Another day, another Tattoo!

blog conservation tattoos Turkey Published August 9, 2012 at 14:17 No Comments

Tomorrow evening I will be back at the awesome Immortal Art Studio to have bird number nineteen tattooed onto my arm as part of my unique conservation project. The bird to be featured in this artwork of permanence will be the amazing evocative Caspian Snowcock.

This species holds a great place in my memories after my amazing trip with friends into the Aldag Mountains! We were woken up at a very dark 0300 hours by Başar Şafak and soon made our way to meet up with Sinan and his tractor! The tractor was one of these old-type cabless affairs; and there was six of us! We all piled on and found a space to perch. I was clinging onto the right wheel arch! There had been a lot of rain previously, and the mountain track was thick with mud. The tractor was sliding all over the place; there were shear drops below me! To say I was terrified was an understatement! However, thanks to the experience and driving skills of Sinan, we made it to our drop off point just below the snow-line safely! We were c2,200 metres above sea level; so the thinness of the air was very noticeable! As we made our way to the vantage point we could hear the evocative call of the Caspian Snowcock resonating from the cliffs above us! A scan of the cliffs gave us views of Anatolian Ibex and then the amazing creature that is Caspian Snowcock!

Caspian Snowcock © Soner Bekir

It was amazing to experience this species both visually and audibly in the most amazing scenery my senses have ever had the pleasure of absorbing! This was the start of an amazing few hours pre-breakfast birding! By the time we were back on the tractor for the descent we had observed Caspian Snowcock, Radde’s Accentor, Alpine Accentor, Wallcreeper, Rufous-tailed Rock Thrush, Crimson-winged Finch, Alpine Chough, White-winged Snowfinch Red-fronted Serin and Chukar! Astounding!