We spent two nights near Mersin, at a sort-off hydrodam. There is an overgrown, out-of-use, nest which is now abandoned, where we were supposed to see it. Since it was no longer in use, we searched the surroundings and waited for two nights for the owls to become active. Supposedly, according to the guide, the owls were breeding somewhere in the canyon. Apart from one very vague sighting for 10 seconds, we didn't see anything.
After this, we flew from Adana to Antalya to try the site near Side, but we spent two nights here from 2030-0330 and didn't see anything. Some friends of mine were quite succesfull here in end of April, so mid/late May seems also a very bad time for the Owls. Especially since our guide said he went there 10 times and saw the owl on all occassions; he almost guaranteed it. However, now we were the anomaly and missed it both times (0/4, 0/2 at Side). Our guide told us to come back in late June, when the chicks are there. He would also give us a very special price, so at least we got that.
There is much vagueness surrounding the information about the owls. Both guides said different things about how they behave, where they will sit and go, what they will eat etc. I think much is just still quite unknown...
The classic place, Green Canyon, where they would organise boat tours is not available this year. One thing was mentioned was that the water level dropped and the other thing is that due to covid, the boat tours stopped and now the owls have resorted back into a 'human-fearing' routine and are no longer easily found (not active during daytime anymore). They expect that with covid now on hold, the touristic boat tours will resume and the owls will become used to human presence again. We'll have to wait and see.
Edit: Ah, I see Jan is staking out at the place we visited twice as well last week, with the abandoned nest just across in the mountainside. Good luck, Jan, hopefully you are successful there!