BRC Autumn Count 2020 Cancelled
Dear BRC-enthusiasts,
It is with a heavy heart that we have to inform you that we are cancelling the BRC autumn count for 2020 due to the ongoing covid19 pandemic. While some of you may have been expecting this announcement, we realize that many of you were probably still hoping for the project to be able to take place this year. However, after careful deliberation within the BRC team, with various funders, and with our beloved hosts in Georgia, we believe this drastic decision, no matter how sad or disappointing, is the only responsible action we can take at this stage of the pandemic. The BRC prides itself in taking an evidence-based approach in all aspects of our work, and currently all the available evidence suggests that running an autumn count would involve unacceptable risks for our volunteers, as well as our host families and communities in Georgia.
Clearly this is one of the hardest decisions we have ever had to make in the history of the BRC project, and we did not take it lightly. Besides losing a year in our long-term monitoring effort, we will also have to cancel some long-awaited education and conservation projects for which we obtained funding this year. However, losing one year of data in our time series is a sacrifice worth making to ensure the safety of our participants and hosts. Moreover, our decision to cancel autumn activities is fully supported by our host families, project partners and funders of our new education and conservation projects, including the BBCT, the OSME Conservation Fund, the BirdLife Netherlands IJsvogelfonds, and the WWF Netherlands Innofonds. We are grateful for the solidarity shown by all stake-holders.
We want to emphasize that the decision to cancel the count is final, even if international travel will be permitted to a limited extent from early summer onwards. Besides our concerns regarding safety, it is simply not possible to adequately prepare an international count team at the moment. We have considered running the autumn count with a smaller team. However, even with such a team it would be difficult to maintain adequate social distancing in our project, to guarantee our participants do not import the coronavirus to our host communities, or to guarantee that our volunteers would not get stuck in Georgia if another outbreak occurs in autumn. Proceeding with the count under the current conditions would also bring a serious financial risk for our small volunteer-based NGO in case the count needs to be stopped halfway. These are risks we are simply not willing to take.
Despite this being a very hard decision, we feel strengthened by our belief that you, our members and followers, will understand and continue to support us through these hard times. After all, Batumi will continue to be an amazing destination for birding and ecotourism. And most importantly, we are optimistic that by swallowing this bitter pill now we will help to heal the world as fast as possible, and to ensure that we can resume our work in 2021. When that happens, we'll make sure to make it an unforgettable year, including an awesome spring and autumn count, as well as exciting new education and conservation projects.
For now we hope you will continue to enjoy our regular updates on the ongoing spring count in Georgia. We thank you all for your understanding and support, and wish you and your loved ones all the best in the coming months.
Gaumarjos,
The BRC Team
Spring Count Update
After 3.5 weeks of counting it is time for a little update on how things are going in the first ever official spring count in Batumi.
Black Kites in front of the Batumi skyline. Photo by Diego Jansen.
Where to start? Well, let's start with the beginning of the day: unlike in autumn, where you are woken up by just the sound of the local rooster calling, in spring he's joined by a choir of feathered friends. Next to our lovely guesthouse a male Common Redstart (samamisicus, the Caucasian subspecies) has his territory, which he shares with a Semicollared Flycatcher, both nice birds to see before you’ve even had your breakfast. After a good Georgian breakfast we head up to our spring station, which is situated just behind Station 1, our main counting station during the autumn. From there we have a good view of the incoming birds from the south.
Photo compilation of a Black Kite catching small insects while mid-air and on migration. Photo by Diego Jansen.
During the first few weeks the day usually started with a decent stream of Black Kites flying over the sea! Quite a surprising route, as you would expect them to avoid flying over this type of surface due to the lack of thermals. From the data of GPS-tagged kites and from our own observations we have seen that they often fly over the Batumi bay; instead of following the coastline they simply take the shortest route north, which happens to go over the sea for quite a while. Flying over the sea comes with a benefit though, as kites are known to be great at catching fish. We have actually observed them catching fish while migrating. Eat your heart out Osprey! But the hunting doesn't stop at the water's edge. On multiple days we have observed Black Kites catching small insects while they were flying over the station, actively changing direction and swooping in order to catch the bugs. Amazing behaviour, not observed during the autumn count, probably due to lack of available prey, or perhaps because the southbound route provides them with other available food sources? Who knows. Apart from this very interesting migration strategy the numbers are also mind-blowing. With a peak day of 41.000+ black kites, we have beaten our autumn record not only for the peak day but also for the season total number: as of the 14th of April we have counted over 190.000 Black Kites, and more are yet to come. The 200K mark is within hands’ reach!
Sometimes you don’t need to go to the botanical garden to see one: photo compilation of a Krüper’s Nuthatch visiting the Sakhalvasho station. Photo by Diego Jansen.
It goes without saying that the Black Kites are not the only raptors migrating. They are accompanied by the usual suspects: Steppe Buzzards, Marsh Harriers, and Lesser Spotted Eagles. However, two relatively rare partners have joined the journey as well: from the station we saw a Golden Eagle and a Cinereous Vulture moving north together with the kites and buzzards. On another afternoon, two young Imperial Eagles decided to put on a show, with one trying to steal prey from the other, occasionally interlocking their talons and spiralling down towards the ground. Never a dull moment in Batumi. And when the raptors are not present, we are kept company by a Sardinian Warbler, only the third record in Georgia. Perhaps the species is much overlooked in autumn but easy to find in spring? Other passerines have also come to greet us on the station: we had a visit from a Red-breasted Flycatcher, Ortolan Buntings, and a Krüper’s Nuthatch, the latter being a much sought-after species here in Batumi. The air around us is also filled with passerines and other small migrating birds. Imagine the summer sound of screaming swifts while counting a stream of Black Kites. Spring is the time of the year!
Short-toed Eagle passing by closely. Photo by Diego Jansen.
Light-morph Booted Eagle. Photo by Diego Jansen.
In autumn adult Black Storks don’t look this neat anymore. Photo by Diego Jansen.
As for the other monitored species, the numbers are trailing a little behind the numbers we count during the autumn count still. Some might take a different route when flying towards their breeding grounds, while others have yet to arrive. The most anticipated of them is of course the main star of the the Batumi show: the Honey Buzzard. In autumn we count roughly 500.000 of them, but in spring we expect they may show up in even bigger numbers. Some counters have even placed a bet for 800.000! Not sure what to expect, but it will be a spectacular event without a doubt.
To be able to count this many birds we need a solid team present, and the good news is that we are still looking for people to add to the current group. So, if you want to take part in migration count history, do not hesitate, and join us in writing this new chapter of the Batumi Raptor Count.
Written by Diego Jansen & Katharine Khamhaengwong
Pioneering pilot spring count in Batumi 2019
Spring migration in Batumi? We would love to show you what that looks like, but we don’t really know. All we know for certain is that birds will be going in the opposite direction, somewhat like in the video below. But how many? And when? No idea.
During the last 11 years we have collected an immense amount of data about autumn migration in the Batumi bottleneck, but what happens in spring remains largely unknown. This is the knowledge gap we intend to fill in spring 2019.
If pioneering a pilot spring count would be something you would like to do, please contact us via volunteer@batumiraptorcount.org and we will get back to you with more detailed information.
PS. As this is a pilot count, there will be much fewer people on the station with no official team of coordinators present. Hence, each counter has more responsibilities and should preferably (though not necessarily) have previous experience with (raptor) migration counts. Contrary to our autumn counts, there is no strict minimum or maximum number of days you can join us.
EDIT April 6th, 2019: The spring count is fully underway. We are still in need of volunteers (especially from halfway April onwards). If you just want to see the season totals, have a look at our live migration count data.
EDIT April 14th, 2019: The first spring count update has been published. We are still — urgently — looking for volunteers to cover the period from halfway April onwards, during which we expect thousands of Montagu’s Harriers and hundreds of thousands of Honey Buzzards.