Aras Station Fall 2009 Volunteers

1-Ümit Durdu (Hacettepe University)
2-Güler Bozok (Hacettepe University)
3-Yiğit Ozan Çolak (Hacettepe University)
4-Abdurrahman Sefalı (Yüzüncü Yıl University)
5-Libor Praus (Czech Republic)
6-Jindrich Sedlacek (Czech Republic)
7-Yelda Yağcı (İstanbul University)
8-Sezgi Yalçınsü (İstanbul University)
9-Merve Aksu (İstanbul University)
10-Nadin Ebeoğlu (Bosphorus University)
11-D. Eylül Dizdaroğlu (Hacettepe University)
12-Ayşe Bengisu Gelmez (Hacettepe University)
13-Jerry Lewis (England)
14-Ron Clevely (England)
15-Peren Tuzkaya (Ankara University)
16-Feyzan Tuzkaya (METU)
17-Emine Köpük (Nahxivan)
18-Rene Vos (Netherlands)
19-Kerem Soyöz (İstanbul)
20-Kirsty Jane Lees İskoçy(Scotland)
21-Dirk Maes (Belgium)
22-Mizgin Sülün (Kafkas University)
23-Dave Hazard (İngiltere)
24-Robert Shaw (İngiltere)
25-Muhammed Ali Sönmez (Kafkas University)

Aras Bird Ringing Station End Season

Two of Turkey’s three bird-ringing stations, namely Kuyucuk and Aras Bird-Ringing Stations, have just ended their fall 2009 studies. Total number of the birds ringed in both stations through the fieldworks conducted by KuzeyDoğa Society, Kars Directorate of Environment and Forestry, Iğdır Directorate Environment and Forestry and Kafkas University, reached collectively to 5439.

Aras Bird Research and Education Center is located by the Lake of Aras in the village of Yukarı Çıyrıklı, district of Tuzluca, province of Iğdır. The bird-ringing activities at Aras Bird Research and Education Center were initiated in fall 2006, which were organized this year starting on 10 August 2009 and ending on 31 October 2009. On 83 days of bird-ringing studies, 2868 individuals from 74 different species of birds were ringed. Throughout the ringing period, 14 students from Hacettepe, METU, Bosphorus, Istanbul, Yüzüncü Yıl, Ankara and Kafkas Universities volunteered and 9 expert ringers from Czech Republic, England, the Netherlands, Belgium and Scotland boosted the studies. This year, for the first time a turtle dove (Streptopalia turtur) was ringed contrary to the previous years.

31 October 2009

Today is the last day of fall season at Aras Bird Research & Education Center. Sedat, Yakup, Ümit, Emrah, Kerem and Seda closed the station today. We ringed 13 birds out of 4 species.

Today's birds are:

Chiffchaff
Robin
Reed bunting
Magpie

30 October 2009

Today we ringed 25 birds out of 6 species.

Today's birds are:

Chiffchaff
Caucasian chiffchaff
Bluethroat
Moustached warbler
Reed bunting
Magpie

29 October 2009

Today we ringed 19 birds out of 3 species.

Today's birds are:

Chiffchaff
White wagtail
Blackbird

28 October 2009

Today we ringed 31 birds of 7 species.

Today's birds are:

Chiffchaff
Caucasian chiffchaff
Bluethroat
Moustached warbler
Robin
Reed bunting
Wren

27 October 2009

Today we ringed 16 birds of 6 species.

Today's birds are:

Chiffchaff
White wagtail
Moustached warbler
Penduline tit
Robin
Wren

26 October 2009

Today we ringed 25 birds of 6 species.

Today's birds are:

Tree sparrow
Chiffchaff
Redstart
White wagtail
Siberian stonechat
Robin

25 October 2009

Today we ringed 30 birds of 10 species.

Today's birds are:

Willow warbler
Chiffchaff
Caucasian chiffchaff
Bluethroat
Redstart
Moustached warbler
Robin
Reed bunting
Chaffinch
Dunnock

24 October 2009

Today we ringed 18 birds of 6 species.

Today's birds are:

Tree sparrow
Chiffchaff
White wagtail
Moustached warbler
Robin
Yellowhammer

23 October 2009

Today we ringed 34 birds out of 9 species. Our British volunteers Dave and Robert left the station today. Sedat from Kuyucuk station came back in order to complete the season.

Today's birds are:

Tree sparrow
Chiffchaff
Bluethroat
White wagtail
Great tit
Moustached warbler
Robin
Reed bunting
Yellowhammer

22 October 2009

Today we ringed 20 birds out of 8 species.

Today's birds are:

Chiffchaff
Caucasian chiffchaff
Bluethroat
Siberian stonechat
Great tit
Reed bunting
Chaffinch
Merlin

21 October 2009

Today we ringed 30 birds out of 9 species.

Today's birds are:

Chiffchaff
Caucasian chiffchaff
Redstart
Reed warbler
Savi's warbler
Moustached warbler
Penduline tit
Robin
Syrian woodpecker

20 October 2009

Today we ringed 29 birds out of 9 species.

Today's birds are:

Tree sparrow
Chiffchaff
Caucasian chiffchaff
Bluethroat
White wagtail
Moustached warbler
Robin
Reed bunting
Chaffinch

19 October 2009

Today we ringed 22 birds out of 7 species.

Today's birds are:

Chiffchaff
Caucasian chiffchaff
Bluethroat
Stonechat
White wagtail
Siberian stonechat
Moustached warbler

18 October 2009

Today we ringed 33 birds of 8 species.

Today's birds are:

Chiffchaff
Bluethroat
Black cap
White wagtail
Moustached warbler
Robin
Chaffinch
Yellowhammer

17 October 2009

Today we ringed 26 birds out of 10 species.

Today's birds are:

Corn Bunting
Tree sparrow
Chiffchaff
Bluethroat
Redstart
Reed warbler
Great tit
Moustached warbler
Robin
Reed bunting

16 October 2009

Today we ringed 39 birds out of 10 species.

Today's birds are:

Chiffchaff
Caucasian chiffchaff
Bluethroat
Redstart
Cetti's warbler
Sedge warbler
Savi's warbler
Moustached warbler
Robin
Yellowhammer

15 October 2009

Today we ringed 61 birds of 10 species. We had chiffchaff and white wagtail shower at the station.

Today's birds are:

Tree sparrow
Willow warbler
Chiffchaff
Caucasian chiffchaff
Bluethroat
Redstart
White wagtail
Siberian stonechat
Moustached warbler
Robin

14 October 2009

Today we ringed 17 birds out of 7 species.

Today's birds are:

Chiffchaff
Caucasian chiffchaff
Bluethroat
Redstart
White wagtail
Penduline tit
Robin

13 October 2009

Today we ringed 34 birds out of 10 species. Our new volunteer Muhammed Ali from Kafkas University Faculty of Veterinary arrived at the station.

Today's birds are:

Willow warbler
Chiffchaff
Caucasian chiffchaff
Bluethroat
Redstart
Reed warbler
Cetti's warbler
White wagtail
Great tit
Reed bunting

12 October 2009

Today we ringed 42 birds out of 9 species.

Today's birds are:

Red-backed shrike
Starling
Tree sparrow
Chiffchaff
Caucasian chiffchaff
Bluethroat
Cetti's warbler
White wagtail
Moustached warbler

11 October 2009

Today we ringed 71 birds out of species. Our volunteer Mizgin left the station today

Today's birds are:

Tree sparrow
Willow warbler
Chiffchaff
Caucasian chiffchaff
Swallow
Bluethroat
Redstart
Yellow wagtail
Black cap
White wagtail
Great tit
Moustached warbler
Penduline tit
Reed bunting
Chaffinch
Water pipit

10 October 2009

Today we ringed 52 birds out of 11 species. Our new ringers Dave and Robert from UK arrived at the station whereas Kirsty left for Kuyucuk Station.

Today's birds are:

Chiffchaff
Swallow
Bluethroat
Redstart
Reed warbler
White wagtail
Savi's warbler
Moustached warbler
Robin
Reed bunting
Chaffinch

9 October 2009

Today we ringed 33 birds out of 10 species.

Today's birds are:

Chiffchaff
Bluethroat
Redstart
Reed warbler
Black cap
White wagtail
Moustached warbler
Penduline tit
Reed bunting
Chaffinch

8 October 2009

Today we ringed 26 birds of 12 species. Our Belgian volunteer Dirk left the station today.

Today's birds are:

Tree sparrow
Chiffchaff
Caucasian chiffchaff
Bluethroat
Redstart
Stonechat
Cetti's warbler
Garden warbler
Savi's warbler
Moustached warbler
Penduline tit
Reed bunting

7 October 2009

Today was a very poor day and we could only ring 12 birds out of 7 species.

Today's birds are:

Willow warbler
Chiffchaff
Caucasian chiffchaff
Bluethroat
Great tit
Moustached warbler
Penduline tit

6 October 2009

Today we ringed 42 birds of 10 species. Nergis Yazgan, Ayşen Erdil and İlker Burgaç from WWF Turkey made a visit to our station.

Today's birds are:

Tree sparrow
Chiffchaff
Caucasian chiffchaff
Bluethroat
Redstart
White wagtail
Siberian stonechat
Great tit
Penduline tit
Robin

5 October 2009

KuzeyDoga had its most hectic week ever. Somehow, everything came together in one sleepless week. We simultaneously hosted two documentary crews, organized and celebrated the II. Kars-Igdir Nature Festival that spanned three provinces, hosted Alim “Flying Man” Yildirim who took aerial photos of our focal wetlands with nine paramotor flights, collected vegetation samples for our wetland restoration experiment with Dr. Sean Anderson, and ran two bird banding stations, while coordinating the coming and going of dozens of volunteers and festival guests. All with a staff of five!

Fortunately everything went well. Nobody got left at the base of Mt. Ararat during our field trip and The Flying Man completed all his flights flawlessly, while obtaining priceless photos and HD footage of the wetlands we are trying to protect. We thank him, our volunteers, the dedicated documentary crews, and our guests. Special thanks go to our festival supporters: Eren Dairy of Fuat Uluman for bringing the Flying Man to Kars, United Nations Eastern Turkey Tourism Project for the festival t-shirts and hats, Igdir and Kars governors, Kafkas University, Kars Municipality, Arpacay and Akyaka district governors, Igdir and Kars Departments of Environment and Forestry, Kuyucuk and Yukari Ciyrikli villages. We collected critical data, obtained unequaled aerial images, saw great birds, and also managed to party a little to the tunes of some talented musicians.

Today we ringed 35 birds out of 10 species.

Today's birds are:

Chiffchaff
Caucasian chiffchaff
Swallow
Bluethroat
Reed warbler
Cetti's warbler
Garden warbler
Siberian stonechat
Moustached warbler
Penduline tit

4 October 2009

Today we ringed 42 birds out of 9 species. Kars-Iğdır Nature festival participants visited Aras Bird Research & Education Center and have seen how birds ringed. They also bird watch around the station about an hour. Our volunteer Mizgin Sülün from Kafkas University Department of Biology at the station today.

Today's birds are:

Chiffchaff
Caucasian chiffchaff
Swallow
Bluethroat
Redstart
Cetti's warbler
White wagtail
Siberian stonechat
River warbler

3 October 2009

Today we ringed 36 birds out of 11 species.

Today's birds are:

Chiffchaff
Caucasian chiffchaff
Bluethroat
Redstart
Marsh warbler
Yellow wagtail
Black cap
White wagtail
Siberian stonechat
Robin
Whinchat

2 October 2009

Today we ringed 20 birds out of 11 species.

Today's bird are:

Tree sparrow
Willow warbler
Chiffchaff
Swallow
Bluethroat
Redstart
Yellow wagtail
Reed warbler
Garden warbler
White wagtail
Robin

1 October 2009

Today we ringed 18 birds out of 7 species. Our Belgian volunteer Dirk Maes arried at the station today.

Today's birds are:

Hobby
Chiffchaff
Bluethroat
Redstart
Black cap
Cetti's warbler
Penduline tit

30 September 2009

Today we ringed 25 birds out of 11 species. Our Scottish ringer Kirsty Jane Lees arrived at the station today. For a couple of days she will be ringing at Aras station.

Today's birds are:

Tree sparrow
Chiffchaff
Caucasian chiffchaff
Swallow
Bluethroat
Redstart
Spotted flycatcher
Garden warbler
Whitethroat
White wagtail
Penduline tit

29 September 2009

Today we ringed 9 birds out of 6 species. Our volunteer Özgü left the station today after 29 days ofvolunteering.

Today's birds are:

Tree sparrow
Swallow
Bluethroat
Redstart
Garden warbler
White wagtail

28 September 2009

Today was again a very poor day and we could only ring 8 birds out 7 species. Our volunteer Peren left the station today after 14 days of volunteering at Aras station.

Today's bird's are:

Chiffchaff
Caucasian chiffchaff
Swallow
Bluethroat
Marsh warbler
Yellow wagtail
Siberian stonechat

27 September 2009

Today we ringed 19 birds out of 11 species.

Today's bird are:

Willow warbler
Chiffchaff
Caucasian chiffchaff
Swallow
Bluethroat
Redstart
Marsh warbler
Black cap
Cetti's warbler
Siberian stonechat
Great tit

26 September 2009

Today we ringed 29 birds our of 12 species.

Today's birds are:

Willow warbler
Chiffchaff
Red-breasted flycatcher
Bluethroat
Redstart
Yellow wagtail
Black cap
Garden warbler
Siberian stonechat
Great tit
Savi's warbler
Moustached warbler

25 September 2009

Today we ringed 32 birds out of 14 species.

Today's birds are:

Bee-eater
Red-backed shrike
Levant's sparrowhawk
Willow warbler
Chiffchaff
Bluethroat
Redstart
Black cap
Garden warbler
Whitethroat
Siberian stonechat
Great tit
Savi's warbler
Moustached warbler

24 September 2009

Today we ringed 12 birds out of 5 species. Our British ringers Ron and Jerry left and our Dutch volunteer Rene Vos came today.

Today's birds are:

Spotted crake
Willow warbler
Bluethroat
Redstart
Yellow wagtail

23 September 2009

Today was a very poor day and we could only ring 6 birds out of 3 species.

Today's birds are:

Redstart
Yellow wagtail
Whitethroat

22 September 2009

Today we ringed 17 birds out of 20 species.

Today's birds are:

Bee-eater
Red-backed shrike
Starling
Willow warbler
Swallow
Bluethroat
Redstart
Yellow wagtail
Garden warbler
Sedge warbler

21 September 2009

Today we ringed 79 birds out of 18 species. Our volunteer Feyzan left the station today.

Today's bird are:

Bee-eater
Roller
Willow warbler
Caucasian chifchaff
Swallow
Bluethroat
Redstart
Sand Martin
Marsh warbler
Yellow wagtail
Reed warbler
Lesser whitethroat
Spotted flycatcher
Stonechat
Black cap
Cetti's warbler
Garden warbler
Whitethroat

20 September 2009

Today there was swallow and sand martin shower at the station and we ringed 221 birds out of 14 species.

Today's bird are:

Red-backed shrike
Swallow
Bluethroat
Redstart
Sand Martin
Marsh warbler
Yellow wagtail
Reed warbler
Lesser whitethroat
Spotted flycatcher
Stonechat
Black cap
Cetti's warbler
Garden warbler

19 September 2009

Today we ringed 42 birds out of 18 species.

Today's birds are:

Red-backed shrike
Quail
Common rosefinch
Willow warler
Wood warbler
Swallow
Bluethroat
Redstart
Sand Martin
Marsh warbler
Yellow wagtail
Reed warbler
Lesser whitethroat
Spotted flycatcher
Stonechat
Black cap
Garden warbler
Whitethroat

18 September 2009

Today we ringed 9 birds out of 9 species. Our volunteer Emine Köpük left the station today.

Today's birds are:

Bee-eater
Red-backed shrike
Willow warler
Swallow
Redstart
Sand Martin
Garden warbler
White wagtail
Savi's warbler

17 September 2009

Today we ringed 39 birds out of 14 species.

Today's birds are:

Bee-eater
Red-backed shrike
Thrush nightingale
House sparrow
Swallow
Bluethroat
Redstart
Sand Martin
Marsh warbler
Yellow wagtail
Black cap
Cetti's warbler
Garden warbler
Wren

16 September 2009

Today we ringed 77 birds out of 9 species.

Today's birds are:

Red-backed shrike
Quail
Red-breasted flycatcher
Swallow
Bluethroat
Sand Martin
Marsh warbler
Siberian stonechat
Whinchat

15 September 2009

Today we ringed 17 birds out of 12 species. Our volunteer Emine Köpük arrived at the station today. She is coming from Naxcivan and recently started to get interest in birds.

Today's birds are:

Red-backed shrike
Tree sparrow
Willow warler
Chiffchaff
Bluethroat
Redstart
Sand Martin
Yellow wagtail
Reed warbler
Spotted flycatcher
Cetti's warbler
Garden warbler

14 September 2009

Today we ringed 19 birds out of 11 species. Peren and Feyzan sisters arrived today to volunteer for our station. Peren is studying in Ankara University whereas Feyzan is studying in Middle East Technical University.Eylül and Bengisu left Aras today after 15 nice days of ringing.

Today's birds are:

Red-backed shrike
Kingfisher
Thrush nightingale
Willow warler
Swallow
Bluethroat
Redstart
Sand Martin
Marsh warbler
Yellow wagtail
Garden warbler

13 September 2009

Today we ringed 36 birds out of 18 species.

Today's birds are:

Great Reed Warbler
Bee-eater
Red-backed shrike
Corn Bunting
Wryneck
Willow warler
Swallow
Bluethroat
Redstart
Sand Martin
Marsh warbler
Yellow wagtail
Reed warbler
Spotted flycatcher
Garden warbler
Whitethroat
Sedge warbler
Savi's warbler

12 September 2009

Today we ringed 21 birds out of 8 species. Jerry Lewis and Ron Clevely from UK joined us today. They are both ringing experts.


Today's birds are:

Red-backed shrike
Swallow
Marsh warbler
Yellow wagtail
Reed warbler
Cetti's warbler
Garden warbler
Whitethroat