The first 1000+ raptors day

It has been 6 days now since the start of the count and yesterday was our first 1000+ day! Finally!!

Both stations combined counted 1601 birds, of which most were Honey Buzzards and Black Kites. It finally felt like the Batumi we know, with clouds covering the sky, birds gloopsing and un-gloopsing everywhere - aka disappearing in and reappearing from the clouds - and a lot of happy sounds coming from our counters. After days of counting birds in the far east, we finally had some nice close-by streams and kettles. The view of kettles appearing over the mountains, knowing they were coming our way made us very excited. The same for the hectic moments when streams appeared from the clouds in different distance codes making the counters rushing for the clickers, getting their bino’s and scopes ready. We were treated with beautiful bright-lit White Storks coming overhead, the local Steppe Buzzards, even the first Lesser Spotted Eagles and of course the main player; kettles of Honey Buzzards.This is what we came here for!

Soon, there will be much higher diversity of birds; the bright blue Rollers, the elegant Pallid Harriers, the massive eagles… Will it turn crazy, with immense numbers of birds along with crazy migration patterns? Like the Black Kites and Steppe Buzzards which don’t want to follow a nice single stream, but rather stream out in all different directions. Or the sneaky Booted Eagles moving low through the valley, trying to get past us unnoticed. Or will it just be the counters (or coordinators) that go crazy from the mess, excitement and chaos that can sometimes result from the count in Batumi? Who knows.. As long as we reach one million this year, we’re pretty sure everything will all be well.