Spring Report 2020

Tohar Tal

After more than a decade of autumn counts, we fulfilled the long-held wish to organise a spring migration count in the Batumi bottleneck in 2019. While anecdotal evidence suggested substantial numbers of birds were using the bottleneck on their northbound migration, we had no idea of the true magnitude of spring migration. Despite a great season and truly feeling like pioneers again, we could not help but to be surprised by the comparatively ‘low’ numbers of birds using the bottleneck in spring. In the 3 months between March 21st and May 31st we counted ‘only’ 460,000+ raptors, less than half of that in autumn, with record-breaking numbers of Black Kites and surprisingly low numbers of Honey Buzzards. But was that a consistent difference between spring and autumn, or just a coincidence? There was only one way to figure that out and that’s how we found ourselves running another spring count in 2020.

The spring count is still in its pilot phase. This means that we want to gather as much data as possible about raptor migration in spring through the Batumi Bottleneck. The gathered information will help us decide if it’s useful to create a standardized yearly spring count, similar to autumn.

At the start of the 2019 spring count raptors were already migrating in substantial numbers. As we are interested in phenology, we prefer to start and end our monitoring when migration is slow, to be more certain we cover the ‘bulk’ of the raptor migration. Therefore, we started the 2020 spring count on the 1st of March (vs. the 21st in 2019), to cover more of the migration period of certain large eagles and Hen Harriers. Similarly, as the last weeks of the 2019 season had been incredibly slow, we moved the final date of our monitoring efforts forward from the 31st to the 25th of May. We used the same counting site as last year, an open area on the ridge behind station 1 in Sakhalvasho.

On the 29th of February our team of three counters was ready to kick off the season. Unfortunately, heavy rains throughout the first day prevented us from even starting the count. The next day the weather was good, so the first count of the 2020 spring season was on!

During the first week of the count the pace of migration was slow but it was a pleasure to be on station nevertheless. After a mostly ‘raptorless’ winter, a trickle of Steppe Buzzards and an almost daily adult Imperial Eagle totally does the trick in the beginning. For real entertainment one had to look over the Black Sea though, as hundreds of thousands of gulls spend their winter there. In the mornings the, mostly, Black-headed Gulls would be resting in large flocks on the sea. Through the afternoon these flocks often started to move around creating beautiful shapes while flying back and forth between Batumi and the Chorokhi Delta.

While the number of birds counted per day remained rather low, the opposite was happening to the temperature on station. Usually, according to the locals, the weather in March is cold and wet, but this year proved to be quite different. During the first two weeks of the count we had blue skies and sun every day, pushing temperatures to 28 degrees Celsius already in the second week of March.

By this time more and more news was reaching us about the ongoing pandemic. We realised that difficult decisions had to be made and on the 14th of March we announced, with pain in our hearts, that all volunteers for the spring count had to cancel their trip. The count continued with our team of five people that was already present.

One of these five counters was Aslan Bolkvadze, a local conservationist, who stayed with us for the entire season. With the support of OSME he was able to join us for the entire spring count to develop his leadership skills in our monitoring work as well as our new education program. Unfortunately we had to cancel the educational activities for this spring entirely due to the COVID-19 restrictions.

After all the hot weather and difficult decisions, we got a very welcome cool down on the 17th of March. When we woke up, the whole village and its surroundings were covered with snow! How amazing to experience this during the count!

Another surprise quickly followed when the 4th Black-winged Kite (ssp. vociferus) for Georgia flew past our station on the 19th of March. It is already the second observation during the BRC counts, after one individual was found during the 2019 autumn count.

This specialty seemed to be a sign that real migration was about to kick off! The following days the number of Marsh and Hen Harriers increased significantly and with the arrival of the Black Kites migration really came in full swing! They arrived in their thousands and compared to last year, when they migrated almost solely (far) in the west over sea, this season they preferred a more inland route. Often large kettles of kites could be seen above the mountains in the southeast and over Batumi in the southwest. These kettles would then stream out in different directions, some coming straight to our station and others moving more distant. This new way of flying made counting them slightly more complicated, mostly due to these further streams in both our east and our west. On the other hand, we had many days during the Black Kite peak period, when they would come low and very close to the station and you could even hear their wings flapping!

As if the Black Kites weren’t enough, loads of Short-toed Eagles arrived as well! On the 24th of March we had the third best day of Short-toed Eagle ever for the BRC with 263 birds counted. The day after, on the 25th,  we reached the 100.000 birds total for the spring season!

While celebrating the 100K the police and a health official from the local government showed up. They told us we weren’t allowed to leave the house or its property for the next four days due to COVID-19 quarantine measures. Given these new circumstances we had to come up with a plan to continue the count during these few days. We decided to put two people in the garden overlooking the west, two people on the balcony for the east and one person that could shift between the two depending on the birds.

This strategy worked out quite well because on the 27th of March we counted over 30.000 birds from the house! As usual, the bulk consisted of Black Kites and Steppe Buzzards, but on this day we also set a new Hen Harrier day record for BRC with 28 individuals counted!

The end of March had a couple of days with lots of rain and as a result no count and no raptors. Luckily, after rain always comes sunshine and in Batumi this often means a lot of birds! And indeed they came! On the last day of March we counted 50.000 birds, including good numbers of Pallid, Hen and Marsh Harriers.

The real bomb was dropped on the first of April when we counted a stunning 100.000 raptors! On this day we broke the world day record for Black Kites as we counted 47.405 of them! Joining the kites were 52.209 Steppe Buzzards and over 500 large eagles! We managed to count this with only five people in less than eight hours, a truly amazing day that we’ll never forget!

The following days it barely slowed down and we were getting used to working hard. For multiple days in a row we counted 30.000 raptors and there didn’t seem to come an end to the streams of Black Kites, Steppe Buzzards and large eagles. On the 3rd of April an adult Golden Eagle even casually passed our station.

Every day we went up to the station thinking ‘maybe we’ll have a slow day so we can just take it easy?!’ Clearly the birds had something else in mind because a week after the 100K, on the 8th of April, we had the biggest large eagle passage of the season! When the morning starts with Alpine Swifts and Red-rumped Swallows flying around the station, you know it’s going to be a good day. And what a day it was! We had no less than 10 Imperial Eagles (all second calendar years), 200+ Lesser Spotted Eagles, 46 Greater Spotted Eagles, 16 Steppe Eagles and as a finishing touch a White-tailed Eagle. On top of the large eagles we also recorded the highest number (234) of Booted Eagles for the season, not forgetting the 30.000 Steppe Buzzards.

Soon after this spectacle we reached the HALF A MILLION birds total for the season! A real milestone for the Batumi Spring Count! The cherry on this well-deserved cake was a second calendar year Golden Eagle that flew by, the second individual this spring!

During our time on the mountain, counting birds every day, a lot was happening in the world and in Georgia because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Of course we realised that  the count could come to an early end at any moment, but luckily for us Georgia was, and currently still is, handling the situation extremely well with strict measures for the whole country. For a long time the five biggest cities, including Batumi, were closed for cars. Due to this, and the global flight restrictions, two of our counters who planned to leave in March and April decided to stay until further notice.

In April we got the chance to enjoy some new species for the season since more and more summer birds were arriving. We could hear and see Ortolan Buntings on station, Red-breasted Flycatchers were everywhere in the village and occasionally a Semicollared Flycatcher showed up. Our enjoyment of the passerines was combined with the joy of breaking the all-time Black Kite season record for the BRC once again! We ended up with a dizzying total of 282.816 birds for the season!

Spring was complete when, under the lovely sound of Bee-eaters, the first Honey Buzzards arrived on the 17th of April. A week later the Levant Sparrowhawks joined them as well, unfortunately the number of the latter species stayed low throughout the season.

During the spring count of 2019 one of the species that really stood out due to its absence was the Montagu’s Harrier. Last year their total didn’t reach above 56, this year we counted slightly more as our total number reached 180. The first bird passed our station already on the 3rd of April, but it took a long time before they ‘’peaked’’ with 89 birds on April 23rd. Either way this number doesn’t come close at all to the thousands of Montagu’s Harriers we count every autumn. It is very likely this species uses a different migration route in spring, which route this is we have yet to find out.

Getting into late April things started to slow down a bit. Fortunately we were kept sharp by two specialties in a row. On April the 24th a Cinereous Vulture passed our station four times on the same day, it just went back and forth while coming closer and closer! Two days later the third Golden Eagle of the season was picked up in the far east, again a second calendar year bird!

An intermezzo

Spring birding in the Chorokhi Delta

The Chorokhi Delta is a famous place among all birdwatchers visiting Georgia. It is an excellent birding spot due to the high variety of biotopes: bushes, dry and wet grassland, marshes, a boulder plain, a river mouth and the seashore. This makes the delta an important stopover site for migrants such as waders, ducks, terns and passerines. Since the delta is barely over 200 hectares and located just south of Batumi it’s very easily accessible. For BRC counters the delta is a great get away on a day off, so of course we also visited the area a couple times this spring.

The first time we visited the delta was in early March. Migration of most (passerine) species still had to start so we depended on wintering birds. We made our way to the coastline where thousands of Black-necked Grebes and hundreds of Black-throated Divers were awaiting us! In the air we could see Arctic Skuas chasing gulls. Less abundant, and often further offshore, were the Yelkouan Shearwaters spicing up the mixture of birds.

Our next visit to the delta was a month later, on the 10th of April, when migration was in full swing! Besides the Yellow Wagtails of various subspecies being all over the place, Citrine Wagtails and Red-throated Pipits really stole the show with their plumage. The fact that almost all species are in full breeding plumage in spring adds up to the whole experience! Birds are such beauties in spring! At the little ponds near the sea, we heard and saw Moustached Warblers everywhere! Just one small patch of reed held over fifteen individuals!

Until the 5th of May we were only able to visit the delta once due to COVID-19 restrictions prohibiting cars to pass through Batumi. But this one day, in late April, was enough for the delta to prove itself! Once out of the car we were greeted by a flock of over a hundred Ortolan and Corn Buntings while being surrounded by bushes full of Barred Warblers. The real surprise was a caspius-Penduline Tit at the ponds! This Caspian subspecies is quite scarce in Georgia asit breeds north of the Caspian Sea and winters in Iran and Iraq. 

So far, we had very enjoyable days and saw many beautiful birds! Nevertheless, we were still waiting for a mega, as the delta is famous for being a magnet to rare birds.

On the 5th of May a rarity arrived in the form of a Greater Sand Plover! Even though this species breeds in east Turkey and is a common migrant along the Caspian Sea, there are very few records in Georgia. This individual was only the 3rd documented record for Georgia! Two days later some of our counters went to the delta again in the hope to refind the plover, and indeed, they did find one. However, after studying the plumage details in their pictures, it seemed they had found another individual! Making it the 4th documented record!

Altogether we spent some fantastic days in the delta! To everybody who’ll visit Georgia during spring time in the future; make sure to visit the Chorokhi Delta!

These specialties (Golden Eagle & Cinereous Vulture) turned out to be a good compensation for the Honey Buzzards, as their numbers disappointed again. The only peak day was on the 3rd of May with just over 10.000 birds. The season total got stuck at 43.567 birds, which is even less than half our total of last year (89.366 individuals).

Luckily a male Sardinian Warbler tried to keep us happy by singing for several days on station. This individual was only the 4th record for Georgia! Fun fact: last spring we found the 3rd individual, which was also singing on our station.

In May not only the bird species composition slowly changed, but also some of the Georgian COVID-19 measures were being relaxed. This made it easier to leave the country again, which made two of our counters decide to take this opportunity. On the 6th of May the moment arrived where it was time to say goodbye and continue the count until the end with the three remaining counters.

Soon after our two fellow counters left, the days became slower and slower. On the 9th of May we were lucky enough to have a couple thousand Honey Buzzards again, accompanied by a 100+ Lesser Spotted- and a few Greater Spotted Eagles. Not too bad! It was enough to give us some new energy for the following days!

One day later we saw the second Cinereous Vulture of the season! This large surprise was followed by a flock of nine small surprises passing our station, Turtle Doves! During the 2019 spring count this species wasn’t recorded at all and this year we counted only ten individuals in total, which is in stark contrast with the hundreds (to thousands) we see every autumn.

After these interesting days it slowed down again, meanwhile the sun was becoming brutal and temperatures started to rise very fast. Soon the days became very long and difficult. The lack of birds wasn’t an issue, we were able to amuse ourselves either way. The only problem was that being in the burning hot sun for the entire day doesn’t improve your health condition (and motivation) in any way. Since our improvised station lacked any kind of shade, nor the possibility to create it, we decided to use the new platform. This was the only way for us to be in the shadow during the day, luckily the view was good enough to count the few birds still coming through.

Although the daily number of birds dropped from a couple thousand to a couple hundred and sometimes even less, still there is one important factor that should never be forgotten: this is Batumi(!), where there’s always another surprise waiting for you! On the 17th of May we saw three Great White Pelicans in the far east going north. Though the views weren’t great, these are scarce birds in the Batumi region, so we were more than happy with this observation. Three days later, on the 20th,  three gigantic birds suddenly popped up in front of the station …  again (presumably the same) Great White Pelicans! These majestic birds were about to give an amazing show! First they circled in front of the Greater Caucasus, next up they flew to our overhead making a couple rounds right above us. Truly magnificent!

While we could feel that the end of season was getting near, we kept hope for maybe one more good day. Our hope wasn’t in vain! On the 22nd of May, while two out of three counters were in the delta, the Honey Buzzards decided that it was time for another small peak. With the 3433 Honey Buzzards counted it would have already been a reasonable day, but it really became excellent when a Crested Honey Buzzard showed up! It turned out to be the first and last individual of the season!

After this last good day, the season came to an early end, as it was raining almost constantly for the three remaining days. On the very last day, while rain was still pouring down, we made our way up to the station to collect our precious green chairs. Upon our arrival to the station we flushed a Honey Buzzard from its tree, making it officially the last bird of the season to pass the transect line!

Ultimately, we can look back at a wonderful and very interesting spring season. During this second edition of the pilot Batumi Spring Count we have counted 700.810 raptors in 638 hours. New records have been set for both Black Kites and Hen Harriers. Among the many raptors, multiple scarce species were recorded of which three Golden Eagles, two Cinereous Vultures, one Griffon Vulture, one Crested Honey Buzzard and of course the Black-winged Kite! Most important is that a lot of new data is obtained about raptor spring migration in the Batumi bottleneck.

We would like to give our special thanks to everyone that helped to make this project happen: the volunteers, even those that sadly enough could not make it; our lovely and always hospitable host family; OSME for their financial support; Tinatin Zoidze and the Tourism department of Batumi; Gerard Troost and www.trektellen.nl; last but not least all of our loyal followers on Trektellen and our social media channels!

Gaumarjos to all of you!

To continue monitoring migration, our education and conservation programmes in the Batumi bottleneck, we rely on the support of many volunteers, our members and donators. Want to support our work?