The Best Day Ever
After 8 days of bad weather and barely a thousand birds per day, such a day as today 6 years ago, October 2nd 2014, will remain with us for a long time. We reached the million the day before, but that day was so far, the best migration day ever at the BRC.
The beginning of the day was a warning of what to expect. As soon as the counters of Station 2 reached their station and asked Station 1 how the morning was going, they already had around 300 Marsh Harriers! Insane.
But from then on the situation completely stopped, the sky was empty. Something that surprised us because the day was good, but it also made us think that they would all have to arrive together at some point.
And so it was... little by little, when the thermals appeared, "Bunny Mountains" was filling up with monster kettles! Thousands of Steppe Buzzards flew over us like a veritable tsunami of raptors. In such situation, communication was hard between volunteers and between stations, the sky was literally covered with raptors. Our counters counted under their shadow, like Spartans fighting under the arrows of the Persian soldiers at the Thermopiles.
And the eagles came... the streams of Buzzards were transformed into Eagles in Station 1, we could not believe our eyes, hundreds and hundreds of them crossed overhead, making the clickers burn sending their numbers without stopping to the tablet-guy, that did not stop running from east to west and overhead. Madness swirled over us, but the 16 brave counters did the best they had of them and managed to count almost 300,000 raptors in a single day, the never seen until today. Greater and Lesser-spotted Eagles, Steppes, Imperials, Booteds, Short-toeds and up to 19 different species of birds of prey... the subsequent celebration was in accordance with what was experienced and the rest is already history of BRC...
Hitting 1.000.000
A memorable moment during every autumn count, is hitting 1.000.000 birds. A brief moment to celebrate this milestone is obligatory, if the streams of raptors allow it of course. Moments like this are great for the team spirit! There were years that tourists even brought champagne to the station! 🥳🥳🥳
26-09 Happy Birthday, Ruslan! დაბადებისდღეს გილოცავ რუსლან!
Today is the birthday of Ruslan, somebody who is very dear to the BRC. He and his family are our hosts for so many years. He is our driver, our fixer, our friend, our family and the best shaslik-maker in the Caucasus. The 26th of September is always a good alibi for us to throw a big party (not that we need alibies for parties ;-)). In the former years we threw the party in the garden with long tables full of food & drinks, Megi and Koba performing traditional Georgian dances and we using Ruslan’s Marchutka as DJ-booth (even as dancefloor one year). Nowadays we go down to the Botanical Garden and go crazy in one of the beachbars along the Black Sea.
Gaumarjos Ruslan!
24-09-2017 Pallid record count
Photo by John Wright.
It was a fantastic Pallid Harrier day on both stations with a total of 388 individuals (Station-1: 292; Station-2: 96). The total number on this day alone is higher than some of the year totals we had during other seasons. In fact, even without accounting for the 186 MonPal we also counted today, it may very well have been the best day for Pallid Harrier migration ever observed in the world! The spectacular weather conditions made this migration show even more fantastic. Storm on sea pushed the birds inland and against a backdrop of grey clouds covering the mountains you could see the almost white adult male Pallids coming from miles away!
Photo by John Wright.
Photo by John Wright.
27-09-2019 Harrier ID with Klaus Malling Olsen
Photo by Wim Bovens.
Batumi attracts lots of birdwatchers from all over the world, but when someone like Klaus Malling Olsen from Denmark is in Batumi and you can attend a lecture about harrier identification, you shouldn’t miss out. It was a very interesting course, but what impressed me the most was the way he showed the difference between movement of the wings of a pallid and montagu’s harrier with his fingers!
Photo by Wim Bovens.