Enbekshikazakh region. Almaty oblast.

Short trip to foothills with Javier Piedra and Mark Ashcroft. Weather is murky and quite cold. Twice we saw Hawfinches, probably it was same bird. One Great Grey Shrike perched on tree near flock of Yellowhammers. It was my second observation Great Grey Shrike together with Yellowhammers. I guess that these birds together arrived to wintering to our places. Pair of Red-mantled Rosefinches. A lot of Grey-headed Goldfinches, Siskins, some Bramblings, Greenfinches, Chaffinches. Great and Azure Tits. Blackbirds and Mistle Thrushes. There were Redpolls in the flocks of Siskins. All little passerines fed in the thickets of russian olives. Twice we saw large falcon (it was unidentified), some Upland Buzzards, one Rough-legged hunted on tillage barely snow covered. Near Baltabai nursery on birch-trees we saw Great Spotted Woodpecker. Rarities: Woodpecker, Hawfinches, Redpolls, Great Grey Shrike.

1. Great Spotted Woodpecker (Dendrocopos major tianschanicus)