Half a million raptors!
A juvenile Lesser Spotted Eagle. Photo by Niko Djuh.
The Station 1 team that counted almost 110,000 raptors that pushed us well over the half a million.
Whaaahhh! Half a million raptors!!
Today we counted over 100K birds, which means we reached the half a million milestone!
After having some more relaxed days before (still about 30K daily), the birds went crazy today. While the morning started out as normal with some streams in the east and groups of Harriers all over, around 11 o’clock massive streams of Honey Buzzards, Black Kites mixed with the occasional harriers and eagles started streaming all around Station 1 and in between the stations. And of course, as they do, the Honey Buzzards and Black Kites nicely mixed up together, making the counting all the more challenging. But we thrive on this chaos and confusion! It just makes us more excited!
After several hours of counting, among this wildness of Honeys and Black Kites pushing us to the half million, we were able to enjoy Egyptian Vultures and the Caucasian Viper, their bright colours reflecting in the afternoon light. And while the day ended, the birds did not. It felt calm, but the birds streamed. Unstoppable and ongoing.
Now let’s try and reach the 1 million milestone!