A WINTER BIRDING BREAK
Posted: 02.02.23 in Articles category
Have you gone on a birdwatching holiday in winter? Prior to Covid, I sought to go on one most years and I am trying to get back into the habit. Only last month (January 2023) I went away - going for the first time to south Turkey as I shall explain later.
It is very rare for me to travel without binoculars and most of my holidays invariably involve some birdwatching. I have been lucky enough to have had several memorable holidays watching birds, whether it be in Scotland or Spain, and I could write at huge length about the many amazing birds I have seen on holiday over the years. Yet I want to write here specifically about winter birds and the thrill I get having few days away from the seasonal gloom - typically going somewhere in southern Europe a little warmer and with more hours of daylight at this time of year. I don’t go alone. My wife Sheila has joined me in the past, but these days she insists that I go off with a small gang of male birding friends for a week of intensive birdwatching when we try to see as many species as possible. I don’t necessarily visit places with the largest list of birds, otherwise I would have to choose tropical localities like Colombia or Kenya, but whatever my destination there is a likelihood of seeing birds I don’t see at home and sometimes even something new.
As I wrote at the outset, I have recently been to Turkey, for a week in a coastal hotel at Side on the southern coast near Antalya. I went with my old birding pal Davy who has joined me on various birding trips since 2005 when the two of us first went to the Camargue. Over the years we have travelled to Cyprus, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sri Lanka and back again in France. We have shared plenty of amazing bird experiences on these trips: a hooting Eagle Owl at dusk atop a limestone cliff; a spring fall of migrant Semi-collared Flycatchers in Cyprus; seeing hordes of Black Kite arriving at Tarifa as they crossed the sea and watching colourful barbets in Sri Lanka. So, what would south Turkey offer? As it turned out, it proved quite disappointing in terms of species seen. Whereas a week based on the same dates in January provided 106 species in Provence, I saw only 39 species in Turkey despite intensive searching. Admittedly, we were limited to walking and therefore didn’t travel to local nature reserves nor a sufficient variety of habitat. Nevertheless, we covered a broad mix of pine wood, heath, farmland, marsh, riverside and beach – plenty of variety to see a wide range of birds. Yet I saw so few. No waders and only a sole species of duck – Red-breasted Merganser which we also see along the Northumbrian coast in winter. Nevertheless, it was good to reconnect with continental birds like Crested Lark, White Wagtail and Sardinian Warbler, and we saw many of each. Best of the bunch were the Graceful Prinia, White-spectacled Bulbuls, Laughing Doves and the Jays. They were the highlight of the trip for me and quite a revelation. Although these corvids are the same species as the birds in my garden, they look quite different to UK birds because of their distinctive black crowns. Hence despite the paucity of birds, there were plenty of avian highlights as always on my winter birding break. Besides, who wouldn’t enjoy blue skies, two extra hours of daylight and 19C in January?