Hi Folks,
again I spend two weeks at the Lycian Coast in spring this year.
In 2015 our Easter holidays had been extremely early. It already started at March, 28th.
It was striking that flora and fauna was pretty different to years before, when our holidays had been about 2 weeks later.
I have never spotted so many different birds (I remember a birding English man the year before who was very dissapointed).
Herpetofauna was a bit different, but I´ll come to that later.
Weather was o.k. , temperatures at around 20°C with some rain and more sun.
I visited some already well known places (Patara, Kas and surrounding areas) and some new spots (Arykanda, Tlos).
Around Kas I found the usual suspects.- This year unfortunately no Zamenis hohenackeri tauricus and what was striking, not a single Eirenis modestus. Last year when it was a little bit warmer and 2 weeks later I found abot a dozen of these little snakes:
At the very well known site of Patara ruins it was very different to the year before.- No Eirenis modestus, no Typhlops vermicularis, no Blanus strauchi aporus but due to very hot weather this day dozens of Natrix tesselata and at least some Natrix natrix persa which could be observed praying on little fish.
Another day I visited the ruins of Tlos at abot 460m above sea-level. It was warm and sunny with some clouds.
A lot of Testudos were very busy and it was fun to watch their mating game (First time I wished to make video instead of pictures.- My wife did, so maybe I can add this porn.- Without sound it´s just not half fun)
After seeing and mostly hearing some big lizards dissapearing, I finally managed to catch one of them with the usual result.
Some days later with unsteady weather we drove all the way into the montains to the ancient city of Arykanda at about 700m above sea-level.
The sky was grey, light rainfalls and low temperatures around 16°C.
I guess this cold spring was the reason for my hightlight finding which I hadn´t expected that late in the year:
Again I failed to find a chamaeleon !- I´ll keep on trying !!!!
Species observed but not photographed:
Caretta caretta
Dolichopis jugularis
Mauremys rivulata
Blanus strauchi aporus
Anatolacerta oertzeni finikensis
Ablepharus budaki anatolicus
species expected but not seen:
Ophiomorus punctatissimus
Cyrtipodion kotschyii ciliciensis
Typhlops vermicularis
unfulfilled wishlist:
Chamaeleo chameleon
Hyla arborea
Emys orbicularis
Hemorrhois nummifer
Platyceps collaris
Platyceps najadum
Telescopus fallax
Malpolon insignitus
Eryx jaculus
and the vipers