Well what a trip that was, tremendous landscapes and birding that was reminiscent of the best that Eastern Europe has to offer. With Rob at the helm with his intimate knowledge of the country (and its potholes), and having scouted out many of the locations in advance of our arrival, birding could not have been more straightforward. We covered a lot of ground in the time we had available, two trips in one really, and if time was unlimited we probably would have done double the number of days in each place, or made two individual visits out of it. Rob spent closer to three weeks in the country, and after we had returned home had a whole extra trip in a completely different part of the country with a very different set of birds. Yellow Wagtails were apparently everywhere, and whereas we failed to find a Mallard, he went to lakes carpeted with wildfowl.
Nonetheless in our five days we saw over 180 species, and a return trip to the west of the country should see the total easily go over 200. And there are not too many places I've been to where that is the case, especially in Europe which Georgia just about is, at least in my mind. For my part I just want to continue going birding in places like this, pushing the boundaries of places I know about and places I've been. The world map is still full of many blank spaces, especially as I gaze east. Food for thought.
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