August 30-31. Two days trip to Big Almaty Lake area with Madina Dyusebayeva and three her friends. We started from the city close to lunch time of 30th of August. Mountains from the city looked as full covered by clouds. But system was not static; clouds were moving all the time and we was in the mist not all time. During the serpentine road we saw Blue Whistling Thrush, Wallcreeper, Kestrel and Nutcracker. After we arrived to the Lake and took the permission we go to the mouth of the river. On this road we saw brood of Eversmann’s Redstart, Red-fronted Serin, Golden Eagle, and one Merlin which was in front of us all time. In the mouth of river two Hobbies unsuccessfully tried to catch one Grey Wagtail. Ibisbills in first time were not visible but later Madina found the couple at about 100 meters from the lake. Ibisbills flushed and crying moved to the marsh part of the coast. Then we moved to juniper bushes near Observatory when we watched some Stonechats, Norhtern Wheatear, Black-throated [...... read more ]

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Day is rather overcast. The weddings are quite a bit, birds are present. In the bushes I saw Warblers, mostly Common and Lesser Whitethroats but I twice saw also juvenile Barred Warblers. In different sides of Square I watched two Turkestan Shrikes, one of them was calm juvenile, another one was very shy adult male. I noticed the latter in my last visit, in first time I noticed only reddish tail, then a long time it hid in the bushes but finally left it and I could to watch Shrike but from a far. I was lucky because I could identify bird. Also I watch the flock of Stonechats, seven birds, all are females and juveniles, no one adult male. All birds were in the locations of Cornus sanguinea berries of which will be the main food for birds even until the end of December when birds finish to eat all of food in Square. The berries of hawthorn are ripen too, but I didn’t see birds eating it. [...... read more ]

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In spite of many people, birds appeared in the Square. I saw 4-5 Common Whitethroats, 1-2 juvenile Barred Warblers, 2 Lesser Whitethroats, 1 Turkestan Shrike, 1 Hume's Warbler. [...... read more ]

Previous day Andrei Kovalenko and Gennady Dyakin proposed me to join them in trip to Tuyuksu glacier for Brandt’s Mountain Finch. Of course I agreed. To the destination we arrived not early but in right time. Firstly we met Sanzhar who spent the night here and already watched Finch. After Sanzhar gave us information about location of Brandt’s Finch and other birds too, we went to search them in the mountain tundra. However birds are absent, we saw only one from time to time flying by Kestrel and two Common Wheatears in the next rocks. Among the houses of station we noticed male of Guldenstadt’s Redstart which immediately flew away. Birds were so few that Andrei decided to wait Redstart. Then we went to explore the moraine. The absence of birds frightened but not a long time because Andrei found Himalayan Accantors and went to make photos of them, but I and Gennady went to another side and after a short time by the sound found several broods of Brandt’s Mountain Finches and one brood [...... read more ]

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Today is mostly sunny and even hot day, probably the last hot day of this summer (year). Trip with Gennady and Elena Dyakins and Rauf Bairashev to Sorbulak, where we were not a long time. The main targets of trip are waders, migration of which is started. But the first we saw when even were approaching to Sorbulak are many flocks of Ruddy Shelducks, 10-50 birds of each, flying in lake direction. Further we saw Ruddy Shelducks in all beaches of south and east coasts of Big Sorbulak. We didn’t visit Savkino lake (“Savka” means White-headed Duck in Russian) because we didn’t expected to watch significant birds here (and we are right according by Vassily’s post), but we quickly explored the first dam and pools “in another side”. No significant birds, and we went on south coast. Here birds are a lot, both large and small: mentioned above Ruddy Shelducks, Common Shelducks in mixed flocks with Ruddy ones, of course both species of Gulls (Black-headed and Caspian), Cormorants, Whooper [...... read more ]

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During the day weather was mostly cloudy with a little rain in lunch-time. The family trip to the Prohodnoe gorge. The trail mostly passes in the high-grass meadows (in which I several times heard Common Whitethroats) crossed by spruce-forests. I saw Nutcrackers, Greenish Warblers, Blue Whistling Thrush and twice Brown Dippers near the river. Some time I watched Sparrowhawks in the sky and Hobbies hunting among the spruce-trees. Some years ago in the spruce forest I saw Sparrowhawk but didn’t take photo of it. Today Sparrowhawk came to me itself and waited when I photographed it. Birds were a bit but I never seen many birds in Prohodnoe gorge. [...... read more ]

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