Armenia is a small landlocked country in the Caucasus ecoregion, with rich cultural heritage going back many centuries. Armenia is particularly mountainous.

The country’s average elevation is 1.800 m a.s.l. with extreme points ranging from 370 m a. s. l. (Araks River-bed) to 4,090 m a.s.l. (summit of the Aragats Mt). The upfolding and powerful volcanism, considerable contrast in altitudes and the remoteness from seas account for the complicated relief and climate of the country. All these features taken together resulted in diverse vegetation, displaying well-defined altitudinal zones.

Armenia’s physical characteristics, variety of habitats and geographical situation at the crossroads of Europe, Asia and the Middle East are explicating relatively rich avifauna found in the country. Over 360 species of birds have been recorded from Armenia, with over 220 species breeding here and about 170 found in winter. Following a major flyway more than180 species pass through Armenia on the way to and from their wintering grounds in the Middle East, Africa and Asia.

The present tour offers a great opportunity to find some of the most sought after Western Palearctic birds amongst breathtaking sceneries of the Armenian Highlands and the Lesser Caucasus.

Day 1. Arrival to Yerevan

Day 2. Lake Sevan and Dilijan National Park. The tour starts with the visit the shores of one of the world’s largest freshwater subalpine lakes, Lake Sevan. Our main target at the lake is the breeding colony of the region's endemic, Armenian Gull, which is the second largest in the world. The gull, however, is omnipresent in the basin of the lake, although it is always notoriously shy towards human. Back in the soviet era the shoreline of the lake has been extensively planted with poplar, pine and sea buckthorn. The planted areas here are adjoining shallow wetlands, small lagoons fringed with reedbeds, forming habitats for many species of birds. We will explore the area in search of Great Crested and Black-necked Grebes, Great Cormorant, Night Heron and Cattle Egret, Grey Heron, Glossy Ibis, Ruddy Shelduck, Gadwall, Shoveler, Garganey, Ferruginous and Tufted Ducks. Abundance of prey attracts Marsh Harrier, Goshawk and Peregrine. Waders at the Lake Sevan include Black-winged Stilt, Little Ringed Plover, Northern Lapwing, migrating parties of stints and sandpipers, Common Snipe, Ruff.  Other birds to mention at the lake are Common, White-winged, Whiskered Terns and occasional BlackTern, Hoopoe, Roller. Tree plantations attract Woodlark, Tree Pipit, Mistle Thrush and Penduline Tit. Sea-buckthorn thickets are home to Cetti’s and Marsh Warblers and Caucasian Chiffchaff, Red-backed, Lesser Grey and Woodchat Shrikes. Reedbeds hosts Water Rail, Sedge and Moustached Warblers, as well as the thick-billed caspia race of Reed Bunting. After leaving Lake Sevan we transfer to Dilijan National Park for 2 nights stay. Overnight: a hotel in Dilijan National park.

Day 3. Dilijan National Park environs. The whole day we will spend in the Dilijan National Park found in the forested part of northeastern Armenia. The mature deciduous mountain forest here is mainly composed of oak, beech, hornbeam, linden and various other trees and shrubs forming dense understory. National park offers a wide selection of European and Caucasian forest birds, many of which are represented with local Caucasian subspecies. Our primary targets in the area include Middle Spotted Woodpecker, the samamisicus Redstart, Green Warbler, Red-breasted and Semi-collared Flycatchers. Other birds of the National Park include Goshawk, Common and Honey Buzzard, Booted Eagle, Stock Dove, Tawny Owl, Green, Black and Greater Spotted and Lesser Spotted Woodpecker, Dunnock, Robin, Blackcap, Spotted Flycatcher, various tits, Eurasian Nuthatch, Treecreeper, Bullfinch and Hawfinch. One of our stops in the area is near the Haghartsin Monastery complex (built between the 10th and 13th centuries). Overnight: a hotel in Dilijan National park.

Day 4. Pambak Mountains. This morning we have an early start to Pambak Mountain Range on 4x4 vehicles. Our primary target for the day is Caucasian Grouse, which inhabits talus fields and Rhododendron bushes at the upper timberline of Pambak. Neighbors of the grouse include Water Pipit, Black Redstart, Rufous-tailed Rock Thrush, Ring Ouzel, Twite and Red-fronted Serin. Possible raptors here are Bearded and Griffon Vultures, Golden and Lesser Spotted Eagles, Common Buzzard and Goshawk. After the descend from the ridge, at the foothills, in the outskirts of villages in hayfields and wet meadows we will look for Quail, Barn Swallow, House Martin, Tree Pipit, Black-headed Wagtail, Whinchat, European Stonechat, Common Whitethroat, Sedge, Grasshopper and Cetti’s Warbler, Red-backed Shrike and Common Rosefinch. Broadleaved forest and pine plantations on the northern slopes of Pambak Mountains are home to Great Spotted Woodpecker, Dunnock, Robin, Common Redstart, Mistle Thrush, Caucasian Chiffchaff, Treecreeper and Bullfinch. Overnight: a hotel in Lake Sevan National Park.

Day 5. Lake Sevan, Selim Pass and Arpa River Valley. Today we travel south along the western shore of Lake Sevan, where we will make optional stops to scan for birds on the lake shore, including near the Hayravank Monastery (built during 9-12 centuries). From Lake Sevan basin we continue to Vayots Dzor province via the Selim Pass. As the road gently ascends towards the pass through mountain steppes and along the Argichi River, we will make few stops to explore highland steppes and meadows at the foothills of the Armaghan volcano for possible waterbirds and will search the roadside slopes and rock outcrops for species like Rufous-tailed Rock Thrush, Bluethroat, Whinchat, Radde’sAccentor, Twite and Snowfinch. The Selim Pass (2,410m a.s.l.) regularly provides various raptors like vultures, eagles, buzzards, harriers. The ancient caravanserai (built in 1332) is situated just below the highest point of the pass and its environs are inhabited with Grey Partridge and various passerines such as Black Redstart, Rock Sparrow, Eastern Stonechat and the regularly seen here Crimson-winged Finch. As we descend down to the Arpa RiverValley, the landscape changes into a Mediterranean type with abundance of rocks, open juniper forest and phrygana dominating vegetation. Here we have chances for species like Chukar, Ring Ouzel, Blue Rock Thrush, Eastern Black-eared Wheatear, Eastern and Western Rock Nuthatches and Red-fronted Serin, while orchards around villages are home to Levant Sparrowhawk, Golden Oriole, Eastern Olivaceous Warbler and Common Nightingale. We will stay in the valley for 4 nights. Overnight: a B&B in Arpa River valley.

Day 6. Slopes of Karkatar Mts and Noravank Gorge. Our day starts with early morning ascend on 4x4s up to Karkatar Mts. The first half of the day will be spent in the mountains amongst high rocks, meadow slopes with talos and deep gullies overgrown with bushes and trees. Our primary target here is Caspian Snowcock. Other birds regularly observed in the area include Grey Partridge, Quail, Golden, Lesser Spotted and Short-toed Eagle, Griffon, Bearded and Egyptian Vultures, Long-legged and Common Buzzard, Woodlark, Water Pipit, Tree Pipit, Crag Martin, Black Redstart, Rufous-tailed Rock Thrush, Ring Ouzel, Western Rock Nuthatch, Red-billed Chough, Red-fronted Serin and Crimson-winged Finch. The area regularly provides superb views of Brown Bear and Bezoar Goat. In the second half of day we will visit the scenic canyon of Noravank Monastery complex (XIII century). The rocky slopes of the canyon with shrubs hold Chukar, Eastern Black-eared and occasionally Red-tailed Wheatear, White-throated Robin, Eastern Stonechat, Eastern Orphean Warbler, Upcher’s Warbler, Eastern Rock Nuthatch, Rock Bunting. The area is frequented by various raptors breeding nearby, Kestrel, Peregrine, Egyptian Vulture and Long-legged Buzzard. Old orchards and cultivated areas lower down provide an additional chance for garden and farmland species, Common Cuckoo, Syrian Woodpecker, Wren, Cetti’s Warbler, Lesser Grey and Red-backed Shrike, Golden Oriole and Black-headed Bunting. Nearby is located the Areni-1 Cave, a Bronze Age settlement, where during recent excavations the World’s oldest known leather shoe (5,500 year old) and oldest winery (6,000year old) were discovered. Overnight: a B&B in Arpa River valley.

Day 7. Arpa River Valley and Syunik Plateau. Today we will explore meadows of Syunik Plateau and riverine and rocky habitats of the Arpa valley. In the valley, crop fields and riparian forests provide Hobby, Hoopoe, European Bee-eater, European Roller, Syrian Woopecker, Common Nightingale, Eastern Olivacious, Marsh, Sedge and Cetti’s Warbler, Spotted Flycatcher, Long-tailed and Penduline Tit and Black-headed Bunting. Rocky gorges host Bearded Vulture, Common and Long-leggedBuzzard, Golden and Short-toed Eagle, Common Kestrel, Chukar, Turtle Dove, Alpine Swift, Roller, Crag Martin, Blue Rock Thrush, Eastern Black-eared Wheatear, White-throated Robin, Upcher’s Warbler, Lesser Whitethroat and Rock Bunting. Common Kingfisher, Dipper and Grey Wagtail and found on rivers and small ponds. As we reach Syunik Plateau we find ourselves amongst mountain steppes and meadows, which offer good opportunities for observing various raptors, including vultures, Lesser Spotted, Golden and Booted Eagle and Lesser Kestrel. Passerines here are represented with Skylark, Northern Wheatear, Water and Tree Pipit, Linnet, Twite, Crimson-winged Finch and Ortolan Bunting. Mountain slopes with scattered rocks and scarce bushes of Dog Rosehold host Barred Warbler, Bluethroat, Whinchat, Red-backed Shrike and Western Rock Nuthatch. Waterlogged patches near the human habitations attract Black-headed and occasionally Citrine Wagtail. We will stop also near the Spandaryan Reservoir, which may hold gulls, various terns and occasional Black Stork. Overnight: a B&B in Arpa River Valley.

Day 8. Fishfarms in the Ararat Plain and Urts Mts. This morning we start with a visit of one of the larger fishfarms, found in the Ararat Plain. The fishfarms here were established back in the soviet era and are represented with medium to large ponds densely fringed with emergent vegetation and interconnected with a complicated network of ditches. Because of insufficient management many ponds were overgrown with extensive reedbeds. The areas adjacent to the ponds are represented with shallow marshes and the remaining patches of saline semidesert with characteristic plants like Saltwort, Tamarisk etc. Establishment of the fishfarms with time has offered favorable conditions for an outstanding variety of birds. Some of the common breeders of the area include Great Crested and Little Grebe, Pygmy Cormorant, Little Bittern, Night, Squacco and Purple Heron, Cattle and Little Egret, Red-crested Pochard, Ferruginous Duck, Marsh Harrier, Water Rail, Black-winged Stilt, Redshank, Lesser Short-toed Lark, Black-headed Wagtail, Savi’s, Sedge, Eurasian Reed, Great Reed and Menetries’s Warbler and Bearded Tit. Less numerous or uncommon breeders here are Spoonbill, Greylag Goose, White-headed Duck, Marbled Teal, Pied Avocet, Collared Pratincole, Kentish Plover, White-tailed Lapwing, Little and Whiskered Terns, Blue-cheeked Bee-eater, Moustached and Paddyfield Warbler and Reed Bunting. Spring and autumn migration offers here species like Dalmatian and White Pelicans, Sanderling, Little Stint, Curlew and Broad-billed Sandpiper, Dunlin, Black-tailed Godwit, Marsh and Terek Sandpiper, Slender-billed Gull, Gull-billed Tern, large flocks of White-winged Tern. The second half of the day we will spend in a gorge in Urts Mountains, dry rocky slopes ofwhich are covered with juniper, thorny bushes and sparce xerophytic vegetation. Here we will look for Red-tailed Wheatear, Upcher’s and Eastern Orphean Warbler, Crimson-winged, Trumpeter and Desert Finch, and Grey-necked Bunting. Overnight: a B&B in Arpa River Valley.

Day 9. Vedi Hills, Khor Virap and return to Yerevan. Today we will explore arid low hillside near the borders of Khosrov Reserve and the Vedi Hills. The area is characterized with gentle treeless hills with rock exposures here and there and loose rocky ground sparsely covered with shrubs of Tamarisk, wild almond, Pallas’s buckthorn and semidesert vegetation. The hills are adjacent to crop fields and orchards attracting various farmland birds, Turtle Dove, Lesser Grey and Red-backed Shrike, Corn and Black-headed Bunting, Spanish Sparrow and large mobile flocks of Rosy Starlings. The hills are patrolled by various raptors, such as Cinereous, Griffon and Egyptian Vulture,Long-legged Buzzard, Short-toed Eagle and irregularly breeding here Saker Falcon. Flatternareas are home to Isabelline and Finsch’s Wheatear, Greater Short-toed and Crested Lark and Tawny Pipit. Dry gullies with sparse shrubs and scarce water sources attract a range of semidesert specialists like Rufous Bushchat and White-throated Robin, Eastern Black-eared Wheatear, Upcher’s and Eastern Orphean Warbler, Eastern Rock Nuthatch, Rock Sparrow, Pale Rockfinch, Trumpeter Finch, Rock and Grey-necked Bunting and occasional Desert and Mongolian Finche. Before returning to Yerevan for 3 nights stay, we will visit the Khor Virap monastery (established in 642). The Monastery is situated in the Ararat Plain and is surrounded with vineyards and wetlands. Overnight: hotel in Yerevan.

Day 10. Mount Aragats and foothills to alpine belt. Our last day is spent on the volcanic slopes of the Mount Aragats. Here we explore foothills of the mount for the birds of the orchards and open habitats, such as Bee-eater, Roller, Hoopoe, Syrian Woopecker, Tawny Pipit, Bimaculated, Crested and Greater Short-toed Lark, Isabelline and Finsch’s Wheatear. As we ascend, we will pass by orchards and lightly forested areas with bushes holding Woodlark, Golden Oriole, Semi-collared Flycatcher, Common Nightingale, Cetti’s Warbler, Lesser Whitethroat and Caucasian Chiffchaff. Higher up among the mountain meadows and rock fields with scattered dwarf juniper and Dog Rosebushes we will look for Skylark, Radde’s Accentor and Bluethroat, White-throated Robin, Black Redstart, Rufous-tailed Rock Thrush and Ring Ouzel, Barred Warbler, Rock Sparrow and Crimson-winged Finch. At the Lake Kari at 3,200 m a.s.l. (the highest elevation on the tour) we have good chances of finding Horned Lark, Water Pipit, Alpine Accentor, Snowfinch, Twite and occasional Wallcreeper. Other birds at the Aragats Mt include Alpine Swift, Red-billed Chough, Crag Martin, Ortolan and Rock Bunting. A good selection of raptors usually observed at Aragats, including all European vultures, Golden, Lesser Spotted, Booted and Short-toed Eagle, Black Kite, Long-legged, Common and Honey Buzzards, Peregrine, Hobby, Common Kestrel, Eurasian Sparrowhawk and Goshawk. While on the wayup to the Lake Kari we will make a stop near the Amberd Fortress (10th century) and Vahramashen Church (11th century) nearby. Overnight: hotel in Yerevan.

Day 11. Foothills of Geghama Mts, Garni Temple and Geghard Monastery. The tour ends with the visit to the western foothills of Geghama Range in vicinities of the villages of Garni and Geghard. As we leave Yerevan we will make several stops at the hillside covered with sparse shrubs and xerophytic vegetation. Here we will search for Roller, Bee-eater, Woodlark, Bimaculated Lark, Tawny Pipit, Rufous Bush Robin, Isabelline, Finsch’s and Eastern Black-eared Wheatear, Upcher’s Warbler, Woodchat Shrike, Pale Rockfinch (although this species arrives only late in May), Ortolan, Black-headed and Corn Bunting. The area is crossed by deep Azat River canyon rich in spectacular basalt cliffs androck outcrops, which is home to Chukar, Alpine Swift, House and Crag Martin, Black Redstart, Blue Rock Thrush, Eastern and Western Rock Nuthatches, Red-billed Chough, Rock Sparrow, Red-fronted Serin and Rock Bunting. Ravines overgrown with bushes hold White-throated Robin, Lesser Whitethroat and Eastern Orphean Warbler. Azat River’s gallery forest holds Green and Middle Spotted Woodpeckers, Wren, Blackcap, Common Whitethroat, Cetti’s Warbler, Eastern Olivaceous Warbler, Spotted Flycatcher, Penduline, Blue and Long-tailed Tits and Eurasian Jay. On the river itself Dipper and Grey Wagtail are found. Today we will visit two renowned historic monuments, pagan Garni Temple (I century) and a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Geghard Monastery (IV century). Nearby orchards hold Syrian Woodpecker, Common Nightingale, Lesser Grey and Red-backed Shrike, Golden Oriole. The whole area is next to the Khosrov Forest State reserve, known for its diversity of raptors, so throughout the day we have good chances for seeing a range of diurnal birds ofprey, including Bearded, Griffon, Cinereous and Egyptian Vulture, Golden, Lesser Spotted, Short-toed and Booted Eagle, Honey, Long-legged and Common Buzzard, Eurasian and Levant Sparrowhawks, Goshawk, Lesser and Common Kestrel, Hobby and Peregrine Falcon. Overnight: hotel in Yerevan.

Day 12. Departure