Can anyone give me information about raptors in the Dalyan area of Turkey?

Question

IMany raptors hunt in the fields and moutains, lakes and marshes here and I'd like to be able to identify them.

Answer 1

I spent two weeks in the Dalyan area with my (non-birdwatcher) girlfriend at the beginning of June 2004. The plan was to combine activities such as biking, scuba diving, visiting archaeological sites and birdwatching with extensive lazing around on the beach. I'm a self-confessed raptorphile and held great hopes for seeing a wide variety of birds of prey while in Turkey.
We booked a cheap package deal from Thomas Cook on their website - Flight, 2 weeks B&B in 3* hotel for £380 each. The hotel was called Club Alla Turca and was of very good quality for 3* - it's also located relatively close to the edge of town providing easy access by foot to a number of habitats including reeds, river, farmland and hillside pine forest/scrub.
My guide for the area was Bob Swann's Birdtours report from April 2003 - absolutely invaluable although I did not match his number of species! Additionally I consulted Giorgos Giannatos's report about Lake Isikli on www.osme.org.
I hired a bike on four occasions (Kaunos Tours have good bikes as well as Club Alla Turca) and found this a great way to cover different areas near Dalyan. We hired a jeep for 2 days (also from Kaunos Tours, £32 a day) though I was forced to rely on my girlfriend to drive as I accidentally left my licence in England - many thanks to her for "agreeing" to drive me what turned out to be a very long way!
I saw 95 species which was a good haul given my relatively limited experience and time and lack of car on most days. I also lack a telescope which frequently prevented effective identification of a number of species. I saw 25 new species to me which perhaps shows my inexperience, but I was obviously extremely pleased with this total. Given the locations visited, I was surprised at the lack of wetland species - only the heron species are well represented in the list. I saw only one wader and not a single wild duck while in Turkey!
I was fairly happy with the variety of raptors seen, however I was rather concerned that on a two day 1000km+ road trip to Pamukkale and Isikli Golu I only saw three raptors. This seems quite worrying from a conservation point of view - I expected to see many soaring raptors from the road. The biggest surprise omission was Marsh Harrier - I felt sure I'd see several over reedbeds at Dalyan and Isikli but none seemed to be present. I did however see three new raptor species (Lammergeier, White Tailed Eagle and Booted Eagle) - so I was pretty happy overall.

Answer 2

http://www.birdtours.co.uk/tripreports/turkey/turkey18/dalyan-jun-04.htm
- this site mentions the birds seen by one person in the area & if you type the name into a search engine (say Google & select images) then you should find a photo

This site might also be useful:
http://www.osme.org/

Answer 3

Good grief, how to compare to Mr. Barrowman? Make his answer the best!!