Georgia in Autumn

Georgia in autumn is a birding secret that needs sharing. We begin by enjoying the migration at Batumi, a port town nestled in the highly scenic southwest corner of the country between the Black Sea and the Lesser Caucasus. Every autumn along this narrow coastal strip over one million raptors and multitudes of other migrants, including thousands of Eurasian Bee-eaters, funnel through on their annual migration from the vast forests and steppes of Eurasia to their wintering grounds in Africa. The skies over Batumi can be filled with huge numbers of many species with “Steppe” Common Buzzard by far the dominant species at this point in the season. Lesser Spotted, Greater Spotted, Steppe, Short-toed and Booted Eagles, Black Kites, Honey Buzzards, Marsh, Pallid and Montagu’s Harriers and the occasional Crested Honey Buzzard form a worthy supporting cast. Batumi is simply an amazing place to sit back and enjoy the spectacle of migration in full flow as up to 100,000 birds pass right over us. A river delta just south of Batumi will provide plenty of interest too: many passerines use the coast as a flyway, and the combination of beach, marshes, and scrubland is attractive to a wide variety of species.

Pulling ourselves away from Batumi, we’ll drive into the Lesser Caucasus to search for some enigmatic species that should include Caspian Snowcock at a remarkably accessible site, Krüper’s Nuthatch and Mountain Chiffchaff, before exploring the impressive Javakheti Plateau, a high-altitude area of gorges, farmland, steppe and lakes nestled on the borders of Georgia, Turkey, and Armenia. Here we shall be looking for species such as Rock Nuthatch, Dalmatian Pelican, Long-legged Buzzard, huge numbers of waterbirds and the highly localised archibaldi race of Common Crane.

PLEASE NOTE: In 2026 the below itinerary will be modified. The tour will begin and end in Tbilisi, and will be 11 days long. An updated itinerary is forthcoming.