25th June - Drive to Biracik

Following another lovely breakfast on the terrace, we packed the car and set off on the drive to Biracik. The first part was south towards the motorway. We stopped a couple of times, finding Syrian woodpecker and Olivaceous warblers plus Long-tailed blue and other butterflies. Once on the motorway we discovered that there  was no money on the toll card so we just went through with klaxons sounding as Oz had said we could pay later at the car hire office. This was true but they had no way of knowing so made an 'educated guess'
We spent most of the day driving east but did turn off the motorway to explore and have a break.


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June 24th. - Demirkazik and the Mountains

An early morning call had us up and out for a ride up the mountain, hoping to see Caspian Snowcock, Red-fronted Serin and Radde's Accentor among others. We drove up to a spring fed fountain and waited for our transport, which turned out to be a tractor with a wooden frame on the back. 2 of us sat on the mudguards and 2 of us on the wooden frame. Oz stood beside the driver as we trundled and jolted up the mountain track, clinging on.

We reached the top as the light improved and almost immediately Oz could hear Snowcock calling but we could not see any.

Oz suggested we climb up higher and the tractor driver spotted a calling Snowcock on the peaks. Scope views eventually found 5 calling males.  

Caspian Snowcock on top of peak - honest!


We spent some time wandering around the base of the cliffs where we found * Accentor and Ortolan Bunting then wandered down towards a spring where we found Red-fronted Serin, Snowfinch, Horned Lark and Souslik.

Red-fronted Serin

Snowfinch

Souslik

Horned Lark

We spent some time wandering about before being disturbed by a flock of sheep coming down to the pools to drink when we returned to the Pension on our luxury transport for a lovely late breakfast.

Our luxury transport up and down the mountain.



Around Dirmakazik

After breakfast we explored the Dirmakazik valley - first going along behind the Pansion into the fields and then returning to the area at the base of the cliffs where we had been in the morning , followed by walking up the Dirmakazik gorge.

June 23rd. - Brown Fish Owl

We had a very early morning call to be up for 4.30 ready for our trip to Oympinar Resevoir for a boat trip out to see Brown Fish Owl. We met the 3 Hungarians who were sharing our boat and then our guide arrived with a swiss couple, making 9 plus the guides. This meant that the boat ride cost us 55 euros each.

It was a beautiful morning and we were soon following him up to the boat on the lake at Grand Canyon. We had to cross 4 or 5 boats to get to our one which normally holds 30 or 40 holiday makers. We travelled along the lake through some spectacular scenery, turning into the Grand Canyon which got narrower and steeper sided.

The guide began to look around the cliffs, borrowing a pair of binoculars and then Tony spotted a young owl sitting out on a rock. Hiding among the bushes was an adult and another juvenile was sitting to the right. The boat stopped and gently rested against the rocks as we watched and photographed the birds.

Then we travelled back past the mooring site to the entrance to Little Canyon were we saw another juvenile sitting in a tree. After they grounded us on a narrow beach we spent some time looking at this owl and then we travelled further in and turned round, finding a fifth bird in a tree on the opposite side of the canyon. As we watched a third  juvenile came flying in and hopped to the back of the rocky cave.

 

Back to the hotel for breakfast, catching up with the Hungarians who had just travelled from where we were going and then we set off for the long drive to Dirmikasik and the Oz Safak Pansion.
On the way we stopped for an ice cream at the café where we had lunch and then we visited Akseki cemetery, where we saw several Syrian woodpeckers as well as White-backed.

We also took a couple of roadside stops just after Conya where we saw Souslik for the first time. A Long-legged Buzzard flew up off the ground and several Isabelline Wheatears were dotted about. We also made a short diversion where we found Black-headed Bunting and several larks. We arrived around 9.00. Dinner and bed as we had another early start

Website: http://www.ozsafak.net/bird.html

Emails: ozsafak@hotmail.com or basarsafak@yahoo.com

Turkey June 22nd. First morning - Akseki

After a very late night the others were up and about early and I followed a bit later. It was quite cool to start but soon warmed up and by breakfast it was very warm. Some good birds; Eleanor's falcon, Yellow-vented Bulbul, Eastern Olivaceous Warbler, as well asBanded demoiselles and white-legged dragonflies plus common blue and large white butterflies.
 Breakfast was very nice: tomato, cucumber, cheeses, olives, boiled eggs, bread and jams. You can choose whether you eat in or out. There are various places you can eat at different heights with views across the river to the cliffs beyond, lovely! 

Our target was the 'walled wood' at Akseki so we sorted out the car and set off. It took us about an hour and a half and we worked out how to find the wood by going up and over a new track and then parking.

 

We walked round the wood, peering into the undergrowth, where we saw Middle-spotted Woodpecker, Olive-tree Warbler, Hoopoe, and Kruper’s and Western Rock Nuthatch. The fields were alive with Crickets, including this interesting creature.

There were some butterflies flitting about like Cardinal, Southern White Admiral and Heath sp.

 Lunch was at the Todor Restaurant where there were several butterflies drinking in the puddles in the car park.

We explored along the road and turned left where we looked for birds but weren't very successful, However, at a stand of thistles we found butterflies including Southern Swallowtail, , Nettle-tree Butterfly, Ilex Hairstreak, Grass Jewel, Long-tailed Blue, Lang’s Short-tailed Blue, Lattice Brown, Balkan Marbled White, Freyer’s Grayling and Anatolian Skipper and Lulworth Skipper.

On a return to the wood we saw Persian Squirrel and Spur-thighed Tortoise.

 

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