Common Chaffinch

After visiting Buyukcekmeca Lake my guide, Dogan Bilge, took me to the 25 acre Yildiz Park in Istanbul. It used to be part of the imperial garden of Yildiz Palace during the reign of Sultan Abdulhamid II and is right off the Bosporus on a hill. It was late morning, getting warm, and the bird activity was reduced. However, Dogan did point out a new lifer for me, a common chaffinch, a male, standing on the branch of a tree covered in shade. It is also known as the Eurasian chaffinch, or just chaffinch. The male, which I saw, has a blue-gray cap and rust-red underparts. The English name comes from the Old English ceaffinc, where ceaf is "chaff" and finc" finch". Farmers used to thresh their crops and these birds used to spend weeks picking through heaps of discarded chaff for grain.  There are a number of subspecies and I saw the ssp. schiebeli which is found in southern Greece, Crete and western Turkey. 

Illustration of a female from Birds of the World. 

Illustration of a male from Birds of the World. 

Range from Birds of the World.

Pygmy Cormorant

Another new bird I saw near Buyukcekmeca Lake near Istanbul was a pygmy cormorant. It was near the stream with other cormorants, likely great cormorants. We were facing the sun so my photo is not good, but it provides the basic idea. 

This illustration from Birds of the World helps fill in some of the details. 

By comparison, a great cormorant from the same area, with better light, is below. It is a much larger bird and the bill is substantially longer. 

Range from Birds of the World.

Collared Pratincole

While near a stream which flows into Lake Buyukcekmeca near Istanbul I was with my birding guide, Dogan Bilge, as we watched some birds flying over quite fast. They circled and went back and forth several times. They had scissor tails and Dogan said they were rare birds for this area - he only sees them about once a year. 

I didn't really see them well until working on my photos when I got home. They are seriously cool looking birds. They usually feed on aerial insects while flying, like swallows, but can also feed on the ground. They usually feed near or over water, especially larger rivers and estuaries.  

Illustration from Birds of the World.

Illustration from Birds of the World. 

Range from Birds of the World. 

Black-Headed Bunting

My favorite bird from our recent trip to Turkey and Greece was the black-headed bunting, a lifer for me. I was at an inlet stream to Lake Buyukcekmece, near Istanbul, Turkey, with my guide, Dogan Bilge. Birds of the World notes that Turkey is the black-headed bunting's "stronghold". 

Illustration of a female from Birds of the World.

Illustration of a male from Birds of the World. 

Range from Birds of the World. Note the weird wintering range, all in India, compared to the summer range spread out over parts of Europe and Asia. 

Cetti's Warbler

Unlike the great reed warbler, my last post, which I got pretty good at spotting, I had a very difficult time seeing Cetti's warbler, and when I did see it I had an even harder time getting a photo of it. I saw them near Lake Buyukcekmece near Istanbul, Turkey. I just spent several minutes scanning four photos I took of a sage brushy type plant looking for the warbler which is in there somewhere - but can't find it. We heard lots of them, saw a lot fewer, and my photos are non-existent. 

Illustration from Birds of the World. 

Range from Birds of the World. 

Great Reed Warbler

On June 22, 2026 we were in Istanbul, Turkey. We'd arrived the evening before at Istanbul Airport, took an hour taxi ride to the city and got to the Erboy Hotel for a late meal on the roof and a view of the Bosporus. I got up early to meet my guide, Dogan Bilge, at 5:00 a.m. outside the hotel. We drove about 45 km west of Istanbul to Lake Buyukcekmece near the Marmara Sea. I didn't actually see the lake as we focused on an inlet stream which was full of reeds and further inland. Dogan was fascinating. He has a masters degree in math from Michigan State and a PhD in math from a university in France and teaches math for a private university in Istanbul. We drove along both sides of the stream in his car using the car as a blind. 

The most prominent bird, at least early, was the great reed warbler. We could hear them singing among big swaths of reeds and I got to where I could spot them pretty readily (about the only bird I could spot). 

I like this photo because it shows a wide swath of reeds and the warbler in the middle. I think this was the first one we saw. 

My favorite photo - showing this beautiful little bird. 

Birds of the World notes that it "[b]reeds chiefly in beds of reed...growing in fresh or brackish water...Prefers tall reeds with thick stems, especially next to open water." 

Illustration from Birds of the World.

Range from Birds of the World. 

Blue Rock Thrush

On June 29, 2026 we were with Judy's family in Greece and taking a tour of Delphi (home of the famous Delphic oracle). Judy and I visited there in 2010, but it was fun to be there again. I didn't have my large camera, but had a small Canon point and shoot. We walked up through the beautiful ruins and I noticed a grayish-blue bird. It flew and landed several times and a number of my photos did not turn out well, but a couple were fine. 

Blue rock-thrush

The blue rock-thrush has six subspecies. The nominate ssp. is solitarius and I saw ssp. longirostris which is found in Greece, western and southern Turkey, the Levant, Afghanistan, and the northwestern Himalayas (northern Pakistan and Kashmir). It winters in Arabia, northeastern Africa and east to northwestern India. Longistiros is smaller than the nominate, the male is duller, paler and grayer. The female, which I did not see, is paler and less crisply marked. It breeds on "precipitous cliffs, in steep rocky valleys and defiles, ravines and gorges, on crags, outcrops, ...ruins..." The describes exactly the steep, rocky mountain, filled with ruins that is ancient Delphi. 

Illustration of a female from Birds of the World. 

Illustration of a male (nominate) from Birds of the World. 

Range from Birds of the World.