Pioneering pilot spring count in Batumi 2019

Spring migration in Batumi? We would love to show you what that looks like, but we don’t really know. All we know for certain is that birds will be going in the opposite direction, somewhat like in the video below. But how many? And when? No idea.

During the last 11 years we have collected an immense amount of data about autumn migration in the Batumi bottleneck, but what happens in spring remains largely unknown. This is the knowledge gap we intend to fill in spring 2019.

If pioneering a pilot spring count would be something you would like to do, please contact us via volunteer@batumiraptorcount.org and we will get back to you with more detailed information.

PS. As this is a pilot count, there will be much fewer people on the station with no official team of coordinators present. Hence, each counter has more responsibilities and should preferably (though not necessarily) have previous experience with (raptor) migration counts. Contrary to our autumn counts, there is no strict minimum or maximum number of days you can join us.

EDIT April 6th, 2019: The spring count is fully underway. We are still in need of volunteers (especially from halfway April onwards). If you just want to see the season totals, have a look at our live migration count data.

EDIT April 14th, 2019: The first spring count update has been published. We are still — urgently — looking for volunteers to cover the period from halfway April onwards, during which we expect thousands of Montagu’s Harriers and hundreds of thousands of Honey Buzzards.