Two years after the initial announcement, Simon Albrecht encouraged 
OSME members to submit their records and to make atlassing field trips 
(OSME Bull 2: 6-8). Atlas record sheets, with detailed instructions for 
completing them, were produced, but no information on the progress of 
the work was subsequently published. It seems that the project was 
cancelled because few, if any, record sheets were sent in. In addition, 
most of the Turkish bird records which were collated by OST/OSME 
since 1966 as the basis for the Turkish Bird Reports were lost, including 
all the material on the more common species, which was neither evaluated 
nor published. 
This attempt at producing an atlas of the breeding birds of Turkey failed 
because an insufficient number of field workers were involved. As there 
are very few birdwatchers resident in Turkey, Turkish ornithology is still 
carried out primarily by foreign tourists. Birdwatching activity is thus 
strongly related to the tourist development. It reached a peak in the early 
1970s, decreased later in the 1970s, and increased again during the 1980s. 
During the past two to three years, it has been at an all-time high, but an 
absolute minimum can be predicted in 1991 because of the Gulf war. 
Most of the birdwatchers spending their holidays in Turkey try to see as 
many species as possible. Although this is understandable from a personal 
point of view, it is disastrous for any atlas work: whereas hotspots such 
as Bafa G61u,the Eregli Marshes, the Sultan Marshes, the G5ksii Delta 
and Birecik are visited by many birdwatchers each year, it is almost 
impossible to get data from more remote or lesser known sites. Several 
attempts to direct birdwatchers to such areas have so far been unsuccessful. 
There are even a number of bird areas which are known or thought to be 
of international importance, but for which hardly any information is 
available. For example: 
Buyuk Cekmece (Istanbul province) Beynam Forest (Ankara province) 
Ilgaz Mountains (Cankiri and Nazik GolU (Bitlis province) 
Yesilirmak Delta (Samsun Province) Cildir GSlii (Kars province) 
Golbek Golii (Ankara province) 
It is striking that even large wetland areas near cities like Istanbul and 
Ankara are among the less-known sites. It is very important that these 
areas are visited . I would be pleased to give hints and further information 
to anyone who intends to visit these or other areas. 
For conservation, a survey of these areas has a high priority and is more 
important than covering the whole country with an atlas project over 
Terkos Gblli (Istanbul Province) 
Iznik G51u (Bursa Province) 
Bay of Saroz (Canakkale Province) 
Cavuscu Colli (Konya province) 
Todurge Golu (Sivas province) 
Karatas Golii (Burdur province) 
Kastamonu provinces) 
Hacli Gblii (Mus province) 
9 
