Middle reaches of Ile river. Almaty oblast.

The trip with Gennady Dyakin to Ile river. In the steppe zone close to the river we noticed the perched on the little hill Goshawk. The second Goshawk in last two days, my guess is now is time of the migration of Goshawks. In the same steppe-semidesert zone there were many Calandra larks, once the Desert Wheatear was noticed. Then we descent to the trees at the river; several trees do not form even the grove but in absence of other trees here were quite a many little passerine birds; we noticed Reed Buntings, Tree Sparrows, singing Greenfinch, and Desert Finch.

The road along the river. On the water regularly we watched little groups of Goldeneyes and rarer Mallards. On the single trees once we saw Kestrel and once Steppe Grey Shrike. Then we stayed at river close to rocks. Birds were a bit. Sometimes the Jackdaws flew by. The flock of Black-headed Gulls flew mostly over the coast than over the water. On the coast-line two Masked Wagtails fed, to the single tree several times Long-tailed Rosefinches came flying. In the reeds on the little island I heard the song of bird unknown to me. In the rocks once only we saw the Chukars. Twice we watched males of Eversmann's Redstarts. On the short tour to the broad branch gorge we watched quite a many Pied Wheatears (males only), twice Isabelline Wheatears, one more Eversmann's Redstart, flock of Black-throated Thrushes, flock (5 birds) of Rock Buntings.

1. Northern Goshawk (Accipiter gentilis)

2. Desert Wheatear (Oenanthe deserti)

3. Pied Wheatear (Oenanthe pleschanka)

4. Long-tailed Rosefinch (Uragus sibiricus)

5. Isabelline Wheatear (Oenanthe isabellina)

6. Rock Bunting (Emberiza cia)

7. Eversmann's Redstart (Phoenicurus erythronotus)

8. Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos)