Georgia

WEBVTT
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Hello and welcome to the Birdguides podcast.
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It's episode 16 today and it's the start of a
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new occasional travel focus series throughout
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which we will discuss different birding and wildlife
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watching destinations across the globe. To kick
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things off we're heading to Georgia, the country
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not the US state, and if you're a birder it's
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a pretty fascinating place to have on your radar.
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Georgia, with a population of less than 4 million
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people, sits right at the crossroads of Europe
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and Asia on the eastern end of the Black Sea.
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Russia is to the north, Azerbaijan to the east
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and southeast, and Armenia and Turkey to the
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south. Geographically, it's an extraordinary
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country for such a relatively small area. You've
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got the Black Sea coast in the west, dry steppe
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and semi -desert landscapes further east, huge
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forests, wetlands, and then the Caucasus Mountains
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running across the north. The highest peaks rise
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to more than 5 ,000 metres. so you can go from
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warm lowlands to high alpine habitats within
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a relatively short distance, and that variety
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is one of the big attractions for birdwatchers.
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Georgia sits on an important migration route
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between Europe, the Middle East and Africa, so
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spring and autumn can produce some pretty impressive
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movements of birds. The Batumi area on the Black
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Sea coast is particularly famous for migration,
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with huge numbers of raptors passing through
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in the autumn. But it's not just about migration.
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Georgia is an incredibly mountainous country
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and these mountains and foothills hold some seriously
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impressive birds, including some highly desirable
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regional endemics. There is also other wildlife.
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Georgia still has some really interesting mammals,
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while its position between different biogeographical
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regions gives the country a fascinating mixture
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of European, Asian and Middle Eastern flora and
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fauna. There's plenty of culture and history
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to go with it too. Georgia has its own alphabet,
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its own distinctive cuisine, and one of the world's
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oldest winemaking traditions, which is 8 ,000
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years old. So, in this episode, we're going to
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take a closer look at birding in Georgia, where
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to go, what you might see, why the country is
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so important for migration, and what makes it
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such an interesting destination for birdwatchers.
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I'm joined today by Brian McCloskey, David Campbell,
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and Ian Lycett, all of whom have visited Georgia
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in recent years and will be sharing their thoughts
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and experiences. So, let's get into it. And we're
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going to start with Brian, who has been to Georgia
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recently. Brian, would you like to tell the listener
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a little bit about your experiences in Georgia
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and perhaps what some of the important birding
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sites are in the country? Yeah, so I was in Georgia
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a couple of months ago in early June. It was
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a very targeted sort of a trip because I'd already
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done Azerbaijan. So I had seen most of the, I
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suppose, target species that most people would
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have in Georgia. I only had two species that
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I was keen to see. That was great rose finch
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and common pheasant. I know people will laugh
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at that, but I'll explain why later. So the main
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priority was great rose finch for us because
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I dipped them. I'd spent two days looking for
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them in the Caucasus Mountains in Azerbaijan.
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And the only other place other than Azerbaijan
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in the Western Palearctic for them is Georgia.
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You find in Georgia, they're still quite tricky.
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The best time of year for them is probably early
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spring when they're still in the sea buckthorn
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in the town of Stepinsminde. which is in Northern
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Georgia. But because we went in June, they're
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really quite difficult at that time of year.
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And it took us three days to find them. On the
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second day, I ended up having untickable views
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of an extremely distant male that just I couldn't
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bear to take. So I ended up having to go back
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up the mountain again. So the town of Steppinsminda.
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is where where we were based and then you have
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mount kazbegi so mount kazbegi is it's a it's
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a really difficult hike and you you can drive
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as far as the garghetti trinity church and then
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it's a a really difficult hike up so the first
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day i think it took three and a half hours to
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get up to it there's a cafe at the top of mount
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kazbegi it's the most bizarre place and i've
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ever seen a cafe at almost 3 000 meters and above
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sea level and the best place at that time of
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year for great rose finch is a place called altai
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hut and so the one problem we had was and there
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was still quite a lot of snow in june so this
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meant that we could only hike as far as the cafe
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now you're still basically at three thousand
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meters there but it's still not high enough for
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great rose finch and so we spent a massive amount
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of time birding around the cafe and it just wasn't
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happening there was some exceptional burden there
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great stuff like wall creepers and lammergeiers
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but oh wow so decent decent alpine really good
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loads of alpine accenters and it was just it
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was great burn but um even on the way up i picked
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up a caucasian black grouse as well so yeah it
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was really nice but it was just i'd seen everything
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like that before in in azerbaijan so i was still
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i'm really keen to find the rose finch particularly
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because this was the sole reason for the trip
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so yeah the first day it took three and a half
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hours to hike up to the cafe while carrying a
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scope dslr bins speaker everything backpack and
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then having to do it again the next day the next
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day I went up on my own and it took two and a
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half hours I just made a beeline for the top
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and never stopped and I eventually got up there
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and spent the whole day dipping but I could see
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sat at the cafe and I was like scanning across
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to Altai Hut and I could see there was birders
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out there and I could see that they were looking
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at something so like I had the the ATX I I went
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up to 70 zoom and i could just about see that
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they were watching a male great rose finch no
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way but it was probably over two kilometers away
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so it was like and i could see it flying around
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and the undulating flight and but it was like
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i just couldn't bear to take it and but by this
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stage by height you know hiking down was actually
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a hell of a lot worse than than hiking up oh
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it often is isn't it that's often the way yeah
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i think i found it was really difficult on the
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knees coming back down my feet and knees were
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in a bad way by the time i got back down and
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uh yeah we basically had 40 to try for great
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rose finch and by day by day three it was kind
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of like if we haven't seen it we're just going
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to give up so it's it sounds a bit mad but we
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saw people like hike like they were hiking up
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the the mountain on horseback of all things so
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we inquired and we figured out that was possible
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it wasn't that expensive either so because we
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couldn't get out to altai hush we actually got
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a local man to bring us up on horses and then
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it was a pretty badass twitch um So bring us
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up on horse. That's amazing. Yeah, yeah. But
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I wouldn't have been, I don't think I would have
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been able to do a three -hour hike but ways for
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a third day in a row. Were you getting the horse
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to gallop because of the urgency of the twitch?
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Yeah. It was still really slow going, but it
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just meant that we could get back up there. And
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then we had a local bring us out across the ice,
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the snow. It was, you could, I asked locals when
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I was up there. there was a guy working in the
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cafe i said would i be able to get out on my
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own and he said don't he's just said don't try
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it and i actually i could see people that were
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trying and one person in particular actually
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slipped down the slope about 10 meters and i
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was really thinking were they going to stop at
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all but so it did look quite dangerous expect
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especially for someone like me who was just totally
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inexperienced in that kind of a setting so on
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the third day we got up pretty early and got
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brought across to the altai hut and they yeah
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there was a couple of birders out there great
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rose finch in the bag within 10 minutes and the
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views were phenomenal so yeah nice so it was
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ultimately successful and well yeah it was and
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it was well worth the effort and yeah for such
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a great bird because i've done the exact same
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in azerbaijan hiked up to 3 000 meters in a place
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called kilinik i could be pronouncing that wrong
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but it was a it was really tough going as well
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so these are large Pink rose finches covered
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in white spots all over, right? Yeah, they're
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incredible. They're incredible. They're a lot
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bigger than, you can read how large they are
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or whatever, but it's only when you see them,
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you just, they're absolutely incredible looking
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things, you know. It's almost like, yeah, it's
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almost like raspberry, like a raspberry colour
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with white spots all over the breasts. And yeah,
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they're amazing. And they've got this really
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deep undulating flight as well. Almost a bit
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reminiscent of like a woodpecker's flight, that
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sort of way. But they were, yeah, it was really
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well worth the effort. Yeah. Yeah, nice. So Great
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Rosefinch is a big target for anyone visiting
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Georgia. Now, Brian, appreciate you weren't there
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for some of these species, but what would you
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say are the main targets for a birder who is
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visiting Georgia? Yeah, the main targets for
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most people, if they've not been to that part
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of the world, would be a lot of the species that
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you would find up in the high caucus. I suppose
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Goldenstad's Red Sart is the other one that's
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a really important target species for most people.
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I've been really lucky to see them. very well
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in Azerbaijan but while I was scoping across
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from the cafe I picked up a male golden studs
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just hopping around that was quite distant but
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the scope views were good enough and by the time
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we got out to the Altai hut I just wanted to
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watch great rose finch so I didn't really go
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looking some of the other birders out there had
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seen golden studs earlier in the morning but
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I just I just wanted to spend as much time watching
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the great rose finch as possible other stuff
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Caucasian snowcock is a really good one for there
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you can't not hear them when you get up to that
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height but finding them is another story. Yeah,
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that's often the way with Snowcock, isn't it?
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Absolutely, yeah. So you really have to scan
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carefully. I ended up having amazing views of
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one... one individual in particular. I got a
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couple of really nice shots actually of one that
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was walking across this open patch of snow, a
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really close range. I couldn't believe it. I
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just kind of peered over this hill and looked
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down and there was a snowcock walking across.
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It was incredible. And the other one, the other
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species, I actually should say on the snowcock,
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hearing them is just, it's one of probably the
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best songs of any bird that I can think of. It's
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almost eerie when you hear them. Is it a similar...
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vocalization to caspian very similar yeah i've
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not seen caspian but the sound they sound very
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similar because i've heard that in turkey and
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it's a very evocative absolutely yeah yeah it's
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incredible and i suppose the other main target
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species that i would think for that that area
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of georgia would be the caucasian black grouse
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now i did see two i saw first summer male and
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an adult male but on two different days but we
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didn't really spend much time looking for them
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we kind of just totally fluked them i would imagine
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a dedicated search for them when you'd probably
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i don't even know if we were in the right the
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exact right area for them but they're a really
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good bird as well i have to say the biggest difference
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i found between the caucuses in azerbaijan and
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georgia was the abundance of green warblers and
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mountain shift chaffs in georgia it was unbelievable
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i only had one mountain shift chaff in in azerbaijan
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and that took a lot of work to get but in in
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hiking up mount kazbegi they were just in every
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patch of cover and some of them showed really
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well and they're super distinctive their colors
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would almost half remind you of like dusky warbler
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they're really kind of plain brown all over,
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no kind of green tones on them. They have a really
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distinctive call as well. And they were side
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by side with green warblers the whole way up
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Mount Kazbegi. So I kind of thought that was
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the biggest difference in terms of resident,
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not resident species, but yeah, just the burden
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in general there was absolutely phenomenal. Yeah,
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so Georgia, well known for these four species
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that Brian mentioned. You've got Great Rosefinch,
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which obviously he had success with on his June
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trip. You've got Golden Stats, otherwise known
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as White -Winged Red Star. You've got Caucasian
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snowcock and you've got Caucasian grouse. So
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these are four pretty special birds that Georgia
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is certainly one of the best places in the world
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for these species and one of the only places
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in the world. Now, Brian, I was quite interested
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that you went in June. As I understood it, the
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timing of a trip to Georgia was quite an important
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thing to factor in because of the snow line.
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Yeah, the snow line. Obviously, you were there
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in June. maybe that is why you had to hike up
00:12:11.240 --> 00:12:12.840
so high because a lot of people tend to go in
00:12:12.840 --> 00:12:14.860
in april and may but i don't know what you think
00:12:14.860 --> 00:12:16.840
about that yeah absolutely if you went in april
00:12:16.840 --> 00:12:18.399
you don't have to hike at all because there's
00:12:18.399 --> 00:12:20.019
a good chance to be down in the sea buckthorn
00:12:20.019 --> 00:12:22.919
but it all depends on the kind of the crop in
00:12:22.919 --> 00:12:24.799
a given year i don't think it was last year i
00:12:24.799 --> 00:12:26.940
think it was the year before it was even even
00:12:26.940 --> 00:12:29.919
in in early spring they were extremely difficult
00:12:29.919 --> 00:12:33.320
to find even on the buckthorn and the way i looked
00:12:33.320 --> 00:12:35.419
at it was they're residents so they have to be
00:12:35.419 --> 00:12:37.399
there somewhere so whether it takes a lot of
00:12:37.399 --> 00:12:39.429
effort to hike up I was sure we'd get them on
00:12:39.429 --> 00:12:41.809
day one, but by the end of day two, then you
00:12:41.809 --> 00:12:43.669
start to doubt yourself that was it a good idea
00:12:43.669 --> 00:12:46.789
going in early June at all. But yeah, look, it
00:12:46.789 --> 00:12:49.389
just means that the snow line gets higher and
00:12:49.389 --> 00:12:51.429
higher as the summer goes on. But they're really
00:12:51.429 --> 00:12:53.509
late breeders, so they may not start even incubating
00:12:53.509 --> 00:12:56.529
until kind of mid or late July. Wow, that is
00:12:56.529 --> 00:12:58.629
late. It's really late. So yeah, I kind of just
00:12:58.629 --> 00:13:01.289
felt that I was sure we'd just find them. but
00:13:01.289 --> 00:13:03.610
it was a lot more difficult than I had anticipated.
00:13:03.769 --> 00:13:05.889
But certainly for anybody that's even thinking
00:13:05.889 --> 00:13:08.169
about Great Rose Finch, you have to get out of
00:13:08.169 --> 00:13:10.110
there. When they start to retreat back up the
00:13:10.110 --> 00:13:12.210
mountain, it's essential to get as high as Altai
00:13:12.210 --> 00:13:14.429
Hut, I would think. Some people I know have seen
00:13:14.429 --> 00:13:16.409
them below the cafe, but I just think they got
00:13:16.409 --> 00:13:18.750
lucky. I think they're super, super high altitude
00:13:18.750 --> 00:13:21.690
species. But yeah, depending on the time of year,
00:13:21.769 --> 00:13:23.470
I would imagine probably May would be a great
00:13:23.470 --> 00:13:24.950
month because you're probably getting the best
00:13:24.950 --> 00:13:26.809
of boat worlds with everything. I'm not sure
00:13:26.809 --> 00:13:29.460
what the story is with... the Caucasian black
00:13:29.460 --> 00:13:31.059
grouse and stuff like that, what the best month
00:13:31.059 --> 00:13:33.740
would be for them. Certainly in May, I saw them
00:13:33.740 --> 00:13:36.539
quite easily in Azerbaijan, but I'm not entirely
00:13:36.539 --> 00:13:39.879
sure with Georgia. But yeah, it was a great experience
00:13:39.879 --> 00:13:42.000
and I am glad I kind of tried it in June to see
00:13:42.000 --> 00:13:45.179
them on breeding grounds. Yeah, amazing. So success
00:13:45.179 --> 00:13:47.600
for you, even though you were not necessarily
00:13:47.600 --> 00:13:50.179
seeking out some of these other key targets as
00:13:50.179 --> 00:13:52.879
you'd seen them before in Azerbaijan. Now, David
00:13:52.879 --> 00:13:56.620
Campbell has been to Georgia twice and David,
00:13:56.679 --> 00:13:59.740
I'd be quite interested to hear, how you found
00:13:59.740 --> 00:14:03.360
seeking out these target species and what is
00:14:03.360 --> 00:14:05.299
it about Georgia that appeals to you so much
00:14:05.299 --> 00:14:08.320
given that you have visited twice? Yeah unlike
00:14:08.320 --> 00:14:10.679
Brian I'd never been to that part of the world
00:14:10.679 --> 00:14:12.700
before I'd never been anywhere near the Caucasus
00:14:12.700 --> 00:14:15.139
so all those special mountain birds that have
00:14:15.139 --> 00:14:18.159
been mentioned they were all key targets for
00:14:18.159 --> 00:14:21.120
me and also some of the more widespread mountain
00:14:21.120 --> 00:14:23.899
birds I'd never had much luck with in my other
00:14:23.899 --> 00:14:28.679
travels too. So the first time I went was April
00:14:28.679 --> 00:14:32.840
2022, which we did pick because that seemed to
00:14:32.840 --> 00:14:35.539
be about the best time to see a lot of these
00:14:35.539 --> 00:14:37.019
mountain birds when they're a bit lower, because
00:14:37.019 --> 00:14:39.860
I'm probably nowhere near as fit as Brian. I
00:14:39.860 --> 00:14:42.299
do not enjoy hiking. So I didn't want to put
00:14:42.299 --> 00:14:46.720
myself through that torture. And one reason we
00:14:46.720 --> 00:14:49.779
picked Georgia was because my partner loves brutalist
00:14:49.779 --> 00:14:52.519
architecture and anything to do with the USSR.
00:14:53.159 --> 00:14:55.580
So we thought we could double it up a bit of
00:14:55.580 --> 00:14:58.639
looking at the old archaeology museum, the former
00:14:58.639 --> 00:15:02.059
Ministry of Highways, all these really grim angular
00:15:02.059 --> 00:15:05.720
concrete buildings and in return carved out a
00:15:05.720 --> 00:15:09.320
couple of days of dedicated birding in the mountains.
00:15:10.039 --> 00:15:14.340
So for that I did take a guide because the mountain
00:15:14.340 --> 00:15:16.600
roads sounded pretty tricky and didn't really
00:15:16.600 --> 00:15:17.860
want to deal with that and I wouldn't really
00:15:17.860 --> 00:15:20.379
know exactly where to go for each of these birds.
00:15:20.419 --> 00:15:23.179
Got in touch with Alexander Rakaya from Birding
00:15:23.179 --> 00:15:27.659
Caucasus who took us up to Kazbegi and yeah had
00:15:27.659 --> 00:15:29.980
a relatively easy time of it really great rose
00:15:29.980 --> 00:15:32.879
finch was it took a little bit of work but nowhere
00:15:32.879 --> 00:15:35.460
near as much as as brian had to go through you
00:15:35.460 --> 00:15:38.220
didn't have to uh hire a horse then no we didn't
00:15:38.220 --> 00:15:40.340
have to hire a horse but yeah the one that did
00:15:40.340 --> 00:15:44.019
trip us up a bit was the snow cock and as i say
00:15:44.019 --> 00:15:47.240
brian that sound it's almost curly like and coming
00:15:47.240 --> 00:15:48.960
from the mountain slopes that was just teasing
00:15:48.960 --> 00:15:52.220
us for hours snow cock in the background there
00:15:52.220 --> 00:15:55.019
david no it was a snowy dog but not snow yeah
00:15:55.019 --> 00:15:59.110
and Yeah, bless Alex, he spent ages, because
00:15:59.110 --> 00:16:01.830
I didn't have a scope, and he scanned for hours
00:16:01.830 --> 00:16:04.269
to two days every inch of the mountain slopes
00:16:04.269 --> 00:16:07.129
for the snowcock that was calling and just could
00:16:07.129 --> 00:16:10.509
not see it. So it's one of the few WP birds that's
00:16:10.509 --> 00:16:13.149
down as a herd only for me. I was going to ask,
00:16:13.250 --> 00:16:15.309
did you need a scope? But clearly you did. So
00:16:15.309 --> 00:16:18.330
for the snowcock, by the sounds of it, it's just
00:16:18.330 --> 00:16:21.250
a lot of time scanning cliff faces and mountaintops
00:16:21.250 --> 00:16:23.029
to see these birds. While you're doing that,
00:16:23.169 --> 00:16:25.190
what's the birding like? Are there any other
00:16:25.190 --> 00:16:27.200
bits and pieces to keep you entertained? Yeah,
00:16:27.200 --> 00:16:29.460
there's plenty. So Water Pippit, this is the
00:16:29.460 --> 00:16:32.799
Kuteli race of Water Pippit. They are showing
00:16:32.799 --> 00:16:35.600
around your feet. You've got Black Red Starts,
00:16:35.600 --> 00:16:38.320
the nominate race with the orange belly. They're
00:16:38.320 --> 00:16:42.019
everywhere too. And if you look up into the sky,
00:16:42.059 --> 00:16:45.919
there's Lama Guys or Bearded Vulture. high up
00:16:45.919 --> 00:16:47.679
if you're scanning in the cloud level there's
00:16:47.679 --> 00:16:49.600
streams at that time via there were streams of
00:16:49.600 --> 00:16:52.639
step buzzards going over to red fronted sirens
00:16:52.639 --> 00:16:54.419
knocking about that was another lifer for me
00:16:54.419 --> 00:16:56.860
you don't necessarily have to go to Georgia for
00:16:56.860 --> 00:16:59.320
that but that was new How did you get on, and
00:16:59.320 --> 00:17:01.399
I'll pose this question to Brian as well, while
00:17:01.399 --> 00:17:04.420
you were up in these high elevations for mammals.
00:17:04.619 --> 00:17:06.839
I know there's a couple of species from the Capra
00:17:06.839 --> 00:17:09.779
genus, East Caucasian tur and West Caucasian
00:17:09.779 --> 00:17:12.660
tur, which are very localised species. I understand
00:17:12.660 --> 00:17:14.440
it's very possible to see them while you're up
00:17:14.440 --> 00:17:15.880
at these elevations looking for some of these
00:17:15.880 --> 00:17:17.740
bird species. I'd be interested to know how you
00:17:17.740 --> 00:17:20.099
guys got on with them. Yeah, I certainly saw
00:17:20.099 --> 00:17:22.279
one of the turs. I think it was the East Caucasian
00:17:22.279 --> 00:17:26.710
tur. And you can see other stuff. I saw a Facebook
00:17:26.710 --> 00:17:29.589
post from Alex, our guide, in a year or two later
00:17:29.589 --> 00:17:31.390
where he was regularly seeing brown bear on the
00:17:31.390 --> 00:17:33.069
slopes while he was scanning. Yeah, I understand
00:17:33.069 --> 00:17:35.769
that's very much a possibility when you're up
00:17:35.769 --> 00:17:38.609
there is brown bear. So I know some people have
00:17:38.609 --> 00:17:40.730
seen Eurasian lynx while up in that part of the
00:17:40.730 --> 00:17:43.309
Caucasus. But yeah, it sounds like a very beautiful
00:17:43.309 --> 00:17:46.289
place to go birding with an absolutely mega selection
00:17:46.289 --> 00:17:49.410
of birds. I'll ask a couple of more general logistics
00:17:49.410 --> 00:17:51.809
questions, David. You've already explained that
00:17:51.809 --> 00:17:54.900
you had a guide. Now, how easy was Georgia? To
00:17:54.900 --> 00:17:57.359
get to from the UK, and for you, Brian, from
00:17:57.359 --> 00:17:59.299
Ireland, are there direct flights? Do you have
00:17:59.299 --> 00:18:01.740
to stop anywhere? How does it all work? I think
00:18:01.740 --> 00:18:05.720
the first time we stopped was in Germany. I think
00:18:05.720 --> 00:18:08.700
it was Munich we stopped at. And then on from
00:18:08.700 --> 00:18:11.480
New York to Tbilisi. Spent a lot of time in Tbilisi
00:18:11.480 --> 00:18:13.359
too. They've got, if you're doing more of a city
00:18:13.359 --> 00:18:16.029
break, they've got... The lovely botanical gardens
00:18:16.029 --> 00:18:18.430
there, that's always worth a look. There are
00:18:18.430 --> 00:18:20.930
sites out in the grasslands and there's some
00:18:20.930 --> 00:18:23.109
reservoirs just out of town too that are worth
00:18:23.109 --> 00:18:25.950
checking out. And Tbilisi is a beautiful city.
00:18:26.089 --> 00:18:28.329
The old town's gorgeous and there's a colony
00:18:28.329 --> 00:18:31.089
of night herons on the river. So plenty to see
00:18:31.089 --> 00:18:34.180
around there. I think there is now a direct flight
00:18:34.180 --> 00:18:37.559
to Tbilisi from the UK, isn't there? I believe
00:18:37.559 --> 00:18:39.720
that was brought in this year. I flew Dublin
00:18:39.720 --> 00:18:43.839
to Luton to Tbilisi. That's with EasyJet. so
00:18:43.839 --> 00:18:45.519
it's pretty it's pretty handy i just got like
00:18:45.519 --> 00:18:47.619
a i think the flight to luton i think it was
00:18:47.619 --> 00:18:50.180
like 15 quid or something like that um i can't
00:18:50.180 --> 00:18:53.119
remember exactly what it was for to pc flight
00:18:53.119 --> 00:18:55.660
but it wasn't mad mad expensive even though i
00:18:55.660 --> 00:18:58.319
booked it at really last like late notice so
00:18:58.319 --> 00:19:00.180
yeah that's how i got there interesting stuff
00:19:00.180 --> 00:19:02.920
okay now we're going to take a short break and
00:19:02.920 --> 00:19:05.920
we'll be back with part two very soon welcome
00:19:09.599 --> 00:19:12.180
back to the bird guys podcast we are talking
00:19:12.180 --> 00:19:15.759
all things birding in georgia So far, Brian and
00:19:15.759 --> 00:19:18.460
David have chatted about their experiences, which
00:19:18.460 --> 00:19:21.339
were largely based on some of the key target
00:19:21.339 --> 00:19:24.359
species in the country. Now, there's another
00:19:24.359 --> 00:19:26.380
massive element of birding in Georgia, and that
00:19:26.380 --> 00:19:30.180
is the very famous raptor migration at Batumi.
00:19:30.660 --> 00:19:33.259
Ian was lucky enough to experience this a few
00:19:33.259 --> 00:19:35.940
years ago. Now, Ian, could you please explain
00:19:35.940 --> 00:19:38.839
to the listener why Batumi is an important migration
00:19:38.839 --> 00:19:41.619
flyway? What sort of numbers of raptors pass
00:19:41.619 --> 00:19:44.400
through each year? What sort of species are you
00:19:44.400 --> 00:19:47.880
seeing? Yeah, I was lucky enough to be invited
00:19:47.880 --> 00:19:51.160
to take part in the Raptor Festival at Batumi
00:19:51.160 --> 00:19:55.740
in September 2024. A guest of the Ajaran Regional
00:19:55.740 --> 00:19:58.440
Tourist Board, who looked after us very well.
00:19:58.839 --> 00:20:02.839
Batumi is quite a big town, very modern, and
00:20:02.839 --> 00:20:06.799
it's situated just on the Black Sea coast. Right
00:20:06.799 --> 00:20:09.400
where the Lesser Caucasus hit the coast, really,
00:20:09.460 --> 00:20:12.000
there's an eight -kilometre -wide coastal strip.
00:20:12.299 --> 00:20:16.910
So raptors that are moving out of Russia and
00:20:16.910 --> 00:20:19.069
further north for the winter come down the flyway,
00:20:19.109 --> 00:20:22.369
they skirt round through the Greater Caucasus,
00:20:22.369 --> 00:20:24.390
round the Black Sea coast, and then they can
00:20:24.390 --> 00:20:27.619
see the Lesser Caucasus ahead of them. And they
00:20:27.619 --> 00:20:30.359
don't really fancy getting over those, so they
00:20:30.359 --> 00:20:32.299
try and take the easier route, which is to go
00:20:32.299 --> 00:20:35.380
round them. And that obviously funnels them into
00:20:35.380 --> 00:20:38.539
this. Small area. You would expect to see, if
00:20:38.539 --> 00:20:40.500
you were a raptor counter at Batumi, somewhere
00:20:40.500 --> 00:20:45.960
in the region of between 850 ,000 and a million
00:20:45.960 --> 00:20:48.700
birds of prey passing through the season. Yeah,
00:20:48.740 --> 00:20:51.420
it's quite incredible. The numbers are just extraordinary.
00:20:51.839 --> 00:20:54.480
And what is the setup like for watching at Batumi?
00:20:54.759 --> 00:20:56.920
There are different species moving through at
00:20:56.920 --> 00:20:59.140
different times of the season, of course. You
00:20:59.140 --> 00:21:01.210
start off with... Honey buzzards is the early
00:21:01.210 --> 00:21:03.690
one. They start counting from around about the
00:21:03.690 --> 00:21:05.849
12th of August and they keep counting through
00:21:05.849 --> 00:21:09.289
until middle of October or thereabouts. So honey
00:21:09.289 --> 00:21:11.450
buzzards obviously move early. I think they've
00:21:11.450 --> 00:21:14.069
already had about half a million through this
00:21:14.069 --> 00:21:16.769
year and we're in, what are we, first week, second
00:21:16.769 --> 00:21:19.190
week of September. They start to tail off and
00:21:19.190 --> 00:21:21.690
then the step buzzards pick up and overtake them.
00:21:21.809 --> 00:21:24.670
And yeah, some days you can see over 100 ,000
00:21:24.670 --> 00:21:29.240
step buzzards moving. Two dedicated watch points
00:21:29.240 --> 00:21:32.380
just outside and to the north of Batumi town
00:21:32.380 --> 00:21:35.579
itself. The first one is, and my pronunciation
00:21:35.579 --> 00:21:37.599
is not going to be very good, is Sakalvasho.
00:21:37.740 --> 00:21:43.759
And the other one is Shwamta. I just call them
00:21:43.759 --> 00:21:47.940
A and B. It makes life a lot easier. But the
00:21:47.940 --> 00:21:51.400
first one is situated on a fairly low hill that
00:21:51.400 --> 00:21:54.039
the Georgian military actually took the top off
00:21:54.039 --> 00:21:56.079
a few years ago when they were a bit worried
00:21:56.079 --> 00:21:58.960
about the Russians. and they've made this sort
00:21:58.960 --> 00:22:01.259
of platform on the top and it's perfectly situated
00:22:01.259 --> 00:22:04.539
you've got you've got the Black Sea coast just
00:22:04.539 --> 00:22:07.240
away and down to your left and then you've got
00:22:07.240 --> 00:22:11.039
the the mountains of Ntara National Park just
00:22:11.039 --> 00:22:14.160
to the right and you're looking back across the
00:22:14.160 --> 00:22:18.380
coastal plain towards the Greater Caucasus and
00:22:18.380 --> 00:22:21.019
the mountains are they're about 80 miles away
00:22:21.019 --> 00:22:22.980
in the distance and on a clear day you can see
00:22:22.980 --> 00:22:26.019
the snow -capped peaks of those yeah it's not
00:22:26.019 --> 00:22:28.500
it's not It's basic. There's not much in the
00:22:28.500 --> 00:22:31.380
way of facilities. Watch Point B has got a little
00:22:31.380 --> 00:22:34.460
cafe next to it, so that's slightly more civilised.
00:22:34.519 --> 00:22:36.220
You get a cup of tea and a bite to eat there.
00:22:36.700 --> 00:22:39.619
But yeah, it's easy to get at from Batumi itself,
00:22:39.880 --> 00:22:43.539
just a 20 -minute cab ride. And autumn is the
00:22:43.539 --> 00:22:47.000
peak time, but within autumn, are there any windows
00:22:47.000 --> 00:22:50.660
or months that are particularly productive in
00:22:50.660 --> 00:22:53.319
terms of the volume of birds passing over Batumi?
00:22:56.599 --> 00:23:00.119
over the last 35 species of raptor there over
00:23:00.119 --> 00:23:02.960
the years. And as I say, the honey buzzards come
00:23:02.960 --> 00:23:06.039
through first and then step buzzards are a bit
00:23:06.039 --> 00:23:09.299
later. The eagle migration kicks in from around
00:23:09.299 --> 00:23:11.460
about the middle of September and that picks
00:23:11.460 --> 00:23:14.779
up towards the end of the month. But there are
00:23:14.779 --> 00:23:16.940
other things moving at the same time, stalks,
00:23:16.940 --> 00:23:18.819
bee eaters, rollers. When we were there, there
00:23:18.819 --> 00:23:21.680
was a massive movement of swallows, just constant,
00:23:21.779 --> 00:23:24.539
thousands upon thousands of barn swallows moving
00:23:24.539 --> 00:23:28.190
through. Yeah, it's really good. I would thoroughly
00:23:28.190 --> 00:23:30.970
recommend any time in particularly September
00:23:30.970 --> 00:23:34.490
seeing this spectacle. You've mentioned some
00:23:34.490 --> 00:23:36.970
of the species that pass over, but would you
00:23:36.970 --> 00:23:40.769
say there are any holy grail raptors that people
00:23:40.769 --> 00:23:42.450
are particularly keen to see if they're doing
00:23:42.450 --> 00:23:45.490
a session at Petumi? Yeah, crested honey buzzard
00:23:45.490 --> 00:23:48.250
would be, I guess, if you're a western paleoctylista
00:23:48.250 --> 00:23:51.049
like Brian, you'd be after crested honey buzzard.
00:23:51.190 --> 00:23:53.390
Brian, have you seen crested honey buzzard in
00:23:53.390 --> 00:23:55.990
the WP? I've seen them in Cuaish. I've seen two
00:23:55.990 --> 00:23:57.750
birds in Kuwait, a dark bird and one of those
00:23:57.750 --> 00:24:00.170
kind of cinnamon coloured birds. Yeah. Yeah.
00:24:00.329 --> 00:24:01.890
Okay. So Ian, did you have any luck with the
00:24:01.890 --> 00:24:03.789
crested honey buzzard during your trip? Yes.
00:24:03.950 --> 00:24:07.369
We, well, there were three recorded when I was
00:24:07.369 --> 00:24:09.690
there. I couldn't get on the first couple, but
00:24:09.690 --> 00:24:12.150
had pretty good views of the last one, which
00:24:12.150 --> 00:24:14.250
as is often the way was on the last morning that
00:24:14.250 --> 00:24:17.589
we were there. You're looking at these huge kettles
00:24:17.589 --> 00:24:19.809
of raptors and you're thinking, I'm never going
00:24:19.809 --> 00:24:21.569
to pick a crested honey buzzard out of those.
00:24:21.609 --> 00:24:24.359
But actually, once you start. seeing these birds
00:24:24.359 --> 00:24:26.799
of prey you get your eye in and you go oh yeah
00:24:26.799 --> 00:24:29.799
okay that one is clearly different slightly like
00:24:29.799 --> 00:24:31.920
a sort of beefed up honey buzzard and then you
00:24:31.920 --> 00:24:34.259
get it in the scope and actually see the coloration
00:24:34.259 --> 00:24:37.359
on it but yeah these things are all heading south
00:24:37.359 --> 00:24:40.859
to Africa a lot of them then move on from Batumi
00:24:40.859 --> 00:24:43.099
carry on their migration and go through places
00:24:43.099 --> 00:24:45.740
like Eilat and filter off into Africa for the
00:24:45.740 --> 00:24:49.380
winter it's really yeah a long way that these
00:24:49.380 --> 00:24:51.900
birds are flying Yeah, it's amazing. Sounds like
00:24:51.900 --> 00:24:55.079
a very special place. And Batumi, the town, is
00:24:55.079 --> 00:24:57.380
situated on the eastern coast of the Black Sea.
00:24:57.740 --> 00:25:01.099
So were you able to do any birding in and around
00:25:01.099 --> 00:25:03.059
the town while you were there, or was it just
00:25:03.059 --> 00:25:07.589
raptor action? No, the hotel is in Batumi that
00:25:07.589 --> 00:25:10.309
we were staying in, and the boulevard that runs
00:25:10.309 --> 00:25:13.730
along the Black Sea is very good for passerines.
00:25:13.890 --> 00:25:16.190
We were coming out in the morning before being
00:25:16.190 --> 00:25:19.569
ferried up to the watch points just in the...
00:25:19.759 --> 00:25:22.720
Three or four bushes outside the hotel, we were
00:25:22.720 --> 00:25:25.160
seeing redback shrikes, redstarts, willow warblers,
00:25:25.299 --> 00:25:28.079
reed warblers, and I believe we didn't get a
00:25:28.079 --> 00:25:30.119
big fall, but if the weather's right, you can
00:25:30.119 --> 00:25:33.099
see hundreds of birds just in the town around
00:25:33.099 --> 00:25:35.859
the boulevard there. It's a really good migration
00:25:35.859 --> 00:25:38.200
spot. Yeah, on my second trip, I also went along
00:25:38.200 --> 00:25:40.519
the area, and it's an amazing compression point
00:25:40.519 --> 00:25:42.220
for migrants, like you say. I had things like
00:25:42.220 --> 00:25:44.819
quail kicked up just in this very linear, narrow
00:25:44.819 --> 00:25:47.960
park. Did you get to the Cherokee Delta? That
00:25:47.960 --> 00:25:50.490
was one place I didn't make it to. Yes, we went
00:25:50.490 --> 00:25:52.609
down south. That's just to the south of Batumi.
00:25:52.789 --> 00:25:55.109
And that's, as you say, a sort of river delta
00:25:55.109 --> 00:25:57.890
that hits the coast. And we spent a morning birding
00:25:57.890 --> 00:26:01.410
there. And we saw lots of migrants, quail, redback
00:26:01.410 --> 00:26:04.529
shrikes, warblers. It was really good. And you've
00:26:04.529 --> 00:26:07.109
still got a few sort of birds going overhead
00:26:07.109 --> 00:26:10.609
as well. So I think we saw three flocks of blackwing
00:26:10.609 --> 00:26:13.930
pratting coals. One was 500, another sort of
00:26:13.930 --> 00:26:17.009
250 and another 100. So there's birds moving
00:26:17.009 --> 00:26:19.930
all the time. Did either of you see Demizil Crane?
00:26:20.009 --> 00:26:22.410
I didn't, no. No. Well, the spring thing, isn't
00:26:22.410 --> 00:26:24.650
it there? I'm not entirely sure. I do know Georgia
00:26:24.650 --> 00:26:27.329
can be a good country for getting them, because
00:26:27.329 --> 00:26:29.190
they're really tricky now in the West Pal, because
00:26:29.190 --> 00:26:31.529
I think they used to breed in Turkey, in eastern
00:26:31.529 --> 00:26:33.230
Turkey, and they've just disappeared from there.
00:26:33.289 --> 00:26:35.410
Yeah, and I think I'm right in saying they breed
00:26:35.410 --> 00:26:38.630
in Ukraine, which obviously is not birdable at
00:26:38.630 --> 00:26:41.809
the moment. Do they still pass through Cyprus
00:26:41.809 --> 00:26:44.130
in August? Yeah, I've seen there's been some
00:26:44.130 --> 00:26:47.549
flocks there in the last few days. have you seen
00:26:47.549 --> 00:26:49.890
have you seen i've seen one one demizel in west
00:26:49.890 --> 00:26:52.910
kazakhstan yeah but that was tough work but yeah
00:26:52.910 --> 00:26:55.029
they're certainly not an easy bird but i think
00:26:55.029 --> 00:26:57.450
georgia is can be a good enough country if you
00:26:57.450 --> 00:26:59.130
get a bit lucky with them yeah i've read that
00:26:59.130 --> 00:27:01.569
as well and these wetlands that you visited ian
00:27:01.569 --> 00:27:04.650
did you see armenian gull there yes we saw we
00:27:04.650 --> 00:27:06.910
saw various gulls of various different types
00:27:06.910 --> 00:27:09.069
yeah armenian gull was present there they've
00:27:09.069 --> 00:27:12.269
had some amazing records at this delta it's one
00:27:12.269 --> 00:27:15.089
of georgia's premier birding sites i think i
00:27:15.089 --> 00:27:17.970
had a three banded plover there i think yeah
00:27:17.970 --> 00:27:19.450
that three banded plover was actually found by
00:27:19.450 --> 00:27:22.549
an irish guy patrick veal and i think wow amazing
00:27:22.549 --> 00:27:25.569
yeah yeah i think there's been two records in
00:27:25.569 --> 00:27:27.990
georgia in recent years i could be wrong with
00:27:27.990 --> 00:27:29.529
that but there's certainly been two and i think
00:27:29.529 --> 00:27:31.849
they might have been at the same site but yeah
00:27:31.849 --> 00:27:34.150
what yeah that's a really tricky bird now in
00:27:34.150 --> 00:27:35.990
egypt maybe i'll end up twitching one in georgia
00:27:35.990 --> 00:27:38.890
someday now brian a species you mentioned at
00:27:38.890 --> 00:27:40.369
the top of the pod that was one of your main
00:27:40.369 --> 00:27:43.609
targets there was a common pheasant Now, certainly
00:27:43.609 --> 00:27:47.250
to British listeners, that might sound a bit
00:27:47.250 --> 00:27:49.130
unusual, but there's some pretty good rationale
00:27:49.130 --> 00:27:51.269
behind that, if you'd like to explain. Yeah,
00:27:51.329 --> 00:27:54.230
I do kind of like to, if I've seen a species
00:27:54.230 --> 00:27:56.809
that's cat -sea, so for example, I'd still love
00:27:56.809 --> 00:27:59.289
to see stuff like Egyptian goose in Egypt, and
00:27:59.289 --> 00:28:02.269
common pheasant was one I was always really keen
00:28:02.269 --> 00:28:06.009
to get. To get a category A, so like a natural,
00:28:06.210 --> 00:28:08.789
wild common pheasant in the Western Pale Arctic,
00:28:08.990 --> 00:28:11.170
they're a really difficult bird. There's only
00:28:11.170 --> 00:28:13.190
a couple of countries. So I think you can find
00:28:13.190 --> 00:28:15.769
them. There's a spot in northern Greece. Yeah,
00:28:15.849 --> 00:28:18.109
I was aware of Greece being one of these countries.
00:28:18.349 --> 00:28:19.730
Yeah, which is a bit bizarre because it seems
00:28:19.730 --> 00:28:23.130
so isolated from the rest of the Caspian Sea
00:28:23.130 --> 00:28:26.289
population, you could say. I think West Kazakhstan,
00:28:26.589 --> 00:28:28.809
but they can be quite difficult in the Ural Delta.
00:28:29.089 --> 00:28:32.250
Azerbaijan and Georgia are the others. I'm not
00:28:32.250 --> 00:28:35.069
sure if they occur in West Pal, Russia, but either
00:28:35.069 --> 00:28:37.450
way, Georgia is a brilliant country for them.
00:28:37.569 --> 00:28:40.769
So it was actually a tough trip, or a twitch,
00:28:40.890 --> 00:28:43.589
I should say, because from Stepinsminde, we drove
00:28:43.589 --> 00:28:47.049
five hours to the southeast of Georgia. I'm probably
00:28:47.049 --> 00:28:48.589
going to butcher the pronunciation, but it's
00:28:48.589 --> 00:28:52.069
Dedoplistskaro is the name of the town. I've
00:28:52.069 --> 00:28:54.269
definitely butchered that. But yeah, it's quite
00:28:54.269 --> 00:28:56.789
close to the border with Azerbaijan. So we got
00:28:56.789 --> 00:28:59.680
down there pretty early. and then I sometimes
00:28:59.680 --> 00:29:02.039
do bird races in Ireland and stuff like that
00:29:02.039 --> 00:29:04.480
and common pheasant is always the kind of one
00:29:04.480 --> 00:29:06.519
that could you'll either see 20 in a day or none
00:29:06.519 --> 00:29:08.799
but they can be quite a difficult species to
00:29:08.799 --> 00:29:11.240
find when you actually go searching for one so
00:29:11.240 --> 00:29:13.400
yeah we there was a couple of sites that I had
00:29:13.400 --> 00:29:16.160
pinned or whatever and it was really tough going
00:29:16.160 --> 00:29:19.640
we had I picked up a little a tiny speck in the
00:29:19.640 --> 00:29:22.039
distance that almost certainly was a common pheasant
00:29:22.039 --> 00:29:25.480
but again yeah even just because of the distance
00:29:25.480 --> 00:29:28.759
it just we drove to the field walked in trying
00:29:28.759 --> 00:29:30.759
to try to flush it out and nothing came out so
00:29:30.759 --> 00:29:33.880
we just had you seen records on ebook yeah but
00:29:33.880 --> 00:29:36.759
the problem is no kind of like tour companies
00:29:36.759 --> 00:29:38.880
go there nobody's interested really in seeing
00:29:38.880 --> 00:29:41.539
them so it's just the gen is actually really
00:29:41.539 --> 00:29:44.640
quite limited on them yeah because because nobody's
00:29:44.640 --> 00:29:46.599
going to go to georgia i mean i was going to
00:29:46.599 --> 00:29:48.180
say earlier listener you did hear that correct
00:29:48.180 --> 00:29:51.619
brian drove five hours to try and see it yeah
00:29:51.619 --> 00:29:55.130
yeah but yeah so we were kind of We were struggling
00:29:55.130 --> 00:29:57.410
for the first half of the day. For the morning,
00:29:57.450 --> 00:30:00.190
basically, we were struggling. Yeah, with not
00:30:00.190 --> 00:30:03.630
flushing that bird out. I thought it was a needle
00:30:03.630 --> 00:30:05.529
in a haystack, really. It's a gigantic area.
00:30:05.910 --> 00:30:07.750
It's not easy. You don't want to start marching
00:30:07.750 --> 00:30:10.029
across fields that you don't know who owns them
00:30:10.029 --> 00:30:11.690
and all that kind of stuff as well. You don't
00:30:11.690 --> 00:30:13.650
know how stuff like that works out there. But
00:30:13.650 --> 00:30:15.450
eventually, we went to a lake. I can't remember
00:30:15.450 --> 00:30:18.410
the name of the lake, but I scoped quite a distance.
00:30:18.509 --> 00:30:21.210
Male common pheasant walking across a field.
00:30:22.400 --> 00:30:25.400
and it disappeared almost as quick I got a couple
00:30:25.400 --> 00:30:27.880
of really poor record shots fired them off and
00:30:27.880 --> 00:30:30.819
thankfully after about half an hour we re -found
00:30:30.819 --> 00:30:32.759
it much closer and we had brilliant views of
00:30:32.759 --> 00:30:35.019
it and they've got this almost it's almost like
00:30:35.019 --> 00:30:37.339
a violet coloured rump They're really quite a
00:30:37.339 --> 00:30:41.960
dark -looking bird. To see them skulking through
00:30:41.960 --> 00:30:44.640
the edge of a woodland as well, and really shy,
00:30:44.819 --> 00:30:46.859
timid birds, it's just totally different than
00:30:46.859 --> 00:30:48.680
what you see here in Britain. Yeah, it sounds
00:30:48.680 --> 00:30:50.460
like almost seeing a different species. Were
00:30:50.460 --> 00:30:52.319
you hearing them crowing as well? Were they teasing
00:30:52.319 --> 00:30:55.079
you by sound, or were they just silent? No, they
00:30:55.079 --> 00:30:57.819
were silent. They were silent, yeah. But yeah,
00:30:57.900 --> 00:30:59.859
they just looked totally different. The birds
00:30:59.859 --> 00:31:01.920
that we get in Ireland, if pheasant was split,
00:31:02.140 --> 00:31:04.619
which has been tipped, I'm not sure whether we
00:31:04.619 --> 00:31:07.039
actually get any pure birds at all. So the birds
00:31:07.039 --> 00:31:09.319
out there, I think they're well worth seeing.
00:31:10.720 --> 00:31:15.039
Do they lack the colour, right? Yeah, they lack
00:31:15.039 --> 00:31:17.720
the colour. They're really, really dark. Obviously,
00:31:17.759 --> 00:31:20.400
they've got the red face, but that rump, that
00:31:20.400 --> 00:31:24.680
violet rump is amazing. The bluish neck. I think
00:31:24.680 --> 00:31:26.400
they're stunning looking things. I can't recommend
00:31:26.400 --> 00:31:28.299
it enough to people to try for them because it
00:31:28.299 --> 00:31:29.700
really feels like you're looking at a different
00:31:29.700 --> 00:31:33.480
species. Probably because you may well be. All
00:31:33.480 --> 00:31:35.660
pheasants and partridges are great. It's a wonderful
00:31:35.660 --> 00:31:38.299
family. I think game birds are absolutely brilliant.
00:31:38.480 --> 00:31:40.319
So yeah, and I think there's no harm in seeing
00:31:40.319 --> 00:31:43.519
if you've seen a species on category C to upgrade
00:31:43.519 --> 00:31:45.579
it to category A if you have the chance. Yeah,
00:31:45.599 --> 00:31:47.180
it always feels better, doesn't it? Sorry guys,
00:31:47.279 --> 00:31:49.160
I went down an e -bird rabbit hole trying to
00:31:49.160 --> 00:31:52.759
find pictures of Brian's pheasants. Have you
00:31:52.759 --> 00:31:54.339
put them on e -bird, the pictures? Yeah, oh,
00:31:54.740 --> 00:31:57.099
already on e -bird. I can't find any pictures,
00:31:57.180 --> 00:31:59.759
but I'm basically looking on e -bird and there's
00:31:59.759 --> 00:32:01.819
certainly a cluster of sightings around this
00:32:01.819 --> 00:32:04.799
town. But some of the photos, they are all...
00:32:04.950 --> 00:32:08.250
Typically record shots. And it looks like a mega
00:32:08.250 --> 00:32:12.250
bird. There's no doubt about it. If they weren't
00:32:12.250 --> 00:32:14.410
constantly running out in front of your car on
00:32:14.410 --> 00:32:17.170
the way to Norfolk, you'd travel to see one,
00:32:17.250 --> 00:32:19.490
wouldn't you? Do people hunt them as a wild bird,
00:32:19.589 --> 00:32:21.869
almost like grouse? I'm not sure, but I would
00:32:21.869 --> 00:32:24.009
imagine so. We obviously don't want the Georgia
00:32:24.009 --> 00:32:26.430
pod to become a pheasant pod. I'm guessing, Brian,
00:32:26.529 --> 00:32:28.829
you'd seen Black Franklin. That's the other bird.
00:32:28.849 --> 00:32:31.349
It is in Georgia, isn't it? But it's easier to
00:32:31.349 --> 00:32:35.660
see in Azerbaijan. yeah yeah so i actually didn't
00:32:35.660 --> 00:32:38.420
see them in in georgia but i have seen them in
00:32:38.420 --> 00:32:40.839
a couple of other countries like cyprus and azerbaijan
00:32:40.839 --> 00:32:43.700
so yeah it wasn't yeah yeah on my hit list really
00:32:43.700 --> 00:32:46.660
so listen i'm just looking at brian's photos
00:32:46.660 --> 00:32:49.319
of this male common pheasant and i have to say
00:32:49.319 --> 00:32:52.519
he looks pretty mega so i can definitely understand
00:32:52.519 --> 00:32:54.380
why you went to see it but yeah i don't know
00:32:54.380 --> 00:32:58.140
if in david there's any other particularly mega
00:32:58.140 --> 00:33:01.160
or memorable or desirable species in Georgia
00:33:01.160 --> 00:33:03.500
that you remember that you saw? I saw a few things.
00:33:03.599 --> 00:33:06.720
The memorable experience was the raptor passage,
00:33:06.819 --> 00:33:08.680
really. The final morning that we were there,
00:33:08.779 --> 00:33:11.039
as I said, we were a guest of the tourist board
00:33:11.039 --> 00:33:13.519
and the offer was, would you like to have a tour
00:33:13.519 --> 00:33:17.900
of the Toomey Old Town? And we concluded that
00:33:17.900 --> 00:33:20.359
actually we'd probably rather go and watch raptors.
00:33:20.460 --> 00:33:22.279
So there were only a couple of us left by that
00:33:22.279 --> 00:33:25.380
stage, so we went up to watch point A and got
00:33:25.380 --> 00:33:27.160
there about half nine in the morning and the
00:33:27.160 --> 00:33:30.420
passage had been... quite slow and then from
00:33:30.420 --> 00:33:32.859
about 10 o 'clock the weather cleared up a bit
00:33:32.859 --> 00:33:35.839
and it appeared that raptor passage has been
00:33:35.839 --> 00:33:38.119
held back for a couple of days and the floodgates
00:33:38.119 --> 00:33:41.420
just opened and from 10 a .m through to when
00:33:41.420 --> 00:33:44.319
we had to leave the sort of early afternoon we
00:33:44.319 --> 00:33:46.119
had a golden eagle which was the only one they
00:33:46.119 --> 00:33:49.539
recorded that season white -tailed eagle an adult
00:33:49.539 --> 00:33:52.220
egyptian vulture went through two eastern imperial
00:33:52.220 --> 00:33:57.069
eagles 1 ,093 booted eagles, 312 short -toed
00:33:57.069 --> 00:34:02.230
eagles, 30 step eagles, 224 lesser -spotted eagles,
00:34:02.329 --> 00:34:05.809
6 greater -spotted eagles, 458 honey buzzards,
00:34:06.109 --> 00:34:10.449
8 ,503 step buzzards, and 26 ,000 black kites,
00:34:10.530 --> 00:34:14.969
10 ospreys, 10 leavened sparrowhawks, 180 Eurasian
00:34:14.969 --> 00:34:17.670
sparrowhawks, 20 kestrels, a single red -footed
00:34:17.670 --> 00:34:21.449
falcon. 25 pallid harriers, 360 marsh harriers,
00:34:21.489 --> 00:34:24.829
a single Montagues harrier, a peregrine, and
00:34:24.829 --> 00:34:28.449
then there were 300 large eagles, 15 ,000 medium
00:34:28.449 --> 00:34:32.710
-sized raptors, and 122 black storks and about
00:34:32.710 --> 00:34:38.030
150 bee -eaters. It was amazing. It was, and
00:34:38.030 --> 00:34:41.090
these things are coming through at all heights
00:34:41.090 --> 00:34:44.940
above. and in some cases below you and regularly
00:34:44.940 --> 00:34:47.820
at eye level. The cameras, somebody will call
00:34:47.820 --> 00:34:50.320
short -toed eagle coming in and then you just
00:34:50.320 --> 00:34:53.039
hear the camera shutters going as this owl -faced
00:34:53.039 --> 00:34:55.619
raptor suddenly clocks you and gives you the
00:34:55.619 --> 00:34:58.519
evil stare. So looking into the face of a short
00:34:58.519 --> 00:35:01.340
-toed eagle through a scope from no range at
00:35:01.340 --> 00:35:04.380
all, you can get a feeling of how the snake feels.
00:35:04.500 --> 00:35:06.559
You couldn't hope for a better training ground
00:35:06.559 --> 00:35:08.780
by the sound of it for getting yourself tuned
00:35:08.780 --> 00:35:12.159
into Raptor ID. Oh, yeah. As I said earlier,
00:35:12.340 --> 00:35:14.460
when you see your first kettle of raptors, you
00:35:14.460 --> 00:35:16.079
go, I'm never going to identify all of these.
00:35:16.239 --> 00:35:18.800
And then after a couple of days of seeing so
00:35:18.800 --> 00:35:21.219
many, you start to get your eye in. You can see
00:35:21.219 --> 00:35:23.980
the other watch point is about two miles away
00:35:23.980 --> 00:35:27.739
to the east. So they divide the sky up between
00:35:27.739 --> 00:35:31.289
them to work out who's counting what. and they're
00:35:31.289 --> 00:35:34.489
looking further east and up, and the spread of
00:35:34.489 --> 00:35:36.829
raptors is surprisingly different. Some of these
00:35:36.829 --> 00:35:38.730
things take a slightly different route depending
00:35:38.730 --> 00:35:41.710
on the wind direction. Watchpoint 2 tends to
00:35:41.710 --> 00:35:44.289
be slightly better for eagles later in the season.
00:35:44.469 --> 00:35:46.510
In my second trip a couple of years ago, it was
00:35:46.510 --> 00:35:49.130
autumn, and we were going to Batumi to see some
00:35:49.130 --> 00:35:50.690
other things that we hadn't seen on our first
00:35:50.690 --> 00:35:52.809
trip in terms of the culture and the city stuff,
00:35:53.010 --> 00:35:55.150
and obviously I was hoping to get up to that
00:35:55.150 --> 00:35:57.349
raptor watchpoint. The only day that I really
00:35:57.349 --> 00:36:00.170
had the time, it was forecast to be rainy all
00:36:00.170 --> 00:36:01.769
morning, and I thought, it's not going to happen
00:36:01.769 --> 00:36:03.530
up there, is it? So I just held off and thought,
00:36:03.630 --> 00:36:06.030
maybe I'll squeeze in an hour or two later in
00:36:06.030 --> 00:36:08.090
the week. And I looked at Trek Thailand that
00:36:08.090 --> 00:36:10.309
day, and they'd had crested honey buzzard, and
00:36:10.309 --> 00:36:12.030
they'd had all sorts of things, and that would
00:36:12.030 --> 00:36:14.150
have been the time to go. But nice to have something
00:36:14.150 --> 00:36:16.230
in the bank for next time. My first trip, the
00:36:16.230 --> 00:36:18.150
ultimate thing was going to the mountains, but
00:36:18.150 --> 00:36:20.210
we'd stopped off by the side of a road that's
00:36:20.210 --> 00:36:22.329
got creepers in that hatch, literally roadside,
00:36:22.489 --> 00:36:27.280
and I still hadn't seen... Syrian or middle -spotted
00:36:27.280 --> 00:36:29.420
woodpecker, and our guide took us to this woodland.
00:36:29.440 --> 00:36:31.980
We got those and black woodpecker, roosting scops
00:36:31.980 --> 00:36:34.900
owl. So one thing I was going to mention is I
00:36:34.900 --> 00:36:36.760
think Georgia is really underestimated just for
00:36:36.760 --> 00:36:38.920
the general birding there, and I didn't really
00:36:38.920 --> 00:36:42.179
expect to be taken to this lake. It's not a nature
00:36:42.179 --> 00:36:44.800
reserve, just an incidental lake out in the middle
00:36:44.800 --> 00:36:46.599
of this village, really. And there are ruddy
00:36:46.599 --> 00:36:48.619
shell ducks and cinderbilt gulls. We got Armenian
00:36:48.619 --> 00:36:52.570
gull there, huge flocks of gargany. and redneck
00:36:52.570 --> 00:36:54.349
grebe floating around out there. It's just beautiful
00:36:54.349 --> 00:36:56.349
for general birding, and there are eastern imperial
00:36:56.349 --> 00:36:58.889
eagles nesting nearby. Yeah, you can get a really
00:36:58.889 --> 00:37:01.469
all -round experience out in Georgia. It sounds
00:37:01.469 --> 00:37:04.510
wonderfully dynamic. And actually, David, just
00:37:04.510 --> 00:37:06.730
to circle back, the snowcock was heard only for
00:37:06.730 --> 00:37:08.230
you, but I'd be quite interested to hear just
00:37:08.230 --> 00:37:10.090
a little bit more about the remaining three of
00:37:10.090 --> 00:37:12.610
the Georgian Big Four, if you like, the Red Star.
00:37:13.239 --> 00:37:14.539
I think you said you saw the rose finch, but
00:37:14.539 --> 00:37:16.659
what about the grouse? How easy is that to see?
00:37:16.699 --> 00:37:19.099
Is it a scope job? I understand it's slightly
00:37:19.099 --> 00:37:21.179
easier than the snowcock. That was just a case
00:37:21.179 --> 00:37:23.780
of scanning the hillside. So when we arrived
00:37:23.780 --> 00:37:27.739
at Steppensminder and we set out to do the mountain
00:37:27.739 --> 00:37:29.940
birding, fairly quickly that was picked up in
00:37:29.940 --> 00:37:32.139
the scope. And it was the kind of thing where
00:37:32.139 --> 00:37:34.619
in the process of looking for the snowcock, every
00:37:34.619 --> 00:37:37.539
hour or so Alex would say, oh, I've got another
00:37:37.539 --> 00:37:39.179
little group of grouse here if you want to have
00:37:39.179 --> 00:37:41.159
a look. pick through the scope and there they
00:37:41.159 --> 00:37:44.420
were we had a look for those in trishy sort of
00:37:44.420 --> 00:37:48.079
national park or nature area which is it's just
00:37:48.079 --> 00:37:50.260
above the sort of tree line so it's not quite
00:37:50.260 --> 00:37:52.239
they are there but we couldn't find any although
00:37:52.239 --> 00:37:55.199
we did find a large pile of fresh brown bear
00:37:55.199 --> 00:37:57.800
dung which indicates that they don't always use
00:37:57.800 --> 00:38:00.800
the woods so yeah we kept an eye out for the
00:38:00.800 --> 00:38:02.860
bear but we didn't see any bears either but it's
00:38:02.860 --> 00:38:05.400
a fantastic place to be the scenery was extraordinary
00:38:06.440 --> 00:38:09.320
Did any of you guys try any of the local food?
00:38:09.320 --> 00:38:10.820
Well, the one that sticks in my memory, we sampled
00:38:10.820 --> 00:38:12.719
quite a few different things, but I can't remember
00:38:12.719 --> 00:38:14.739
what it's called, but it's like a pizza thing
00:38:14.739 --> 00:38:17.820
just loaded with cheese. That sounds right. Ah,
00:38:17.820 --> 00:38:21.070
cacciapuri. It's pretty heavy. Yeah. Kachapuri,
00:38:21.210 --> 00:38:24.429
the national dish. Yeah, the Georgian feast is
00:38:24.429 --> 00:38:27.750
extraordinary. We had several lunches that you
00:38:27.750 --> 00:38:31.369
turn up and the table is just burgeoning. The
00:38:31.369 --> 00:38:33.849
legs are almost giving out with all this food.
00:38:34.030 --> 00:38:36.329
And you think, we're never going to get through
00:38:36.329 --> 00:38:38.750
that. They put a dent in it and then they bring
00:38:38.750 --> 00:38:41.670
out the main course and it's this sort of stews
00:38:41.670 --> 00:38:44.789
and meats and more salads. Did you experience
00:38:44.789 --> 00:38:47.269
any of the local wine? Certainly did, yes. Some
00:38:47.269 --> 00:38:50.960
very fine wines, yeah. From a gourmet and dining
00:38:50.960 --> 00:38:53.139
point of view, Georgia has a lot to offer. It's
00:38:53.139 --> 00:38:56.420
a range of fusion almost between Asia and Europe.
00:38:56.539 --> 00:38:59.340
There's quite a crossover. The national sort
00:38:59.340 --> 00:39:03.960
of dish is kachapuri, which is a cheese -laden
00:39:03.960 --> 00:39:06.860
bread. I suspect if you had too much of it for
00:39:06.860 --> 00:39:09.219
too long, you probably put on a few pounds, but
00:39:09.219 --> 00:39:12.579
it's very tasty. We had some wonderful dinners
00:39:12.579 --> 00:39:15.869
and lunches. Really good. And the wines. As you
00:39:15.869 --> 00:39:18.969
say, a long history of making wine. We sampled
00:39:18.969 --> 00:39:21.510
quite a lot of that and it was excellent. How
00:39:21.510 --> 00:39:24.030
about any other wildlife? Did any of you guys
00:39:24.030 --> 00:39:26.630
remember any encounters with any called mammals
00:39:26.630 --> 00:39:29.289
or butterflies or was it just birding content?
00:39:29.909 --> 00:39:32.530
I didn't see anything, but I did give it a good
00:39:32.530 --> 00:39:35.309
look one evening for the slopes around the church
00:39:35.309 --> 00:39:38.010
at the bottom of Mount Kazbegi are known for
00:39:38.010 --> 00:39:40.789
Eurasian lynx and brown bear. And I did give
00:39:40.789 --> 00:39:42.980
it a really good go. You'd probably need several
00:39:42.980 --> 00:39:45.639
days to give yourself a good opportunity at finding
00:39:45.639 --> 00:39:47.860
them. Yeah, especially the lynx. It's a very
00:39:47.860 --> 00:39:50.579
tricky species. But it does seem that quite a
00:39:50.579 --> 00:39:52.679
few people do. Certainly in recent years, I've
00:39:52.679 --> 00:39:54.239
seen them mentioned in several trip reports.
00:39:54.480 --> 00:39:56.420
And even on some eBird checklists, it's in the
00:39:56.420 --> 00:39:58.920
comments at the top that Eurasian lynx was seen.
00:39:59.579 --> 00:40:02.019
Yeah, I've seen that as well. I think, as I said
00:40:02.019 --> 00:40:03.699
earlier, when people are looking for the snow
00:40:03.699 --> 00:40:05.960
cock, they might on a distant ridge just have
00:40:05.960 --> 00:40:08.809
a... A Lynx, you know, sneak along the top, which
00:40:08.809 --> 00:40:11.570
is... How amazing would that be? Yeah, absolutely
00:40:11.570 --> 00:40:14.690
amazing. Is there any more you guys want to chuck
00:40:14.690 --> 00:40:17.949
in there? The drive up to Stephansminder, I found
00:40:17.949 --> 00:40:19.849
that pretty hairy. I'm really glad I wasn't doing
00:40:19.849 --> 00:40:22.579
the driving for that. How was... your experience
00:40:22.579 --> 00:40:24.880
with navigating for all the russian lorries yeah
00:40:24.880 --> 00:40:26.980
i found it was okay i actually found the biggest
00:40:26.980 --> 00:40:29.300
problem with driving in georgia was potholes
00:40:29.300 --> 00:40:32.280
uh i ended up getting a puncture one day the
00:40:32.280 --> 00:40:34.519
locals like you mentioned earlier were so friendly
00:40:34.519 --> 00:40:37.159
and helpful and within within probably less than
00:40:37.159 --> 00:40:39.000
an hour we were back on the road but the pothole
00:40:39.000 --> 00:40:41.599
situation is really bad it was a little bit hairy
00:40:41.599 --> 00:40:43.900
at times in terms of cars overtaking on bends
00:40:43.900 --> 00:40:46.559
and stuff like that and because uh yeah quite
00:40:46.559 --> 00:40:48.699
aggressive driving but i found it grand it certainly
00:40:48.699 --> 00:40:50.639
wasn't the worst country i've driven in by any
00:40:50.639 --> 00:40:53.460
stretch the The smaller mountain roads are definitely
00:40:53.460 --> 00:40:56.460
quite hairy. I think to BC was okay to drive
00:40:56.460 --> 00:40:58.940
through as well. Yeah, for anyone contemplating
00:40:58.940 --> 00:41:00.780
a visit to Georgia and going into the mountains,
00:41:00.860 --> 00:41:04.880
the road to Stepansminda is a major route for
00:41:04.880 --> 00:41:08.659
lorries moving into Russia. So you'd have queues
00:41:08.659 --> 00:41:12.960
of dozens, or it felt like hundreds of lorries.
00:41:12.960 --> 00:41:16.179
And you had to be quite bold in your driving
00:41:16.179 --> 00:41:17.739
to get around them, otherwise it would have taken
00:41:17.739 --> 00:41:21.059
forever. Absolutely. Especially when there was
00:41:21.059 --> 00:41:24.079
literally hundreds of lorries parked at the side
00:41:24.079 --> 00:41:25.619
of the road that were kind of like blocking one
00:41:25.619 --> 00:41:28.619
lane. So to kind of get past them, you have oncoming
00:41:28.619 --> 00:41:31.119
traffic and you just have to be cheeky. Otherwise,
00:41:31.260 --> 00:41:33.659
yeah. And you know, I actually almost got stranded
00:41:33.659 --> 00:41:36.510
there. We were thinking we might be missing work
00:41:36.510 --> 00:41:39.250
and that kind of thing because we were scheduled
00:41:39.250 --> 00:41:42.730
to leave Kazbegi, step out to Minda and do some
00:41:42.730 --> 00:41:45.780
other birding lower down the slopes. We heard
00:41:45.780 --> 00:41:48.019
that there'd been a landslide on the road, and
00:41:48.019 --> 00:41:50.679
there was no information on when they thought
00:41:50.679 --> 00:41:52.559
that might be cleared. For all we knew, it could
00:41:52.559 --> 00:41:54.280
have been days, and we were wondering if we were
00:41:54.280 --> 00:41:56.460
going to make our flight. So that can happen
00:41:56.460 --> 00:41:58.980
in these mountain trips out there, because obviously
00:41:58.980 --> 00:42:00.960
nothing's going to be moving when there's a whole
00:42:00.960 --> 00:42:02.619
pile of rocks on the road. I think the other
00:42:02.619 --> 00:42:04.719
thing to bear in mind, and look, I was never
00:42:04.719 --> 00:42:06.980
there in winter, so I don't know, but I think
00:42:06.980 --> 00:42:09.679
snow blocking the road is something to really
00:42:09.679 --> 00:42:12.630
consider. there is a chance that you won't make
00:42:12.630 --> 00:42:14.730
it to Stepinsminde. I have read that before.
00:42:14.969 --> 00:42:17.210
So that is worth factoring in if you were trying
00:42:17.210 --> 00:42:19.110
to go there in January or February or something,
00:42:19.210 --> 00:42:21.510
that potentially, look at it, I think you probably
00:42:21.510 --> 00:42:24.809
would be able to find a way there, but that is
00:42:24.809 --> 00:42:27.510
certainly something to consider at least if you're
00:42:27.510 --> 00:42:30.210
going in a very early spring or in winter. Okay.
00:42:30.210 --> 00:42:33.510
Now, before we wrap up today's pod on Georgia,
00:42:33.690 --> 00:42:37.349
I'm going to ask each of you what your individual...
00:42:38.010 --> 00:42:40.210
highlight from your respective trips to georgia
00:42:40.210 --> 00:42:42.809
was we'll start with you in what was your if
00:42:42.809 --> 00:42:44.670
you had to pick one bird species that was your
00:42:44.670 --> 00:42:47.210
highlight what would you say it was ah it's obviously
00:42:47.210 --> 00:42:50.010
picked from the raptors that were going through
00:42:50.010 --> 00:42:53.710
batumi when i was there there was a step eagle
00:42:53.710 --> 00:42:56.769
that went through at sort of eye level that was
00:42:56.769 --> 00:42:59.329
just a crisp straight out of the box juvenile
00:42:59.329 --> 00:43:03.130
seeing that so well so closely that was yeah
00:43:03.130 --> 00:43:06.630
very memorable nice and how about you brian Probably
00:43:06.630 --> 00:43:08.409
the bird of the trip was Great Rose Finch just
00:43:08.409 --> 00:43:10.929
because of how good it was. But I think going
00:43:10.929 --> 00:43:12.989
to Georgia, I would have automatically assumed
00:43:12.989 --> 00:43:15.070
that's what it would have been. But I enjoyed
00:43:15.070 --> 00:43:19.070
the common pheasant so much. I know it sounds
00:43:19.070 --> 00:43:22.090
a bit crazy, but it's... For people, there's
00:43:22.090 --> 00:43:24.210
probably so few people in the Western Pale Arctic
00:43:24.210 --> 00:43:26.230
that have actually seen a Category A genuine
00:43:26.230 --> 00:43:28.869
common pheasant. I know people are going to be
00:43:28.869 --> 00:43:31.530
slagging me over this, but I can't recommend
00:43:31.530 --> 00:43:33.650
going to look for them enough. It was just, yeah,
00:43:33.730 --> 00:43:35.710
it was really enjoyable. And also the actual
00:43:35.710 --> 00:43:37.730
setting there was amazing, just full of black
00:43:37.730 --> 00:43:39.849
-headed buntings and we had a black woodpecker.
00:43:40.010 --> 00:43:42.469
It was just, it was really enjoyable. Yeah, that's
00:43:42.469 --> 00:43:44.489
an impression I've got from chatting with you
00:43:44.489 --> 00:43:46.670
guys is that as well as the standout species,
00:43:46.889 --> 00:43:49.090
the supporting cast and the landscapes are amazing
00:43:49.090 --> 00:43:52.739
as well. Now, David, finally, what was your bird
00:43:52.739 --> 00:43:54.860
highlight? We'd just been watching the golden
00:43:54.860 --> 00:43:56.800
starts, red starts hopping around almost at our
00:43:56.800 --> 00:44:00.019
feet, and we're heading back to the car, past
00:44:00.019 --> 00:44:03.039
this little... sort of mini dam in this river
00:44:03.039 --> 00:44:06.119
and a wall creeper just suddenly flashed by and
00:44:06.119 --> 00:44:07.920
was flopping about on the concrete walls there
00:44:07.920 --> 00:44:09.980
yeah that was a bird i never really had a proper
00:44:09.980 --> 00:44:12.519
chance to look for before i knew it wasn't i
00:44:12.519 --> 00:44:13.920
knew it was in the area it was very much going
00:44:13.920 --> 00:44:15.880
to be luck whether it was there or not and we
00:44:15.880 --> 00:44:17.820
just got astounding views for such a long time
00:44:17.820 --> 00:44:19.579
and it's such a unique bird only member of its
00:44:19.579 --> 00:44:22.420
family so that's a standout memory for me i actually
00:44:22.420 --> 00:44:24.199
had a similar experience with wall creeper in
00:44:24.199 --> 00:44:27.769
georgia cafe i was just scanning for great rose
00:44:27.769 --> 00:44:29.690
finch and there was this flick just right beside
00:44:29.690 --> 00:44:31.590
me and it was a stunning female wall creeper
00:44:31.590 --> 00:44:34.909
and it just fed for ages probably 10 or 15 minutes
00:44:34.909 --> 00:44:37.670
just point blank views absolutely amazing they're
00:44:37.670 --> 00:44:39.590
such good birds and when they fly that kind of
00:44:39.590 --> 00:44:42.210
crimson wing it's they're one of the best birds
00:44:42.210 --> 00:44:45.530
in the european the paleoarctic but amazing stuff
00:44:45.530 --> 00:44:48.030
so it's been really great chatting to you guys
00:44:48.030 --> 00:44:51.190
today i've never been to georgia but I have to
00:44:51.190 --> 00:44:53.469
say, after these conversations, it has shuffled
00:44:53.469 --> 00:44:57.510
up the bucket list a few places. But yeah, that's
00:44:57.510 --> 00:44:59.670
the end of today's pod, the first in our travel
00:44:59.670 --> 00:45:01.989
series. It's been fantastic talking with Brian
00:45:01.989 --> 00:45:04.349
McCloskey, David Campbell and Ian Lycett about
00:45:04.349 --> 00:45:07.309
Georgia. And we'll be back next week. Go well.
00:45:07.449 --> 00:45:08.730
Cheers, guys. Cheers, guys.