| Leading Tours since 1987
Birdwatching Breaks’ are the UK bird tour company with the most experience of running birding holidays in Armenia. Our latest trip again proved very successful with a total of 212 species recorded during the course of the tour. Highlights of the tour included amazing views of Radde’s Accentor, White-throated Robin, Levant Sparrowhawk, White-tailed Lapwing, Red-tailed Wheatear, Crimson-winged Finch, Snowfinch, Red-fronted Serin, Blue-cheeked Bee-eater and much more besides. Vasil Ananian is probably the premier authority on Armenian birds and is an excellent guide. The driving and superb lunches in the field supplied by Arthur, Gevor, Ashok and Zhanna were much appreciated. All in all this is a wonderful tour with excellent birds amongst spectacular scenery with great people. May 18th – London - Yerevan BA flight to Yerevan from Heathrow. All luggage except for Chris’s arrived safely and Zhanna and Artur met us at Yerevan airport for the transfer to Erebuni Hotel. May 19th - Armash Fishponds After a tiring flight and early hours arrival in Yerevan we decided on a leisurely 1000 start down the Araks River Valley towards the Fishponds at Armash. Large numbers of swifts were over Yerevan and Greenfinch was singing around the hotel. En route to Armash we saw our first Black-headed Buntings and White Storks. Birding at Armash in the shadow of Mount Ararat was simply superb. Large numbers of White-winged Terns and thousands of Sand Martins perpetually kept the sky in motion. Herons featured prominently with Little Bittern, Purple Heron, Squacco Heron, Great White Egret and Little Egret all performing well. The lakes were host to large groups of ducks with the globally threatened White-headed, Ferruginous and Marbled Ducks mingling with Red-crested Pochard, Tufted Duck and Garganey. Pygmy Cormorants moved to and fro, whilst Great Reed, Caspian Reed, Paddyfield, Sedge, Cetti’s and Savi’s Warblers sang from the reeds. Bearded Reedlings were very common. Eastern Olivaceous and Menetries Warblers performed well in the scrubby areas. As luck would have it one of the fishing lakes had been drained and this proved to be a huge attraction to unexpected numbers of passage waders. Amongst the large flocks of Little Stints and Ruff we found a number of more interesting or unusual species. During the afternoon we recorded Armenia’s 8th record of Grey Plover (2 birds), Terek Sandpiper, Red-necked Phalarope, Sanderling and several Spotted Redshank. A fly-over Caspian Tern was the 4th record for Armenia whilst a 1st summer Mediterranean Gull amongst flocks of Black-headed and Slender-billed Gulls was only the second record for the country! Reluctant to tear ourselves away from this wonderful birding we returned to Yerevan for 1930. May 20th – Azat, Garni Departing at 0900 we made a series of stops en route to Garni. Wood Larks, Tawny Pipit, Isabelline and Finsch’s Wheatears, Bimaculated and Crested Larks frequented the grassy hillsides as we descended into an area of degraded low hills with scattered scrub. Lesser Grey Shrike and Common Rosefinches performed in roadside scrub. The area at Azat provided us with views of Rufous-tailed Scrub-robin, Eastern Rock and Western Rock Nuthatches, Upcher’s Warblers and Chukar. We entered Garni Gorge stopping for lunch by the river before exploring further. We enjoyed views of Golden Orioles, Crag Martins, Alpine Swifts, Red-billed Choughs and Lammergeier during the afternoon before heading back to Yerevan. May
21st – Yerevan – Hrazdan – Meghradzor (Arkhashan
Mountain) – Lake Sevan – Dilijan An early start at 6am took us towards the industrial town of Hrazdan. A breakfast taken in the field yielded Red-fronted Serin, Black Redstart and singing Mountain Chiffchaff and Green Warbler. After breakfast we began our ascent in a 4WD vehicles through the alpine meadows at the base of Arkhashan Mountain. Our search was for Caucasian Grouse which we found at its regular site. The birding up and down to the site at about 2800m was excellent with Horned Larks, flocks of Twite, stunning male Whinchats, Ring Ouzel and Northern Wheatears all sighted. Raptors included the tricky identification problems posed by Long-legged and the local forms of Common Buzzards. Back at our lunch stop at the base of the hill Linnets, Green Warbler and Red-fronted Serin were all noted. We then left towards Lake Sevan where a brief stop revealed the presence of 2 Demoiselle Cranes (unusually late for this species), Black-necked Grebe, Great White Egret, White-winged Terns and Whitethroat of the form icterops. Another stop at another location offered us excellent views of good numbers of Mountain Chiffchaffs, Marsh Warbler and surprisingly three fly-over Blue-cheeked Bee-eaters. We then journeyed onwards towards Dilijan, a journey that took us into steeply wooded hills and ultimately to the Composers House hotel. A brief walk in the surrounding woodlands before dinner provided excellent views of Redstarts (of the form samamisicus), Green Warbler, Middle-spotted and Green Woodpeckers, Semi-collared and Spotted Flycatchers. May 22nd – Dilijan – Yerevan – Yeregnadzor The morning was spent around Dilijan. With pleasant sunny skies the birding amongst the woodland around the hotel was again very productive. Sessions before and after breakfast produced Great-spotted, Middle-spotted and Lesser-spotted Woodpeckers, numerous Green Warblers, Hawfinch and Redstart. Semi-collared Flycatchers were initially elusive, but were eventually located and provided excellent views. Unfortunately however the expected Red-breasted Flycatchers were not present and had presumably been delayed on migration. After lunch we began the drive to Yeregnadzor. This journey occupied most of the afternoon and stops for birds produced a fine male Montagu’s Harrier, Cattle Egret, Rook, Lesser Grey Shrike, Golden Oriole and huge marauding flocks of Rose-coloured Starlings. We arrived at our accommodation with very friendly and welcoming local people in Yeregnadzor around 1900. May
23rd – Mount Gazma An early start found us on the upper reaches of Mount Gazma by 0730. A wonderful day’s birding was to follow in a quite stunning mountainous environment. Amongst the wonderful birds encountered during the day we obtained great views of Rock Thrush, Snowfinch, Twite, Crag Martin, Ortolan Bunting and Alpine Accentor. Overhead we delighted in Black Kites, Long-legged and Common Buzzards, Booted Eagle an unusually late Steppe Eagle, Hobby, Lammergeier and Griffon Vulture. Vasil saw a bear which was unfortunately missed by the rest of us and despite much searching we failed in our quest to find the elusive Caspian Snowcock. Wandering back down the mountain at the end of the afternoon we reflected on a superb day’s birding and great views of Red-fronted Serin and Rock Bunting just added more icing on an already very tasty cake! May 24th – Yeregnadzor – Goris – Kapan After the exertions of the previous day we had a more leisurely start. An excellent breakfast at 0800 was followed by a 0900 departure. Most of the day was spent travelling south to Kapan and rather cool winds and some rain showers made for fewer and shorter stops than might otherwise have been expected. Nevertheless we found excellent birds including notable numbers of raptors. A stop at a disused building produced the expected Lesser Kestrels, whilst a Shelduck on the adjacent lake was an addition to the list. Proceeding south we encountered Booted Eagle, Long-legged Buzzard, Common Buzzard and Lesser Spotted Eagle. At Goris we stopped for yet another superb picnic lunch and we able to enjoy the sound of Nightingales singing and watching Griffon and Black Vultures whilst munching on the superb food. Moving on we chalked up our first Egyptian Vultures of the trip. As the road snaked its way through wooded hills the rain got heavier and a stop for woodland species was predictably unproductive. We reached out hotel at Kapan around 1700 and checked into our comfortable rooms which had rather eccentric plumbing and even odder locks on the doors. A walk around the woods around the hotel provided us with more views of Redstart and we heard Bullfinches. May 25th – Megri We had an earlier start today with a 0630 breakfast and departure soon after. The drive to Megri took us over a high pass with spectacular views of snow-capped peaks and the hills of northern Iran. On the Iranian border this is a slightly sensitive area, but the birding is superb. A quarry near the town of Megri was home to Black-eared Wheatear, Eastern Rock Nuthatch, Blue Rock Thrush and Chukar. Of greater interest however were the Red-tailed Wheatears (of the form chrysopygia a potential split from the nominate form) present here and great opportunities to study Upchers Warblers. From the quarry we moved to another site in search of Levant Sparrowhawk. We quickly located them and enjoyed a grandstand view as the birds performed at close range and we seen sat on the nest. A Hobby and Rollers added extra interest. Lunch was taken in a gorge where a shady orchard was a pleasant location to spend some of the heat of the day. Walking up the gorge we found Short-toed Eagle, Lesser Whitethroat and Raven. A long wait produced superb close and prolonged views of Orphean Warblers but the hoped for Sombre Tits disappointed. May 26th – Kapan – Goris – Yeregnadzor Today we retraced our steps back to Yeregnadzor. Stops for birding were mainly by the roadside with raptors being a major feature of the day. Woodland locations produced Semi-collared Flycatcher, whilst grassy slopes and scattered bushes revealed the presence of rubicola Stonechats, Woodlark and Ortolan. The raptor list was impressive with the following species noted during the day; Honey Buzzard, Common Buzzard, Long-legged Buzzard, Egyptian and Griffon Vulture, Lammergeier, Booted, Golden and Lesser Spotted Eagles, Kestrel, Lesser Kestrel and Peregrine. Stops at marshy areas produced Sedge and Marsh Warbler whilst the plateau was home to Rock Thrush, Bimaculated Lark and Quail. May 27th – Mount Gazma Today we spent our unscheduled extra day in Armenia on a repeat visit to the high altitude slopes of Mount Gazma in an attempt to find Caspian Snowcock. The day was thoroughly enjoyable with many of the same species seen on our earlier visit again performing well. Stonechats of the form armenica were new to the list. Unfortunately our main quarry remained frustratingly elusive and we again had to leave the mountain without having seen this impressive inhabitant of the highest mountain peaks. May 28th – Yeregnadzor – Vedi – Yerevan Today we travelled back to Yerevan with birding stops en-route. Starting in a damp area of agricultural fields near Yeregnadzor we enjoyed Marsh Warbler, Eastern Olivaceous Warbler, Great Reed Warbler and Sedge Warbler. Our next stop was at the spectacular Noravank gorge and church. Here we found Crag Martins, Black-eared Wheatears impersonating Swallows and House Martins, Rock Bunting and Eastern and Western Rock Nuthatches. Proceeding north we stopped for displaying Greater Short-toed Lark and a colony of Rose-coloured Starlings. Lunch was taken at Vedi gorge a regular site for Trumpeter Finch and Mongolian Finch. Unfortunately these two species were absent but we were treated to superb views of the expected Grey-necked Buntings, Finsch’s Wheatears, Blue Rock Thrush and a flyover Short-toed Eagle. A heavy rainstorm brought proceedings to an end and we were back in Yerevan by 1800. May 29th – Mount Aragats The day was spent on the slopes of Mount Aragats. The day was very relaxed but the birding simply superb. Amongst the dwarf juniper scrub and abandoned livestock fields and barns we found Radde's Accentors to be common with birds feeding unconcernedly at close range. Nearby Bluethroats performed very well whilst further down the road we delighted in stunning views of several White-throated Robins and eventually Barred Warblers. Ortolan Buntings were everywhere. A Dipper whizzed up stream near out lunch stop and despite cool winds and cloudy conditions raptors included Lesser Spotted Eagle, Long-legged Buzzard, Common Buzzard and Lammergeier. May
30th – Vedi – Armash
May 31st – Yerevan - London Farewell
to our wonderful hosts and flight home to London arriving at Heathrow
around 1230. For details of the full species list or to request further information about the next time we will be offering this trip. Contact us at enquiries@birdwatchingbreaks.com. |
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