Already 400K raptors during the 3rd and final Spring Count
The 3rd pilot Spring Count is already halfway through, we have been counting for one and a half months and have already counted 400k raptors this season.
A classic spring view: Black Kites in front of the Batumi skyline. Photo by Marc Heetkamp.
For the first three weeks weather conditions were bad with heavy snowfall, which made counting difficult. But in the short periods without rain and snow, we were still able to count some raptors and enjoy the passerines around the station. From the 21st of March on, the weather finally started to clear up and migration was on! And with the still cold and snowy surroundings -we were standing in 30cm of snow- the increasing number of raptors made up for it. We were counting thousands of Black Kites and Steppe Buzzards and lots of large eagles. And even saw insane numbers of Imperial Eagle (26), Greater Spotted Eagle (53) and Short-toed Eagle (204) in a day! What makes these kinds of numbers (and in general raptor migration) even more enjoyable is the close fly-bys paired with great light conditions from the snow, which makes for wonderful views and photos. Towards the end of March, we were counting 20k+ raptors a day (most of them Black Kites), often in messy streams in every distance code. That is the Spring Count for you, thousands of birds to count by only a few counters. But that was nothing compared to the 1st of April, when we counted 56k+ raptors! Black Kites and Steppe Buzzards everywhere, massive kettles and streams everywhere. To count this big mess is a challenge, but our counters thrived on the chaos and adrenaline and managed just fine (of course we counted a lot of medium raptors).
An unusual white bird in an unusually white landscape. A Short-toed Eagle making its way through the snowy bottleneck. Photo by Marc Heetkamp.
It's now almost halfway April and we are still counting over 10k raptors a day and even found 4 Rough-legged Buzzards this season (2 in one day on April 9)! The snow is gone, flowers are starting to bloom, butterflies are flying around, and passerines have started to sing: spring is here!
Red-breasted Flycatcher. Photo by Marc Heetkamp.
Bugle. Photo by Elien Hoekstra.
Semi-collared Flycatcher. Photo by Marc Heetkamp.
We still have over 1 month to go, and we are eagerly waiting to see what more is to come. After this third and final pilot Spring Count we will process all our spring migration data and we plan to publish these results in the near future.