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Successful Batumi Bird Festival (1 Viewer)

johannesjansen

Well-known member
From the 3rd until the 8th September, a fantastic second edition of the Batumi Bird Festival took place in Batumi, Republic of Georgia. This event, at which we explored the different aspects of birding around Batumi during a 5 day program, was a great success. We had over 100 participants attending various activities, excursions and lectures. With a highly diverse set of nationalities, there was great interaction and atmosphere was warm. Both the participants staying at the BRC guesthouses and at the Oasis hotel had a comfortable stay. And with the opening of our new office in Batumi we established another landmark in BRC's history.

3 September 2013
Birding highlights included amazing Honey buzzard migration on the first day, with almost 50.000 individuals counted over station one alone. To see an impression for yourself, check the movie from this day on youtube, made by Zacke! Part of this flight was also observed by the other group, who was birding in the Chorokhi Delta. They had high quality views of flocks crossing the river mouth and gaining height over the fishponds. On the ground, excellent views were obtained on several Little Crakes and Broad-billed Sandpipers that were around, in addition to multiple other goodies like Glossy Ibis, Rosy Starling, Citrine Wagtails, Collared Pratincole, Lesser Grey Shrikes, Short-toed larks etc. A Corncrake that flushed in between the group was a lifer for a few. One group who birded the river bed even located a group of 4 Terek sandpipers.

A more in detail report from this day can be found on Tristan Reids blog.
Day two report follows tomorrow.
 

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The second day was very rainy, and raptor migration was likely to be slow. So it was decided to go sea-watching. From a beach club just north of Makhinjauri, we comfortably installed us on the sheltered terrace and watched what came in from the sea. It proved to be very productive: several Nightjars were seen flying in from the sea, surprisingly also one Scops Owl, and among the many gulls Armenian Gull was seen. When the rain became less, we headed to one of the best migrant songbird traps around, the Batumi peninsula. There, the Sea side park and harbour area proved full of migrants, worth to mention are Booted Warbler, Black-eared Wheatear , Golden Orioles, Hoopoes, Wryneck, Lesser Grey Shrike and flock of Night herons.

Read the more detailed day report by Tristan Reid here.
 

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The trip to Mtirala National park on the next day had good weather, and during the walk we focused on the stunning subtropical lush vegetation of this well protected botanical hotspot. Many of the plants encountered there are very range restricted. We also succeeded in locating the endemic Caucasian newt, and participants were lucky to observe the Krüper's Nuthatch.

Another group decided to stay in the village, and get up to the raptor watch point to see some migration. The weather was not perfect, but in the late morning it began to clear. Some passerines started to migrate, as Tristan reports: "a few Ortolans, Greater Short-toed Larks and a tree full or Golden Orioles were seen. As the weather became warmer, the first of the raptors appeared along the coastal strip below us. Marsh Harriers and Montagu’s Harriers appeared first and then there was a few small groups of Honey Buzzards. Black Kites appeared in small numbers as did a couple of Steppe Buzzards. A couple of Levant Sparrowhawks with a few Eurasian Sparrowhawks was a fantastic sight as were Hobby and a single brookei Peregrine and five Rollers! An Osprey was also a nice bonus!"

More about this day, here
 

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