Batumi Raptor Count

18/04/2026

Just a few more days to apply for the Flyway Monitoring Traineeship 2026!

Spend a month at the Batumi Raptor Count, learning how one of the world’s largest raptor migration counts operates: from identifying birds in massive streams, to volunteer logistics, data cleaning, to working in an international team of counters.

This fully funded traineeship (travel + accommodation covered) is open to conservationists from the OSME region who want to build real, hands-on migration monitoring experience.

Curious what it’s really like? Previous trainees share how the experience shaped their skills, confidence, and work back home.

And please share with anyone who might be a great fit!

See the link in the comments for more information

18/04/2026

One week left to apply!

Are you a motivated, ambitious conservationist ready to dedicate long days fully immersed in BRC? Are you from a country in the OSME region? Then do not miss this opportunity, apply now and you may become one of this year's Flyway Monitoring Trainees.

Help us spread the word by sharing this post!

Applications open for the 2026 Flyway Monitoring Traineeship!

With the preparations for the 2026 Autumn count well underway, we are happy to announce opening applications for the BRC Flyway Monitoring Traineeship. We started this traineeship two years ago in collaboration with OSME, the Ornithological Society of the Middle East, the Caucasus and Central Asia.

The traineeship aims to strengthen bird migration monitoring capacity along the East Afro-Eurasian Flyway. This fully-funded opportunity enables ambitious conservationists from the OSME region to gain hands-on experience they can implement in their home countries.

Are you ready to spend a month immersed in the Batumi Raptor Count, participating as a long-term counter, and learning all about what it takes to run a count like the BRC? The traineeship covers accommodation and travel up to €1300, making this position accessible to aspiring and ambitious conservationists across the OSME region.

More info via the link in the comments.

Please, share this call for trainees with anyone who might be interested to apply. Applications are at least open until April 25th. Afterwards, the application process will remain open until we have selected 2 trainees.

04/04/2026

Applications open for the 2026 Flyway Monitoring Traineeship!

With the preparations for the 2026 Autumn count well underway, we are happy to announce opening applications for the BRC Flyway Monitoring Traineeship. We started this traineeship two years ago in collaboration with OSME, the Ornithological Society of the Middle East, the Caucasus and Central Asia.

The traineeship aims to strengthen bird migration monitoring capacity along the East Afro-Eurasian Flyway. This fully-funded opportunity enables ambitious conservationists from the OSME region to gain hands-on experience they can implement in their home countries.

Are you ready to spend a month immersed in the Batumi Raptor Count, participating as a long-term counter, and learning all about what it takes to run a count like the BRC? The traineeship covers accommodation and travel up to €1300, making this position accessible to aspiring and ambitious conservationists across the OSME region.

More info via the link in the comments.

Please, share this call for trainees with anyone who might be interested to apply. Applications are at least open until April 25th. Afterwards, the application process will remain open until we have selected 2 trainees.

01/04/2026

We are looking for volunteers for Autumn 2026!

After securing the funding for the 2026 count, made possible thanks to an exceptionally generous donation, we’re happy to announce the call for counters. We have now opened the application form and are looking for counters to join us between August 12th and October 21st, 2026.

As always, we are looking for volunteers of all skill levels with an interest in migration, the ability to work in an international team, and the possibility to commit for at least two weeks. Volunteer counters get the opportunity to learn more about raptors and their identification, while also contributing to long-term population monitoring. Volunteers will stay at one of the local guesthouses and enjoy the passage of over 1 million raptors together with other like-minded volunteers from all over the world.

The daily fee depends on the length of your stay and ranges between €10 and €24. In addition, we offer free participation for citizens from the (main) Caucasus countries (Azerbaijan, Armenia, and Georgia) and discounted daily fees, upon request, up to a minimum of €10/day!

To read more and apply as a counter, please see the link in the comments.

If you are unable to join us this autumn in Batumi, please consider sharing our call with anyone who may be interested!

11/03/2026

New publication in Ardea: The eastern Black Sea coast as a principal raptor flyway in spring

We are excited to announce that the results of the first comprehensive spring raptor migration counts have been published open access in Ardea! It is a warm, nostalgic moment, as Ardea also published the results of the first autumn surveys of Batumi Raptor Count back in 2011.

Beyond quantifying the magnitude, timing, and species composition of spring migration, we compare spring and autumn migration, place our results in the broader context of the East African–Eurasian Flyway, and highlight how spring migration counts provide new opportunities for research and conservation along the eastern Black Sea Flyway.

To read more, see link in comments!

Photos by Tohar Tal & Diego Jansen

02/03/2026

Wanted: Count coordinators to lead the BRC Autumn count 2026

Thanks to a remarkable financial contribution, we have secured funding for the 2026 autumn season and preparations are officially underway! The count will run from 12 August to 21 October, and we are now looking for brave count coordinators — the backbone of our count — to lead an international team of raptor counters and trainees at Eurasia’s largest raptor migration bottleneck.

Do you have a passion for raptor migration and are you ready to take on the rewarding challenge of managing the count of over one million raptors? Then read on!

Count coordinators are responsible for ensuring that migration is monitored accurately and consistently. This includes managing daily operations, knowing the protocol inside out, delegating tasks at the station, keeping an overview of both people and raptors, and of course making sure all volunteers feel supported and able to contribute to a successful season.

If you are ready to commit long-term (preferably full-season), work long days, and share your enthusiasm for raptor migration with others, submit your application by 15 March.

Before applying, please read the detailed information about tasks, conditions, and reimbursements on our website. And perhaps we will see you in Batumi this autumn!

Not interested in yourself but know someone who might be? Please help us find the right candidate by sharing this post in your network.

27/02/2026

Something remarkable saved the Autumn Count of 2026

Many of you will be familiar with our winter ritual. After sticking our heads together during the annual team meeting, at some point in the final months of the year, we launch the crowdfunding campaign to raise the funds needed to continue our long-term raptor migration monitoring work. This winter was no different: we launched in December, with a clear deadline of March 1st, 2026.

What was different, though, was the silence.

The first donations came in, but more slowly than we’re used to, causing the counter to get stuck far below the 30k. At the same time, if you noticed fewer updates, fewer nudges from us — yes, you were right. We were unusually quiet. Too quiet. As a very small team, and an even smaller fundraising and communications team, we had to confront a hard reality: we simply didn’t have the time this winter to give the fundraising campaign the attention it deserves.

Every part of BRC runs entirely on volunteer time, energy, expertise, and a lot of passion for raptors and raptor conservation. That’s something we’re incredibly proud of, but it also makes us vulnerable. Passion fuels our work, but it doesn’t pay rent, and sometimes it doesn’t create space in an already full week. This year, two members of our three-person fundraising team are in the final stretch of their PhDs, while the third was balancing a full-time job with PhD applications. At the same time, we hold ourselves to high standards in how we communicate with you. Doing a crowdfunding campaign properly takes an immense amount of effort, and this winter our personal lives got in the way more than we anticipated.

We were genuinely worried about what this meant for the 2026 count. Not making the fundraising target of €30k would mean we would have to cancel the count this year. But then something extraordinary happened.

Thanks to an incredibly generous anonymous donation of €15,000, we can share the wonderful news: we have reached (and even surpassed!) our fundraising goal. The Autumn 2026 count is secured, and preparations can begin. To the donor behind this gift: we are deeply, immensely grateful. And to all of you who supported us along the way: thank you.

At the same time, this experience was a clear reminder of how fragile our financial base still is. One unexpected ‘dip’ in our availability can put an entire season at risk. The only way we can truly plan ahead and run our count, Flyway Monitoring traineeships, and invest in new education and conservation plans, is through structural support: recurring donations from our community of supporters, alongside support from organizations, foundations and philanthropic individuals who believe in our work long-term.

We don’t just want to keep counting. We want to do more for conservation, research, and education. In fact, now that funding for the count is secured, we’re preparing to launch a new education project this year, one we’re incredibly excited about. This will require separate funding, and you’ll hear more about it soon. (Keep an eye on your inbox 👀.)

For now, there is one simple way you can help make BRC more resilient: If just 10% of you were to donate €5 per month, we would already cover our annual baseline costs. A recurring donation, no matter how small, helps us plan, breathe, and focus on doing our best work yet. You can find the link to set up a recurring donation in the comments.

Financial support doesn’t always have to come in the form of a donation you make yourself. Some of the most meaningful help comes from simply thinking along with us. You might know someone who cares deeply about raptors or migration, a foundation or company looking to support long-term conservation work, or a philanthropist searching for a project with real impact. Even introducing BRC to the right person can make a lasting difference. And for those who think far ahead: a small legacy gift, by including BRC in your will, can help ensure that raptor migration is monitored and protected for generations to come. There are many ways to support this work, if you’d like to explore any of them with us, we’d love to hear from you.

If BRC’s work matters to you, we warmly invite you to consider setting up a monthly donation. Not just for this year, but for the years to come. Together, we can keep our eyes on the skies, for a long time ahead.

Thank you 🙏

18/01/2026

Recommended read: Reflections from the 2025 Flyway Monitoring Trainees

Last year, we launched the BRC Flyway Monitoring Traineeship, a new initiative developed together with our long-time partner OSME, to support and empower ambitious bird conservationists from across the East African–Eurasian Flyway. This year, we were proud to welcome three trainees: Motahareh from Iran, Yaren from Türkiye, and Leyla from Azerbaijan.

After each spending more than four intensive weeks with the BRC, monitoring hundreds of thousands of migrating raptors, they now share their personal reflections and experiences. Truly worth every minute of your time! See the link in comments to read the blogs.

To ensure we can continue our monitoring work — and the traineeships — next year, we are raising €30,000 for the 2026 edition of the Batumi Raptor Count. You can help us reach this goal with a one-time or recurring donation.

24/12/2025

Recommended read: the 2025 Autumn Report is published!

Sit back, grab your favorite hot beverage, and enjoy our extensive and richly illustrated Autumn Report. As part of our tradition and commitment, we’ve put great effort into compiling a comprehensive overview of the season’s highlights and phenological peculiarities — complemented by many, many beautiful photos of both birds and people. And of course, don’t forget to scroll all the way to the end for the behind-the-scenes gallery!

Do you want to ensure we can continue our important monitoring and conservation work in 2026? Please consider supporting us! See the comment section for all relevant links.

📸Nikolina Bukovac

21/12/2025

World-class migration monitoring soars or falls with your support!

For seventeen years the BRC has conducted high-quality raptor migration counts. This long-term monitoring is critical to understand how bird populations are doing in our rapidly changing world. However, structural funding for monitoring schemes such as ours is very hard, if not impossible, to find. Over the past five years, we’ve successfully run our autumn counts mainly thanks to your generous donations, support from loyal sponsors like OSME and Kite Optics Nature, T-shirt sales, donations from ecotourism operators, and last but not least the thousands of hours of unpaid work by over 500 volunteers from 44 different countries. This has enabled us to do monitoring work of extraordinary quality, delivering unique data to detect trends in the abundance, demography, and migration timing of otherwise poorly known raptor populations. Furthermore, we’ve always tried to be as open and transparent as possible by having open data-sharing procedures. This sets us apart from many bird observatories worldwide. Remarkably, everything we've done, we've been doing on a 100% voluntary basis. None of the BRC team members receive any remuneration for their service.

This year, securing the count comes with the same deal as before: we need 30.000 EUR to run our 2026 autumn count. This covers our essential operating costs and ensures that volunteers from the Caucasus region (Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan) can participate free of charge. We aim to raise the needed amount before March 1st when we start preparations for the count. If we do not have the required amount of money by March 2026, there will not be an autumn count in Georgia in 2026. Nevertheless, given our large international base of supporters and followers, the many visitors we hope to see in Batumi next autumn, and the generosity of the birdwatching and nature conservation community, we believe it should be possible once again! Thanks to your generosity over the past year, we only need less than 11.000 EUR more to reach our target! If you are able to help, now is the moment to do so.

Visit our crowdfunding page (link in comments) to support us and read more on how your money will be put to use. Please, help us circulate this message widely by sharing it with all your friends and family! Your donation makes a massive difference to us, and you know we’ll use it wisely!

23/10/2025

What a season!

It all came to a beautiful end. We began the count with a Marsh Harrier and wrapped it up with a Steppe Buzzard — both iconic species for the bottleneck. But so much happened in between...

We witnessed many breathtaking sightings. From massive kettles of Honey Buzzards streaming overhead to moments of intense eye contact with close-by Short-toed Eagles and watching Black Kites rest after long flights. The weather tested us this year too, ranging from the classic scorching days to thunderstorms and relentless rain. Yet the team never stopped. We kept counting, no matter what. And it was all worth it.

We broke so many records and achieved the highest season total in BRC’s history this season. A testament to the dedication, passion, and teamwork that defines this project. You’ll find all details in our upcoming autumn report, so stay tuned!

A huge thanks goes to everyone who made this season possible: our incredible volunteers, trainees and coordinators, the BRC team working tirelessly behind the scenes, our generous supporters and donors Kite Optics Nature OSME, and the Georgian families who welcomed us with warmth and delicious food. It’s been a season that will be remembered for many years to come.

18/10/2025

1.5 MILLION RAPTORS FOR BRC

For the first time in BRC history, we have recorded a staggering 1.5 million raptors in a single autumn season — a true milestone after 17 years of counting!

After counting hundreds of thousands of Honey Buzzards, record-breaking numbers of Black Kites, and now endless streams of Steppe Buzzards, over the last days we’ve been amazed by the number of Long-legged Buzzards! With just today a new all-time day record of 87 individuals!

While our entire team is (of course) currently celebrating breaking these seasonal records for nearly all species, this milestone above all highlights the importance of the Batumi Bottleneck. Perfectly demonstrating why our work of monitoring and conserving raptor migration here is so important!

On a larger scale, as the Batumi Bottleneck represents just one key node in the network of migration corridors within the East African–Eurasian Flyway, we may ask ourselves: how much do we really know about the numbers and movement patterns of raptors across this flyway?

All the more reason to continue not only monitoring efforts here, but also at other well-known and newly discovered bottlenecks by different organisations across the region. Only by combining our knowledge and efforts can we truly understand and protect the migratory species that connect us all. This is something we are already working towards, for example, through our current flyway traineeship program — with more plans and ideas in the making!

Last but certainly not least, we want to thank everyone who made this possible: our coordinators, trainees, counters, the many generous donors who funded our work, OSME as our long-time collaborator and supporter, and Kite Optics for providing us with high-class equipment to count and identify all raptors!