On February 11 a small group of us (CC Bilgin, O Can, A Akın, A Turak) visited Lake Eymir near Ankara. This small lake belongs to Middle East Technical University and is used mainly for recreation. On the day of visit the lake was mostly frozen due to very low temperatures in the previous two weeks. Interesting records were few, but nevertheless our observations are given below (with brief notes where necessary):
GREAT WHITE EGRET (Egretta alba) 8 birds in V-formation apparently left for the nearby larger Lake Mogan. GREY HERON (Ardea cinerea) 7 birds. GOSHAWK/SPARROWHAWK (Accipiter gentilis/nisus) A single bird not seen long enough for definite identification. LONG-LEGGED BUZZARD (Buteo rufinus) A single bird COOT (Fulica atra) c.30 birds on the shore and on ice. COLLARED DOVE (Streptopelia decaocto) A single bird. LONG-EARED OWL (Asio otus) A congregation of 15-20 birds roosting on pine trees near the road. Lake Eymir shores must be a traditional site for such winter parties since there are similar records dating back from 1960s. LESSER SPOTTED WOODPECKER (D. minor) Typical drumming was heard but no conclusive identification this time. BEARDED TIT (Panurus biarmicus) A pair briefly glimpsed in the reedbed. ROCK NUTHATCH (Sitta neumayer) Typical bird of rocky faces. TREE CREEPER (Certhia spp.) Either brachydactyla or familiaris; very difficult to differentiate visually. PENDULINE TIT (Remiz pendulinus) A single bird. JAY (Garrulus glandarius) A single bird. BULLFINCH (Pyrrhula pyrrhula) Several birds.
We also saw SYRIAN WOODPECKER (Dendrocopos syriacus), BLUE TIT (Parus caeruleus), GREAT TIT (P. major), GOLDCREST (Regulus regulus), MAGPIE (Pica pica), ROOK (Corvus frugilegus), STARLING (Sturnus vulgaris), HOUSE SPARROW (Passer domesticus), BRAMBLING (Fringilla montifringilla), CHAFFINCH (F. coelebs), GOLDFINCH (Carduelis carduelis), and YELLOWHAMMER (Emberiza citrinella).
On our way back we also visited a piece of agricultural land between Güvercinlik and Ümitköy, which is quite close to the new residential parts of Ankara. This piece of land has been observed to hold a rather high concentration of buzzards during the last one month, probably due to very high vole numbers. Here were both COMMON (Buteo buteo) and LONG- LEGGED BUZZARDS again, twelve of them seen within a few hectares of land. Other observations were of the resident KESTREL (Falco tinnunculus), dozens of ROCK DOVES (Columba livia), a small flock of CALANDRA LARKS (Melanocorypha calandra) and the ubiquitus MAGPIES.
C. Bilgin