Birdwatching festival begins in coastal Batumi

For the fourth consecutive year Georgia’s seaside city Batumi is hosting the International Bird Festival, involving trips to the best birdwatching locations and conferences led by local and international ornithology experts.

The six-day festival opened on September 20 and already organisers noticed growing attendance numbers on previous years, stating birdwatching had grown in popularity in Georgia and all over the world.

While based in coastal Batumi, the Festival also took advantage to showcase Georgia’s western Adjara region, which represented one of the largest bird migration directions worldwide.

One of the standout locations of Festival events include Shuamta village where Georgia’s Tourism Department set up a birdwatching platform last year. Other locations include Sakhalvasho and Chaisubani villages in the Kobuleti Municipality, where visitors can find marked paths leading to birdwatching platforms.

The unique topography and climate of the Black Sea coastline near Batumi meant more than one million predator birds can be seen here on their seasonal travels.

In Georgia and internationally the number of people interested in birdwatching has increased, said Festival organisers. After last year’s birdwatching season Batumi’s local tourism saw a major increase in ornithology experts and enthusiasts who collectively travelled to Georgia for up to 2,000 nights in the autumn season and spent 160,000 GEL while on their travels.

The Batumi Bird Festival will continue until September 26.