Batumi Raptor Count: autumn raptor migration count data from the Batumi bottleneck, Republic of Georgia

By

Wehrmann, Jasper
de Boer, Folkert
Benjumea, Rafa
Cavaillès, Simon
Engelen, Dries
Jansen, Johannes
Verhelst, Brecht
Vansteelant, Wouter M. G. (Wouter Marc Gerard), 1987-

Type

Article

Date of Publication

2019

Original Publication

ZooKeys

Volume

836

Pages

135-157

Subjects

Birds of prey , Black Sea flyway , Bottleneck , Citizen science

Contributed by

Pensoft Publishers

Language

English

Published by

Sofia, Bulgaria Pensoft Publishers

Identifiers

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.836.29252

 

Abstract

One of the most important geographical bottlenecks for migrating raptors in the east African-Palearctic migration system is situated between the easternmost tip of the Black Sea and the Lesser Caucasus, just north of Batumi, in the Republic of Georgia. Since 2008, citizen scientists of the Batumi Raptor Count (BRC) have monitored the autumn raptor passage daily from mid-August until mid-October, collecting also detailed information about the age and sex of focal species. The full BRC dataset was recently made available through the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF). Here we describe how count data were collected, managed, and processed for trend analysis over the past 10 years. This dataset offers a unique baseline for monitoring the state of migrant raptor populations in the east African-Palearctic flyway in the 21st century. We discuss potential pitfalls for users and hope that the open access publication of our data will stimulate flyway-scale and continent-wide collaboration for raptor migration monitoring in the Old World.