Armenia in Spring

Nestling in the snow-capped Caucasian Mountains and overlooked by Mount Ararat just over the border in Turkey, Armenia is one of Europe’s best kept birding secrets. Despite its small size, not much bigger than Wales, and the fact that it is landlocked, this former Soviet Republic is home to over two-thirds of Europe’s regularly occurring bird species including many that are rare or difficult to find elsewhere. 

Caucasian Black Grouse and Caspian Snowcock are found in the high mountains as well as a very good selection of more widespread alpine species such as White-winged Snowfinch, Eurasian Crimson-winged Finch, Alpine Accentor and Rufous-tailed Rock Thrush. Juniper scrub below the snowline holds Radde’s Accentor, Ring Ousel and Bluethroat, (the latter like many other species in the Caucasus, a very distinctive local subspecies). Broadleaf woodland further north resounds to the song of Caucasian Chiffchaff, Green Warbler and both Semi-collared and Red-breasted Flycatchers while the gorges and mountain steppe landscape nearer the Turkish border provide habitats for White-throated Robin, Finsch’s Wheatear, Menetries’ and Upchers Warblers plus many other predominantly Middle Eastern species which reach their northern limit here. The fishpond complex at Armash is renowned for its breeding populations of White-headed, Marbled and Ferruginous Ducks plus Pygmy Cormorant, White-tailed Lapwing and many others species; this area is also a magnet for migrants and is also home to a small colony of Blue-cheeked Bee-eaters.

Throughout this largely unspoilt and sparsely populated country, bird of prey populations remain healthy with several species of eagle to be expected and we have a good chance of encountering Lammergeier and Levant Sparrowhawk. Our nine day tour covers each of the country’s main habitat types but being such a small country, with generally good infrastructure, travelling times between areas are short allowing us to maximise the amount of time spent in the field. While our primary focus is on the regional specialities of the Armenian Caucasus we are sure to see a very good cross section of more widespread European species too.