ITINERARY: 

Day 1 – Arrival day – Saturday September 26th
Plan to arrive today at Batumi International Airport (BUS), Georgia. From here we will transfer just 35 minutes to our lodging within the internationally renowned Batumi Botanical Gardens. Nestled near the Green Cape, it occupies an area of 108,ha. and was established in 1912. It now holds over 2,000 different species of plants from all over the world, and as you can imagine is a great place to see wildlife. If you arrive during the day, we will take a walk around the grounds in search of migratory songbirds and the area’s most prized Krüper’s Nuthatch.  Note that Turkish Airlines arrives in the evening, around 21:00pm.
Night Batumi Botanical Gardenelgrade. D

Day 2 – Sakhalvasho Raptor Watchpoint
After breakfast, we will visit our first Raptor Watchpoint in the village of Sakhalvasho, also known as the station 1. It is the highest place in this landscape where the Colchic Mountains meet the sea making it an exceptional place to watch raptors and other soaring birds migrating through the narrowest point of this bottleneck. The watchpoint offers panoramic views of the snow-covered Greater Caucasus to the north, the broad-leafed Lesser Caucasus mountain chain to the east and the Black Sea coastline with Green Cape and the botanical garden to the west. At this time of year, we can expect to see a very interesting mixture of raptors, and anything is possible. Large numbers of Western Honey Buzzard are very likely, followed by smaller numbers of the large eagles plus other species such as Eurasian and Levant Sparrowhawk which can be fairly common. We could also expect both Common and Lesser Kestrels, Eurasian Hobby and Red-footed Falcon. It is also a great time to possibly see one of Batumi’s main highlights: the Crested Honey Buzzard. This rare migrant from eastern Siberia passes through Batumi in small numbers, and, with some luck we may be able to pick one out amongst the never-ending streams of other raptors. A particularly nice aspect of this watchpoint is its social side. Here we will meet birders from all over Europe, alongside the raptor counters of the BRC (Batumi Raptor Count), who are extremely skilled at determining the age and sex of most of these birds including the larger eagles. The raptor count has been taking place for almost a decade now and has provide a great insight into the Eastern Black Sea flyway.
Night Batumi Botanical Garden  B,L,D

Day 3 – Chorokhi River Delta 
Today, we will head to the Chorokhi River Delta just south of Batumi where we can find some of the best birdwatching opportunities in the region. With its mosaic of marshes, ponds, mudflats, reedbeds, berry bushes and gravel beaches we can expect to see a wide variety of migratory birds. Waders, terns and passerines will prove to be the most interesting and there will be a lot occupy our time. The marshes offer various warblers, including the scarce Moustached Warbler and other more obvious species such as Squacco and Purple Herons, the Grey-headed form of the Western Swamphen, Little, Spotted and Baillon’s Crakes. Out on the more open waters we will look for Ferruginous Duck, White-winged, Whiskered and the huge Caspian Terns. Both Greater and Turkestan Short-toed Larks may be present around the dry areas and stony beach, while Lesser Grey Shrike, Tawny Pipit, Citrine Wagtail, Eurasian Hoopoe and small groups of Rosy Starlings have been some of the regularly species found on the delta’s plains. Other fine observations included Eastern Black-eared Wheatear, Desert Wheatear, Siberian Stonechat, Richard’s and Red-throated Pipits, Calandra Lark and many more. Along the shoreline, large concentration of gulls mix with a good variety in terns including Little, Gull-billed and more Caspian Terns. On a wet and windy day, it is possibility to add birds like Arctic and Pomarine Skuas, as well as Yelkouan Shearwater. Shorebirds can also be numerous and diverse with Dunlin, Sanderling, Temminck’s and Little Stints, Curlew and Wood Sandpipers, Ruff and both Ringed and Little Ringed Plovers. The mudflats here are a reliable spot for Terek and Broad-billed Sandpipers, while Black-winged Pratincole can turn up anywhere in the delta.
Night Batumi Botanical Garden  B,L,D

Day 4 – Shuamta Raptor Watchpoint 
On this day, we will visit station 2 Raptor Watchpoint in the village of Chaisubani which is located just 4 km from station 1. This station is remarkably different from Sakhalvasho and is situated on a ridge above the tiny village in the middle of a lush evergreen forest. This is a most peaceful place and clearly isolated from the rest of the civilized world. However, nearby there is still a nice, small café serving cold beer, Turkish coffee and delicious food! Historically, this watchpoint has offered better sightings as streams of birds are inclined to take a more easterly route. Indeed, it is often referred to as ‘Eagle Mountain’ for obvious reasons with many large raptors seen along with other smaller species. When migration calms down there is always the opportunity to walk around and search for woodland passerines such as Red-breasted Flycatcher, Mountain Chiffchaff and Green Warbler.
Night Batumi Botanical Garden  B,L,D

Day 5 – Chorokhi River Delta – Sakhalvasho Raptor Watchpoint 
This day will be a very easy one as we will revisit Chorokhi River Delta in the morning and then, after lunch at a Georgian café, go to the Sakhalvasho Raptor Watchpoint. As this is the height of autumn migration things can change daily, even hourly. So, by revisiting these areas, there could be entirely different numbers and cast of species from our previous visits. Bear in mind that our five days in this area are flexible and we are very likely to shuffle things around depending on the current migration news and weather conditions. The itinerary related to the Greater Caucasus (Svaneti) on the following days will remain unchanged.
Night Batumi Botanical Garden  B,L,D

Day 6 – Batumi – Mestia (Svaneti Region)
Today After breakfast we will depart for Mestia in the Svaneti region. It will be a travel day with a drive time of approximately 7 hours. Of course, we will break the journey up with birding stops including a good look around Maltakva Beach, an area with a sandy shore near the Paliastomi Lake and Kolkheti National Park. This is a perfect spot for all sorts of shorebirds, gulls and terns. Every autumn a few individual Lesser and Greater Sand Plover are observed here along with Grey Plover, Eurasian Golden Plover, Kentish Plover, Ruddy Turnstone, Stone Curlew, Red-necked Phalarope, Terek, Curlew and Broad-billed Sandpipers, Eurasian Oystercatcher and Pied Avocet among many others. You are sure to be impressed with this relatively small area and its good concentrations of terns such as Common, Little, Sandwich, Gull-billed, Caspian, Whiskered, White-winged and the occasional Black Terns. The surrounding reedbeds and mudflats also provide a nice opportunity to observe both Little and Spotted Crakes.
Night Mestia  B,L,D

Day 7 – Mestia – Tetnuldi Mountain
On this day, we will set off very early to arrive at Tetnuldi Mountain just before sunrise. Once the sun rises, we will start scanning the closest rhododendron slopes for Caucasian Grouse. We will have good chances to see them here. Afterwards, we will drive a kilometre higher to the second highest viewpoint where we will start to look for Caucasian Snowcock. The chances of seeing them are also high, and, in both instances, there may be ample opportunities for good scope views too. We will also search for Alpine Accentor, Black Redstart, Shore Lark, Red-fronted Serin and Water Pipit. There may be chances to see Great Rosefinch which are an integral part of most excursions to these mountains. Anyone interested in botany may be interested in looking for Lazistan Crocus. It is an endemic to the Caucasus region and is usually found in the western Greater Caucasus. Once we are done at Mount Tetnuldi, we will drive lower down with some strategic stops to look for Mountain Chiffchaff and the delightful Krüper’s Nuthatch. There are a few localised dragonflies in this area to look for as well. Later, we will head back to the hotel for a short rest and then go out for walk around historical town of Mestia.
Night Mestia  B,L,D

Day 8 – Mestia – Batumi
This morning we will start our journey back to Batumi, once again stopping at Maltakva Beach where we will again look at the shorebirds, terns and gulls. Depending on what time we get back to Batumi, we may have time to check the Botanical Gardens or even urban birding the Batumi Boulevard where migrants are often attracted in by the city lights. Birds such as Red-breasted Flycatcher, Green Warbler, Eastern Olivaceous Warbler, Bluethroat, European Nightjar and many others have turned up here and in recent autumns both Pallas’s Leaf and Yellow-browed Warblers have become regular.
Night Batumi Botanical Garden  B,L,D

Day 9 – Sunday October 04th
After breakfast, we will head to Batumi International Airport (BUS). Note that Turkish Airlines departs in the morning, around 10:30.. B