Kastek, Degeres.

The warm and sunny day. Trip with Raufael Bairashev and Gennady Dyakin to western foothills of Sailisky Alatau ridge.

Kastek. There is the military post in the Kastek gorge now, it means that there is not possibility to walk in the gorge. So we had only watching the birds of the foothills and the beginning of gorge. A lot of Lesser grey Shrikes, Red-headed Buntings and Corn Buntings. Once we saw that two “wrestled” Corn Bunting downing by the ground slope, one of them tried to sing the song that moment. We didn't know what it was - the conflict of two males or gender game between male and female. The nesting in holes Common Starlings fed the nestlings. Near the holes the Rollers, Bee-eaters and Isabelline Wheatears were too. If I add to named birds also the colony of Rooks, Jackdaws, Mynahs and Magpies, so I get the list of common birds of Kastek and vicinity. Also we saw Collared Doves, Barn Swallows, Blackbird, Greenfinch, Common Nightingale and Long-tailed Shrikes in the villages; the Turkestan Shrike, Lammergieir, Masked Wagtails, Wood Pigeon, Kestrel, White-bellied Dipper in gorge; and Oriental Turtle Doves by pairs and in little flocks; Linnet, two Hoopoes, Kites and flock of Rosy Starlings in foothills. In foothills we heard Cuckoo, and in Kastek village we saw little unidentified Warblers in the bushes. Staying near alone willow tree we watched several Common Rosefinches and the pair of Black-headed Penduline Tits which were building the nest and copulating.

On the road to Sunkar we saw a lot of Corn Buntings, Lesser Grey Shrikes, Red-headed Buntings and Rollers. In the nest of Long-legged Buzzard we saw two chicks and near the nest - the Spanish and Indian Sparrows. Two males of Spanish Sparrow bathed in the pool and later dried on the next shrub. In Sunkar we saw House Martins, Masked Wagtails, Laughing Doves, in clay falls - Common Starlings and Rollers, in meadows - only Rooks. The juveniles of Rooks in the colonies between Sunkar and Degeres are already large, some of them perched not on nests but on branches near nests. That place we saw one Kestrel and Lesser Grey Shrikes too.

Degeres. Near clay falls we noted Calandra and Crested Larks, Tawny Pipit, Pied and Isabelline Wheatears, Mynahs, Rollers. The colony of Rosy Starlings is places in the stony slope, also this place we watched Chukar Partridges, the singing in bushes Lesser Whitethroats, the nest of Lesser Grey Shrike on the alone tree, and two nests of Rock Nuthatches. One pair of Nuthatches probably already has the clutch; but the second one probably not. It was interesting to saw the Rock Sparrow not in rocks but near human constructions. On the river passing in rocks we saw Common Sandpipers, Cuckoo, Spotted Flycatcher, Turkestan Shrike, Blackbird, Kingfisher, unidentified Duck, two Long-legged Buzzard, several pairs of Golden Oriole, many Lesser Grey Shrikes and their nests, Chukar Partridges and one Blue Rock Thrush. We also tried to identify little Warblers hidden in shrubs and trees. We could spot Greenish Warblers, Lesser Whitethroats and Syke's Warbler.

1. Corn Bunting (Emberiza calandra)

2. Eurasian Roller (Coracias garrulus)

3. Red-headed Bunting (Emberiza bruniceps)

4. European Bee-eater (Merops apiaster)

5. Isabelline Wheatear (Oenanthe isabellina)

6. European Bee-eater (Merops apiaster)

7. Common Rosefinch (Carpodacus erythrinus)

8. Black-headed Penduline Tit (Remiz macronyx)

9. Long-tailed Shrike (Lanius schach)

10. Spanish Sparrow (Passer hispaniolensis)

11. Chicks of Long-legged Buzzard (Buteo rufinus)

12. Juvenile Rooks (Corvus frugilegus)

13. Rosy Starlingd colony (Sturnus roseus)

14. Rosy Starling (Sturnus roseus)

15. Eastern Rock Nuthatch (Sitta tephronota) near the nest

16. Eastern Rock Nuthatch (Sitta tephronota)

17. Rock Sparrow (Petronia petronia)

18. Lesser Grey Shrike (Lanius minor)

19. European Golden Oriole (Oriolus oriolus kundoo)

20. European Golden Oriole (Oriolus oriolus kundoo)