rollingthunder
Well-known member
No internet for 3 days from Saturday until Tuesday as we were travelling. This included the Kars - Ankara Anatolian (Dogu) Express which did not have Wifi or certainly didn’t in the Cattle Class that were the only seats available making 30 hours a challenge to say the least. I will do a final post on the travel aspect which, in order to undertake the above marathon train journey, wasn’t worth it for us with regard to logistics and birds seen but hey-ho it’s been done…..
The last day up at Station 1 Sakhalvasho was very pleasant and once again a glorious day with bright conditions in the morning until about 2pm when it turned hazy. Friday was the quietest of the 4 visits indeed since then subsequent days have been very, very quiet at both stations with a day count of 8k+ Steppe Buzzards at Shuamta being the exception in addition singles of Egyptian Vulture, another White-tailed Eagle and the first Griffon Vulture of the season have all been recorded at Station 2.
My personal tally is as follows.
Both species of Stork. Always nice to see Black but today a flock of White put in an appearance. The latter are always scarce during my visits I presume populations are both more Westerly in origin and move mainly mid-August to mid-September?
Great White Pelican - a bird, heading North this time, could be a different bird from the Southbound bird but either way was just a day tick.
A smart adult Egyptian Vulture was my only one of the trip but another Crested Honey Buzzard was my 2nd for the trip my 3rd for Batumi.
Honey Buzzards numbered several hundred and I had excellent views of a range of colour variations including some very dark birds. Likewise I clocked about 30 Short-toed Eagles both adult and juvenile.
Lesser Spotted Eagles glided past in ones and twos until ‘Eagle o’clock’ when the flood gates opened at around 3pm. This species started appearing in with other raptor kettles. One bird stood out like a dick on a dog. It was Golden pale and you could pick it out easily. Afaik this species doesn’t have a ‘fulvescens’ form so it was just individual variation and very nice too. 5 Greater Spotted including distinct pale tipped upperwing birds and half a dozen Steppe a couple reasonably close between the hill and the sea. Many birds were not specifically identifiable by the counters.
Harriers were few but Marsh dominated. I managed 3 out of 4 Pallid including a freshly sprayed adult male and the only Monty of the day.
Just over 5k birds for the day but again quality over quantity is the mantra.
Another jaw-dropping trip for me and I can see it being repeated again next year but flying into either Tblisi or probably Kutaisi if direct flights from Luton resume to the latter. Batumi is a possibility but it would mean a change at Istanbul. One day had over 50 observers but visitors were not as numerous as previous trips. I re-aquainted with Noam Wiess from Eilat who was part of a lecture package for those willing to pay for such things but i heard his talk numerous times in the Spring.
The only slightly negative aspect of the Sak visits were some of the counters using the count tablet to play pop songs on from time to time when there was a lull in migrants. This while indulging in checking their social media a lot of the time. I did say to one of them ‘is this going on all day’ this was met with a shrug so I said that if I wanted loud music whilst birding I might have well stopped in Batumi! I wasn’t alone in finding this irritating and out of place in the peace and tranquility of the viewing station. Had it been more frequent it could have ended badly - other visitors commented accordingly. At 67 I am nearly 3x the age of some of the counters so it probably reflects my age but also theirs I feel - it will be mentioned on the BRC Faecebook page and I will be interested to see what if any response is forthcoming.
The next post will be birds seen on the last leg of the trip which is the train bit. As stated a travel post will also be put up as it might be found useful. I will also put up a series of images to round off the whole thing…..
Good birding -
Laurie -
The last day up at Station 1 Sakhalvasho was very pleasant and once again a glorious day with bright conditions in the morning until about 2pm when it turned hazy. Friday was the quietest of the 4 visits indeed since then subsequent days have been very, very quiet at both stations with a day count of 8k+ Steppe Buzzards at Shuamta being the exception in addition singles of Egyptian Vulture, another White-tailed Eagle and the first Griffon Vulture of the season have all been recorded at Station 2.
My personal tally is as follows.
Both species of Stork. Always nice to see Black but today a flock of White put in an appearance. The latter are always scarce during my visits I presume populations are both more Westerly in origin and move mainly mid-August to mid-September?
Great White Pelican - a bird, heading North this time, could be a different bird from the Southbound bird but either way was just a day tick.
A smart adult Egyptian Vulture was my only one of the trip but another Crested Honey Buzzard was my 2nd for the trip my 3rd for Batumi.
Honey Buzzards numbered several hundred and I had excellent views of a range of colour variations including some very dark birds. Likewise I clocked about 30 Short-toed Eagles both adult and juvenile.
Lesser Spotted Eagles glided past in ones and twos until ‘Eagle o’clock’ when the flood gates opened at around 3pm. This species started appearing in with other raptor kettles. One bird stood out like a dick on a dog. It was Golden pale and you could pick it out easily. Afaik this species doesn’t have a ‘fulvescens’ form so it was just individual variation and very nice too. 5 Greater Spotted including distinct pale tipped upperwing birds and half a dozen Steppe a couple reasonably close between the hill and the sea. Many birds were not specifically identifiable by the counters.
Harriers were few but Marsh dominated. I managed 3 out of 4 Pallid including a freshly sprayed adult male and the only Monty of the day.
Just over 5k birds for the day but again quality over quantity is the mantra.
Another jaw-dropping trip for me and I can see it being repeated again next year but flying into either Tblisi or probably Kutaisi if direct flights from Luton resume to the latter. Batumi is a possibility but it would mean a change at Istanbul. One day had over 50 observers but visitors were not as numerous as previous trips. I re-aquainted with Noam Wiess from Eilat who was part of a lecture package for those willing to pay for such things but i heard his talk numerous times in the Spring.
The only slightly negative aspect of the Sak visits were some of the counters using the count tablet to play pop songs on from time to time when there was a lull in migrants. This while indulging in checking their social media a lot of the time. I did say to one of them ‘is this going on all day’ this was met with a shrug so I said that if I wanted loud music whilst birding I might have well stopped in Batumi! I wasn’t alone in finding this irritating and out of place in the peace and tranquility of the viewing station. Had it been more frequent it could have ended badly - other visitors commented accordingly. At 67 I am nearly 3x the age of some of the counters so it probably reflects my age but also theirs I feel - it will be mentioned on the BRC Faecebook page and I will be interested to see what if any response is forthcoming.
The next post will be birds seen on the last leg of the trip which is the train bit. As stated a travel post will also be put up as it might be found useful. I will also put up a series of images to round off the whole thing…..
Good birding -
Laurie -
