Birdwatching in Dedoplistskaro Surroundings

The road from Dedoplistskaro to Chachuna

The 37-kilometer dirt road from Dedoplistskaro to Chachuna Managed Reserve promises countless exciting bird encounters. See numerous small birds in the bushes and on the ground, meet the black-throated Emberiza, black-billed wheatears, small and large short-toed skylarks, meadow pipits, and some other inhabitants.

The sky is full of predatory birds, such as orbs, ospreys, booted eagles, Eastern imperial eagles, vultures, coral, and snake-eating eagles. Chachuna Managed Reserve is also home to the saker falcon, a rare species to find in Georgia. As the landscape changes, the steppes give way to bright incense groves. It takes little effort to find red-headed shrieks, little owls, and red ducks.

Dali Mountain Reservoir

30 kilometers from Dedoplistskaro is the Dali Mountain water reservoir. From the dam, you can see the Iori floodplain forest on one side. Use binoculars or a telescope to observe the rare sightings of black francolin and levant sparrowhawk. Keep your other eye on the constant action in the waters below.

A colony of field crickets lives in an abandoned iron tower on the dam. A white-tailed eagle hunts fish and the whole environment is lively. It is a truly unique place in terms of biodiversity, where, alongside birds, you can observe turkeys, wolves, and wild boars.

Flocks of rosy and common starlings fly, and in the fields, you can see the rare Eurasian stone curlew. Red-eyed and eastern yellow-eyed warblers nest in the bushes, and sometimes you can spot a nightingale, which is heard all over the valley in the mornings.

From the reservoir, birdwatchers usually continue to Chachuna Managed Reserve.