Western Turkey: Birds and History
Posted by Peter Roberts
Peter Roberts
Peter Roberts is based in Britain, lives in the north of Scotland, and has been a keen naturalist since childhood in London. While birds remain his main interest, close con...The phrase we have in the UK that comes to mind when leading this tour is, "trying to fit a quart into a pint pot"! There is always far more to see and do, with more places to explore and more birds to find than we can ever fit into a two-week tour. Our relaxed philosophy?"let's just sample these varied riches and come away with a superb overview and rounded impression of the place, its culture, its history, and its birdlife"?makes this tour really enjoyable! There is plenty of interest for a full history or birding tour, but this trip is a real "two for the price of one" holiday.
We spent a productive couple of hours birding on the Buyuk Menderes River delta (the ancient origin of the word "meander") where cotton fields and large areas of open saltmarsh and lagoon provided a large array of species?the most spectacular being large groups of flamboyant, luridly pink Greater Flamingos, plus cumbersome Great White Pelicans with a handful of endangered Dalmatian Pelicans. Bright Yellow Wagtails, ducks (including Garganey), Great Crested and Little grebes, terns (including Gull-billed, Little, Caspian, and White-winged), gulls, and shorebirds (including Wood, Common, and Green sandpipers) are grand sights anywhere, but particularly poignant here. The silting up of this historic river delta caused the decline of several important ancient coastal cities such as Miletus and Priene in the Byzantine era 1,500 years ago. After our visit here it was a short drive to witness this for ourselves as we meandered through 2,000+ years of history at Miletus. This impressive ruined city once had a strong fleet of ships serving and trading with 90 colonies around the Mediterranean and Black seas. Started back at the same early date as Priene in c.1400 BC, much of what remains is Hellenistic/Roman from 300 BC to 400 AD. The wonderful amphitheatre with its fine arched entrances and covered walkways to the seating and the Faustian Roman Baths are on a massive scale.
At the Roman city of Ephesus a morning was spent wandering through the ancient ruins of temples, libraries, bath-houses and a 25,000-seat amphitheatre. The concept of a "two for the price of one" tour lived up to its name as we watched a Little Owl perched in a bush next to 2,000 year-old relics, a pair of Rock Nuthatches cavorting about in the ancient Agora, and a Blue Rock-Thrush perched on the carved marble arches of the immense library. At the extensive city of Hierapolis the hoped-for Finsch's Wheatears enhanced the rich experience of wandering through the ruins of the grand central streets, massive stone walls, marble pillars, and the amazing Necropolis?a huge area of sarcophagi: very elaborate tombs in carved stone blocks of different designs, shapes, and sizes.
Our four days in Istanbul were perhaps the ultimate in combining birding and history. The city is full of world-class historical sites from Roman aqueducts to the many elaborate palaces and mosques of the Ottoman Empire?most just walking distance from our accommodation reassuringly written up in the "Best Small Hotels of Turkey" publication. Great birding sites just out of the city offered optional diversions from "historical overload," while overhead the legendary raptor and stork migration was viewed from the hills overlooking the entire city of Istanbul. Apart from dedicated time for birding, birds "popped-up" all the time: Europe's only Laughing Doves were seen regularly, while sipping a cold beer at the end of the day, from our hotel's rooftop terrace with its stunning view of nearby Aya Sofia and the Topkapi Palace; Levantine Shearwaters powered their way past the busy shipping in the narrow Bosphorus Straits between the Black Sea and Sea of Marmara; and White Storks swirled over in tight kettles of thousands of birds low over the domes of the Blue Mosque, as they've reassuringly done every fall for millennia.