Teenager tours 40 provinces birdwatching

Yücel Sönmez – ISTANBUL

A 15-years-old teenager has been touring the country for the last seven years and has visited around 40 out of all 81 provinces for birdwatching.

“Birds took me to all the beautiful places [of the country],” Çağan Abbasoğlu, a high school student said.

He is a “lucky person,” as he has seen and photographed some 340 out of the 347 bird species that exist in Türkiye.

“I may consider myself as a celebrity among the local birdwatchers,” he stated proudly and added, “When the elder ones saw me in nature before, they were surprised. Now they have become used to me.”

When asked which bird species was his favorite, Abbasoğlu noted with no hesitation, pointing out “the rare desert lark.”

The young environmentalist now has a new mission: To visit villages and teach the children birdwatching.

“I went to a village in [the southwestern province of] Muğla, where forests were burnt last year due to wildfires. I gathered the children of the village and told my experiences. They watched the birds with my binoculars. Some of them are now real birdwatchers.”

Calling this act a “hope for nature,” Abbasoğlu expressed, “Things really change when education is conducted at childhood.”