Batumi birding

An Eagle heading south to Africa over Batumi

The hill top watch point at Sakhalvasho

                     There are just a few places in the world where the wonder of bird migration can be seen in its fullest glory and the hills around Batumi in Georgia are one of them. Here the edge of the Black Sea and the hills of the Greater and Lesser Caucusus mountains act as a funnel for birds of prey and other migrating species on route to Africa from Eastern Europe, Central Asia and Siberia. The end of September through to mid-October are peak times and if the weather conditions are right, over 100,000 raptors can pass over the special watch points in a single day. So far this year a million birds of prey have been counted. Each year official counters, all volunteers, count the birds passing overhead. It is an amazing spectacle which I was lucky to be able to witness this year for the first time on a ten day trip to this wonderful country. 

                        The birds gather up in huge "kettles" as the thermals give them enough lift to rise over the mountains and move south. Black Kites are the most numerous birds but buzzards, several species of eagle, harriers, hawks, falcons and storks are also regular travellers, while Beeaters fill their air with their calls as they pass over in their hundreds. Identifying the different species of raptor as they move over at height is a real challenge to the relative novice like me but the watch points attract lots of birders from all over the world and there is always someone to help. Real rarities are greeted with loud shouts............"Crested Honey Buzzard close, look left !" "Steppe Eagle over the third peak, distant, now!"

A kettle of  Black Kites gathering overhead

One of several Red-footed Falcons

Colourful Beeaters are a constant delight, passing south in their hundreds

Honey Buzzards are very common too, migrating in their thousands

 One of many Booted Eagles seen

A rare Crested or Oriental Honey Buzzard which may have flown from Siberia

raptor watching can be hard on the neck... 

I travelled with a Georgian company, Batumi Birding, in a small group with our own excellent guide, Dachi. We spent a week between the two special watch points and other good birding spots in the area before moving north up into the mountains near Mestia for some of the country's other really special birds. This was my second birding trip to the country. Thank you Georgia.

 

A Short-toed or Snake Eagle. This one flew past at eye level.

Raptor enthusiasts come from all over Europe and beyond

This birding is hard graft........who said this was going to be a holiday

 !