Just got back from a few days in Istanbul thanks to easyjet, so here’s a trip report which I hope is of interest.
23rd September. Arrived Sabiha Gocken Airport midday, bus to Bostanci, ferry to Buyukadar. First surprise – an arctic skua. I hadn’t expected to see any skuas in the Med but Collins confirms that they do occur on passage and, although it was distant, it was harrying a gull and I could see it clearly enough to feel pretty confident about the ID.
On Buyukadar I went for a walk, feeling a little dizzy for getting up at 3:30am for my flight, but as I only had five days in Istanbul I wanted to make the most of it. Everywhere on the island there were bee-eaters overhead. In the woods were quite a lot of red-breasted flycatchers and redstarts. More notable sightings were a wryneck and a female semi-collared flycatcher (both birds being only the second of their species that I have seen). Also a flock of about 25 black storks seen quite close up. And hobbies flying around everywhere. Someone later told me that there Eleonora’s falcons can be seen on the island, but if there were any around, I didn’t get good views of them. I took the ferry over to Kabatas close to the city centre, but it was dark and I didn’t see anything.
24th September. I abandoned my initial plans to go to Buyuk Camlica since heavy clouds were building up and I decided to go sightseeing instead. I did get very close views of a short-toed eagle from the Topkapi Palace.
25th September. Took the ferry over to Uskudar and a taxi up to Buyuk Camlica. On the hill were about a dozen Swedish/Danish/Dutch birders and a few Turkish birders. The former all had telescopes. The latter (like me) just had binoculars. This was a slight disadvantage as a lot of the birds passed over some way to the west. However the better equipped birders were very accommodating in lending their telescopes whenever anything special turned up. Also for about 40 minutes at lunchtime the birds were passing directly overhead, and binoculars were preferable to telescopes.
The basic pattern was for nothing to happen for a while and then a mixed flock to be seen in the far distance by someone with a telescope. Within a few minutes the birds would be in view to everyone. Except for all the day trippers to the hill, that is, who, without binoculars, who would keep looking up at the sky and seeing absolutely nothing as the birds were too distant, and wondering what on earth we were all doing. I confess I told some of them that we were radio antenna enthusiasts and were admiring the many antennae which were on the hill, and they seemed happy with that.
Anyway, as for the birds, in each flock there almost always seemed to be some Levant sparrowhawks, common buzzards and lesser spotted eagles. Also quite numerous were short-toed eagles. Storks came through in flocks of one species, mostly black, with maybe ten percent white. There was also one honey buzzard, one marsh harrier, three griffon vultures, a handful of black kites, and a few booted eagles. I also saw a buzzard with a clearly rufous tail and much white under the wings. It seemed to be a long-legged buzzard, although I appreciate that the steppe subspecies of common buzzard can look a lot like this so I may be wrong. A Swedish birder I spoke to said that the long-legged buzzard was the same as the steppe buzzard (of which I thought we’d been seeing a lot), so I’m a little confused. At one point a clearly larger eagle was within a flock and some debate followed as to what it was – either a steppe or imperial eagle. I had been able to make out a bit of white on the tail and that the tail was well-shaped – nicely rounded at the back. The final consensus was that the bird was an imperial eagle, and that seemed reasonable from what I had seen.
26th September. More sightseeing.
27th September. Took a ferry from Kabatas back to Buyukadar and then on to Bostanci before catching my flight home. Good numbers of Mediterranean shearwaters, mostly in small flocks and mostly flying towards the entrance of the Bosphorus. Also wonderful views of a pod of 30-40 dolphins off Kadikoy (can anyone tell me what species of dolphin they would likely have been?). And two grebes in winter plumage, I think red-necked, flying over the water near Bostanci.
I was very pleased with the variety of birds I saw, and there were three lifers for me (Levant sparrowhawk, imperial eagle and Mediterranean shearwater). Also I was very impressed with Istanbul which I think is a fantastic city, so a very worthwhile trip, all in. Anyway here’s a full list of birds – any comments welcome:
Eurasian Wryneck
European Bee-eater
Rose-ringed Parakeet
Alpine Swift
Common Swift
Rock Dove
Laughing Dove
Eurasian Collared-Dove
Arctic Skua
Mediterranean Yellow-legged Gull
Lesser Black-backed Gull
Common Black-headed Gull
Gull-billed Tern
European Honey-buzzard
Black Kite
Eurasian Griffon
Short-toed Snake-Eagle
Western Marsh-Harrier
Levant Sparrowhawk
Eurasian Sparrowhawk
Common Buzzard
Long-legged Buzzard
Lesser Spotted Eagle
Imperial Eagle
Booted Eagle
Common Kestrel
Eurasian Hobby
Red-necked Grebe
Great Cormorant
European Shag
Grey Heron
Black Stork
White Stork
Mediterranean Shearwater
Eurasian Magpie
Eurasian Jackdaw
Hooded Crow
Eurasian Blackbird
Spotted Flycatcher
Semicollared Flycatcher
Red-breasted Flycatcher
Common Redstart
Common Starling
Great Tit
Barn Swallow
Willow Warbler
Common Chiffchaff
Blackcap
Sardinian Warbler
Eurasian Siskin
House Sparrow
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Not bad for a short trip. I usually stayed longer than you, but you seem to have got most of the expected things anyway. I saw Arctic Skuas from the Kartal-Yalova ferry many years ago, so am not at all surprised that you should see one where you did.
I hope to go back before too long.
Thanks for the quick report.
Cheers,