Skip to content
See all results
A brooding sky over the fields of the Batumi migration bottleneck

2026 fundraising

Support

World-class migration monitoring soars or falls with your support!

Batumi Raptor Count is a non-profit organization that monitors the migration of raptors in the East African-Eurasian flyway. In our evermore hectic world there's little room and funding for in-depth and long-term monitoring. Nevertheless, with the support of generous donors we deliver unique data on the health of poorly known raptor populations. As a 100% volunteer-based organization, with a yearly fund of just €30.000, we can continue this cutting-edge citizen science project.

Funding for raptor monitoring in 2026

We are raising €30,000 for the 2026 edition of the Batumi Raptor Count. Help us reach this goal with a one-time or recurring donation.

For tax-deductible donations, see below.

Photo: Bart Hoekstra

Your support

What your support contributes towards

  • €500: Twenty days of transportation to station 2
  • €250: One Georgian participant covered for full volunteering period of 2 weeks
  • €100: One tablet for data entry or 2 x 4-bank tally counters
  • €50: Hosting 3 coordinators for 1 day in the count (or 1 for 3 days)
  • €10: A box of bonbons for the one yearly BRC meeting

Recent supporters

Thank you

Our work

This is where your contribution is used

Every donation feeds long-term monitoring, education and a growing flyway network. The numbers below are what your support has helped build since 2008.

Our impact

Counting for a purpose

1,000,000 +
raptors counted each autumn
18
years monitoring the bottleneck
510 +
volunteers since 2008
8
key species with detectable trends
100 %
open-access data & publications
Volunteers scanning the sky and counting migrating raptors at the Sakhalvasho station
Photo: Bart Hoekstra

Research & conservation

Migration counts as a vehicle for research & conservation

Since 2008 we monitor the raptor migration in the Batumi bottleneck, where over 1,000,000 migrating raptors pass every autumn. Our long-term, high-quality counts are published fully open access, and already reveal ecologically meaningful trends for 8 key species.

By housing counters in local guesthouses the project is rooted in the villages of Sakhalvasho and Shuamta, where growing ecotourism has helped illegal hunting decrease considerably.

See our work in full
A BRC volunteer teaching local schoolchildren about raptor migration and conservation

Education

Educating future generations

Education has been core to BRC from the start. Hundreds of local schoolchildren have visited the count stations and seen the world's appreciation for the birds passing over their home country.

We are now scaling up: working hand in hand with local teachers to set up ‘bird clubs’ in village schools, sharing ecology and conservation material and organising trips to the watch sites.

Counters and visitors gathered at a Batumi Raptor Count watch site

Flyway network

Building flyway connections

Beyond Batumi, we help connect migration monitoring across the East African–Eurasian Flyway, sharing our experience with a new generation of count leaders from the Black Sea region, the Middle East and Central Asia.

In 2024, with our long-term partner OSME, we launched the Flyway Monitoring Traineeship to strengthen this capacity building across a chronically underfunded flyway.

Donations via bank transfer

If you wish to donate via traditional bank transfer, please use the details below.

Name
Batumi Roofvogel Club
IBAN
NL08TRIO0198379056
BIC / SWIFT
TRIONL2U
Subject
Donation
Bank
Triodos Bank, Postbus 55, 3700 AB Zeist, The Netherlands

Donations and tax

Tax deductible donations

The Netherlands

BRC foundation has received ANBI/PBO status in The Netherlands. Dutch nationals can use the donation confirmation email as a tax receipt.

Belgium

Belgian nationals can donate to BRC through Natuurpunt vzw. Transfer your donation to the Natuurpunt Studie account BE12 2300 5247 4592 and mention "Gift BRC projectnummer F-02402". You will receive a tax receipt from Natuurpunt by the end of the year.

Other countries

We are working to make tax deductible donations available for other countries as well. If you could help us doing so, please contact us.

Stay in touch

Keep up with our work

There are two easy ways to follow our work: subscribe to our newsletter for a few bundled updates a year, or follow us on social media for news and highlights as the season unfolds. Of course, for the actual day-to-day results of our counts, the daily count updates are the place to go.

Sign up for our newsletter

We would like to keep donors informed on our work throughout the year. Sign up with your email address to receive news and updates from the BRC team a few times a year.

No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.

Follow our updates

From daily count highlights to behind-the-scenes moments at the bottleneck, we share the season as it happens. Follow along and never miss an update.