New publication: Egyptian Nightjar at the Chorokhi delta, Georgia and status in Europe
Egyptian Nightjar. Photo by Simon Cavaillès.
In August 2017 a BRC team (Jonas Schärer, Xu Shi and Jaime Escobar) observed an Egyptian Nightjar in the Chorokhi Delta which turned out to be the first national record. An article written by Jonas Schärer and Simon Cavaillès has just been released in Dutch Birding. They detail the Chorokhi observation and summarize all European observations of this nightjar species outside its breeding range.
MEGA: Egyptian Nightjar, new for Georgia
Volunteers from the BRC team visited Chorokhi Delta on their day off today and found an EGYPTIAN Nightjar on the beach. The bird was flushed by a shepherd dog and flew around observers, giving very close views. What a nice bird for the 10th anniversary of the BRC! And what a nice follow-up after the observation of a male Black-crowned Sparrow Lark in 2015 at the same place. Congrats to Jonas Schärer, Xu Shi and Jaime Escobar Toledo for this stunning bird...! This represents the first observation for Georgia, a new bird species on the country list!
Picture of the Egyptian Nightjar on the coastal strip at Chorokhi Delta, Gonio, near Batumi 26/08/2017 © Jonas Schärer
The next day(27/08/2017), another team visited the Delta today to give a try to the nightjar. The birding day was very rich, with high diversity and good birds. First, the Egyptian Nightjar was at the same place as yesterday, still sitting in the beach pebbles! We could get better pictures of the bird and enjoy close views of this more than unexpected species.
Picture of the Egyptian Nightjar, the next day, same place (Chorokhi Delta, Gonio, near Batumi) 27/08/2017 © Simon Cavailles
Picture of the Egyptian Nightjar, the next day, same place (Chorokhi Delta, Gonio, near Batumi) 27/08/2017 © Simon Cavailles
Also the Delta was literally filled with shrikes, wheatears and wagtails. Hundreds of them all over the place. Visiting this place before hunters invade the Delta is really enjoyable, it reveals the full birding potential. Some of the good species we could see were Booted Warbler (1), Rosy Starling (2), Purple Swamphen (2), Little Crake (4-8 individuals), Caspian Tern (1) and more. On the way back an Eastern Olivaceous Warbler in Batumi center was a nice cherry on top of the cake.
