The Bosphorus Strait located in Istanbul, Turkey, is one the primary migration bottlenecks in Europe for soaring birds. This study aims to determine the abundance and the species composition of soaring birds that migrate over the Bosphorus, in order to address the knowledge gap on bird migration in Turkey. In this study, 27 bird species from 4 families and 3 orders were identified, and a total of 34.346 soaring birds were observed.