Rahul SomvanshiMore than 600 bird species use the Central Asian Flyway, an immense migration network spanning 30 countries from the Arctic through Central Asia and the Trans-Caucasus to South Asia and the Indian Ocean.
One of its most dramatic choke points lies in Azerbaijan, where the Caspian Sea and the Greater Caucasus leave birds a narrow coastal passage around Besh Barmag. Birds reluctant to cross open sea or high mountains are concentrated into the strip, making it one of the region’s most important places to witness—and study—migration.
Why bottlenecks matter
A bottleneck is not merely a spectacle. It is a conservation pressure point. When a large share of a migratory population passes through a narrow area, disturbance, collision risks, hunting, habitat loss or poorly placed infrastructure can affect birds across many countries.
Published counts at Besh Barmag estimated 1.24–1.51 million migrants in autumn 2011 and 0.65–0.82 million in spring 2012. Raptors, waterbirds and landbirds all use the wider flyway, although their routes and timing differ.
A route that connects Central Asia to South Asia
The Central Asian Flyway links breeding, stopover and wintering sites across a vast region. That means the survival of a bird seen in Azerbaijan can depend on wetlands, farmland, coastlines and protected areas thousands of kilometres away—including in India and other South Asian countries.
The Convention on Migratory Species describes the flyway as connecting the Arctic and Indian Oceans. Its 2023 situation analysis highlights both the scale of the network and the need for coordinated work across borders.
Conservation beyond the viewing season
Responsible birdwatching can build awareness and local support for nature protection, but conservation depends on keeping migration sites safe year-round. Monitoring counts, protecting resting and feeding habitat, reducing illegal killing, managing power-line and wind-energy collision risks, and sharing data across national borders are all part of safeguarding a route no one country owns.
Sources: Convention on Migratory Species; Central Asian Flyway Situation Analysis 2023; and the Besh Barmag study in Bird Conservation International. The submitted Reel was used as a discovery lead.
