The
first of the two days on which we hired a car. We drove from Icmeler to Koycegiz
and then on what appeared to be a little used road to Dalyan. There were four
White Storks riding a thermal above the fields a few kilometres from Gokova and
we saw what was very probably another Eleanora's Falcon nearby. The road from
Koycegiz to Dalyan winds it's way through farmland and woodland which looked
very promising but we only stopped to try to see a Nightingale
which was singing near the road. Unfortunately the bird stopped singing when I
got out of the car and I couldn't locate it.
We
stopped briefly at Dalyan then took the road which leads to Itsuzu beach. I saw
my first Rufous Bush Robin by the side of the road just as we were leaving
the village. From the car we saw a large bird of prey was flying along the top
of the cliffs which overlooked the road. I was again frustrated because as soon
as I stopped the car and lifted my binoculars the bird landed on the top of the
cliff behind a bush and was hidden from view. There were a pair of Kestrels
nesting on the cliff a little further on.
We
left Itsuzu beach and Dalyan and took the Ortaca road back towards Koycegiz
I wanted to visit a restaurant which someone on the UK Bird Net mailing
list had told me about (thanks Chris) and I knew that it was on this road
somewhere. We found the restaurant easily and stopped for lunch. The restaurant
was called the 'Ley Lek' which is Turkish for White Stork and I counted 35
Storks nesting on the farmland just behind the restaurant. Most of them were
using artificial nest sites which had been erected in the fields and some were
building their huge nests in the trees nearby. One bird was very tame and
actually attempted to walk through the restaurant, making a lunge at my son in
the process.
White
Stork at the Ley Lek Restaurant
After
leaving the Ley Lek we headed for Lake Koycegiz. I was hoping to do some
birdwatching at the lake but we just couldn’t find a road which lead to the
lake shore (we only had a large scale map) apart from the harbour in Koycegiz
which didn’t look very promising. We headed for a place called Hamit which,
according to our map, was right on the lake shore. In the process of getting
lost we saw three strikingly plumaged Rose-coloured
Starlings which were calling nosily from a tree near a farmhouse on the road
between Hamit and Koycegiz. Another first for me - getting lost sometimes pays
dividends!
We eventually found Hamit with the help of a local farmer and turned down a track which looked as if it was leading to the lake. We drove along the track until it came to an end amidst some pools and reedbeds. Still no sign of the lake but we decided to get out of the car and go for a walk. There were frogs croaking all around us and at one point their croaking reached a crescendo which was amazing to hear. There was a stream running alongside the track and a male Little Bittern suddenly shot up from the water’s edge as I approached and flew off to settle in the taller reeds further away. There were a few Fan-tailed Warblers in the area and a number of Cetti’s Warblers were singing as well as Reed Warblers. I heard a song which was very familiar from our holiday in Menorca two year’s previously then I saw the bird perched on a fence - a Corn Bunting. On the way back up the tracks in the car we stopped to watch Swallows and House Martins gathering to roost on the reeds and noticed that there was a Sand Martin with them. Whilst driving back through the village of Hamit I stopped to photograph a stork on it’s nest on a telegraph pole and a little further on we saw a Masked Shrike perched on a post.
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