Istanbul Birding
I arrived in Istanbul this morning at 7am after a 3am flight from Hurghada in Egypt. I was a bit bleary. Lucky I got a shuttle bus to the hotel because I stuffed up my booking. I put down January instead of December. doh! It is not the first time I have done this. I wandered around waiting to check in to the hotel, getting a new sim card for my phone and a tram/bus/train card. I had a delicious beef shawarma for dinner and breakfast.
Heuglin’s Gull (Larus heuglini) juvenile in flight
In the afternoon I went down the waterfront to see if I could find some interesting gulls. There were thousands around but not a lot of variety in species.
Heuglin’s Gull (Larus heuglini) juvenile
Juvenile gulls are a nightmare to identify.
Yellow-legged Gull (Larus michahellis) – adult in flight
Yellow-legged Gulls have a red ring around the eye and a red patch on the bottom bill.
Yellow-legged Gull (Larus michahellis) adult
Black-headed Gull (Chroicocephalus ridibundus)
Hooded Crow (Corvus cornix)
This Hooded Crow may be race sharpii or pallescens. I need to do further research on this. I just found out there were races.
Istanbul Bird List
Common Coot
House Sparrow
Feral Pigeon aka Rock Dove
White Wagtail
Black-headed Gull (Chroicocephalus ridibundus)
Yellow-legged Gull (Larus michahellis)
Heuglin’s Gull (Larus heuglini)
Great Cormorant
Hooded Crow (Corvus cornix)
Eurasian Magpie (Pica pica) aka Black-billed Magpie (seen but not photographed)