In autumn 2011 we are going to run a field work at Batumi in cooperation with BRC.We will collect data on the flight behavior of the most numerous species of soaring birds during a period of three weeks between the half of September and early October. The most important species will be Steppe buzzard, Lesser-spotted eagle, Booted eagle and Black kite.
In particular our aim is to collect data on the flight altitude in relation to atmospherical conditions. As such the study aims to improve our understanding of the efficiency with which soaring birds migrate under differing weather conditions and how this affects local route choice in the bottleneck.
Studies on flight behavior in function of weather are crucial for a migration monitoring project. Because counts can be subject to large variability due to weather conditions. It is (among other issues) crucial to show that a watch-site like Batumi covers a majority of the seasonal migratory flow. This research will be an important early step in getting to understand local migration dynamics of different species.
Batumi Raptor Count is a very important project for the protection of European Raptors. At this site a huge number of raptors migrate during autumn mostly coming from the formerly Soviet Union.
In 2009 more than 800.000 raptors were observed migrating on the eastern coast of Black Sea.
A long term monitoring could provide informations of paramount importance for the protection of European birds of prey. For this reason we are proud to cooperate with the researchers involved in Batumi Raptor Count (click here to visit BRC website).
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