Text by Kai Gauger, photos by Lars Delling, Moritz Schulze, Christian Baarlink, Martin Fichtler and Kai Gauger
From May
20th to 28th Kai Gauger led a trip along the birding hotspots in eastern
Azerbaijan and Nakhchivan. The guests were from Germany, Austria, Denmark and Great
Britain and the ground logistics were (as always) perfectly arranged by Hajibaba
Imanli from olivetravel.co
The tour
started south along the Caspian shore with a first stop at some former
fishponds where there were the usual common songbirds of the lowland like
Menetrie's and Eastern Olivaceous Warbler, Rufous-tailed Scrub Robin and a few
Lesser Short-toed Larks. In the ponds we found several Tereks, a White-tailed
Lapwing and no less than 19 Great Sandplovers! Probably the largest
accumulation recorded in the country so far. The afternoon we spend in Shirvan
National Park with the usual Goitered Gazelles, Isabelline Wheatears, Black Francolins, Lesser
Kestrels, Little Bittern, Ferruginous Ducks and a lot more. Day one ended with a superb dinner and calling
Scops Owls all around us.
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| the wide plains of Shirvan NP |
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| Goitered Gazelle |
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| Lesser Kestrel |
The next
day we continued south with a stopp at Machmudchala wetland where 300+ Greater
Flamingos where resting. Around Masalli we saw at least 8 Shikras at two spots,
several Hobbys and a Lesser Spotted Eagle. Kizil Agach in the afternoon was
great as always with all kinds of herons and egrets, 10.000+ Whiskered and many
other terns (Little, Caspian, Sandwich, Common, longipennis-Common, White-winged), more Tereks, White-tailed
Lapwings and other waders, plenty of Collared Pratincoles, a Great Black-headed
Gull and a colony of about 50 Blue-cheeked Bea-eaters. In the evening we drove
up the Talysh mountains to our beautiful accommodation Täbässüm.
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| Blue-cheeked Bea-eater |
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| Black-crowned Night Heron |
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| Purple Heron |
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| Collared Pratincole |
Day three
was of very high importance as the main target was the enigmatic Caspian Tit. Several
Lada Niwas brought us to a remote mountain village where the birds had been
seen just a few weeks ago. The group spread in the forest and after some time
of searching we found a family with fledged juveniles. All of the guests got good
views and a new species on the WP list. Other nice species where Booted and
Short-toed Eagle, Semi-collared Flycatcher and the endemic poelzami -Woodpecker. The second region to visit was the Zuvand, the
highest and driest parts of the Talysh. We found a few Crimson-winged Finches
and many other good birds like Long-legged Buzzard, Chukar, Finsch's Wheatear, Blue
and Rufous-tailed Rock Trush, Alpine Accentor, Rock Bunting and much more.
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| upper Talysh Forest, habitat of Caspian Tit |
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| Caspian Tit |
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| Short-toed Eagle |
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| poelzami-Woodpecker, endemic to the Hyrcanian forest |
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| Brahmaea christophi |
The next
day was domiated by the transit to the Greater Caucasus in northern Azerbaijan.
After the lunch we spend some time at the Gobustan Rock Art site and despite
the low activity during the day heat we were able to connect with all typical
breeding birds such as Western Rock Nuthatch, Pied Wheatear plus hybrids with
Eastern Black-eared, Woodchat Shrike and Rock Sparrow. In the evening we
reached Nazli Bulag resort on the way to Khinalik.
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| Rock habitat in Gobustan |
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| Western Rock Nuthatch |
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| Pied Wheatear |
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| hybrid Black-eared/Pied Wheatear |
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| Woodchat Shrike |
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| Caucasian Agama |
Khinalik
and the southern flank of Qizilgaya mountain were our spot for the day. We
started early and used again a fleet of Niwas to get up to about 2500m. From
there we walked further up across the alpine meadows until we reached the gravel
below the impressive rock outcrop of this limestone massif. After some time we
found both, several Güldenstadt's Redstarts and Caucasian Snowcocks. The
weather was perfect and so we enjoyed a great day with plenty of Snowfinches,
Horned Larks, semirufus-Black Redstarts, many Griffon and each several Black
and Bearded Vultures which gave nice views. After returning to the resort we
packed the bus again and moved one valley further north to our next spot Laza.
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| southern flank of Mt. Qizilgaya |
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| Güldenstadt's Redstart |
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| Caucasian Snowcock |
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| Griffon Vulture |
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| Eastern Black Redstart |
The morning
welcomed us with clear blue sky and at sunrise everybody was up to see the
Caucasian Black Grouse at their lek just right from the doorstep. Also a few Caucasian
Turs with fawns were spotted on the flank of Shahdag mountain. Other target
species seen were Mountain Chiffchaff, Green Warbler and Caucasian Twite. The
meadows were full of coutelli-Water Pipits, Red-fronted Serins and Common Rosefinches, Ring Ouzels were singing and
Golden Eagles soaring overhead. Unfortunately just two of us saw each one of a
pair of Great Rosefinches very briefly. The weather quickly turned into rain so
we decided to go back. In Laza the sun was shining again but we were happy
anyway and enjoyed one or the other beer in this overwhelming scenery.
After
breakfast we left the mountains in strait direction of the Caspian Sea. In the
region of the newly established Samur-Yalama National Park we had a good
number of raptors including several Honey Buzzards, a Booted Eagle and, pretty
amazing, all four species of harriers within quarter an hour. In the beautiful
forest we found a Semi-collared Flycatcher singing and flying into its nest
hole. Black-headed Buntings were abundant and also Rollers, Red-backed- and
Lesser Grey Shrikes were all around. After lunch we continued to Baku airport
and took the short flight towards Nakhchivan for the last days of the trip.
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| Semi-collared Flycatcher |
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| Black-headed Bunting |
Our first and
main target in the morning was cleary the Radde's Accentor and after roaming
the colourful subalpine meadows above Batabat for some time we finally found a
singing male which gave perfect and close views. Other good birds in the area
were eg Barred Warbler, Ortolan Bunting and many others we knew already from
Zuvand and the Greater Caucasus. There were also two Lesser Spotted Eagles of
which one was carrying a snake to its putative breeding site, more Bearded
Vultures, Golden and Booted Eagles. Driving down the mountains step by step we
saw several White-throated Robins, found Eastern Rock Nuthatches, the first two
See-see Partridges, a Trumpeter Finch and a Mongolian
Finch. In the afternoon we walked into a beautiful wadi where several Upcher's
Warblers, Grey-necked Buntings and Persian Wheatears showed well. Also small
groups Bezoar Goats were around.
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| colourful meadows above Batabat Lake |
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| Radde's Accentor |
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| a wadi in the semi desert |
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| Upcher's Warbler |
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| Eastern Rock Nuthatch and Isabelline Wheatear |
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| Nosed Grasshopper |
The last
day started in the Negram mountains in the lowest parts of Nakhchivan. The walk
was great with perfect and close views of See-see Partridge, a Peregrine,
a superb Lanner Falcon, more Trumpeter Finches, Grey-necked Buntings, Persian
Wheatears and several Black-bellied Sandgrouse. We drove a bit further to the
region around the prominent Ilandag mountain. In the fields were many Greater
Short-toed larks and after some time we also saw a Bimaculated Lark very well.
Rather surprising were several Crimson-winged Finches feeding here and there.
A last and important site was at Daridag where it took us just a minute to find
plenty of Desert Finches feeding recently fledged juveniles. A last wonderful
dinner and another few beers were a nice conclusion of another perfect birding
trip.
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| the Negram |
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| See-see Partridge |
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| Lanner Falcon |
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| Crimson-winged Finch |
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| juvenile Persian Wheatears |
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| Dersert Finches |
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| the group in front of Ilandag |
