1. Batumi Raptor Count: autumn raptor migration count data from the Batumi bottleneck, Republic of Georgia
- Author
-
Rafa Benjumea, Jasper Wehrmann, Johannes Jansen, Folkert de Boer, Simon Cavaillès, Dries Engelen, Wouter M. G. Vansteelant, Brecht Verhelst, and Theoretical and Computational Ecology (IBED, FNWI)
- Subjects
bottleneck ,0106 biological sciences ,Caucasus ,Georgia ,and Monitoring ,Citizen science ,Focal species ,010603 evolutionary biology ,01 natural sciences ,Bottleneck ,010605 ornithology ,Accipitridae ,Flyway ,lcsh:Zoology ,citizen science ,Harvesting ,lcsh:QL1-991 ,Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics ,Baseline (sea) ,Population Management ,Fishery ,Trend analysis ,Geography ,Black Sea ,Birds of prey ,Black Sea flyway ,birds of prey ,Animal Science and Zoology ,Aves ,Data Paper ,Global biodiversity ,Count data - Abstract
One of the most important geographical bottlenecks for migrating raptors in the east African-Palearctic migration system is situated between the easternmost tip of the Black Sea and the Lesser Caucasus, just north of Batumi, in the Republic of Georgia. Since 2008, citizen scientists of the Batumi Raptor Count (BRC) have monitored the autumn raptor passage daily from mid-August until mid-October, collecting also detailed information about the age and sex of focal species. The full BRC dataset was recently made available through the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF). Here we describe how count data were collected, managed, and processed for trend analysis over the past 10 years. This dataset offers a unique baseline for monitoring the state of migrant raptor populations in the east African-Palearctic flyway in the 21st century. We discuss potential pitfalls for users and hope that the open access publication of our data will stimulate flyway-scale and continent-wide collaboration for raptor migration monitoring in the Old World
- Published
- 2019
- Full Text
- View/download PDF