For a review trip report of this 4 day trip to Istanbul and Riva, Turkey
click on this link
http://birdingthedayaway.blogspot.co.uk/
Weather was 'worse than England' and as Mick describes, the trip was rather hard going !
Having said all that, it just leaves me to do an itinerary, mention the superb birds and a few photo's !
Day 1,
disaster, lost in traffic in Istanbul, arrived Riva, late afternoon, bad light
10+ Red-backed Shrike seen, no photos
Day 2,
We go to Istanbul, we are on the first ferry over the Bosphorus at 07.00 hours,
Weather, cold, black heavy cloud, poor visibility.
A few Yellow-legged Gull, and very little else
the highlight here was seeing 3 flocks of Yelkouan Shearwater, 10+ per flock passing through the Bosphorus
11.00 hours, we are heading back out towards Riva
We did every lane, every bit of coastline we could access, nothing exiting, no chance of any photo's !
We ended up back at Riva for c 16.00 hours.
Riva, a small holiday village c25 miles out of Istanbul on the south coast of the Black Sea, surrounded by many hills, very red sandstone, lots of lanes to explore,
at lower levels was trees and scrub, on the higher hills, no trees, just rocks, sand stone ridges and open plain.
We spent the remainder of our visit in this area,
very changeable weather, limited photo opportunities !
lots of birds but not a big number of species
Red-backed Shrike, 50+
Woodchat Shrike, 1
Bee-eater, 100+
Turtle Dove, 12+
Tawny Pipit, 12+
Northern Wheater, 10+
Ortolan Bunting
Corn Bunting
Black-headed Bunting, 2
Cirl Bunting
Red-rumped Swallow
Swallow
Stonechat, 1
Cuckoo
Black Kite, 1 seen two days
Hooded Crow, Jackdaw
Raven, 1
Red-rumped Swallow
Red-backed Shrike
Bee-Eater
Turtle Dove
Tawny Pipit
Ortolan Bunting
