Swallows arrived (8 April 2009)

It was warm and clear before the noon. It got cloudy and rainy in the afternoon. Today we ringed the first swallows of this season. It seems that swallow shower will start in a few days. We ringed 22 birds out of 7 species.

Today's birds are:

Chifchaff
Bluethroat
Song thrush
Savi's warbler
Kingfisher
Swallow
Moustached warbler

Savi's warbler (7 April 2009)

Today it was rainy and cloudy around 10 degrees so that we did not have many birds at the station, but we caught the first savi's warbler of the season. We ringed 12 birds out of 6 species.

Today's birds are:

Chiffchaff
Bluethroat
Robin
Goldfinch
Redstart
Savi's warbler

Wild boar (6 April 2009)

It was a warm day around 17 degrees and there was no wind. We saw a very big wild boar when we are doing the last check. We had the second penduline tit of the season today. We ringed 20 birds out of 4 species.

Today's birds are:

Chiffchaff
Bluethroat
Song thrush
Penduline tit

Good migration (5 April 2009)

However we did not ring many birds today, there was a very good migration during the day. It was clear and around 13 degrees. We observed 83 common buzzards, 8 black kites, 1 steppe eagle, 1 lesser spotted eagle and 3 egyptian vultures migrating over our station. We ringed 11 birds out of 5 species today. We trapped the first wryneck of the season today.

Today's birds are:

Chiffchaff
Bluethroat
Cetti's warbler
Water rail
Wryneck

Two new species & two new volunteers (4 April 2009)

Today it was a clear and warm day around 15 degrees. We not only had two new species but also had two new volunteers Muhammed Kekeş from Kars and Hakkı Serhat Cacekli from Istanbul. We trapped the first kingfisher of the season. The other new species was Cetti's warbler. We ringed 23 birds out of 9 species.

Today's birds are:

Chiffchaff

Bluethroat

Reed Bunting

Bearded Reedling

Great tit

Dunnock

Siberian stonechat

Cetti's warbler

Kingfisher

Best day ever since we started (3 April 2009)

However it was cloudy today, it was quite warm. It was the best day ever since we started ringing including one march harries and one sparrowhawk. Wind started in the afternoon and got cold from 11 to 6 degrees. We observed 1 steppe eagle, 33 common buzzard, 1 black kite, 1 black vulture, 1 griffon vulture, 1 egyptian vulture, 1 pallid harrier, 1 black-winged stilt. We ringed 39 birds out of 8 species.

Today's birds are:

Chiffchaff

Robin

Bluethroat

Marsh harrier

Sparrowhawk

Bearded Reedling

Water pipit

Willow warbler

Warming up (2 April 2009)

Today it was a very warm day and it was around 17 degrees. We observed a huge volume of migration of mainly raptors in the Aras valley. We observed 40 black kites, 1 golden eagle, 25 sparrowhawks, 1 Pallid harrier and 6 alpine swifts. We ringed 19 birds out of 6 species. Jukka got used to the station today and had an orientation by Sedat.

Today's birds are:

Chiffchaff
Robin
Bluethroat
Yellowhammer
Corn bunting
Beared Reedling

Jukka joined us today (1 April 2009)

We have been fooled by three wild boars hanging around nets all day since today is April Fools Day. Our Finnish volunteer Jukka Hintikka joined us in the afternoon. It was quite warm, clerar and there was no wind. It was around 17 degrees all day.

Since March 15, 2009 until April we have ringed 230 birds out of 33 species.
and today we ringed 13 birds out of 6 species.

Today's birds are:

Chiffchaff
Bluethroat
Robin
Water pipit
Bearded reedling
Redstart

Last day of March (31 March 2009)

However the weather was clear and warm, we did not have many birds today. We observed a black vulture flying over our station. Our volunteer Cumali left the station. Sedat and Sezer are running the station from now on. We ringed 8 birds out of 4 species today.

Today's birds are:

Chiffchaff
Bluethroat
Song thrush
Moorhen

Two new species trapped (30 March 2009)

Today it was cloudy and rainy so that it was not a very good day of ringing. But we had two new species of this season. One is sparrowhawk and the other is redstart. Today our new volunteer Sezer Akkurt from Kafkas University Veterinary Faculty joined us. We ringed 9 birds out of 5 species today.

Today's birds are:

Chiffchaff

Bluethroat

Robin

Yellowhammer

Redstart

Sparrowhawk

First penduline tit of the season (29 March 2009)

Today is a very important day for Turkey because we are electing our local municipal leaders throughout Turkey. It was cloudy and rainy all day and we could have only 18 birds out of 10 species. We also observed two lammergaigers migrating over our station. There were only Sedat and Cumali at the station today and Emrah left in the noon for Kars.

Today's birds are:

Chiffchaff
Robin
Bluethroat
Yellowhammer
Stonechat
Siberian Stonechat (S. maura)
Song thrush
Dunnock
Sedge warbler
Penduline tit

News species are arriving (28 March 2009)

However it was a rainy and cloudy day around 10 degrees all day, spring shows herself day by day and the variety of species has been changing. We had 5 new species ringed today. Emrah came today in order to provide the logistics of the station. We also observed some migration including 65 black kites and 5 hen harriers. We einged 20 birds out of 7 species.

Today's birds are:

Chiffchaff
Bluethroat
Water rail
Water pipit
Meadow pipit
Pied flycatcher
Sedge Warbler

A very poor day (27 March 2009)

Today it was cold around 8 degrees and a little windy. We switched volunteers again. Hayri and Ali left today and another guy from Kafkas University called Cumali Ketteş came to assist our ringer Sedat. We could only ring 11 birds out of 6 species. Goldfinch is a new species that we ring first in this season.

Today's birds are:

Chiffchaff
Robin
Bluethroat
Stonechat
Siberian Stonechat (S. maura)
Goldfinch

Very new species today (26 March 2009)

Today the weather is a little cloudy and windy, but the number of birds we trap is increasing day by day. Today is a rich day for new species and we ringed 23 birds out of 8 species. It was also a rich day of observations. We observed 5 griffon vultures, 2 egyptian vultures, 1 golden eagle, 1 black stork, 1 redshank, 1 alpine swift.

Today's birds are:

Chiffchaff

Robin

Bluethroat

Stonechat

Yellowhammer

Grey wagtail

Tree sparrow

Moorhen

We had a magpie today (25 March 2009)

It was around 10 degrees all day and we can not consider it as a warm day for Aras station. But we had new birds like wren and magpie today. We ringed 17 birds out of 9 species. It is getting better and better day by day. We are expecting more birds when it gets warmer at Aras station.

Today's birds are:

Chiffchaff
Robin
Bluethroat
Reed bunting
Stonechat
Yellowhammer
Dunnock
Wren
Magpie

Nothing New (24 March 2009)

Today it was a little rainy and cloudy. It was about 7 degrees. We ringed 12 birds out of 6 species for all day.

Today's birds are:

Chifchaff
Stonechat
Blackbird
Yellowhammer
Song thrush
Chaffinch

New day with new volunteers (23 March 2009)

Today was a rainy day and we started to check the nets with our new volunteers Ali and Hayri. Bird photographers also left today. Since it was rainy, it was again a poor day and we could only ring 12 birds out of 6 species. In the afternoon we observed 11 buzzards migrating over our station.

Today's birds are:

Chifchaff
Robin
Bluethroat
Yellowhammer
Chaffinch
Dunnock

Station closed (22 March 2009)

Today it was again windy and our station switched volunteers. Mustafa, Ulvi and Mehmet had to leave the station because they will have exams at school in a few days. Instead of them two other volunteers came from Kafkas University Biology Department whose names are Hayri and Ali. We could only ring 3 birds out of 2 species because Sedat, who is our ringer, had to leave for an exam and we closed the station all day. Volunteers waited, checked and released all trapped birds. It was windy, but sunny. Bird photographers were also with us all day. We also observed 3 griffon vultures soaring over our station.

Today's birds are:

Chiffchaff

Reed bunting

Today is Nevruz (21 March 2009)

Today is the day what is called as Nevruz or Newroz in middle eastern cultures which gifts the coming of spring. However it was sunny all day, it was quite windy. Two bird photographers from TRAKUS (http://www.trakus.org/) joined us and took pictures of birds, our station, our volunteers and the habitat what we are in.

It was again a poor day and we could only ring 11 birds out of 3 species.

Today's birds are:

Chiffchaff
Robin
Bluethroat

Another very poor day (20 March 2009)

It was a cold day and it became mild in the noon. Then it became rainy in the afternooon. We ringed 13 birds out of 6 species:

Today's birds are:

Bluethroat
Reed warbler
Great tit
Chiffchaff
Yellowhammer
Bearded reedling