Hyrcan Project Overview

The Hyrcan project is named after the Hyrcanian forests, located north of Iran, and is about monitoring the raptor migration in this area. Every year, raptors and non-raptors birds head from northern zones down to the southern latitudes from late summer until mid-fall for winter. They pass either eastern Caspian See corridors, like Kopet Dag Mountains and Eastern Alborz, or the western route containing Talesh and Western Alborz to reach the central parts. Thereby, we see spectacular migration bottlenecks in parts of the northern provinces of Iran where thousands of eagles are seen flying overhead during migration season.

With two years’ experience in raptor counting and migration monitoring in September and October 2020 and 2021 in Galougah- Mazandaran province, Iranian Birding Club decided to look over the potential region in the Hyrcanian forest located east of Golestan Province. This project has been planned based on ecotourism to ensure locals are involved in the project. Besides, raptor counting in Galougah was continued by the other team.