Help Me Identify These Birds from Turkey (1 Viewer)

[OregonBill]

Hello Turkish birders!

Please help me identify the following birds I observed in the Ihlara Valley of Cappadocia last week. Been looking though lists but it's hard when you don't have a bunch of photos to browse through

1. Perhaps 10-12 cm bird, small-billed, brown on top and faint pink on breast, faint black horizontal band below throat, with very obvious white rump patch in flight. Avoided me when I approached flying away 20 meters or so at a time, always keeping low to the ground.

2. Conspicuous 10-12 cm bird clinging to rocks, hanging upside down on branches, etc., blue-grey on top, lighter below, white face with bold black eye stripe, with long (1.5 cm?) slightly curved bill. Loud calls.

3. Small yellow & back bird seen often along the river, secretive, I never got a good look at it. Most obvious feature was the bold yellow & black wing patterns displayed in flight. Also some white I believe.

Also this bird seen in the hills near Antalya:
4. Bird pictured in attachment; part of small flock foraging actively in low trees at mid-day

 

[Steve Lister]

(2) is a nuthatch of some sort, mention of rocks suggests (Western) Rock Nuthatch
(3) could be Grey Wagtail
(4) is a Great Tit.

Can't think what (1) is though.

Steve

 

[Andrew Whitehouse]

(2) is a nuthatch of some sort, mention of rocks suggests (Western) Rock Nuthatch
(3) could be Grey Wagtail
(4) is a Great Tit.

Can't think what (1) is though.

Steve

Aside from the positioning of the black band 1 sounds like a Black-eared Wheatear (or possible some other Wheatear).

 

[OregonBill]

Excellent so far - you got 2 of 4 for sure

Thank you! #2 was definitely the Rock Nuthatch, that's him for sure. #4 probably was Great Tit. #3 definitely could be Grey Wagtail, but I realize my description of that one is somewhat lacking :-(

Let me clarify about #1:

The most obvious feature of this otherwise fairly plain-looking bird was the distinct white (or close to white) rump patch in flight. The bird was fairly uniform light brown above, white/buff below, with what seemed like a faint pinkish (possibly orange?) hue on the breast. Somewhat long-bodied with long-ish tail. The bird perched up fairly tall on its long legs. Seems like the general shape was similar to a wagtail.

It's getting harder to recall now but I thought I did detect some very faint lines in the throat area. It's possible those were just shadows, but it did seem like there was a very faint line separating throat from breast. Also possibly a vertical line in the center of the throat. They were so faint it's hard to be sure about that... and my memory is also getting rather faint as well

 

[Andrew Whitehouse]

Thank you! #2 was definitely the Rock Nuthatch, that's him for sure. #4 probably was Great Tit. #3 definitely could be Grey Wagtail, but I realize my description of that one is somewhat lacking :-(

Let me clarify about #1:

The most obvious feature of this otherwise fairly plain-looking bird was the distinct white (or close to white) rump patch in flight. The bird was fairly uniform light brown above, white/buff below, with what seemed like a faint pinkish (possibly orange?) hue on the breast. Somewhat long-bodied with long-ish tail. The bird perched up fairly tall on its long legs. Seems like the general shape was similar to a wagtail.

It's getting harder to recall now but I thought I did detect some very faint lines in the throat area. It's possible those were just shadows, but it did seem like there was a very faint line separating throat from breast. Also possibly a vertical line in the center of the throat. They were so faint it's hard to be sure about that... and my memory is also getting rather faint as well

This description sounds good for Isabelline Wheatear. It's hard to exclude a female Northern Wheatear though.

 

[OregonBill]

Excellent! I feel like we're 3 for 4 so far. Now I have one more for you:

A thrush, looks very similar to Song Thrush. Found in Ihlara Valley of Cappadocia. Not particularly secretive. The most striking characteristic of this thrush was the very rufous tail feathers which contrasted with the brownish-grey color of the rest of the bird. Could this be a Song Thrush? Or is it more likely a female of some other thrush?

 

[dantheman]

4) Definitely Great Tit
5) Sounds like female Black Redstart to me, although a good bit smaller than Song Thrush. Female Rock Thrush better on size of course and fits too (but not sure how secretive they are, and at that location) ...

Other potential species are female Common Redstart (if in wooded area), Rufous Bush Chat, or Nightingale, but don't fit the description so well, and certainly all tending towards being more secretive in my experience compared to Black Redstart.