Turkey's Iğdır oasis of natural life teeming with birds

This is a fascinating time of the year to document one of Iğdır's most distinctive inhabitants: birds. Under the shadow of Mount Ağrı, Iğdır in eastern Turkey captivates onlookers, photographers and nature aficionados from across Turkey and the world with its diverse wildlife and the potential it offers for researchers. Home to 325 of the 486 known bird species in Turkey, Iğdır at spring is bustling with life with the arrival of migrant birds. Eurasian bitterns, teals, sparrow hawks and honey-buzzards, Egyptian vultures, Black kites, Little grebes as well as Black-crowned night herons, Little egrets, Ruddy Shelduck, garganeys, pallid and Montagu's harriers and shikras are among the hundreds of bird species found in Iğdır. Ornithologists and photographers gathered in Iğdır to celebrate the rich natural heritage of the city. Speaking to Anadolu Agency, Çağan Şekercioğlu, an associate professor of biology at Koç University in Turkey and Utah University in the U.S., said Iğdır offers great potential to ornithologists and other wildlife researchers despite its small size. 'Despite covering only 2% of Turkey's land and having no sea, Iğdır hosts 70% of the bird species in Turkey. Aras Bird Paradise stands out as the richest wetland for birds in particular,' said Şekercioğlu. Another academic at Iğdır's Ornithology Application and Research Center, Ayşegül Çoban said after 13 years of ornithology research in the area, they found that Iğdır is a migration route for birds. 'After years of research, ornithologists found that birds use Iğdır as a rest stop during their migration on a regular basis. It shows the importance of the city as a global bird migration route,' said Çoban.