On the last day of our school, after five days of compelling lectures, the team arrived at Nallıhan Bird Sanctuary. Surrounded by beautiful multi-coloured hills, our visit with hundreds of Great Cormorants flying over us. With 191 bird species recorded so far, Nallıhan is a famous ‘Bird Paradise” and is part of the Sariyer Dam, one of Türkiye’s Important Bird Areas.
The third Avian Ecology School was held at the Ankara campus of the Middle East Technical University from 10-15 February 2025. Twenty-three students from several regions of Türkiye gathered for a one-week programme of lectures on the theory and practice of avian research.
As the Avian Ecology School, we aim to reach early-career ecology enthusiasts from around Türkiye, providing a multidisciplinary set of lectures covering ornithology, avian ecology, conservation, programming, and geographic information systems. In three years we have reached students from 25 cities in Türkiye. The school places particular importance on inclusivity and equality of sexual identities and orientations, socioeconomic, religious, ethnic, racial, and geographic backgrounds. The school also aims to be environmentally friendly and have a low carbon footprint, by serving locally made vegan food and using biodegradable stationery, among other measures.
Participants of the 3rd Avian Ecology School birdwatching in Yalincak, the campus forest.
We aim to inspire young researchers to develop a new perspective on academic research and to create ideas of their own by introducing them to the basics of ornithology, ecology and to practical applications of these disciplines. We also seek to build a network among young researchers, by creating an environment in which participants from various universities can come together to share and discuss ideas.
This year our theme was raptors & avian migration, and we were proud to host 18 experts from eight countries. Our school started with a look at the raptors of Turkiye, followed by learning about the effects of light pollution on bird migration. The second and third days of school included an introduction to R and QGIS programming and their applications, including data visualisation and the tracking and mapping of bird migrations. On the fourth day, we dived deep into the study of migration, delving into the use of devices such as geolocators to study large-scale migrations and the novel ways we can analyse and classify data from these and other devices. And, of course, the students were prepared for the ‘long corridors of academia’ through a session on devising good research questions and project applications. In summary, the school made sure the participants had all the feathers in their hats needed to call themselves a polished bird researcher 🙂
Learning about the Tragedy of Sisyphus in academia!
In addition to the lectures, we had two field trips during the school, giving participants the chance to experience birdwatching, practice their bird identification skills, and learn about equipment like binoculars and telescopes, nature guides and fieldwork apps. The first field trip was to Yalıncak Forest, located inside the METU campus. Yalıncak is known for its rich biodiversity, including 250 bird species recorded so far. The forest includes a natural lake, ‘Eymir’, and an artificial pond that we call ‘Yalıncak Pond’. On the last day of lectures, 14th February, we spent the afternoon of 14th February on a walk to the pond, talking about birds and observing some of the defining species of the campus, including Long-tailed Tits, Redwings, the ever-present Eurasian Jay, and a lone, but apparently happy, Green Sandpiper hanging around the pond shore.
On the last day, we gathered for a trip to the town of Beypazarı in the north-west of Ankara, visiting the İnözü Valley and Nallıhan Bird Paradise, both classified as Important Bird Areas of Türkiye. Bird watching in İnözü Valley was a glorious experience, with 11 Cinereous Vultures hovering over us. İnözü Valley is known as a vulture breeding area, hosting all four vulture species of Türkiye: Cinereous Vulture, Egyptian Vulture, Bearded Vulture, and Griffon Vulture. We could see the cavities on the hills of İnözü, used every year by vultures as nest sites, but also enjoyed the company of Western Rock Nuthatches and Eurasian Nuthatches, and we were watched over from far above by the occasional Common Raven – truly a marvellous sight. Nallihan, apart from the exceptional view of the rainbow hills, gave us mesmerizing sights of flocks of herons and egrets flying over us as we focused our binoculars on some wetland specialists, such as Reed Buntings, the Long-Legged Buzzard, and the Western Marsh Harrier.
The Students of the 3rd Avian Ecology School at the Inozu Valley
The Avian Ecology School has hosted over 70 students in three years, and has been successful in its goal to reach young researchers starting early in their career. It is quite difficult to quantify, or simply explain, the effect of such an endeavour in its early stages. Türkiye’s biodiversity is going through unfathomable changes, and our only solace lies in the fact that this small cohort of people, from across the country, has been given a platform to come together, learn, converse and feel empowered enough to fuel understanding, appreciation and awareness about the fate of avian ecology and conservation in the country. And in the process, it goes without saying, to look at some cute and wonderful birds!
