San Francisco Frontiers - One million migrating raptors dodge illegal hunters above Georgia's Black Sea coast

Hoekstra co-chairs Batumi Raptor Count (BRC), an international volunteer organisation that counts the million-plus birds of prey that fly the route every autumn, where the Black Sea and Caucasus mountains form a migration bottleneck.

"It's the third-largest place in the world in terms of raptor migration," said the 34-year-old Dutchman from Utrecht University.

"Wherever you put your binoculars in the sky, there are birds."

Honey buzzards dominate the early autumn passage, followed by growing numbers of black kites, steppe buzzards and lesser spotted eagles.

As he spoke, rifles cracked incessantly across steep slopes cloaked in subtropical vegetation around the resort city of Batumi.

Around 9,000 of the birds are shot each autumn, according to a 2013 University of Antwerp study, the latest reliable estimate. Harriers are disproportionately vulnerable to shooting because they often fly low.

"It's horrifying honestly, it's really heartbreaking every time you hear the shots and you never get used to it... you always feel the pain," said Mitra Daneshvar, a count coordinator from Iran.

"What truly hurts is when it's really rare species that get shot out of the sky," Hoekstra added. "And there's nothing you can do about it."

Georgia's Environmental Supervision Department recorded 39 hunting violations in the region during the first month of this year's season, without specifying how many involved raptors.

It says it conducts round-the-clock patrols against illegal hunting, but Hoekstra said policing illegal shooting was difficult in the rugged hills around Batumi.

- Local economic lifeline -

The "Batumi bottleneck", as it is known, funnels raptors from Russia, Eastern Europe and Kazakhstan south as most head for Africa after breeding.

The birds save energy by circling in the warm air that rises over land, avoiding the sea, while clouds in the Caucasus mountains can push them into a narrow corridor over Georgia's Black Sea coast.

From stations at Sakhalvasho -- a village perched above the resort city of Batumi, and nearby Shuamta, deeper into the lush Georgian hills, BRC volunteers set about counting the number of birds making the annual journey.

They start at sunrise, scanning with binoculars and telescopes.

As a bird crosses an imaginary line, they click a handheld counter.

Coordinators divide the passing streams into sections watched by different observers to avoid double-counting.

The spectacle is a major tourism draw for the region's poor, rural villages -- one volunteers hope in itself could help curb illegal hunting.

Visitors flock to guesthouses in Sakhalvasho and Shuamta, giving local families an economic incentive to protect the birds.

For Ruslan Lomadze, a Sakhalvasho guesthouse owner who hosts BRC participants, the visitors have "changed life" in his community.

"There is no other real source of income here," the 45-year-old said. "Without birdwatching tourism, guesthouses and family hotels would close."

Describing hunting as an inherited tradition, he said some birdwatchers stay away because they cannot bear to see birds killed.

"Now there is less of it, and ecotourism has had an impact," he said.

- 'Makes you humble' -

Hunters approached by AFP refused to speak about the practice.

Hoekstra said shooting had declined near the counting stations but cautioned that it might have shifted to places the project does not monitor.

Birdwatchers now occupy sites once used by hunters, but Hoekstra fears the hunters could return if funding dries up.

The organisation's work nearly stopped this year before an anonymous donation of 15,000 euros ($17,000) rescued the autumn count after fundraising stalled.

"We get really motivated people here," Hoekstra said, hailing the volunteers, but called on international organisations and big donors to "see the value of this style of monitoring that is incredibly efficient."

The records collected by the project since 2008 have helped researchers follow different bird populations across breeding grounds where other counts are difficult.

On September 27, coordinator Daneshvar counted the season's millionth raptor.

Watching the birds stream overhead, she drew awe.

"They've been doing it long before we came here and they will do that long after we are gone," she said.

"It makes you very humble."

L.Lopez--SFF