Big Birds

[wanderer]

Looking out to sea saw large swooping on the horizon it turned out to be a flock of white birds way out to sea towards Esentepe
A few minutes later they were half a mile out to sea at the back of the Cratos we are in Ozankoy and the Cratos is over a mile away
Any idea what they were

[Groucho]

All white - probably Great white egrets.

[wanderer]

GrouchoThanks for that they were large to be visible at that distance and a big flock

[Becker]

Could they have been flamingos? From a distance they look white,saw some on Monday near Cratos but only 3.

[Fesenjan123]

There was a flock of egrets perched on the rocks at Alagadi 3 a few days ago.

[wanderer]

The nearest they got was 1 1/2 miles away there seemed a big flock swooping far out at sea
So Egrets seem to have it if they were out Aligadi way

[karmels]

They are as Groucho says white egrets, the salt lakes in the south are all dry so no flamingos.
We had a lot of white egrets and storks living on the river by our appartment in Gazipasa.

[Groucho]

If the birds are flying with the necks stretched out in front in a straight-ish line then they could be flamingos if there is a crook in the neck as they fly then they are almost certainly members of the heron family including the egrets - little egrets, great white egrets, cattle egrets etc.

http://www.sakertour.com/hide_gallery_c ... hp?hide=14

[Enchanted]

Might be cranes going south for the winter& trying to gain height to get over the mountains.

[Keithcaley]

Might be cranes going south for the winter& trying to gain height to get over the mountains.

That sounds interesting!

Would they really expend the energy to gain height a mile or so out to sea, or would they just use the thermals to get over the mountain range 'for free'?

[Groucho]

Might be cranes going south for the winter& trying to gain height to get over the mountains.

That sounds interesting!

Would they really expend the energy to gain height a mile or so out to sea, or would they just use the thermals to get over the mountain range 'for free'?

You would know if it's cranes - when they fly they honk incessantly to each other to hold formation....

[Keithcaley]

"Left hand down a bit"

"Up a bit"

The mind boggles!

[effonine]

Looking out to sea saw large swooping on the horizon it turned out to be a flock of white birds way out to sea towards Esentepe
A few minutes later they were half a mile out to sea at the back of the Cratos we are in Ozankoy and the Cratos is over a mile away
Any idea what they were

Personally I would favour them being Little Egret by far the commonest Autumn migrant on the north coast matching that description.
Cheers!
Colin.

[Groucho]

Looking out to sea saw large swooping on the horizon it turned out to be a flock of white birds way out to sea towards Esentepe
A few minutes later they were half a mile out to sea at the back of the Cratos we are in Ozankoy and the Cratos is over a mile away
Any idea what they were

Personally I would favour them being Little Egret by far the commonest Autumn migrant on the north coast matching that description.
Cheers!
Colin.

You may well be right Colin but I was only going by the original description of "big birds".... at times we do get flocks of Great white egrets flying east-west in the autumn. If he thought they were big I guess it depends on ones idea of what constitutes big... Best not go there! Ha ha ha