Shirvan National Park

Shirvan National Park is about 100 kms south of Baku and was set up in 2003 primarily to provide a refuge for the dwindling population of goitered gazelle against hunters and shepherds dogs.

It's one of the best winter sites for birding in Azerbaijan and as it's on a migration route it should also be worth visiting in spring and autumn.

The 50,000 hectares are mostly featureless coastal salt scrub and today it was bright and clear and cold and I had the entire park to myself all for a four euro entrance fee.

The nearest thing to a desert in Azerbaijan

This isn't the kind of place to bird on foot. Get yourself a 4WD and hit the extensive tracks.

The first few miles were endless (at this time of year) dead grassland with only the occasional tamarisk bush. Apart from a few hooded crow and magpie the first bird I saw was a lifer, a smart male black francolin flushed from the side of the track.

This time I drove out to the 40 hectare lake in the middle of the park, some 12 kms from the gate, but there are tracks out to the Caspian sea some 40 kms away.

Shirvan is renowned for 3 species of wintering bustard and pretty soon I saw the first flock of little bustard (another lifer) take to the air, their white wing flashes visible from miles away. They over winter here in massive numbers (up to 30,000, some 10% of the worlds population) but as they are so far out in the scrub the number I saw (still over a thousand) probably accounted for a mere fraction of their true presence.

Little bustard

Also in big numbers were greylag goose, which in this environment feeding out on the scrub, looked so much wilder than their English cousins.

The lake is maybe a little too far from the two storey viewing platform but there is a resident day warden there who made me a welcome pot of tea.

Up to 25 marsh harrier were quartering the lakes and four bittern (probably the most I've seen in a day) were crashing into the reeds.

About ten minutes walk from the platform is a short boardwalk out to the lake edge and this was a fantastic place to view the open water. Mute swan, dalmatian pelican, greater white-fronted goose and whooper swan were all present plus plenty of common ducks including gadwall and wigeon but best of all were a flock of seven smew (all 'redheads'). I also heard a water rail in the reed beds and a Pallas's gull landed on the lake.

This really was a fantastic spot and much as I love birding with my mates, to be miles from anyone and anywhere was awesome.

Then it was back into the jeep for a slow crawl back to the park gate. The electricity poles out to the lakeside house provide a perch for both long-legged buzzard and rough-legged buzzard, add to that kestrel, a wonderful male hen harrier and a male merlin the raptor species count for the day was a not too shabby six.

Long-legged buzzard (juvenile?)

Now I've bagged a lot of the birds I'm familiar with I'm looking forward to going back and nailing some of the more unusual birds, especially the larks.

And the gazelles? Well, I saw about 200, mostly their white bums as they disappeared into the distance. I guess they are still a little wary.

Shirvan National Park Official Site

South again

Pouring rain put me off heading out until mid-day and again I went south to the lakes around Bakim Market about 30 kms south of Baku to try out my new Swarovski scope, 400mm Canon lens and Gitzo tripod... toys for boys eh?

The idea was to get some flight shots of mediterranean gull that were hovering and posing last time I went but the wind had shifted although they were still present and happy enough to pose on the rocky shore (by which I mean concrete demolition fly tipping!).

Dalmatian pelican numbers had increased to seven and there were still plenty of pygmy cormorant and great cormorant and with the little gulls were a few black-headed gull and caspian gull.

Mediterranean gull

Then I drove further south to the petroglyph site at Qorbustan, not for ancient cave paintings but to bag a few year ticks such as western rock nuthatch. Unexpectedly I got two lifers, a small flock of twite (these are the isolated caucasian sub species brevirostris which are quite likely to be split from the nominate species at some time) and with them a single european serin.

Eurasian sparrowhawk, meadow pipit, robin and dunnock were also all additions to my fledgling Azerbaijan list.

Gobustan always suprises and as it's an isolated mountain it should be good in spring.

Western rock nuthatch

South of Baku

Finally work has eased off and I am able to start getting out and about to do some birding. I've also now got access to a 4WD so I took the chance to visit the Caspian coast some 20 kms south of the capital.

I've visited the area around Bakmi market before but was hoping for some wintering wildfowl on the two large lakes around the market area. They didn't hold the large numbers of ducks I'd hoped for but there were a few tufted duck and great crested grebe and I had close up views of several mediterranean gull hanging in the breeze. My shiny new swarovski scope came in handy for picking out large numbers of pygmy cormorant on the rocky islands and my first lifer of the day was four dalmatian pelican on the same rocky outcrops.

Parking up I took a rather muddy walk around the eastern lake and soon startled two great bittern that were out in the open. A far off eagle was probably a steppe eagle but not much else to report.

I then drove a few miles further down the coast to an area near one of the ubiquitous oil refineries. Spotting a raft of wildfowl out to sea I took a walk out to the waters edge to find quite large numbers of tufted duck, pochard and shoveler but most impressive was a flock of 28 whooper swan on the water. I also picked out two far off red-breasted merganser.

The best bird of the day was a merlin that flew over the car, oddly a common enough bird back in England but one I've not managed to see over the years. So two new lifers and 15 new birds for my Azerbaijan list, not bad for an afternoon.

Birding around Baku

I've been in Azerbaijan for two weeks now and finding somewhere permanent to live has taken precedence over birding but I have managed to get out and explore a couple of times so far.

Botanical Gardens, Baku

A somewhat scruffy botanical garden, more of an arboretum, in the west of the city. It's a quiet place behind high walls and appears to have a reasonable number of common woodland birds such as blue tit and blackbird. I've also seen two golden oriole and three cuckoo. It may be easier to bird in the winter after the leaf fall.

Qanli Gol, Baku

A medium sized lake in western Baku, unfortunately the citys unofficial rubbish tip too. Fair numbers of common late summer waders such as green sandpiper with several great crested grebe, moorhen and coot further out on the water. The reed beds gave up a little bittern both times I was there and they contain breeding reed warbler. Again likely to be more interesting in the winter when waders and ducks return. Surprisingly I've seen no herons or egrets except for purple heron in two visits.

Gorbustan National Reserve

This reserve some 40 kms. south of Baku is a protected area because of its ancient petroglyphs but the rocky hillside provides plenty of birding opportunities. I spent an afternoon hiking the hills and added 19 species to my Azerbaijan list including egyptian vulture, lesser kestrel and peregrine, black-eared, isabelline and pied wheatear, several lark species and a rufous-tailed scrub-robin but one of the commonest birds, and a lifer for me, was western rock nuthatch. It's a site I'll definitely visit again later in the year.

Pied wheatear, Gobustan National Reserve

Azerbaijan frogs

Some photos I took birding Baku Botanical Gardens and a lake called Qanli Gol in the western suburbs. I haven't managed to identify them yet.