Turkey Ramsar wetland
Lake Meke
98 bird species recorded; the most in May.
Zeynel Cebeci · CC BY-SA 4.0
This month here
8 species in January.7 species in February.10 species in March.26 species in April.65 species in May.56 species in June.20 species in July.20 species in August.0 species in September.13 species in October.8 species in November.9 species in December.
The birds you are most likely to see in the month you choose, those that come for the season first. It opens on today's month.

























































































































No records for this month.
























- Resident all year
- Summer visitor comes to breed
- Winter visitor comes for the winter
- Passage migrant in spring and autumn
In numbers
98 species, counted.
Our own rating, from the records only: species (50 points), threatened species (20), migrants (20) and protected status — Ramsar, IBA, SPA, observatory (10).
- 98Speciesrecorded more than once
- 27Migrantssummer, winter or passage visitors
- 1ThreatenedVulnerable, Endangered or Critically Endangered (IUCN)
- 614Recordsopen records within 6 km
- 1,073 mAltitudeabove the sea
- 8Raptors
- 1Owls
- 7Waders
- 5Gulls & seabirds
- 9Ducks & geese
- 13Herons, ibises & grebes
- 3Storks & cranes
- 1Flamingos
- 41Songbirds
- 10Other birds
From open records (eBird and others, through GBIF, licensed for any use). More birdwatchers mean more records: a quiet place may have more birds than it shows.
The checklist
All 98 species.
By group, with the year in twelve cells: the darker the cell, the more often the bird is recorded that month.
Raptors8 species
- Long-legged BuzzardButeo rufinus
- Egyptian vultureNeophron percnopterus
- Common BuzzardButeo buteo
- Common KestrelFalco tinnunculus
- European Honey-buzzardPernis apivorus
- Western Marsh HarrierCircus aeruginosus
- Montagu's HarrierCircus pygargus
- Short-toed eagleCircaetus gallicus
Owls1 species
- Little OwlAthene noctua
Waders7 species
- Black-winged StiltHimantopus himantopus
- Kentish PloverCharadrius alexandrinus
- Pied AvocetRecurvirostra avosetta
- RedshankTringa totanus
- Green SandpiperTringa ochropus
- Common SandpiperActitis hypoleucos
- Spur-winged LapwingVanellus spinosus
Gulls & seabirds5 species
- Gull-billed TernGelochelidon nilotica
- Black-headed GullChroicocephalus ridibundus
- Common TernSterna hirundo
- Whiskered TernChlidonias hybrida
- Little TernSternula albifrons
Ducks & geese9 species
- Ruddy ShelduckTadorna ferruginea
- Common ShelduckTadorna tadorna
- MallardAnas platyrhynchos
- Eurasian TealAnas crecca
- Northern ShovelerSpatula clypeata
- Common PochardAythya ferinaVU
- White-headed duckOxyura leucocephala
- Red-crested pochardNetta rufina
- Marbled TealMarmaronetta angustirostrisNT
Herons, ibises & grebes13 species
- Dalmatian PelicanPelecanus crispusNT
- Grey HeronArdea cinerea
- Little EgretEgretta garzetta
- Purple heronArdea purpurea
- Squacco HeronArdeola ralloides
- Great Crested GrebePodiceps cristatus
- Eared GrebePodiceps nigricollis
- Microcarbo pygmaeusMicrocarbo pygmaeus
- Great White PelicanPelecanus onocrotalus
- Great CormorantPhalacrocorax carbo
- Little GrebeTachybaptus ruficollis
- Red-necked GrebePodiceps grisegena
- Great White EgretArdea alba
Storks & cranes3 species
- White StorkCiconia ciconia
- Common CraneGrus grus
- Black storkCiconia nigra
Flamingos1 species
- Greater FlamingoPhoenicopterus roseus
Songbirds41 species
- Crested larkGalerida cristata
- Isabelline wheatearOenanthe isabellina
- Western Rock NuthatchSitta neumayer
- Greater Short-toed LarkCalandrella brachydactyla
- Red-backed ShrikeLanius collurio
- Common LinnetLinaria cannabina
- Calandra larkMelanocorypha calandra
- Western Black-eared WheatearOenanthe hispanica
- Barn swallowHirundo rustica
- Eurasian MagpiePica pica
- Finsch's WheatearOenanthe finschii
- Common StarlingSturnus vulgaris
- Northern WheatearOenanthe oenanthe
- Sand MartinRiparia riparia
- House SparrowPasser domesticus
- SkylarkAlauda arvensis
- Black-headed buntingEmberiza melanocephala
- Ortolan buntingEmberiza hortulana
- White-throated robinIrania gutturalis
- Great Reed WarblerAcrocephalus arundinaceus
- Eastern Olivaceous WarblerIduna pallida
- RookCorvus frugilegus
- Tawny PipitAnthus campestris
- Bimaculated LarkMelanocorypha bimaculata
- Blue Rock ThrushMonticola solitarius
- Cretzschmar's BuntingEmberiza caesia
- Eurasian Crag MartinPtyonoprogne rupestris
- Western JackdawColoeus monedula
- Corn BuntingEmberiza calandra
- Hooded CrowCorvus cornix
- Lesser Short-toed LarkCalandrella rufescens
- WhinchatSaxicola rubetra
- Spotted FlycatcherMuscicapa striata
- Collared FlycatcherFicedula albicollis
- Masked ShrikeLanius nubicus
- Woodchat ShrikeLanius senatorNT
- WhitethroatSylvia communis
- European SerinSerinus serinus
- European GoldfinchCarduelis carduelis
- European GreenfinchChloris chloris
- White WagtailMotacilla alba
Other birds10 species
- Eurasian HoopoeUpupa epops
- European SwiftApus apus
- Common CuckooCuculus canorus
- Eurasian Collared DoveStreptopelia decaocto
- Rock DoveColumba livia
- Chukar PartridgeAlectoris chukar
- CootFulica atra
- White-backed WoodpeckerDendrocopos leucotos
- Great spotted cuckooClamator glandarius
- European NightjarCaprimulgus europaeus
Monthly presence relative to all bird records that month, so a busy month does not inflate every species.
When to go
The most species in May.
Species recorded in each month, with the usual temperature and rain.
- Jan4°/-4°61 mm
- Feb7°/-3°46 mm
- Mar11°/0°41 mm
- Apr16°/4°36 mm
- May22°/9°36 mm
- Jun27°/13°21 mm
- Jul32°/16°4 mm
- Aug32°/16°3 mm
- Sep27°/12°16 mm
- Oct20°/7°31 mm
- Nov12°/1°50 mm
- Dec6°/-3°70 mm
- Bar: species recorded that month.
- Temperature: average maximum / minimum (NASA, 1991–2020).
- Rain: monthly total.
The place
Lake Meke.
Crater lake in Konya Province, central Turkey
Lake Meke is a wetland of international importance (Ramsar) in Turkey, 1,073 m above the sea.
98 bird species have been recorded here more than once, in 614 open records.
The most recorded are the Ruddy Shelduck, the Crested lark and the Long-legged Buzzard.
19 species come for the summer, 7 for the winter and 1 only pass through.
1 are threatened worldwide, including Common Pochard.
The most species are recorded in May.

Get there and watch
- Ramada by Wyndham Karapinarplace to stay · 7.0 km · 4 within 10 km
- Karapınarnearest town · 8.6 km in a straight line
- Konya Airport (KYA)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 100 km in a straight lineCar hire at KYA airport (Konya)Discover Cars · sponsored link↗
Plan the visit
A guided walk, a bed nearby, a car.
Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.
From above
The place and its surroundings.
The satellite image of the 6 × 6 km around the place, with the bird hides, towers and trails that OpenStreetMap shows.

Around, in OpenStreetMap
- 2car parks within 3 km
- 4places to stay within 10 kmRamada by Wyndham Karapinar, Sezer otel, Güner Mutlu Pansiyonu and 1 more
- bird hides within 6 km
- observation towers within 6 km
- marked trails within 4 km
- visitor centres within 6 km
- viewpoints within 5 km
- restaurants and cafés within 3 km
- campsites within 10 km
Counted in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit. A low number may just mean nobody has mapped it yet.
In our other atlases
Around Lake Meke.
The lakes, beaches, islands, rivers and mountains around this place, and its night sky, in the family's atlases.
Figures from the sister sites' databases (Wikidata, HydroATLAS, GeoNames, OpenStreetMap). Links open when each site is online.
Photographs
The place, as people saw it.
Where these figures come from
| Name and type | Wikidata (Q6065286) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| Birds | 614 open bird records within 6 km (GBIF, CC0 and CC BY 4.0 only; mostly eBird, Cornell Lab of Ornithology) |
| See these records | gbif.org |
| Species | GBIF Backbone Taxonomy · CC BY 4.0; Wikidata (CC0); Wikimedia Commons |
| Altitude | Copernicus DEM GLO-30 · © DLR e.V., © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, Copernicus/ESA |
| Temperature and rain | NASA POWER (CERES SYN1deg, 2001–2020; MERRA-2) |
| What is around | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| Images | EOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons |
| Sister atlases | Peakyas, Lakeyas |
Every figure is an average, an estimate or a count from a public dataset. Licences and methods: data sources.
The family
Do you prefer beaches, lakes, mountains, waterfalls, islands, rivers, canyons, caves, dark skies, viewpoints, birdwatching or forests?
Same idea, other landscapes: field atlases built on open data, in seven languages.






