Student interest in Batumi's raptor migration has grown so much that our Research Coordinator can barely keep up. Here's an overview of the research currently underway at BRC.
In 2019 BRC started an educational project involving schools, teachers and Georgian conservationists, with the support of British Birds Charitable Trust (BBCT) and IJsvogelfonds of Birdlife the Netherlands.
After 3 months of flying from woodland to woodland, often following river valleys and making longer stops on the way, ‘our’ Levant Sparrowhawk ‘Dudu’ is now sending data from the savannahs of Tanzania!
We are glad to be back counting raptors again! It took us no less than 14 years to — finally — feature this charismatic species on our annual T-shirt: the Short-toed Eagle. Who can resist these eyes and this T-shirt?
The third and final spring count gave us beautiful snow-covered surroundings and raptors in perfect light, we witnessed the return of birds and spring.
After finishing a successful crowdfunding campaign, we’re happy to finally announce the call for counters.
When we launched our crowdfunding campaign on Christmas Eve 2021 we were not entirely sure what to expect. Over the years we have received endless words of encouragement and appreciation.
The 3rd pilot Spring Count is already halfway through, we have been counting for one and a half months and have already counted 400k raptors this season.
Today – March 1st 2022 – marks the start of our 3rd and final spring count in Batumi. A historic day, which also marks the start of our final sprint to complete the crowdfunding for the BRC autumn count of 2022.
Tomorrow, March 1st 2022, a small team of BRC volunteers will begin the 3rd and final spring count in Sakhalvasho, Georgia.
We are still raising funds, but preparations for the BRC Autumn Count of 2022 have started. The count will run from the 12th of August until the 21st of October.
The short film Worlds Collide, directed by Nicholas Rodd, about migration through the Georgian bottleneck is now free to watch indefinitely and embedded below.
In 2019 and 2020 we carried out the first and second spring pilot counts in the Batumi bottleneck, revealing a very different composition of raptor migration compared to autumn. We're looking for volunteers to join us for the third and final spring count in 2022.