-winged Stilt, Little and Whiskered Terns, Eurasian Golden Oriole just ‘in off’, Spotted Flycatcher and European Bee-eater. Many Sand Martins were feeding over the marsh, several Western Marsh Harriers were patrolling the area, several Kentish Plovers were at the lake’s edge, several Little and Western Cattle Egrets were around, along with Hooded Crow and some other common species. 

 

So we left here and drove just over an hour to our hotel in Adana, where we quaffed a few beers and enjoyed a rather tasty meal in a restaurant opposite our hotel. Not a bad way to start the tour!