Two days in the Chorokhi Delta
On September 18th and 19th a small group of birders from the BRC visited the Chorokhi delta for birding. In total, we observed 99 species, including some birds in the hand at the ringing station.
We visited the delta south of the bridge as well as some small ponds just north of the bridge along the road.
The highlights were:
Sociable Lapwing - one present near the military buildings
Black-winged Pratincole – 3400 birds flying overhead, biggest flock: 2200
Stone Curlew – one near the river mouth on the shore
Heuglin’s Gull – subadult on a riverbank
Blyth’s Reed Warbler (ringing station)
Especially on the 18th a lot of passerine birds seemed to have freshly arrived in the bushes. We checked some bushes, walked around the ponds near the shore, did a bit of seawatching and spent some time at the mouth of the river, which is a good spot for waders and terns. Undoubtly the two most exciting observations were that of the Sociable Lapwing and the Pratincoles. We flushed the Lapwing near one of the military buildings at the beginning of the delta. This endangered species visits the delta every year in very small numbers during migration.
Especially in the morning, huge numbers of Black-winged Pratincole were migrating over the delta. The biggest flock we counted was about 2200 birds. In total we observed at least 3400 birds and just two sitting on one of the river banks. Probably the same birds were seen from counting station 2 that morning. Has there ever been a higher number of Black winged Pratincoles counted so far in the region? We would be happy to receive your comments on facebook or to contact@batumiraptorcount.org.
Albert de Jong & Jasper Wehrmann
(c) all photos by Albert
Full species list
| Species | Number | Species | Number |
| Mallard | 1 | Black-headed Gull | 1 |
| Pintail | 3 | Yellow-Legged Gull | 5000+ |
| Shoveler | 1 | Armenian Gull | 1 |
| Common Teal | 3 | Baltic Gull | 1 |
| Gargeney | 11 | Heuglins Gull | 1 |
| Quail | 2 | Little Gull | 3 |
| Black-necked Grebe | 2 | Common Tern | 2 |
| Little Grebe | 5 | Little Tern | 1 |
| Red-necked Grebe | 1 | Sandwich Tern | 1 |
| Great Crested Grebe | 3 | White-winged Tern | 6 |
| Cormorant | 5 | Whiskered Tern | 1 |
| Little Bittern | 1 | Turtle Dove | 30 |
| Black-crowned Night Heron | 7 | Scops Owl | 1 |
| Squacco Heron | 2 | Hoopoe | 1 |
| Cattle Egret | 2 | Kingfisher | 10+ |
| Little Egret | 2 | Bee-eater | 100+ |
| Great White Egret | 2 | Roller | 1 |
| Grey Heron | 10 | Wryneck | 2 |
| Purple Heron | 5 | Short-toed Lark | 10 |
| Osprey | 1 | Sand Martin | 100+ |
| Marsh Harrier | 5 | Barn Swallow | 100+ |
| Pallid Harrier | 4 | Tawny Pipit | 6 |
| Sparrowhawk | 3 | Tree Pipit | 10+ |
| Lesser Kestrel | 1 | Red-throated Pipit | 4 |
| Hobby | 1 | White Wagtail | 10+ |
| Moorhen | 4 | Yellow Wagtail | 100+ |
| Coot | 1 | Citrine Wagtail | 3 |
| Water Rail | 2 | Trush Nightingale | 2 |
| Little Crake | 1 | Bluethroat | 1 |
| Spotted Crake | 1 | Common Redstart | 2 |
| Black-winged Stilt | 1 | Northern Wheatear | 4 |
| Black-winged Pratincole | 3400 | Winchat | 6 |
| Little Ringed Plover | 2 | Stonechat ssp maura | 4 |
| Ringed Plover | 50 | Blackcap | 1 |
| Grey Plover | 1 | Common Whitethroat | 3 |
| Northern Lapwing | 5 | Lesser Whitethroat | 4 |
| Sociable Lapwing | 1 | River Warbler | 2 |
| Dunlin | 10 | Blyth's Reed Warbler | 1 |
| Curlew Sandpiper | 1 | Reed Warbler | 1 |
| Temmincks Stint | 1 | Great Reed Warbler | 1 |
| Little Stint | 10 | Booted Warbler | 1 |
| Wood Sandpiper | 11 | Willow Warbler | 1 |
| Green Sandpiper | 3 | Spotted Flycatcher | 1 |
| Common Sandpiper | 1 | Red-backed Shrike | 10+ |
| Common Redshank | 1 | Hooded Crow | 10+ |
| Spotted Redshank | 1 | Golden Oriole | 2 |
| Common Greenshank | 1 | House Sparrow | 8 |
| Common Snipe | 5 | Goldfinch | 15 |
| Ruff | 15 | Greenfinch | 1 |
| Ortolan Bunting | 1 |
