SABUKO started offering urban bird walks in 2019. Its aim is to raise awareness about urban birds in a positive way.
What is urban birdwatching?
It might be surprising, but Tbilisi is home to many species of birds. Out of Georgia’s 403 bird species, more than 200 are recorded here.
SABUKO’s weekly tours are an opportunity to combine walking in nature and birdwatching.
Walking tours are offered every weekend during spring, from March to the end of May. Our professional guide leads the tour and while searching for birds, he tells interesting facts about them, answers your questions and gives advice to interested individuals. We also provide binoculars for the participants.
Why Spring?
Spring is the time when seeing birds is the easiest. They sing to find partners, marking territory and searching for suitable places for nesting. So they’re more bold. The species who spend cold winters in warm countries start coming back.
Unlike spring, summer is much busier for them. They need to hide and protect their eggs, and then feed hungry, demanding chicks. During this time they’re extra careful. It gets hard to see them among dense leaves too.
During late summer and the start of autumn, they have other cares. They must get ready for a long distance migration, change their feathers (therefore hiding from predators) and gain fat.
Birdwatching tours are carried out in places where the most species occur. We also keep in mind that the locations should be easily accessible by transport. Most of our routes are easy for carrying small children, as well as the wheelchairs.
The most frequent and popular destinations are: Lisi Lake, Tbilisi National Botanical Garden, Turtle Lake, Krtsanisi park.
In frames of the Urban Biodiversity Project, we created a map, where you can see the best places for birdwatching, as well as the descriptions of the most common species.
Nowadays you can use Sabuko’s bird app – 1st birdwatcher’s app in Georgian language – to gather data. Even though the application is still undergoing changes for improvement, it’s already possible to mark the spotted species on map. This way you will help our organization to collect data, and keep your personal checklist.
Link to download application – android
Link to download application – iOS
Tour schedule and location is announced weekly on SABUKO’s facebook page.
