Last year, while visiting Hamburg during spring, I was walking through a park in the city when I noticed a bird nesting on the lake. The male was nearby, bringing more branches and scanning the area, right next to the walking path. I was surprised to see these vulnerable creatures being very safe to nest right next to a walking trail. The scene made me pause. I realized I rarely see anything like that in Türkiye. The city where I live, Antalya has many wetlands that should’ve been hotspots for birds. Yet I haven’t witnessed such a scene living in this city for years.
Veterinarian and bird photographer Gökçe Coşkun comments on this issue, highlighting how little awareness people often have of their surroundings. “Most people don’t even notice the birds around them while walking through the city,” he says. “Even in the middle of the city we are surrounded by trees and during bird migration season, we can observe many different species without needing to go to wetlands.” As Coşkun puts it, “Birds are just a window away.”
Coşkun also emphasizes the importance of bird watching in recording bird species. “Antalya lies on a major migration route. Birds pass through every year, but if no one observes them, we have no idea what’s happening to them,” he says. During a recent birdwatching camp, participants recorded the presence of the Tibet çılbıtı Tibetan plover (Charadrius dubius tibetana), a species never before documented in Antalya. “Without that event, we wouldn’t have known the bird was even here.”
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