Trip postscript and overview…..
At 3 weeks and my 4th visit in 6 years I was looking forward to visiting as, for me, there is nothing quite like it with regard to both sheer numbers and variety. In addition, despite being solo this year, there is the added bonus of mixing with a wide range of birders from all over Europe and beyond. Having visited Tarifa numerous times, the Bosphorous in Spring and 6 weeks in Eilat last year it is nice to be able to compare migration. Batumi is primarily Raptors unlike the other trips and locations and if I am being honest a lot of the stuff is pointed out by more experienced observers. It’s difficult to lock on to stuff before it has already been pointed out……so I dont. This ensures that, if you have both sharp ears and eyes, little is missed but it does mean having to accept that you don’t find and identify much for yourself up ‘on the hill’ at Sakhalvasho. Having said that I spent plenty of time scanning and identifying stuff in addition to ageing and sexing birds where possible - if you dont indulge in this aspect at Batumi then it’s a wasted opportunity imho.
Overall I found it a very mixed trip this year. The weather was variable compared to 10 days of wall to wall Sun last year. About a week was blistering with high migration, a week was cloudy with actually close birds and a week was rainy with me having to rearrange days up at Sak. I had intended having the weekends off and just birding local around the Parks and down to the Airport and Chorokhoi Delta. The inclement forecasts for 4 or 5 days meant birding up there a day each weekend and taking one off during the week. The weather on those days was actually pretty good down at sea level with just showers but I know what it would be like up at Sak with several hours of enforced shelter and no passage so losses were cut accordingly.
It is worth noting that Mtirla National Park is not that far away and that afaik has the highest rainfall in the Western Palearctic @ 4,000mm per annum…..
I left 3 weeks ago and the count officially finished about 10 days ago iirc. The German trio that I met at Tarifa 2 years ago still had a week left. They said passage had been extremely quiet for their last week and some of the days had been ‘dire’ to put it mildly. They felt sorry for the Chinese birders that had another 4 or 5 days left of 40+ for 3 of them! Bumping into the Germans again allowed me to request the pictures of a putative White-backed Vulture we had at Tarifa that had been sent to my junk and automatically deleted. He decided that it was probably Ruppell’s so I will also have a look and might even send it to the Spanish folks for their comments.
More large Eagles were a feature of the 2 week October finale as was a 2nd Black-winged Kite, presumably ‘vocifer’. I was fortunate to see very close views of this Eastern subspecies on a previous visit. More Long-legs were recorded as were more Eastern Imps and Steppe. A record 2nd day of 103 Greater Spotted were recorded at Shuamta - definitely a species to get to grips with - one of these was the epileptic-inducing ‘fulvescens’ subspecies! Being there for ‘Eagle Week’ was definitely the highlight with the accent being on quality not quantity. Three days of 2k-5k Eagles of usually 8 species but an outstanding day of 10 species, all of which I saw, a first for BRC - these incredibly impressive figures are caveated in that many were distant and were recorded by Shuamta but enough were moving over Sakhalvasho with excellent views obtained.
The anticipated boost in passage numbers after my departure did not materialise unfortunately. Steppe Buzzards were down by 150k+ I estimate and Black Kites by 50-75k. These 2 species plus Honey Buzzards, which held up, make up over 90% of total Autumn passage. The season total for both Stations ended at just short of 883k which although impressive is well down on the other years I have visited. 1M has been reached by the end of the 3rd week of September usually by vast numbers of Black Kites but it was not to be. It is presumed that large numbers passed further to the East along the Caspian Sea flyway - fingers crossed they are right. Unfortunately the hilltop viewpoint in Azerbaijan 80km North of Baku did not have enough counters to run this year so passage details for comparison were not available. This site records 2-3M annually so who knows what and how much moved past this year. I will head there next year and logistics mean that joining the count team is the best way to view passage.
Some statistics with annotations.
Honey Buzzard - 470k excellent numbers and what seemed like an extended passage. The bulk have usually gone through by the time of my previous trips. Thousands recorded most days on my visits with stunning views for sexing. The later passage was dominated by good numbers of dark juveniles as is often the case with adults leaving the breeding grounds earlier from mid-August to mid-September.Steppe Buzzard - 90k for whatever reason numbers were well down. They are an Eastern species so maybe they moved further East this year? It would be interesting to see if any information is available from any birders that were viewing from the Pontic Flyway at Burgas or the Bosphorous-based Turkish birders at either Sariyer or Istanbul high on the Camlika Hills. My old mate ‘Jim Butty’ first told me about that site when he blazed a trail in the late-70’s and slept for free on a Cafe roof whilst charging visitors to look through his ‘scope during the day to make beer money! I have to say I had stunning views of this very attractive species/subspecies. Apparently they are all ‘vulpinus’. The range of plumages was very impressive.
Black Kite - 247k impressive but well down. My 2 big number days both involved this species at 20k and 23k. Last year I was at Sak for the record passage day thus far of 38.5k - a truly outstanding day was had by all.
Booted Eagle - possibly the standout species for a lot of people notably the counters with a final total of 7003 birds. Many pale-morph birds wowed the crowd and both dark adults and juvenile with the variable trailing edge to the wing were aged accordingly. I have seen excellent passage of this species at Tarifa so am no stranger to them but birds coming through in double figure parties and close made me lower my ‘bins and just look and follow by eye just like that scene in Top Gun when the Tomcats are landing on the Aircraft Carrier deck!
Marsh Harrier - at 7.5k+ what’s not to like? Every day this species was the harbinger of Harriers and things to come. Plenty of adults but for me it was the juveniles that stole the limelight. They were Gateau-Brown, freshly airbrushed and looked, well, nice enough to eat. As someone that doesn’t see this species annually in the Bird-denuded Triangle that is my West Midlands habitat a coupla hundred a day was a nice bonus.
Lesser Spotted Eagle- at 3925 it put the Eagle in Eagle week as far as identifiable birds were concerned. I personally must have seen in excess of 300 birds and then some as Station 1 was blessed with not only a large % of the individuals recorded but excellent close views and in addition double figure parties in with close and middle distance kettles. This species, for me, typifies the classic Aquila Eagle although I think it has now been re-genused so forgive me if I have dropped a Clanga ;-) Lessers were, for me, the species to use as a template for the ID of other large/larger species with regard to size and proportions depending on aspect. The sometimes harsh but bright lighting conditions on some days meant that the underside of passing birds remains quite dark and the ‘comma’ feature is not easily discernible. The subtle upper wing spotting of the juveniles can appear a a general White area on the coverts unless birds move close.
Montague’s Harrier - 2261 identified. Many were female/juveniles but enough males came through for good views. Close views of the FJ’s meant positive ID on wing and head criteria.
Pallid Harrier - 431 positively counted. As usual the stunning males took one’s breath away and this year was my personal best with possibly 50+ seen including a party of 5 first off one morning. The fresh juvenile birds, to those who have seen them, are Ginger, Rufous and dark tones aplenty and an optical treat.
Of course not everything can be identified and are just spots and specks but to the experienced eye they can at least be placed in a suitable size category.
Nearly 38k medium raptors, 6500+ large Eagles and 4500+ Hen/Mon/Pals remained specifically unidentifed - where else in the Western Palearctic can you see sooo many Harriers - answers on a postcard please.
2166 Short-toed Eagles was I think a bumper year for the species and with a wide range of plumages allowed age-ID and stunning views of this large but medium category species. I have seen in excess of this number at Tarifa so it was good to see so many of these birds this year.
407 Greater Spotted Eagles must also have been a record BRC count. Over half of the total identified were on just 2 days. I was fortunate to be up at Sak when 130 were counted including very close views allowing proportions and age to be ascertained and to witness a lone juvenile that was blasted out of the sky. Birds that I had close views of had a different jizz to LSE and appeared a tone darker to my eyes.
Steppe Eagles at 215 were enough to be regular in the kettles each afternoon and identifiable on plumage features with quite a few birds very close to and over the Obs. Definitely more ‘Vulture like’ in proportions to my wing-tail ratio criteria.
183 Ospreys were up on my previous visits. I must have seen close to 50 birds several clutching a fish!
Another star turn were Crested Honey Buzzards with a staggering total of 92 individuals clicked. Considering this species was in just single figures on my first visit and nearly in triple this year. Is this down to increased observer experience? I had excellent views of about 15 well marked birds and seen/photographed well enough to be aged and sexed.
46 Long-legged Buzzards were impressive but considering they do breed in nearby Turkey I am surprised there are not more tbh. Most were seen from Shuamta but a handful gave good views from Station 1. I travelled by train from Kars to Ankara last year and must have had in excess of 200 from the train including groups of half a dozen following the plough.
10 each of Egyptian Vulture and Eastern Imperial Eagle were down on last year I think. I had excellent views of about half of each species this year.
7 White-tailed Eagles were identified but as this species winters around the Caspian Sea it should not come as a surprise. I only saw one juvenile bird but it was on the same day as only the 2nd record of Golden Eagle and was part of my 10 Eagle species day which in itself is a record for BRC.
3 species of large Falcons included 20+ Peregrines which I saw every other day. I didn’t click with either Lanner or Saker unfortunately - the latter would be a new species for me.
1 each of Griffon and Black Vulture eluded me and others at Sak both would be a BRC tick for me but along with Lanner and Saker will have to wait.
Non raptors included nearly 2.5k Black Storks with moderated sized flocks of 30+ birds passing daily - a record year I think for them. Whites were half that but again a good passage year. Rollers were in excess of 2k and I saw more this year than any other visit with small parties even passing low over the Obs. Both flyover Tawny and Red-throated Pipit were noted as were a coupla Blue-cheecked Bee Eaters. Common Bee Eaters were passing over very high as were I presume Hobbies. I noted very few this year and that was limited to half a dozen juvenile in total - I have read they routinely migrated at 8,000’. Another notable shortfall this visit was Red-foots, I didn’t see or hear of any until after I left whereas I usually see low double figures including close birds.
My last raptor seen was also one of my favourites. A solitary juvenile Marsh Harrier quartering the rough grass of Batumi Airport. Nothing unusual in that. I saw half a dozen on one of my Chorokhi visits but where can I see that in the UK? That’s the enigmatic and unpredictable nature of migration and it leaves you wanting it not to end.
That’s about it for the final post apart from a word on optics.
I took a Lumix bridge camera and I have to say this year it did not perform well enough. The fast shutter burst option was for some reason unavailable and a factory reset did not bring it up. The slow shutter burst option was but simply did not yield sharp enough results. Upon my return I added both a Canon 7D Mk2 and a Canon 100-400mm Mk1 to my collection and this will be my grab bag for future trips. Swarovski comprised about 50% of the binoculars and scopes on site with Zeiss about 25%. My 30x BTX performed well and exceeded my expectations and although both specialised and a bit of an indulgence I would recommend it. Canon DSLRs with large, expensive, prime lenses were noticeable but the aforementioned zoom both the Mk1 and Mk2 were the most common combo. Of note were several groups and individuals with the Kite Optics image-stabilised 14-18x zoom binoculars. Not for me but each to their own.
Good birding -
Laurie -
