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Batumi Raptor Count @batumiraptorcount.org · 4d

Live from the field!

The 1,422,172nd bird — a juvenile Black Kite flying through the misty clouds — crossed our transect line this afternoon, making 2025 the BIGGEST year in BRC history!!

Stay tuned for more!

Black Kite making it's way through the mist - though views, yet so rewarding! Photo by Bart Hoekstra.

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Reposted by Batumi Raptor Count

Bart Hoekstra @barthoekstra.bsky.social · 7d

170K raptors! 🤯

8 yrs in the making, but I’ve finally witnessed a 100k+ raptors day while on the station actually counting the bulk of it. Incredible experience. Still feeling cross-eyed from staring through the scope non-stop for almost 10hrs.

📸: the Shuamta team at the end of this incredible day

Team photo of the Shuamta team which counted 145k of the 170k raptors yesterday. I’m on the right.

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Reposted by Batumi Raptor Count

Tom NatureWalks @tomnw.bsky.social · 7d

Topteam!!!

Batumi Raptor Count @batumiraptorcount.org · 7d

170.000 RAPTORS IN ONE DAY!

After yesterday’s heavy rain and a quiet morning, today the sky exploded with Steppe Buzzards and large eagles! Continuing from 10 am until almost the end of the count.

At some point, we counted over 14.000 raptors in less than 20 minutes. THAT'S BATUMI!

#ornithology

Today's totals! See our website for more details!

Steppe Buzzards. Photo by Filiep T'jollyn

After-count team photo - with perhaps the most beautiful rainbow ever seen in the background

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Batumi Raptor Count @batumiraptorcount.org · 7d

170.000 RAPTORS IN ONE DAY!

After yesterday’s heavy rain and a quiet morning, today the sky exploded with Steppe Buzzards and large eagles! Continuing from 10 am until almost the end of the count.

At some point, we counted over 14.000 raptors in less than 20 minutes. THAT'S BATUMI!

#ornithology

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Batumi Raptor Count @batumiraptorcount.org · 9d

In between the eagles, Griffon Vultures appeared! Watching one glide alongside the eagles just proved how absolutely massive these vultures are! Although its very close pass did make us wonder about our scent after so many days of counting...

For daily updates & news: batumiraptorcount.org/data
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Lesser Spotted Eagle and Griffon Vulture - Photo by Filiep T'jollyn

Griffon Vulture - Photo by Filiep T'jollyn

Check our website for daily updates, seasonal totals, and news flashes

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Batumi Raptor Count @batumiraptorcount.org · 9d

After the thrill of reaching the million, we went straight to the peak of diversity. The challenge of counting high numbers of birds slowly shifted into identifying the (relatively) fewer but more difficult ones: the large eagle species!

But they also brought a special guest along...👇

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Lesser Spotted Eagle - Photo by Eduardo Campos Wals

Lesser Spotted Eagle - Photo by Matthew Sprangers

Black Kite (left) and Steppe Eagle (right) - Photo by Matthew Sprangers

Lesser Spotted Eagle - Photo by Filiep T'jollyn

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Batumi Raptor Count @batumiraptorcount.org · 16d

A true Bluesky — filled with raptors!

After days of rain, we were greeted by a bright, blue, cloudless sky this morning! The result? Thousands of birds and a high species diversity.

With the main message: the eagles are coming!

Stay tuned for more! For daily totals: www.batumiraptorcount.org/data

Marsh Harrier. Photo by Nikolina Bukovac

Short-toed Eagle and Black Kite. Photo by Nikolina Bukovac.

Greater Spotted Eagle. Photo by Nikolina Bukovac.

Where are the birds? Somewhere up there in the blue sky!

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Reposted by Batumi Raptor Count

Wouter Vansteelant @wmgvs.bsky.social · 21d

Astounding for the @batumiraptorcount.org crew to reach the 1 million milestone so early in the season. 😳 Congrats to all volunteers and flyway trainees, expertly led by the first ever all-women coordinating team: Eva Drukker, Elien Hoekstra and Mitra Daneshvar. Celebrations are in order! 🤩

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Batumi Raptor Count @batumiraptorcount.org · 21d

This achievement was only possible thanks to our amazing and hard-working team – counters, trainees, coordinators – and our wonderful host families for their endless hospitality.

Check out our daily counts and news flashes here: www.batumiraptorcount.org/data

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Batumi Raptor Count @batumiraptorcount.org · 21d

ONE MILLION RAPTORS!

The wait is over... Today #BRC17 hit the earliest 1-million mark in BRC history! Usually, this happens around end-September, but this year the raptors clearly had other plans.

And with still over a month to go, we expect plenty more to come!

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#ornithology #RaptorResearch

One of many kettles of Black Kites we've counted over the past days. Photo by Sander Bruylants.

A crisp juvenile Lesser Spotted Eagle in beautiful light. Photo by Sander Bruylants.

Screenshot of our live seasonal raptor 'counter' on the website.

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Batumi Raptor Count @batumiraptorcount.org · 28d

2/2 Most mornings start, as tradition dictates, with harriers. Sometimes tricky to ID when flying against a rising sun, but always a joy to see!

Occasionally, we may get distracted by non-targets, but only when they pose nicely like this Levant Sparrowhawk 😉

📸Nikolina Bukovac & Jonathan Meire

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Batumi Raptor Count @batumiraptorcount.org · 28d

The Honey Buzzards keep on coming!

With another 50K+ counted today, we’ve now passed half a million HBs this season! Rising numbers of Black Kites — as their peak is still ahead — pushed our overall total past
700K! And it’s not just the bulk species 👇

#ornithology
📸Eduardo C. Wals
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A single Honey Buzzard flying low through the bottleneck

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Batumi Raptor Count @batumiraptorcount.org · Sep 9

Foremost, we found it an exciting experience to publish our scientific debate in such a public manner, and thank @moveandconserve.bsky.social and co-authors for the constructive and cordial discussion!

Exciting times ahead — only together can we connect birds, people & places across the flyway!

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Batumi Raptor Count @batumiraptorcount.org · Sep 9

A new study led by @moveandconserve.bsky.social used GPS tracking to test the monitoring potential of Eilat and Batumi.

An invaluable step toward linking counted birds to their origins, but we found it needed some elaboration from a migration count perspective!

Our commentary: tinyurl.com/nnbzu7kc

One million raptors: But where do they come from? — Batumi Raptor Count

As a migration counter, you can’t help but wonder: “Where did the bird I just tallied come from, and where is it going?” In light of BRC’s main aim — monitoring raptor population trends — this very ...

tinyurl.com

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Batumi Raptor Count @batumiraptorcount.org · Sep 6

Luckily, we have a great team of counters, trainees, and coordinators to count and identify the many thousands of raptors heading their way!

Make sure to check out our daily count updates and season totals here: www.batumiraptorcount.org/data

Stay tuned for more news from #BRC17!

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Batumi Raptor Count @batumiraptorcount.org · Sep 6

We are experiencing a particularly exciting season so far! For example, we've counted exceptionally high numbers of Short-toed Eagles, Marsh Harriers, and Black Kites!

Meanwhile, we're not even halfway through the season yet, with still so much to come.

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Photos by Eduardo C. Wals & Paul Buntfuß

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Batumi Raptor Count @batumiraptorcount.org · Sep 6

HALF A MILLION RAPTORS! 🦅

After a few slower days (~30K+), #BRC17 hit the absolute jackpot yesterday!

Around 11 am, the floodgates opened — massive streams of Honey Buzzards & Black Kites pushed us past 100K raptors in a single day! Bringing the season total to 540K😍

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Video by Zülfü Farajli

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Batumi Raptor Count @batumiraptorcount.org · Sep 3

In the upcoming week or so, we expect to count another 100-200K Honey Buzzards as we're moving towards the half a million raptors milestone. You can follow our daily count updates, all uploaded to the @trektellen.bsky.social platform, via our website: www.batumiraptorcount.org/data

A screenshot from the Batumi Raptor Count website showing the rolling totals of the current season. You can reach the page via the link in the post.

A flock of Honey Buzzards soaring in the valley against a small cloud and the dark green backdrop of the Colchic Rainforest.

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Batumi Raptor Count @batumiraptorcount.org · Sep 3

The Honey Buzzards have well and truly arrived, so the first 296,911 have already been counted #BRC17 🪶. It's been a period of everything: rain, fog, blazing sun, and then suddenly the sky explodes with raptors in typical Batumi fashion.

The team's report:
www.batumiraptorcount.org/brc17/2025/8...

The Honey Buzzards have arrived! — Batumi Raptor Count

What week it has been in the bottleneck! The weather threw everything at us—rain, fog, blazing sun—but the migration didn’t stop, and neither did we.

www.batumiraptorcount.org

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Batumi Raptor Count @batumiraptorcount.org · Aug 20

We've now had the first 1000+ raptor day at #BRC17 — and y'day we were already well above 4000+ in a single day. Numbers that will continue to rise as we're approaching the peak of Honey Buzzard migration in the final days of August and first of September.

www.batumiraptorcount.org/brc17/2025/8...

The first 1000+ raptors day — Batumi Raptor Count

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

www.batumiraptorcount.org

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Batumi Raptor Count @batumiraptorcount.org · Aug 14

We are off! The #BRC17 count has officially started! Until Oct 21st, we'll be counting 1+ million raptors. 🤞🪶

For the first time in years, we'll be posting many of the posts on our main social media channels to our website — and via our website also here.

www.batumiraptorcount.org/brc17/2025/8...

The count has started! — Batumi Raptor Count

Yesterday was the first day of the 17th autumn count. With a small team of counters we counted a small number of birds for this first day.

www.batumiraptorcount.org

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Batumi Raptor Count @batumiraptorcount.org · Aug 2

BRC at the Avian Odyssey 2025!

Join the British Ornithologists’ Club at the Natural History Museum, London, on 20 Sept. @tohar-tal.bsky.social will share how BRC monitors and conserves the migration of 1M+ raptors in Georgia.

Tickets (incl. online): www.nhm.ac.uk/our-science/...

📸Marc Heetkamp

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Batumi Raptor Count @batumiraptorcount.org · Jul 30

Can’t wait to get into the raptor migration mode? Take a look back at last year’s #BRC16 richly illustrated autumn report:

www.batumiraptorcount.org/autumn-repor...

A mixed stream of Honey Buzzards and Black Kites in between the two stations. The red tarp marks the spot where Station 2 is weathering the weather. Photo by Bart Hoekstra.

A dark morph Booted Eagle showing its signature headlights. Photo by Marc Heetkamp.

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Batumi Raptor Count @batumiraptorcount.org · Jul 30

In less than two weeks, we’ll be back at the Batumi bottleneck for the 17th Batumi Raptor Count #BRC17. Preparations are well underway, and excitement is building. Over the next few months, we’ll have plenty of exciting news to share with you — it’s already shaping up to be another memorable season.

A male Montagu's Harrier flying by at sunrise. Photo by Bart Hoekstra.

Rain pushes the Honey Buzzards downwards towards eye level. Great conditions for photography, although a little dark. Photo by Bart Hoekstra.

Hobby leaving with a prey after it fought over the prey with another Hobby — an amazing display of their aerial acrobatics. Photo by Bart Hoekstra.

Station 2 could be seen from miles away last year, thanks to its strikingly red tarp. Although this did not seem to bother the birds much, with plenty of eye-level, close views of raptors. Photo by Paula Menzel.

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Batumi Raptor Count @batumiraptorcount.org · Jul 13

Meet our trainees! Motahareh from Iran, Yaren from Turkey and Leyla from Azerbaijan will join us as the 2025 cohort of the Flyway Monitoring Traineeship.

We set up this traineeship program with OSME last year. Read more about the program and our trainees: www.batumiraptorcount.org/news/2025/7/...

Flyway Monitoring Trainees of 2025 — Batumi Raptor Count

Last year, we launched the BRC Flyway Monitoring Traineeship , a new initiative developed together with our long-time partner OSME , to support and empower ambitious bird conservationists from acros...

www.batumiraptorcount.org

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