Istanbul year list

I notice today that my Istanbul year list far surpasses my Inverkeithing list (and probably my British list since I bird only locally). An incoplete listing because of records not yet entered:

1	Mute Swan
2	Common Shelduck
3	Eurasian Wigeon
4	Mallard
5	Northern Shoveler
6	Garganey
7	Green-winged Teal
8	Common Quail
9	Little Grebe
10	Great Crested Grebe
11	Greater Flamingo
12	Black Stork
13	White Stork
14	Great Cormorant
15	Pygmy Cormorant
16	Great White Pelican
17	Gray Heron
18	Purple Heron
19	Great Egret
20	Little Egret
21	Squacco Heron
22	Black-crowned Night-Heron
23	Glossy Ibis
24	Eurasian Spoonbill
25	Short-toed Eagle
26	Lesser Spotted Eagle
27	Eurasian Marsh-Harrier
28	Northern Goshawk
29	Eurasian Moorhen
30	Eurasian Coot
31	Black-winged Stilt
32	Pied Avocet
33	Little Ringed Plover
34	Green Sandpiper
35	Common Greenshank
36	Wood Sandpiper
37	Common Redshank
38	Eurasian Curlew
39	Ruff
40	Dunlin
41	Little Stint
42	Black-headed Gull
43	Little Gull
44	Mediterranean Gull
45	Yellow-legged Gull
46	Lesser Black-backed Gull
47	Black Tern
48	White-winged Tern
49	Whiskered Tern
50	Common Tern
51	Sandwich Tern
52	Rock Pigeon
53	European Turtle-Dove
54	Eurasian Collared-Dove
55	Laughing Dove
56	Common Cuckoo
57	Alpine Swift
58	Common Swift
59	Common Kingfisher
60	European Bee-eater
61	European Roller
62	Eurasian Hoopoe
63	Eurasian Wryneck
64	Lesser Spotted Woodpecker
65	Syrian Woodpecker
66	Gray-headed Woodpecker
67	Lesser Kestrel
68	Eurasian Kestrel
69	Eurasian Hobby
70	Red-backed Shrike
71	Lesser Gray Shrike
72	Woodchat Shrike
73	Eurasian Golden Oriole
74	Eurasian Jay
75	Eurasian Magpie
76	Eurasian Jackdaw
77	Hooded Crow
78	Common Raven
79	Calandra Lark
80	Crested Lark
81	Sky Lark
82	Bank Swallow
83	Barn Swallow
84	Red-rumped Swallow
85	Common House-Martin
86	Great Tit
87	Eurasian Blue Tit
88	Eurasian Penduline-Tit
89	Long-tailed Tit
90	Short-toed Treecreeper
91	Eurasian Wren
92	Cetti's Warbler
93	Willow Warbler
94	Common Chiffchaff
95	Eurasian Reed-Warbler
96	Great Reed-Warbler
97	Blackcap
98	Greater Whitethroat
99	Spotted Flycatcher
100	European Robin
101	Common Nightingale
102	Semicollared Flycatcher
103	Common Redstart
104	Whinchat
105	Northern Wheatear
106	Eurasian Blackbird
107	Song Thrush
108	European Starling
109	Western Yellow Wagtail
110	Gray Wagtail
111	White Wagtail
112	Tawny Pipit
113	Tree Pipit
114	Ortolan Bunting
115	Black-headed Bunting
116	Corn Bunting
117	Common Chaffinch
118	European Goldfinch
119	Hawfinch
120	House Sparrow
121	Spanish Sparrow
122	Eurasian Tree Sparrow

Whoop, whoop!

3 Whoopers upstream then north this morning. Also three Redpolls. I almost forgot they existed. What a quiet year it's been

Diminishing returns

Three years' worth of vismig totals showing the declining returns, in line with declining hours, of vismig totals from Inverkeithing. There are various reasons for the decline in hours, but this year the easterlies meant the birds just weren't there - not even the seabird bonus you might expect from easterlies. I saw less than 10 skuas so far this year! Who knows how I will feel about it next year. Maybe a good start will invigorate my efforts. Hopefully there's still something to be seen this year before season close.

Sunday 12th October

Magical misty morning at Inverkeithing with my biggest ever morning count of Alba Wags (221) in two hours from 7:30. Sunrise was 7:38 - allegedly!

As far as I could see on arrival

Misty Magpie

Jackdaws pause to get their bearings

Flypast Curlew

One of 4 Swallows

Rooks

Rooks also pausing for thought

Some of 134 Starlings that shot past

Pied Wags

One flock of 45 Lapwings

Kestrel

Four late Gannets also emerged briefly

Mistle Thrushes!

Slow start to the morning with dribs and drabs of individual birds but then the MIstle Thrush started to come through. Largest flock was the last at 8:45 which had 54 birds in it - by itself it would have made the top 5! Also good were Starlings, which came through in groups of 5-7, and Song Thrush, of which I saw 12 fly through.