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Bodrum
Peninsula General Information.
In
order to protect rare or sensitive birds, details of some sightings have
been omitted.
You
may think that Spring comes early here with summer birds like Swallow,
Purple Heron, Hoopoe and Lesser Kestrel beginning to arrive before the
end of February. March saw many flowers and more birds like Black-headed
Bunting and Nightingale. Mediterranean Gulls, Yelkouan Shearwater and
Slender Billed Gulls were seen on the coast in April. May was the best
month for sightings of chicks before the very hot and dry weather came
in June, July and August. It was not uncommon to record temperatures in
the high 40c in the shade in the height of summer.
We
had to wait until November to get any rain worth mentioning and sadly
there were more serious fires which damaged large areas of forest and
natural vegetation; they destroyed the habitat for much of our wildlife.
Even without the fires habitat is being eroded by more and more (seemingly
uncontrolled) land clearing, in-filling and building.
The
very dry winter has left some of our breeding areas devastated, so we
have been going further a field looking for new areas to record. Another
cause of the water levels being so low is the thousands and thousands
of new houses, hotels and shops being built on the peninsula. The amount
of water needed for concrete for these buildings, let alone after they
are built, must be phenomenal.
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Everywhere
there are signs of hunters who not only ignore the rules but shoot any
signs erected to show that hunting is prohibited.
Other
areas visited were Dilek Peninsula National Park, Geyik Baraji, Gamliyurt
to Ortakoy,
Labranda, Bafa Golu, Azap lake, Azap Lake to Soke, Akkoy to Miletus, Tanitim
Milli Parki at Doganbey, Pamucak near Ephesus and Akbuk ( Didym ) to Koru
Milas. For more information on habitat and birds seen please e-mail Brian
at brianstoneman@hotmail.com
Tuzla.
The
year began badly with low water levels, hunting and more and more building
in the area.
Since Tuzla has become a protected area it seems to have more and more
house and workshops than ever before. I sometimes think that the protection
is for the people against the wild life. On a positive note, Ortolan Bunting
and Great Spotted Cuckoo were seen - two firsts for me in Turkey. Also
Red-footed Falcon, Audouin's Gull, Greater Flamingo, Spoonbill, Teal,
Wigeon, Shoveler, Ruddy Shelduck, Pintail, Curlew, Dalmatian Pelican,
Black-winged Stilt, Kentish Plover, White Stork, Black Stork, Osprey,
Bonelli's Eagle, and Booted Eagle were all recorded. (Sample list)
The
Wash.
Sadly
the area by the river that had been re-growing was again cleared for the
laying of a new water pipe and possibly a rail track. This work must have
badly affected the breeding season as it did not finish until May. In
April the river was already very low with many of the pools already dry,
following the disastrously dry winter.
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However
the area still gave us good sightings of Bonelli's Eagle, Little
Bittern, Little Crake, Baillon's Crake, Rough-legged Buzzard, Lesser
Black-backed Gull, Cretzschmar's Bunting, Night Heron, Roller, Rüppell's
Warbler, Squacco Heron, Rufous Bush Robin and 5 different kings
of Shrike. We even recorded a Juvenile
White Pelican in one of the small pools.
The juvenile White Pelican ('Ken
Ranyard' )
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Derekoy.
The
collection of flora and fauna information to enable the residents to oppose
the plans to put a rubbish tip in the area continued through the year.
We were getting conflicting reports from the local people about the planning
permission of the project, but one thing was very clear -huge areas of
the valley are being developed. A rally took place on the 10th of June
to gain more publicity about the situation. Golden Eagle, Hen Harrier,
Peregrine, Lesser Kestrel, Goshawk, Bonelli's Eagle and Booted Eagle were
some of the highlights.
Turkbuku.
The
T.E.M.A. site and surrounding area continued to be good habitat, but unfortunately
my fears about fire were realised when 90 per cent of the newly planted
trees were destroyed. Some trees had already been dying due to the very
dry weather. More habitat destruction in the Golturkbuku area was caused
by building work.
Yalikavak
Because of the very varied habitat most birds of the region from Golden
Eagle to Rüppell's Warbler can be seen at one time or another.
Gulluk
I B A including Milas/Bodrum Airport.
Thanks to a change in policy we are now able to carry out bird monitoring
at the airport after an enforced break of 2 years. Surprisingly, there
are still lots of illegal hunting going on.
Just some of the birds seen were White-breasted Kingfisher, 4 types of
Shrike, Pygmy Cormorants, Long-legged Buzzard, Hen and Marsh Harrier,
Bittern, Little Bittern, Collared Pratincole, Spur-winged Plover, White-winged
Black Tern, Night Heron, lots of different Warblers and a flock of more
than 3,000 Starling. Some years ago we saw a flock in excess of 20,000
Starlings.
Mumcular.
Forest
fires devastated parts of the Mumcular district, there is little life
left in these areas. Hopefully after the rains we have had in November
the vegetation and replanting of some of the areas will make things a
little better. The dam at Mumcular although still very low does still
produce the odd surprise such as Dalmatian Pelican, Ferruginous Duck along
with its regulars, Cormorant, Great Crested Grebe, Little Grebe, Pintail,
Yellow-legged Gull and Grey Heron.
Milas.
The
gravel pits, sewerage farm and surrounding area proved to be the find
of the year. We found that when other areas were dry and you really had
to work hard at finding birds, this area had plenty of water and birds.
On one trip (12/09/07) we saw 16 hoopoes, 30 Yellow Wagtails, Tawny Pipits,
Whinchats and Spotted Flycatchers all in one field.
But later on in the year we found that someone had started to fill in
the first pond!
At the moment this is still a great place to see birds if you know where
to look, but it is a never ending battle trying to try to save some of
the important habitat. Everywhere the developers seem to be winning all
the battles.
Brian
Stoneman
  
Appendix:
Doga Dernegi (Nature Society)
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