Youth exchange in Chorokhi delta
Final exposure event of the Youth exchange, protecting the Chorokhi delta. There will be an exhibition on the delta and its importance for birds. Georgian, Armenian and Belgian youngsters are working together on bird paintings, info panels, a documentary, birdwatching map and much more.
Everyone welcome to see for themselves, saturday 17/09/2016 at 2pm at the entrance arch of the Chorokhi delta (Akhalsopheli, close to the petrol station)!
Thanks to all who have contributed to make this exchange to a success. Thank you partner DRONI (Georgia), Young Biologist association (Armenia) and Jeugdbond voor Natuur en Milieu (Belgium). And thanks to Erasmus+ YIA and OSME for the generous support.
Erasmus+ youth exchange in Batumi, Georgia
This is a Erasmus+ Youth in Action Project, funded by the European Commission, and in cooperation with JNM (Belgium) and YBA (Armenia)
Batumi Raptor Count is hosting a youth exchange in 2016 and we want you to be part of it!
Are you Georgian with an interest in birds and nature conservation, and you are between 18 and 30 years old, read on an APPLY HERE!
During a BRC youth camp you will enjoy countless hours in the field with young biologists and environmentalists from across the world in a nice group of young people from your (neighboring) country. We invite you to learn more about the birds and animals that live in the Caucasus together with us, to discover what kinds of problems they face and what we can do to give them a better future! We welcome all Georgian youngsters to apply!
When? 5 – 18 September 2016 (excluding travel days)
Who? This camp is open to Georgian, Armenian and Belgian applicants of 18-30 years of age. We will accept a total of 20 youngsters, 8 of each country.
What? Be aware because this unique exchange will take you to Batumi on the Black Sea coast of Georgia. Above the subtropical hills surrounding Batumi a yearly returning spectacle of nature takes place: every autumn hundred thousands Birds of prey migrate over Batumi.
Together with like minded youngsters from Belgium, Georgia and Armenia, we will indulge ourselves during this intensive camp into the raptor migration spectacle, and strive for the protection of birds. One key area we will focus on is the Chorokhi delta on the Black Sea, a river mouth wetland complex important as a stopover-site for birds, that is threatened by several different development plans and by hunting. Through different trajectories (eg. a documentary, a hiking map of the delta, constructing birdwatchinghides…) we will showcase the importance of the delta.
Apart from nature protection and birding, cultural exchange and discovery of the region are central. Together with our Belgian, Georgian and Armenian comrades we will join the activities of BRC (raptor counting, bird ringing), well do sport- and cooking contests and we’ll go for a hike through the Georgian wilderness. We interact with the local community and try to discover the different perspectives on hunting and raptors. It’s crucial to be open for different opinions: the goal is to understand, not to judge.
This youth exchange is not a traditional holiday. There’s more initiative expected from you, but you’ll get a great experience in return!
Are you keen to join? Georgian candidates (between 18 and 30 yrs old) can subscribe by sending in your motivation using this form!
* There is room for 9 Georgians. Good knowledge of English is required. Participants with experience in birding or environmental awareness are favorite, experience with bird ringing or filming experience will be prioritized.
** This youth exchange is free of charge. All costs are paid, for accommodation, excursions and transport.
The Belgian National Agency for Youth in Action, JINT, kindly funded this project.
Practical organization
All participants will be hosted in guest houses of local families who are working closely with the BRC in the village of Sakhalvasho in the Kobuleti district, near Batumi Georgia. We will spend some nights in Gonio as well, and in Mtirala national park. You will live together with other participants and we will have group dinners and evening activities, also with the many international volunteers that are counting birds with BRC, either in the village or out in Batumi city. All accommodation, food and local transportation will be arranged for you. There will be plenty of occasions during which you have the time to buy personal goods, a souvenir for back home or simply to enjoy the city.
Very good practical information about how to reach our project is available here.
The group of Belgian youngsters will travel for more than 80h with public transport through Eastern Europe and Turkey until Batumi! They choose not to travel by plane to reduce the impact of their journey on the environment.
Financial arrangements
BRC covers all costs for accommodation and food for all participants during their stay. Students are expected to book their own transportation to travel to and from Batumi. 100% of your transportation costs will be reimbursed at the end of exchange in Batumi.
We ask all participants to travel via train or bus as the cheapest and least polluting forms of transportation. This also applies for Belgian participants.
All applications must be submitted via the online application form. If you have problems using the form please contact us at contact@batumiraptorcount.org.
With more than 70 students joining in youth projects at Batumi over the past 5 years, BRC has all the experience you want to give you an unforgettable experience with the millions of birds traveling by the Black Sea coast! We offer you a varied and exciting program with a lot of fun outdoor activities and a great intercultural experience with young people from all over the Caucasus and the rest of the world.
We hope to see very many of you enjoying the beautiful nature and epic bird migration of Batumi together with us very soon!
Global Shorebird Counting
Between 2-6 september 2016 the annual global shorebirds count is taking place.
This initiative, revolving around the World Shorebirds Day, is one we like to empower, as we think the conservation of all birds is important, not only raptors.
The youth exchange with youngsters from Belgium, Armenia and Georgia will put the importance of the Chorokhi Delta for shorebirds in the picture, with a public event on the 5th of september. Feel free to join them!
If you can't make it there, you can also follow them online. They will share their sightings on georgia.observado.org and on ebird.com. A report of their endeavors will appear here as well.
But even better, we encourage everyone in Batumi and Georgia to go out, and count in an area that holds shorebirds nearby! https://worldshorebirdsday.wordpress.com/globalshorebirdcounting/
Season take off - get ready for the peaks
It was a calm start, yes, totally calm. Only few birds passed the stations putting us in disbelief about migration ways but never doubt the birds, they will certainly come. A few first days with a few hundred birds brought us enough calm moments to prepare the migration count, the facilities, the good mood among the team. An untypical time for harriers as they flew through in numbers particularly far below the average. Doubt increased when we started counting the early morning on station 2, which we organized only for the early morning harrier migrants. And then - almost nothing.
Eventually we sighted streams of Honey Buzzards - the expected moment - the expected witnessing seemed to overcome us. 27th and 28th August we counted 20.000 and 50.000 on day already. Along with nice passerines migration with Tree Pipits, Ortolans, Short-toed Larks, Crossbills, Orioles, first Bee-eaters, we had nice numbers, nice sightings, and no doubt anymore, that more will come.
Some cloudy days brought waders: Ruffs, Greenshank, Wood Sandpiper, Tereks in the Delta, and 4 dark morph Arctic Skuas in station 2!!! Fantastic observation.
Eagles made our days in the beginning with a good start of 18 Steppe Eagles mostly adult, and 5 Lesser Spotted Eagles.
Very nice insects migration in the first days, mostly Sympetrum fonscolombii with hundreds if not thousands of individuals. Other nice insect, Hyles livornica (Striped Hawk-moth) feeding during the day in station 2.
And then on 29th August the awaited peak day came and brought as tons of birds to count.
Honey Buzzard: 58.000
Montagu's Harrier: 449
MonPalHen: 623
Pallid Harrier: 2
Marsh Harrier: 80
Roller: 84
and more birds. See all counts on our migration count data page.
The team is great, hardcore clickers. Good to see some guys coming back year after year, like John or Gabriel. Nice to catch back with the families as well.