Autumn migration at Besh Barmag - a summary

Text © Kai Gauger

From October 22nd to November 20th teams of birders have been around Besh Barmag for countinously counting of the daily visual migration. Before this period there have only been incomplete countings for a few hours per day or random observations by Pia Fetting's ringing team.

Migrating Calandra Larks with Besh Barmag in the background © Michael Heiß

When Hans and Simon Olk from the Netherlands arrived at Besh they started with a good day and about 96.000 birds, mainly Starlings but also 5.000 Black-headed Gulls, 500 Stock Doves, 5 late Black-winged Pratincoles, two Rustic Buntings and 3 Siberian Buff-bellied Pipits of which many more should follow during the next weeks. End of October then provided a great variety of all kinds of songbirds (mainly pipits, larks, and finches), many different raptor species (including the first Saker of the season) regular flocks of Little Bustards, and also good passage of waterbirds with eg 34 Lesser White-fronted Geese on October 28th, the first flocks of Pygmy Cormorants, hundreds of herons and flocks of both, Great White and Dalmatian Pelicans.

Counters in the first morning light © Michael Heiß

A Buff-bellied Pipit (right) together with a Meadow Pipit (left) © Michael Heiß

Official logo of the Besh Barmag Bird Migration Count © Michael Heiß

Exhausted counters enjoying the dinner © Michael Heiß

 A big day was October 30th with a total of more than 216.000 birds counted. Among them was a Black-throated Thrush passing by early morning. Extraordinary were the numbers of larks with 66.000 Calandras, 34.000 Skylarks, and another 22.000 lark sp. Also 198 Hen Harriers is quite an impressive number. A nice gimmick was a Desert Wheatear on the beach. Another 27.500  Calandras passed the next day and migration continued to be good early November with daily records of Buff-bellied Pipits, good numbers and the first White-winged larks appearing. Up to 3 Desert Wheaters were resting at the beach and a Daurian Shrike gave great views in the bushes.

Group photo © Michael Heiß

Daurian Shrike © Christoph Himmel

Dalmatian Pelican migrating overhead © Michael Heiß

Dalmatian Pelicans © Kai Gauger

Nov 5th-7th were amazing with again some good numbers and a much better quality of species. 7.000 Pygmy Cormorants, 19.000 Black-headed Gulls and thousands of ducks passed by together with an amazing 10 Rough-legged Buzzard, a species hardy recorded in Azerbaijan before and not on the national list a few years ago. A few Black-bellied Sandgrouses were around, a superb Saker lingered in the area, and a resting flock of 70 White-winged Larks was the first indication that there might be many more to come. So it happened and there were flocks every day summarising to nearly 700 individuals. Very unexpected and really impressive! Another true highligt was an Oriental Turtle Dove passing close by but also a day maximum of 20 Short-eared Owls is worth to mention.

A flock of White-winged Larks © Kai Gauger

Imperial Eagle and Black Vulture, both seen daily at the spot © Kai Gauger

also Steppe Eagle were around in small numbers © Kai Gauger

The next days the migration was rather slow with many birds going north again but at least there was a Richard's Pipits, more White-winged Larks, a Rustic Bunting, each a Red-throated and Black-throated Diver (both rarely recorded on the Caspian). This gave us the chance to have some short excursions to the surroundings with each part of the team. In the rocks of Besh Barmag there was a beautiful Wallcreeper together with a Blue Rock Thrush, an Alpine Accentor, a large flock of Caucasian Twites and the usual Western Rock Nuthatches and Rock Sparrows. In the colourful Candy Cane Mountains on the way to Xizi Finch's Wheaters held their territories and also some Little Owls and Chukars were observed.

Richard's Pipits at the counting post © Pieter Cox

Caucasian Twites around Besh Barmag Mountain © Kai Gauger

the stunning Wallcreeper at Besh Barmag © Demetris Bertzeletos

From November 11th on the activity was picking up again with lots of finches, many more White-winged Larks, 3 more Richard's pipits, but also still 30 Blue-cheeked Bee-eaters. An unmistakable sign that it hadn't been very cold north until then. Unexpected was a 1cy Kittiwake representing just the third record for Azerbaijan but three more should follow during the next week.

On November 14th there was hardly any migration in the morning and we had an spontaneous excursion to Shirvan NP which was absolutely worth it! Just after arriving and a picnic at the entrance there were 5 Steppe Eagles, a very late Lesser Kestrel, and a bit further on the way several Black Francolins. A few hours around the lake produced all three species of swans, both pelican species, 60 flamingos, about 350 White-fronted Geese, a few thousand ducks including 47 Marbled Teals, two Great Bittern, two Purple Swamphens and a lot more. In the surrounding steppe there were a flock of 100 White-winged Larks and about 450 Little Bustards.

typical loose flock of Pygmy Cormorants © Kai Gauger

Black-bellied Sandgrouse resting next to the counting post © Kai Gauger

The last days at Besh Barmag were mainly dominated by waterbird migration. On November 17th and 18th 6.600 Pygmy Cormorants, 36.800 Cormorants, 13.000 ducks, plenty of geese, swans and 1.100 Great White Egrets passed by. Also Great Black-headed Gulls became more regular when there were the first nights of frost in the Wolga delta further north.

Unfortunately, due to this rather warm weather until then we didn't experiance the impressive migration of  Little Bustards as we hoped for and seen in 2011 (https://birdingaze.blogspot.de/2011/11/). But all in all it was a great time at Besh Barmag with amazing numbers (see http://trektellen.nl/site/totals/1533/2017), a superb species composition and a perfect team. Thanks to everybody who joined and supported us!

Hope to see you again at "Besh Barmag Bird Migration Count" in autumn 2018!!!

The traditional final dinner in a traditional Azeri restaurant © Michael Heiß