Part-time Birding: Family Holiday To Oludeniz, Turkey

Family Holiday To Oludeniz, Turkey

Oludeniz, Turkey (3/6/18 -10/6/18)
Just had a weeks family holiday in Turkey. Ive been to Turkey 3 times before this trip and although they are family holiday I normally have some good species from a few walks I manage to get in. Our default place is Sarigerme and over the last 3 visits I’ve managed the following lifers around the area and on some boat and mud bath trips.

Scopolli’s Shearwater, Yelkouan Shearwater, Little Cormorant, Long-legged Buzzard, Lesser Spotted Eagle, Steppe Buzzard, European Roller, European Bee-eater, Eastern Bonelli’s Warbler, Great Reed Warbler, Moustached Warbler, Zitting Cisiicola, Lesser Kestrel, Eleonora’s Falcon, Masked Shrike, Black-capped Jay, Crested Lark, Calandra Lark, Rufous-tailed Scrub Robin, Rock Sparrow and Cretzschmar's Bunting. I’ve also seen the following other notable species. White Stork, Purple Heron, Yellow-legged Gull, Alpine Swift, Red-backed Shrike, Hooded Crow, Red-rumped Swallow, Spotless Starling and Red-throated Pipit.

Airport and Coach transfer
This year we tried a new area and I have to admit that I didn’t put a lot of effort in this year but the birding seemed to be rather dire though. I did get a few new species for Turkey, non of which were lifers as I’ve seen in other countries. So my sightings are as follows. At the Airport I was greeted to Common House Martin, Northern Raven, Conmon Wood Pigeon, House Sparrow, Western Jackdaw and Eurasian Collared Dove. On the bus transfer to the hotel, Several White Stork, Barn Swallows, numerous Hooded Crow and Common Swift. We stopped at a few hotels to drop off and I also saw White Wagtail, 2 European Turtle Dove and best off all 7 Calandra Lark were feeding below my bus window at one stop.

Island boat trip

We went on a boat trip from Fethiye that visits a few islands and give a chance of some great snorkelling. The most common bird was Yellow-legged Gull, a few Great Cormorant, House Sparrow, White Wagtail, Northern Raven and Steple Buzzard (subspecies of Common Buzzard) but best of all was a Short-toed Sea-eagle that gave great views as it slowly drifted rather low at one of the stop offs. Also of note was a Loggerhead Turtle and Black-tipped Reef Shark. Surprisingly (and to the whole family’s disappointment) no Dolphin species were seen. On docking back at Fethiye I was pleased to get brief views of 3 Laughing Dove.

Around the hotel

Not too many birds were seen throughout the week but there were a few good ones. There were a few Black-capped Jay (the areas subspecies of Eurasian Jay), a Lesser Kestrel perched on one of the rooftops then bombed off. One morning a group of around 70 Alpine Swift flew low over the resort. More common species included Common Blackbird, Common House Martin, Eurasian Collared Dove, Barn Swallow, House Sparrow, Common Swift, White Wagtail, Eurasian Goldfinch, Eurasian Blue Tit and I heard but couldn’t see a Sombre Tit which really annoyed me as this was a lifer bird! There were also a few other critters around with a Mediterranean House Gecko, a wasp (that I cannot ID) and a Shieldbug (Mustha Spinosulo). Butterflies included, Orange Tip, Clouded Yellow, Brimstone, Large White, Green Veined White, Small White, Black Veined White, Cardinal (Lifer but frustratingly I couldn’t get a decent picture) and a White Admiral. A Spur-thighed Tortoise was seen trundling along outside the resort, a couple of unidentifiable Moths and I also managed a ID few flowers and still have some to ID.

Blue Laggon Beach
A visit to the blue lagoon was disappointing in terms of birds with only the following species recorded. Yellow-legged Gull, Black-capped Jay, Eurasian Collared Dove and Barn Swallow. The whole family did however enjoying sitting in the shallow waters with numerous fish swimming all around us