text by Ric Else and Hazel Watson
Before joining the Besh Barmag counting team from mid November to
the end of the month, we weren't really sure what to expect at such a late stage
in the migration season. We had been closely following the daily count data on
Trektellen from the beginning of September, seeing the vast numbers and
incredible diversity of birds being recorded each day, and we couldn't help
wondering: how long could this go on? Would there still be any birds left to
count by mid November?
We need not have worried – this time of
year turned out to be just as varied and interesting as the preceding weeks had
been. Every day was different, and almost every day provided something
remarkable. There were far too many memorable migration moments to mention them
all, but for this blog post we've picked out a few particularly unforgettable
birding experiences from our three weeks at the bottleneck.
Cormorants
We see plenty of Great Cormorants back home in the UK, and
admittedly don't often pay them much attention, but the immensely long, snaky,
tangled flocks that we watched straggling past Besh Barmag gave us a whole new
appreciation for this familiar species! The best day was 17th November when
19,066 Great Cormorants were counted heading south, including several amazing
four-figure flocks that seemed to stretch for miles along the horizon.
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| A messy jumble of Great Cormorants over the hilltops (Hazel Watson) |
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| A small group of Great Cormorants migrating with three Mallards (Ric Else) |
Pygmy Cormorants, on the other hand, we never see at home, and the
great flocks of them migrating past were a completely new experience for us. A
count of 6,754 on 19th November was our biggest Pygmy day, but counts reached
the thousands on several other dates too. Migrating high above the bottleneck
in diffuse, silent flocks, even a hundred-strong group of Pygmy Cormorants can
be surprisingly hard to detect within the three-dimensional emptiness of the
sky, and it was essential to continuously scan overhead to avoid missing them.
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A relatively close flock of Pygmy
Cormorants (Ric Else)
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Marsh Harriers
Coming so late in the season, it hadn't occurred to us that we might
be in for record-smashing numbers of Marsh Harriers. From 19th to 27th
November, counts of migrating Marsh Harriers were in triple figures every day,
but it was the 24th in particular that things got really crazy. From very first
light, multiple streams and kettles of Marsh Harriers were on the move high
overhead, and within an hour about 1,000 had already been logged. Although the
pace slowed considerably after mid morning, the birds still kept on coming and
by evening an unprecedented total of 1,394 had passed through the bottleneck.
With Marsh Harriers cruising past us all day long, we had plenty of opportunity
to get to grips with their full range of plumages, including some of the exciting
dark morph birds that we never see in Western Europe.
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Dark morph Marsh Harrier (Ric Else)
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Other raptors
The count station at Besh Barmag provided us with some superb raptor
action almost every day. As well as the multitudes of migrating Marsh Harriers,
we were lucky enough to see several southbound Rough-legged Buzzards, as well
as a late Steppe Eagle and a couple of late Pallid Harriers. Even when there
was little actual migration going on, Hen Harriers hunted nearby, Eastern
Imperial Eagles circled overhead, and Merlins were often pursuing passerines
across the nearby fields. A couple of the Merlins we saw were highly
distinctive, stunningly pale birds, presumably of the pallidus 'Steppe Merlin' race.
A colony of lively jirds living around the counting spot proved
attractive to a local Long-legged Buzzard, which often hung around nearby in
the hope of ambushing one of these rodents.
White-tailed Eagles were seen most days, and scanning the tops of the
nearby foothills regularly produced Black Vultures, Griffon Vultures and Golden
Eagles.
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| Raptors of the Besh Barmag counting spot. Clockwise from top left: White-tailed Eagle, Rough-legged Buzzard, Steppe Eagle, Eastern Imperial Eagle, Black Vulture, incoming Long-legged Buzzard (Ric Else) |
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Long-legged Buzzard looking for jirds (Ric
Else)
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Migrating Greater Flamingos
Well, who wouldn't love the slightly surreal sight of migrating
flocks of flamingos? A count of 339 on 13th November was topped by 441 the next
day, including a single flock of 160 birds making their slow, meandering and flamboyantly
pink journey south over the waves. A ridiculous and unforgettable sight!
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Flamingo migration (Hazel Watson)
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Little Bustards
In November, if there was one thing that all the birders at Besh
Barmag were fervently hoping for, it was a sensational, sky-filling mass
migration of Little Bustards. We all knew about THAT day in 2011, and were eagerly anticipating a repeat
performance. Sadly, as it turned out, the big bustard bonanza never really
happened in 2018. Perhaps the weather conditions north of Besh Barmag were not
quite right to force the birds south, or maybe they took another route this
year. Who can tell?
But we did at least get to witness one very good day for Little
Bustards. On 24th November (the same day as the Marsh Harrier mayhem), the team
counted 8,413 bustards migrating through the bottleneck, including spectacular
flocks of up to 1,320 birds. It wasn't quite
on the scale of the migration seven years ago, but it was still a beautiful and
unforgettable event and it gave us a taste of what that legendary day in 2011
must have been like.
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Big bustard flock high overhead (Ric Else)
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A few slightly closer bustards (Ric Else)
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Red-breasted Goose
As if over 8,000 Little Bustards and nearly 1,400 Marsh Harriers was
not enough excitement for one day, 24th November had another highlight in store
for the afternoon. A very distant skein of 21 geese was picked up high above
the foothills, and it was immediately noticed that four of them looked
remarkably small. All eyes were fixed on this flock as they gradually came
closer and closer, and eventually got close enough for there to be no doubt at
all – there really were four Red-breasted Geese
migrating in a flock of Greylag and White-fronted Geese! This was a new species
for Besh Barmag, and everyone had good scope views as they came directly
(albeit extremely high!) overhead.
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Two of the Red-breasted Geese, and a
Greylag Goose (Hazel Watson)
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White-winged Lark
Some quite amazing days for White-winged Lark had been recorded in
November the previous year, including some days with over a hundred counted.
They proved much harder to come by this year, but we were still pleased to see
small numbers on several days. We got very good flight views and heard the
distinctive migration calls on a few occasions, but by far the best views were on
30th November – our very last day at
the count – when a White-winged
Lark dropped into a nearby field and we finally enjoyed excellent scope views
of it running around on the ground with a flock of Skylarks. It was a very nice
way to end our stay at the count.
Long-tailed Rosefinch
This was a big surprise on 22nd November. It was a relatively quiet
day at the counting spot, until Kai and Gunay discovered this first for
Azerbaijan in the nearby scrubland. Obligingly, it remained in the same area
long enough for all the counters that day to enjoy excellent views, and even
hung around for the next couple of days. While we were happily twitching the
rosefinch, a stunning mixed flock of 280 Great Egrets and 19 Bewick's Swans
migrated right overhead, reminding us that there was still migration happening
and that we ought to get back to work at the counting spot!
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Long-tailed Rosefinch (Ric Else)
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Ducks
Throughout our stay at Besh Barmag, the slightest hint of an
easterly wind direction invariably meant one thing: ducks! Ducks by the
thousands, and ducks all day long – flock after
flock streaming south over the sea. A particularly intense five-day period of
southeast winds from 13th to 17th November produced a total count of 112,998
ducks migrating south.
Duck flocks frequently contained over 100 birds, usually of multiple
species mingled together, and they mostly passed by quite distantly and very
rapidly. At times, this was frantically high-speed anatidae ID! But what a
fantastic learning experience, repeatedly picking out and counting how many of
each species were in each group as quickly as possible, ready to move
immediately onto the next incoming flock.
Mallards, Gadwalls, Pintails, Shovelers, Wigeons, Teal and Pochards
all passed by in their thousands, and among such crazy quantity of common
quackers there were also good numbers of some less familiar ducks. It was exciting
to see mass migration of species that we don't get back home in the UK, such as
the 549 Ruddy Shelducks on 14th November and 411 Red-crested Pochards on 20th
November. And, scanning closely through each and every flock, we were
occasionally rewarded with something a bit rarer – most outrageously a Common Scoter (the first live record for
Azerbaijan!) trying to sneak past us amid a flock of 50 Pochards!
In our three weeks, an astounding 21 species of duck were recorded
on migration, not to mention three species of swan, four species of goose, four
species of grebe and a few Black-throated Divers. It really was a sensational
time for waterfowl.
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Red-crested Pochards, Gadwalls and Mallards
flocking together (Hazel Watson)
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Pintails and Wigeons migrating over the
Caspian Sea (Hazel Watson)
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Many thanks to the coordinators and organisers for all their great
work arranging and running a successful project. There must still be so much to
discover at this phenomenal migration bottleneck and we can't wait to learn
what amazing migration events are recorded here in future years.
