The first 100,000
We have now been counting for 12 days and yesterday we passed the first milestone of the season: we have counted the first 100,000 birds! The start of the season has been everything but standard this autumn. Species diversity is already quite high and some species are unusually numerous. Whether this will continue to be the case for the rest of the season will remain to be seen, but the start so far has been very promising. Read the descriptions of the photos below for some highlights.
Season Highlights (August 17th - August 28th)
High numbers of Black Kites
Juvenile Black Kite. Photo by Bart Hoekstra.
At the time of writing, we've already counted 7500 Black Kites, with hourly averages much higher than the usual 5-10 birds.
Early Pallid Harriers
Immature Pallid female (left) and immature Pallid male (right). Photos by Frits Hoogeveen (left) and Bart Hoekstra (right).
We're already getting good numbers of Pallid Harriers on most days. Contrary to other seasons, many of the birds are still moulting their feathers while on migration. Is this early migration, before finishing the moult cycle, a sign of bad conditions up north?
Early Imperial Eagle
Immature Imperial Eagle. Photo by Frits Hoogeveen.
We had our first Imperial Eagle of the season already on the 21st of August. The earliest previous record was from the 2nd of September, 2013.
White Storks
A large flock of White Storks. Photo by Bart Hoekstra.
One — for the bottleneck — massive flock of White Storks, totalling 423 birds, just 160 birds shy of our season average.
Impressive numbers of MonPals
Juvenile Montagu's Harrier. Photo by Bart Hoekstra.
We counted more than 1000 ‘MonPals’ on the 24th of August, one of our best days ever.
A gull
An adult Pallas' Gull flew right over the heads of many counters on the 23rd of August. Many bimbo-bells rung that moment!
Improvements to Station 2
Photo by Triin Kaasiku.
The beginning of the season has been dry and hot so cloudy moments like this on Station 2 are much welcome. The new tarp frame, funded by the department of tourism, functions perfectly!
5 Reasons why you should NOT participate in Batumi Raptor Count
Since 2008, in a decade of counts, over 300 volunteers have participated in the annual Batumi Raptor Count. This year, the 11th count is held, which runs from August 17th until October 16th of 2018. Despite the positive stories you may have heard from volunteers or visitors, participation in the count or coming as a visitor is not without some drawbacks! In the spirit of transparency, we have listed the most frequently encountered problems participants face during and after their stay.
1. Watching raptors won’t ever be the same again
You could be lucky enough to see an Imperial Eagle flying 20 meters past the station. Maybe you can even hear the wind move through its feathers. Photo by John Wright.
Those fantastic days of raptor migration in your home country or in other migration hotspots? They will forever pale in comparison with what you experience in the Batumi bottleneck. Every single Honey Buzzard you see will bring back the good memories of seeing 50,000+ migrate on a single day; every harrier will remind you of the sun rising in a sky scattered with Marsh, Montagu’s and Pallid harriers; every eagle… well, you get the point. By participating, you risk becoming forever spoiled with experiencing migration of more than a million birds and around 30 species in a period of only 2 months.
A kettle of Honey Buzzards disappearing in the clouds, a regular sight in the Batumi bottleneck. Photo by Bart Hoekstra.
2. Painful fingers
At BRC we like to count birds so much, we count them one at a time! Our trusty clickers keep track of the numbers, while the most important thing counters have to do is move their fingers at the pace of birds crossing the transect line. A calm but continuous click-click-click-click is the resulting background sound throughout the day… That is until migration breaks loose and the calm clicking turns into a frenzy of rattling counters all over the station. The upshot? You will physically be able to feel the intensity of migration. The downside? Your fingers will end up hurting and we cannot guarantee you won’t develop temporary RSI-like symptoms. Imagine clicking streams of birds like in the video below, but for hours on end on all sides of the stations:
3. We don't count everything
At BRC we have made the decision to focus on a few key species for the bottleneck. Our aim is to count those species really well, instead of counting all species badly. These tens of thousands of Bee-Eaters flying by? All these Hobbies, Common and Lesser Kestrels? These Long-legged Buzzards or Alpine Swifts? Painful, maybe, but you will just have to enjoy them. Instead, we’ll keep you busy identifying, sexing and ageing our target species at a rapid pace. This should provide plenty of entertainment and learning experience for even the most hardcore of counters.
Yeah, you'll just have to enjoy those. Photo by Romain Riols.
A publication about the recent trends in abundance and migration timing of juveniles and non-juveniles from 10 years of standardized counts is currently under review. Keep an eye out on our website or Facebook page for an announcement when it has been published.
4. (Almost) Every day is the same
Clicking these clickers, scanning the sky through the binoculars and identifying species by scope. All. Day. Long. Photo by Martha Mutiso.
Every single day, except for the one day a week in which you have a day off, will look like this: You wake up an hour before sunrise, prepare your stuff and have breakfast. A delicious lunch prepared by the host families will be waiting for you to take to the station. Then, from sunrise until 2 hours before sunset you will be counting birds in a standardized fashion, independent of weather conditions. When you return to the guesthouse, tired but satisfied, families will provide a dinner full of Georgian delicacies, after which you’re free to do as you like.
Doing the same thing every day ensures we run a smooth count, even if tens of thousands of Honey Buzzards pass by. Video by Triin Kaasiku.
All we can offer to break the daily slur, besides the birds you’ll be seeing, is 1 day off per week in which you can explore the region (or sleep), a very international group of like-minded birders from all experience levels, a pleasant atmosphere, regular evening presentations to get to know the raptor species and each other, drinks in the Green Cafe and the occasional team visits to the nearby beach.
5. You may come back again… and again…
Sunrise from station 1. The calm before the storm in a landscape you won't quickly forget. Photo by Triin Kaasiku.
The birds, the people, the country, the food, there are plenty of reasons to come back one more time. And many participants do come back as counter or coordinator, time and again, despite the hardships described above. It is quite likely you will plan to come again next autumn the moment you have ended your stay and leave Georgia for your home country. Consider this before you plan to come only once.
So what?
If after reading this you still think you want to participate, you can read more and apply here . But… you have been warned!
This blog originally appeared on the website of OSME, the Ornithological Society of the Middle East, the Caucasus and Central Asia.
Unexpected plumage: immature Honey Buzzard
The BRC 2017 autumn count is a season of anniversary for which we receive many surprises! After getting 4 Eleonora’s Falcons, which is a higher total than all Eleonora’s we got since 2008, and the 1st Pallas’s Gulls actively migrating, an experienced counter of the team, John Wright, spotted on the 17th of September a European Honey Buzzard with an unusual shape during a day of slow migration. After taking pictures, a quick examination revealed very promising moult pattern.
The European Honey Buzzard Pernis apivorus is the most common raptor species migrating through Batumi bottleneck, with an average of 520.000 individuals counted per autumn. Peak-days regularly reach the bar of 100.000 birds. The record peak-day for the BRC is even higher, with an unforgettable 179.342 Honey Buzzards counted on 3rd September 2012.
So why do we show so much enthusiasm for a single of these birds? It appears that all Honey Buzzards spend their first year(s) of life in Africa. This long-distance migrant comes back to Europe once it reached the age of breeding. Despite this general rule few exceptions exist. There are a couple of known spring records here and there around the Mediterranean basin and some discussions about them (see Corso 2012, Pannucio and Agostini 2012). To our knowledge there are no claimed records of immature European Honey Buzzards in autumn, or at least no documented ones. This picture taken by Dr John is a rare opportunity to give a close look at what Honey Buzzards look like during the autumn of their 2nd calendar year.
First, the global appearance of the bird is striking because flight feathers show a clear contrast between worn and abraded juvenile feathers and freshly moulted adult-type feathers (detailed in Forsman’s book). This is totally unusual for autumn Honey Buzzards, unless you observe a bird with a damaged plumage.
2cy Honey Buzzard, Batumi, 17th September 2017. Photo by John Wright.
Another view of the bird showing the different feather generations.
2cy Honey Buzzard, Batumi, 17th September 2017. Photo by John Wright.
Here are examples of juvenile birds with damaged plumage that can be mistaken for 2cy birds if not watched closely. They show what is called fault bars, which are gaps in feathers that originate because of a lack of nutrition at the time that part of the feather was formed. The lack of nutrition during growth causes the barbs in that part of the feather to be very weak, such that quickly abrade, giving the feathers a strange appearance.
Juvenile Honey Buzzard showing fault bars, Batumi 2012. Photo by Aki Aintila.
Juvenile Honey Buzzard, Batumi 2012. Photo by Maël Sinoir.
Plumage description
The wing flight-feathers show various moult progress. Primaries show freshly moulted P1-5 and growing P6, while P7-10 are juvenile type. The juvenile outer fingers show a sharp contrast between dark fingers and white basis of the feather, which is a good tip to separate juveniles from tricky juvenile-like females. The pattern of newly moulted primaries suggest that the bird is a female. These feathers show a dark trailing edge combined with 3 rather broad bars spread across the feather, the outermost bar being close to the dark tip of the feather.
Secondaries are mostly of juvenile type, except the outermost of the right wing and the 2 outermost of the left wing which are freshly moulted. The juvenile type secondaries are typical of young Honey Buzzards, showing a bulging shape, being dark and showing 3 evenly spaced broad bars, lacking the dark trailing edge that most adults show.
The tail shape is also rather unique, with fresh inner and outer tail-feathers contrasting with pale brown juvenile feathers which are shorter because of abrasion. The new tail-feathers pattern is also in favour of a female bird, with a dark tip less solid than in males combined to 2 brown bars.
The head and upper breast are moulted, contrasting with the light brown belly and underwing coverts where few feathers are fresh, giving a mottled aspect to the bird. The iris was a dull yellowish-ochre and not as clean and bright as an adult and the bill was generally dull grey apart from a hint of pale yellowish at the base.
Let’s hope this record will bring some more attention on immature plumages of Honey Buzzards!
For more information check:
Corso, A, Pannucio, M & N. Agostini. 2012. The status of second-calendar-year Honey-Buzzards in Europe. British Birds 105(8): 484-486.
Forsman, D. 2016. Flight Identification of Raptors of Europe, North Africa and the Middle East. Bloomsbury.