Red-breasted Flycatcher in Almaty

Recent weeks I quite often visited the Republic Square. But I didn’t publish posts because there were no any significant records. Every visit I watched only common birds. After the rainy days I felt the winter’s coming. Now is the off-season time when most of birds migrated but the winter visitors did not come. I go to the urban birding to watch what the birds did not leave the city. This autumn migration of Nightjars is surprisingly behind time. Every visit to Square I find at least one Nightjar. One late Stonechat. More than one month the juvenile Red-backed Shrike perched on the same bush. Bluethroats, Barred Warblers and Lesser Whitethroats hides in the thickets. Sometimes I heard sounds of Hume’s Warblers. There are no Common Whitethroats. Quails hide in the grass; there are Sparrowhawks always in area. This is list of common birds which I watched every visit to Square. Some of species next time will leave the Square; Barred Warbler, Lesser Whitethroat and Sparrowhawk will stay in Square to winter. Other winter species will come soon.

But today I also watched two not everyday species. In the green fence I noticed Blyth’s Reed Wablers which now are on migration too of course. Also when I tried to take photos of Lesser Whitethroats I saw Red-breasted Flycatcher looking so rufous in fresh plumage that I mistook it for female Redstart in field. Later looking to bird in monitor I noted the non-red tail of the bird. Red-breasted Flycatcher is new species to Republic Square and probably to Almaty too because nobody took photo of it.

1. Red-breasted Flycatcher

2. Red-backed Shrike

3. Blyth's Reed Warbler

4.

5. Siberian Stonechat

6. Nightjar