Last post for our trip to Azerbaijan. Omid, the Siberian Crane did eventually start migrating north (4 days ago) but the guys who stayed have still to find him in Az with only today and tomorrow left. Fingers crossed. 'Omid' means hope in Persian, a name that captures the fate of the last of it's kind. Every year the bird follows the path of it's ancestry population alone and despite the bird being alone, unable to pair up or breed when it arrives in the ancestry breeding area, it still carries on this tradition, frozen in time destined for extinction but with unwavering hope (reminds me of people who still use Birdtrack instead of Ebird :-) ). Omid is an inspiring yet sad character, a victim of habitat changes, hunting and climate change, a lone traveller that bares a warning. I hope the guys still in Az manage to see him soon.
Here's a few other wildlife pics from the trips. On the scoreboard front we had 151 bird species in total, one new WP lifer (Caspian Tit) and a nice selection of subspecies ticks (Siberian Buff-bellied Pipit and Caucasian Dunnock the most likely future splits), four mammal lifers (Goitered Gazelle, Greater Horse-shoe Bat, Marbled Polecat and Willaim's Gerboa) and two herp lifers (Hircanian Wood Frog and Caspian Turtle). It was a brilliant trip and many thanks to Diedert Koppenol from Dutch Birding for organising it. Would love to go back and explore the Talish Mountains in the summer (for leps) and do some more herping, maybe some vagrant hunting and definitely some vis-migging at Besh Barmeg and also still need the regional speciality Shikra (and of course Siberian Crane). Right out on the edge of the Western Palearctic and with improving ease of travel there's some great exploration opportunities in Az.
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