Birding the Chorokhi Delta
The days before the official start of the count I explored the Chorokhi Delta with fellow travellers. While we were there perhaps a bit too early in the season to really experience the potential of the delta, the area was already chock full of birds: there were thousands of Yellow Wagtails, plenty of waders, good numbers of terns, most bushes were already filled with warblers and there was a nice diversity of raptors present. We later on discovered the big news: from this year on hunting was banned entirely in the Delta and the army was enforcing that. As this was only my first ever visit to the delta, I cannot compare the birding with previous years, but the lack of hunters sure made it an incredible birding experience!
Thrush Nightingale (Luscinia luscinia
White-winged Tern (Chlidonias leucopterus
White-winged Tern (Chlidonias leucopterus)
White-winged Tern (Chlidonias leucopterus)
The Purple Swamphen (Porphyrio poliocephalus) were showing very nicely. Alive and kicking rather than hanging on a hunters’ belt.
Ferruginous Ducks (Aythya nyroca
Eurasian Curlew (Numenius arquata) with some 'eastern' characteristics: white underwings, very fine streaking (not crossed) on flanks and quite pale upperwing (not on this photo)
Rosy Starlings (Pastor roseus
Very impressive roost movement of Yellow-Legged and Caspian Gulls. Video by Elien Hoekstra.
The first signs of what would be a very eventful evening in terms of weather. Out of the blue — in typical Batumi style — a massive rainstorm hit us and luckily we could be saved by a few friendly Georgians with a pickup truck. If not, surely some passports and expensive camera gear would not have survived…