BRC 2019: September Photo Report
I’ve recently returned to The Netherlands from 85 amazing days in Georgia, coordinating the 12th season of the Batumi Raptor Count. It has been a fantastic, unforgettable season!
Like last year, I have decided to simply compile the best and/or most interesting photos per month from when I arrived on August 6th til when I left the country on October 26th. Identification pointers for photos are added frequently so counters for future seasons can ‘pre-prepare’ by going through the photos as well. Apologies for the large photos and a page that will probably load pretty slow. I hope the wait is worth it…
September is the main month of the Batumi Raptor Count, and one of the busiest months for coordinators, so little time is left for photography. But here comes what I still managed to make… :-)
The most complete overview of the past season, which will also go into detail about things not photographed, can be found in the Autumn Report of 2019 published on the BRC website.
I recommend going through the photo reports in chronological order:
September Photo Report
September 1st. A flock of Black Kites leaving the roost on ‘Little Ginger’, next to Station 2.
September 1st. Adult male Marsh Harrier.
September 1st. Very crappy record shot of an adult female Crested Honey Buzzard. Although the picture is far from good, it shows a broad hand with 6 very clear fingers, somewhat of a dark gorget (and a pale throat) and very obviously dense barring like no female European Honey Buzzards show.
September 1st. An overhead adult Steppe Eagle, appearing fairly small because of primary moult. I’m not really sure which primaries are dropped and/or moulting, but luckily the bird still shows all you need to identify this species: a very clear dark trailing edge to all flight feathers, very coarse barring in the remiges, some comparatively short legs and a gape reaching beyond the eye.
September 1st. An adult Egyptian Vulture. Somehow, this species always remains distant for photos. They also have a habit of ignoring flocks and streams altogether and just moving through the bottleneck on their own.
September 3rd. Immature (2nd plumage) Egyptian Vulture, once again a crappy record shot of a distant bird.
September 3rd. A mixed flock of mostly Black Kites and a few Honey Buzzards.
September 3rd. Adult male Marsh Harrier. Presumably an older bird as the underwing has gotten quite pale already, with the white clearly running into the orangey underwing coverts already.
September 4th. Marsh Harriers show some silhouette features that no other medium-sized raptors in the bottleneck show to the same degree: they tend to have very prominent and large feet and a comparatively large bill that also happens to be angled downwards most of the time. These are quite good identification pointers on birds gliding away from you, when it is difficult to judge wing position and shape adequately.
September 4th. Juvenile Montagu’s Harrier, once again showing substantial barring to the underwing median and greater coverts.
September 4th. Poor bird. This juvenile White Stork met a hunter on its way south somewhere…
September 5th. Sunrise over Station 2.
September 5th. An adult female Montagu’s Harrier, which appears — strangely — to be moulting the innermost primaries (P2-3 on left wing, P1-2 on right wing). Usually moult is more progressed and only the outermost ~4 primaries still have to be replaced.
September 5th. Juvenile Montagu’s Harrier with shot damage to the wing.
September 5th. Same bird as previous.
September 5th. Light morph Booted Eagle against the ridge.
September 5th. Juvenile Levant Sparrowhawk.
September 5th. Adult male Honey Buzzard.
September 7th. Juvenile Montagu’s Harrier.
September 7th. It’s a miracle this bird can still fly. I’m left wondering what’s the cause of damage like this: hunting or some other problems? Or a combination?
September 7th. Juvenile Montagu’s Harrier.
September 7th. Immature (2cy) male Marsh Harrier, aged by retained juvenile outer primaries and secondaries.
September 9th. Ageing Booted Eagles is generally really difficult, but I’m confident this is an immature (2cy) bird with 3 clearly worn juvenile outer primaries. This bird must have had quite a good lunch somewhere along the way south.
September 9th. Crested-type Honey Buzzard. Not sure if this birds ticks enough boxes for a pure Crested. Barring is quite European-like and hand is possibly quite weak, but tail is more Crested-like and bird had a fairly dark eye in the field.
September 9th. A more straightforward adult male Crested showing a broad hand, typical tail barring, a wingbar running all the way from the outer primaries to the body, a dark gorget, pale throat, a dark eye and just a hint of a carpal patch.
September 10th. More-or-less straightforward adult male Crested Honey Buzzard, though perhaps the tail is on the longer side? Other than that there was very little that gave an impression of EHB genes in this bird…
September 12th. Absolutely incredible views of an adult male dark morph Marsh Harrier. The best bird of the season for me. I made 25 photos of this bird, each and every one of them: tack sharp!
September 12th. Same bird as previous. (Obviously)
September 12th. Same bird as previous.
September 12th. And from a dark morph we go to a light morph, a light morph juvenile Honey Buzzard that is.
September 12th. Another light bird: an immature Short-toed Eagle.
September 12th. And another… A non-juvenile light morph Booted Eagle.
September 12th. Presumably a juvenile Pallid Harrier. I don’t see much ‘wrong’ for this species, but cannot recall many juveniles that showed such a faint dark boa.
September 12th. Same bird as previous.
September 13th. First winter Rock Bunting resting on Station 1 if I’m right…
September 13th. Juvenile Lesser Spotted Eagle, soaring amongst Black Kites.
September 18th. Another juvenile Lesser Spotted Eagle, showing the typical thin white-tipped trailing edge and greater coverts, and thin but distinct barring throughout the flight feathers.
September 18th. Same bird as previous.
September 18th. Oof… a serious case of fault-barring in this juvenile Black Kite. This is probably caused by nutrient deficiencies during the stage the abraded parts of the feathers developed. As nestlings grow the feathers simultaneously this causes a ‘fault bar’ to appear all along the length of the wing.
September 18th. A juvenile Lesser Spotted Eagle, again. Quite a dark bird in this case.
September 20th. An inquisitive juvenile Steppe Eagle and Steppe Buzzard (left).
September 20th. My first-ever somewhat decent flight-shot of an Egyptian Vulture. A third plumage bird with yellow bare parts in the face, still dark mottling in the underwing and 2 moult fronts visible in the primaries.
September 20th. An adult female Marsh Harrier, quite a dark bird lacking the usual yellow spotting on the head and underwing coverts.
September 22nd. Juvenile (male?) Pallid Harrier, a typical bird.
September 23rd. A flock of Black Kites approaching from the north, against the backdrop of the freshly snow-covered Greater Caucasus.
September 23rd. A single Black Kite over the Greater Caucasus. Unfortunately we were dealing with lots of haze this season, making the Greater Caucasus very difficult to see in October (usually the best month to see it).
September 24th. Immature Lesser Spotted Eagle. I only discovered this bird is color-ringed while going through the photos on my computer. The code is RW-?44, indicating the bird was ringed in Poland. Will be interesting to hear more about this bird (especially if it concerns a hybrid).
September 24th. A juvenile Steppe Eagle with the striking, but typical, white trailing edge to the wing.
September 24th. Another juvenile Steppe Eagle, but this time with very little white along the trailing edge. Not so typical…
September 24th. An adult(-type) Lesser Spotted Eagle. I guess the eye is dark mostly because of the light?
September 26th. Another non-juvenile (probably adult) Lesser Spotted Eagle.
September 26th. A kettle of Steppe Buzzards.
September 26th. Black Storks.
September 27th. (Young?) Adult Lesser Spotted Eagle, accompanied by a Steppe Buzzard.
September 27th. The second color-ringed eagle this season: another Lesser Spotted Eagle, but this time a juvenile from Estonia. I haven’t yet received any details from the ringers.
September 27th. Immature (2cy) Lesser Spotted Eagle, showing just fresh inner primaries and a single replaced secondary on both wings (and 1 growing on the right wing).
September 29th. A clusterfuck of Steppe Buzzards over Little Ginger.
September 29th. A few overhead Black Storks and a single Steppe Buzzard.
September 30th. What a disaster. This bird (a juvenile Steppe Eagle) probably won’t get old… None of this damage to the feathers — to me — indicates involvement of hunters, so something else is the likely cause. But what?
September 30th. An adult Steppe Eagle doing what they do best: passing high overhead, almost unnoticed. Despite not showing the dark trailing edge clearly, the trailing edge is substantially serrated, the primaries are very long and the legs are short.
September 30th. Another tatty-looking juvenile eagle, a Lesser Spotted in this case. Birds like this could very well end up being aged as immatures at a distance, but up close the plumage is just messy and lacks any signs of moult.