Cappadocia: Bird Paradise

Beyond Mount Erciyes the countryside around the Kayseri-Nigde road becomes flat, dull steppe which you might well assume was as barren of bird or plant life as the fairy chimneys of Cappadocia. Consequently, the oasis of the Sultansazlıgı bird sanctuary is easy to miss in the small back lanes which wind around the tiny lakes in the region, but it's worth the effort of hunting out. The complex of wetlands at the bottom of a closed basin comprises two main lakes Yay Gölü and the smaller Çöl Gölü - and about two thousand hectares of surrounding marshes, covered in reed and cane. The lakes are saline, while the marshland is entirely fresh water, and this particular combination of lakes, marshland, mud flats and steppe makes for an enormous variety of ecosystems. This, allied with the fact that the area is positioned right at the crossroads of two large bird migration routes, make Sultansazlıgı an extremely important wetland for breeding migrant and wintering birds. Although no really detailed ornithological research bas so far been carried out, at least 301 species have been recorded, 69 of which breed in the area. Most excitingly for the lay bird-watcher, visiting species include flamingos (particularly in the Yay Gölü region), pelicans, storks, golden eagles from the surrounding steppes, herons, spoonbills and cranes. Theres a watchtower in Ovaçiftlik, which can provide very good viewing as long as the water isn't too low (as it may well be in the height of summer), and a little thatched museum exhibiting examples of the many feathered species found in the region. There are also various good bird-watching opportunities to the northeast of Ovaçiftlik, near the small village of Soysalli.
The Birds of Sultansazlıgı
MAMMALS
Porcupine Miller's watershrew Etruscan shrew Shrew Bat Wolf Fox Veasel Marbled polecat Wild Boar	Brown Hare Lesser Molerat Woodmaouse Rat Gray Hamster Golden Hamster Desert Rat Water Vole Common Vole
BIRDS:
Little Grebe Great Grested Grebe Red Necked Grebe Black Necked Grebe Comorant Pygmy comorant White Pelican Dalmatian Pelican Bittern Night Horen Squacco Heron Cattle Egret Little Egret Great While Egret Gray Heron Purple Heron Black Stork White Stork Glossy This Spoonbill Great Flamingo Mute Swan Pink froot goose White froot goose Greylag goose Ruddy Sheiduck Sheiduck Wiegon Gadwall Teal Mallard Pintail Chuckar Patridge Quail Water Rail Zpotted Crake Little Crake Cornerake Moorhen Purple Gallinule Coot Crane Little Bustard Great Bustard Oystercatcher Black winged still Avocet Stone Curlew Collared Pratincole Little ringed plover Ringed Plover Kentlis Plover Great Sandplover Dottorel Golden plover Silver Plover Spur winged Plover Sociable Plover Labwing Sanderling Little Stint Temmick's Stint Scops Owl Eagle Owl Little Owl Tawny Owl Long Eared Owl Short Eared Owl Nightjar Swift Alpine Swift Kingfisher Bee Eater Roller Hoope Weryneck Syrian Woodpecker Calaranda Lark Bimacullated Lark Field Lark Lesser Short Toed Lark Woodiark Grested Lark Skylark Shorelark Sand Martin Swallow House Martin Crag martin Tawny Pipit Meadow Pipit Meadow Pipit Red Thorated Pipit Water and Rock Pipit Blueheaded &Yellow Wagtails Citrine Wagtail White and Pied Wagtail Wren Hedgesparrow or Dunnock Spotted Flycatcher Collared Flycatcher Pied Flycatcher Bearded Long Tailed Blue Tit Great Tit Rock Nuthatch Penduline Tit Golden Oriole Backed Shrike Lesser Grey Shrike Masked Shrike Woodchat Shrike Magpie Jackdaw Rook Hooded Crow	Garganey Shoveler Marbled Duck Red Crested Pechard Pochard Ferruginous Duck Smew Honey Buzzard Black Kite Egyption Vulture Griffon Vulture Short Toed Eagle Marsh Harrier Hen Harrier Pallaid Harrier Montagu's Harrier Goshewk Sparrowhank Buzzard Long legged Buzzard Lesser Spotted Eagle Steppe Eagle Imperial Eagle Golden Eagle Booted Eagle Osprey Lesser Kenstrel Kestrel Red Footed Falcon Merlin Hobby Lanner Falcon Seker Falcon Curlew Sandpiper Dunlin Ruff Snipe Blact tailed godwit Whimbrel Curlew Spotted Redshank Redshank Greenhank Green Sandpiper Wood Sandpiper Common Sandpiper Red Necked Phalorope Mediterranean Gull Little Gull Black handed Gull Slander Billed Gull Common Gull Lesser Black black Herring Gull Gull billed Tern Sandwich Tern Common Tern Little Tern Whiskered Tern Black Bellied Sandgrou Rock Dove Collored Dove Turtle Dove Great Spotted Cuckoo Cuckoo Rofous Buchchat Robin Thrus Nightingale Nightingale Blue Throat White Throated Robin Black Redstart Redstart Whinchat Stonechat Wheatear Black Eared Wheatear Isabelina Wheatear Finsch's Wheatear Rock Thrush Blackbird Fieldfare Mistle Thrush Cettis Warbler River Warbler Sawi's Warbler Moustached Warbler Sedge Warbler Marsh Warbler Reed Warbler Great reed Warbler Olive Tree Warbler Olivacous Warbler Lesser White Throad Garden Warbler Blackcap Bonelli's Warbler Wood Warbler Chiffchaft Waillow Warbler Goldcrest Starling Rose Coloured Starling Rock Sparrow House Sparrow Spanish Sparrow Chaffinch Brambling Serin Greenfinch Goldfinch Siskin Linnet Twite Crimson Winged finch Common Rosefinch Yellowhammer Cinerecaus Bunting Black Headed Bunting Corn Bunting
OTHER ANIMALS:
Reptiles	Tails Amphibians
Swamp Turtle Grecian Tortoise Agemes Starred Lizard Cappadocian Lizard Osphisaps Elegans Caspian Arrowsnake Grass snake Natrix Tesellata	Green Toad Tree Toad Fishes Carps Cobies Sailton Pupfish Hymenoptera Libellae

The Birds of Sultansazlıgı