Day-by-Day Itinerary | Main Tour

Dates apply to the 2025 edition

The first week of the tour is based in Batumi and our plans for each day will be dependent on the movement of migrants. We will spend the week exploring both hawk watch stations, visiting different migrant traps and will likely hit the most productive of these locations at least a couple of times. These include marshes, beaches and coastal woodlots as well as the famous Batumi Boulevard, an urban promenade that can often be loaded with migrant passerines. As most of these locations are little more than thirty minutes from the count stations, we will have the flexibility to head to the watch raptor migration at a moment's notice in order to connect with the flight.

The watch typically tallies about 500,000 European Honey Buzzards, 250,000 Black Kites, and similar numbers of Common (Steppe) Buzzard. Other significant counts include a few thousands of the following: Booted Eagle, Western Marsh Harrier, Lesser Spotted Eagle, Short-toed Snake-Eagle, and Montagu's Harrier.

Day 1

Friday, 5 September

Arrival at Batumi Airport (IATA code BUS), we will be met by local staff (guide and driver) and transfer to the tour hotel, located next to the Batumi Botanical Garden and beach. Night Batumi.

Day 2

Saturday, 6 September

Following breakfast at the hotel, we will head for the Raptor Watchpoint located in the village of Sakhalvasho and colloquially known as Station 1.

We will plan to spend the day here soaking in the raptor migration. Among the throng of Black Kites and European Honey Buzzards we will look for the rare but increasing encountered Asian Crested Honey Buzzard. In the woodland behind the observatory, there is local family-run café, where we will have a lunch. As well as the expected raptors we will also be serenaded by passing European Bee-eaters as they wing their way southwards too. There is much to sit and enjoy on the non-raptor front with everything from Black Storks and White Storks, European Roller and European Turtle Dove passing the watch. Night Batumi.

Day 3

Sunday, 7 September

Following breakfast we will visit the Chorokhi River Delta, a highly productive migrant trap for raptors and more. The area offers a host of habitats including marshes, beaches, grassland and open woodland and we will spend our morning exploring the area, taking a picnic lunch at the beach. This is also a great spot to watch for raptors moving closer to the shoreline especially those, like Western Marsh Harrier, Montagu's Harrier, and the spectacular Pallid Harrier, that are seemingly less afraid of cutting across a little water. 

Our second destination for the day will be the renowned Batumi Boulevard, where a wooded city promenade often yields a dizzying variety of passerine migrants that might yield warblers, flycatchers and more. Night Batumi.

Day 4

Monday, 8 September

This morning, we will offer a pre-breakfast option to look for migrants coming in off the water just at first light. These might again include raptors like Western Marsh, Pallid, and Montagu's Harrier as well as a mix of herons and egrets including the stunning Purple Heron. After breakfast we will spend the entire day at the second Raptor Watchpoint (Station 2), in the village of Shuamta. Again we will look through the flocks of honey buzzards and kites for other passing species including relatively common ones like Short-toed Eagle and Booted Eagle as well as less common species like Levant Sparrowhawk, and Long-legged Buzzard. Lunch will be served at the local family-run café, right at the station. There is also the chance of finding both passerine migrants and a rare Caucasian Viper here. Night Batumi.

Day 5

Tuesday, 9 September

After breakfast we will return to the Chorokhi River Delta and Batumi Boulevard for a morning. With the daily turnover of migrants, each visit promises something different to the last. Chorokhi can be full of shorebirds, terns, herons, passerines, and a long list of rarities has been discovered at the site. On Batumi Boulevard skulking birds sometimes walk openly through the grassy lawns looking for cover. Little Bitterns end up in trees, and Red-breasted Flycatchers perch in flowerpots outside restaurants. Following lunch in a downtown restaurant we will spend our afternoon at whichever “station” is promising the best raptor flight. Here among the Lesser Spotted Eagles we will seek out some early movement of the larger eagle species including Eastern Imperial Eagle, Steppe Eagle, and Greater Spotted Eagle. Night Batumi.

Day 6

Wednesday, 10 September

This morning, before breakfast, we will take a good look around our hotel grounds. The total species count for the area currently stands at 235 species and the area around the Botanic Garden is famous for both migrant species and Krüper's Nuthatches, a highly localized specialty. After breakfast we may spend some time scanning offshore for migrant waterfowl, with one eye on picking up an endangered Yelkouan Shearwater or a pod of dolphins!

Following that we will have a full day of raptors at one of the two Raptor Observatories. Where we head will be based on winds, weather and latest news from the counts, with which we will be in almost constant contact. As well as the passing hawks and eagles, we will be keeping our eyes peeled for passing falcons too; Lesser, and Eurasian Kestrels are common, as Peregrine Falcons are too. At this time of year, we might find an early Red-footed Falcon trying to disguise itself amongst the passing Eurasian Hobbies, and if we win the raptor lottery perhaps a mega rare Lanner or Saker Falcon will grace us with its presence. Night Batumi.

Day 7

Thursday, 11 September

After breakfast we will head to the count early to check out the early day flight, enjoying lunch at the watch site café. The early flight might yield the expected mix of harriers, with Hen Harrier also a small possibility. There might be sparrowhawks on the move early too with both Levant Sparrowhawk and Eurasian Sparrowhawk possible, the latter more challenging to separate from your rarer and newly minted Eurasian Goshawk. In the afternoon we will head to the sandy shores of Maltakva Beach near the Kolkheti National Park. Here we hope to encounter a wide variety of shorebirds and terns. It's also a location where one might also hope to encounter the majestic White-tailed Eagle too. Night Batumi.

Day 8

Friday, 12 September

On our last full day in Batumi, our previous days and the prospective raptor forecast will help plan our day. Missing species might take us to one of the migrant traps or up to one of the hawk watch stations for some more sky scanning for missing species like Egyptian Vulture. In the afternoon we may wander over to Mtirala National Park which boasts an ancient forest, rare plants and a scenic waterfall. Birds here include a bevy of woodpeckers and the chance of White-throated Dipper. Night Batumi.

Day 9

Saturday, 13 September

After breakfast we will pack our bags and head towards the Caucasus Mountains, Svaneti and its medieval capital of Mestia. There are a few places worth exploring along the way and we may stop again at Maltakva Beach. The turnover of species here means it's always worth a second visit for shorebirds, terns and gulls which will likely include the rather dapper Slender-billed Gull as well as diminutive Little Gull and Little Tern.

Lunch will be packed on the road and following another short stop or two we will aim to arrive in Mestia by the midafternoon. Here we will enjoy the incredible scenery, a town that is itself an UNESCO World Heritage Site and a change in the local avifauna. Local specialties might include Alpine Accentor, Black Redstart, Red-fronted Serin and Yellow-billed or Alpine Choughs. We will check into our guesthouse hotel lodgings for dinner. Night Mestia.

Day 10

Sunday, 14 September

Today we will be birding the Mountain Tetnuldi. We will leave at around 05:00 am, and will reach our first viewpoint still in the dark, but the sun will come up soon after our arrival. Once we will get a first light, we will start scanning the montane rhododendron slopes for Caucasian Grouse. Following that we will drive a kilometer higher to the second, highest viewpoint, where we will look for Caucasian Snowcocks. Here we might find Golden Eagle too and keep our fingers and toes crossed for a vulture or other large eagle. The mountain itself tops out at 16,000 feet, but thankfully all the birding stops are drivable!

We will also hope to see other high elevation specialties like Great Rosefinch and Güldenstädt's Redstart, a species that might require a little luck. The remains of the day will see us exploring more of the mountain, enjoying birds, scenery, alpine flowers and more as we make our way to the incredible village of Ushguli. Only accessible by dirt roads, Ushguli is one of the highest-elevation continuously inhabited settlements in Europe and retains much of its medieval character including the famous Svan Towers. Night Mestia.

Day 11

Monday, 15 September

Today's activities will depend on how successful our bird hunt was on the previous day. If there are still targets to acquire, we may spend the morning back on Mount Tetnuldi, if not we will pack our bags up and make the return journey to Batumi, with potential for some interesting birding stops to break up the drive. Given our departure time it's possible we might have time to catch a few late afternoon hours of flight at the hawkwatch before heading to our final night’s dinner. Night Batumi.

Day 12

Tuesday, 16 September

Departure.