2012 Tour Narrative
Leaving Tbilisi behind, we began the drive north to the High Caucasus mountains, making a few stops along the way. As we gained height we found ourselves surrounded by pristine snow fields and as we crested the high pass, we encountered our first proper raptor passage with Black Kites and Steppe Buzzards moving through in good numbers, along with a few Steppe Eagles. Dropping down towards Kazbegi it became clear that there was not much snow on the valley floor or the lower slopes, raising concerns that perhaps our main target birds had already retreated back up to their high-level breeding grounds. These concerns were soon dispelled however when we encountered first a male Caucasian Black Grouse close to our lunch stop, then up to 15 Güldenstädt’s Redstarts feeding along the roadside. We devoted the next morning to looking for the other special birds of the region. Great Rosefinch is never an easy bird to find, especially when there is not much snow around, so we could not believe our luck when 3 large passerines swooped down from the tops to land in bushes right in front of us – 2 females and a fine male Great Rosefinch that sat and posed for the cameras. These were followed by Caucasian Snowcocks, the Curlew-like calls of which we had been hearing for some time. Eventually, careful searching of the slopes produced several birds, both feeding and in flight. Along with them came more and better sightings of Caucasian Black Grouse including some ‘leaping’ males displaying to females, and over the next few days we had more sightings of these two game birds.
Our time around Kazbegi was blessed with fine weather, giving us fantastic views of the dramatic valley and the impressive Mt Kazbegi. We also enjoyed great views of the many other birds to be found in this region. These included some close encounters with both Lammergeier and Wallcreepers, along with lots of the local race of Ring Ouzel and Twite, Water Pipits, Red-fronted Serins, Alpine and Red-billed Chough, ‘red-bellied’ Black-Redstarts, and some good looks at Caucasian Chiffchaff. The fine weather however did not help our search for migrants. Ortolan Bunting, normally a common bird migrating through the valley, was scarce with only a couple of sightings. There were quite a few Yellow Wagtails around of various races, joined at one time by a group of Red-throated Pipits plus Tree and Meadow Pipits. We also found a few Red-breasted Flycatchers, although the one Semi-collared Flycatcher we located soon vanished before everyone got to see it.
Retracing our steps towards the pass, we still needed to find Snowfinch and Alpine Accentor, both of which came in quick succession, along with more Wallcreepers in the form of a pair apparently nest-building. Our few days in the south-east of the country were in very different habitat. Our drive there across the open steppe provided us with some good raptor sightings including Imperial, Short-toed, and Booted Eagles, Black Vulture, Long-legged Buzzard, and Montagu’s Harriers. White-tailed Eagle and Osprey were other raptors to join the list at Chachuna, and, along with displaying Lesser Spotted Eagles on the way back, our total count for the tour was 21 raptor species. The open steppe held other birds – Calandra and Short-toed Larks, Siberian Stonechat, Rock Thrush, Rock Sparrow, Pied Wheatear, and Woodchat Shrike to name some of the notable species. Around Chachuna smart Black-eared Wheatears sang from the roof tops and Spanish Sparrows fed around the buildings. In the surrounding countryside we found plenty of Ménétries’s Warblers, Moustached Warblers showing well, and eventually a few Eastern Orphean Warblers.
Although we were thwarted in our attempts to reach the site for Western Rock Nuthatch, a very obliging Scops Owl and a Black-headed Bunting more than made up for it, and with the fine weather there was a nice selection of butterflies to puzzle over. We returned to Tbilisi for our last night, and a last chance to enjoy some khachapuri and Georgian wine at a city restaurant before the flight back to London. Steve Rooke
Updated: April 2012