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Kazakhstan: chasing wagtails (1 Viewer)

Xenospiza

Distracted
From May 6 to May 20, I visited Kazakhstan with five other birders from the Southern Netherlands. The tour was organised via Central Asia Birding, so we were provided with a guide, a driver and a “trainee” (she called herself our escort, which sounded a bit dodgy). In the south, things ran smoothly, less so in the north, where the touristic infrastructure is even less developed.
Apart from one day that was a wash-and-snow-out, we had good weather, albeit a bit windy at times.
We visited “well-known” locations (Kazakh and Russian transcriptions given). We returned to the same hotel near Almaty each couple of days to enjoy luxuries like showers and toilets.
Almaty and Astana (in both cases the stress is on the last syllable!) are full of (not just second-hand) German and Japanese cars... But even there, things like beer and coffee can be absent from bars. The countryside is poor and empty, except for horses and cattle, which are the main sources of meat. The absolute lack of fences (and of access restrictions) makes the landscape much more impressive than the American Great Plains. Some petrol stations in far-flung villages were of real historic interest, but little else was. The vegetarian food was far above expectation.
A combination of the Ripley guide (India) and Collins (Europe, Middle East) covered almost everything except Red-mantled Rosefinch and Songar Tit. “Pipits and Wagtails” was useful as well.

Southeast (May 6-8): Kökpek [Kokpek] Pass, Sogety Plains, Kegen Pass, Temirlik, Sharyn Hunting Lodges, Tashqarasu [Tashkarasu].
After a short night’s flight, one of the first interesting birds to be seen on the way to the southeast was Oriental Carrion Crow, the call of which surely sounds different. After leaving the farming region east of Almaty, our only three White-capped and the first of many Red-headed Buntings were seen at Kökpek Pass, where also the first Steppe, Golden and Eastern Imperial Eagles flew by. Three Sylvias – Hume’s Whitethroat (althaea), Central Asian Lesser Whitethroat (halimodendri) and Asian Desert Warbler – and three wheatears – Pied, Isabelline, and Desert – were present along the road. Very windy conditions made birding hard on the scarcely vegetated plains.
At our first destination, the Sharyn Hunting Lodges, Hume’s Warbler proved to be common in the ash/poplar forest, just like anywhere else in the southern mountains. Azure Tits were checking out the nest boxes, while a large flock of Black-eared Kites was checking out an unidentified carcass. Wagtail-mania started off near Tashqarasu with Masked (personata), Citrine and Black-headed ‘melanogrisea’). The white-cheeked Indian (House) Sparrows (bactrianus) were studied closely to check what we thought of their undecided taxonomic status. We saw two Common Pheasants in some riparian growth, which may or may not have been reintroductions. Their call sounds rather odd: almost tinamou-like at times!
The next morning, after a fruitless sandgrouse search, the scenic Sharyn Canyon brought along a welcome Grey-necked Bunting (common only at a nearby site) and a pair of Mongolian Finches (a common desert bird). On the way to Temirlik, a trio of vultures consisted of Eurasian Griffon, Himalayan Griffon and Cinereous (Eurasian Black/Monk) Vulture! The first of three Booted Eagles during the trip also showed up. A stop for lunch at Temirlik was disturbed by a showy White-crowned Penduline-Tit and very likely Upland Buzzards, one of which was definitely present later at Kegen Pass. Grey-headed Goldfinch showed well – it is rather thinly distributed throughout the south. We also saw our first tulip species of the trip, always nice for Dutchmen, and remarkably a “lifer tulip” for our guide. It surely took a lot of driving to reach the various small bird-rich pockets… In the evening, huge relief as two Pallas’s Sandgrouse were seen in flight at a traditional site on the Sogety Plains. I guess they are my birds of the trip. A search the next day only provided a few Shore Larks (albigula) before a downpour started which lasted the rest of the day.

The rain turned into snow in the foothills above Almaty where we spent the night.At least it made the European Scops-Owls call (and thus easy-to-find) by day! We found more, somewhat greyer-headed, Azure Tits, White-bellied Dipper, and had the surreal experience of hearing Common Cuckoo and Corncrake calling in the snow.

Tauqum [Taukum] desert (May 9-12): Sorbulaq [Sorbulak] Lake, Qanshenggel [Kanshengel], Alaköl [Alakol] (south of Lake Balkhash, not the better-known big distant lake), Topar, Zheltorangghy [Zheltorangy], Tangbaly [Tamgaly] (near Qarabastau [Karabastau], not to be confused with Tamgaly Tas along the Ile river).
Ile Alatau NP, Qaskeleng [Kaskelen] Valley (May 12)

Into the desert again, on the “Day of Victory”… Rosy-coloured Starlings were not breeding at the Sorbulaq Lake dam, but they were numerous in the herb-covered desert (10,000s seen). Other nice migrants were Demoiselle Crane (100s), European Roller (dozens), Barred Warbler, Black-throated Thrush, Red-spotted Bluethroat and a single Yellow-browed Warbler. At night, we pretty much froze in our (pseudo-traditional) yurts.
Three or four Macqueen’s Bustard were found west of Qanshenggel, one of which was displaying — but unfortunately very distant. We missed the (single?) Caspian Plover present… and had to settle for two Goitered Gazelles.
The unscenic artesian wells around Qanshenggel offered some excitement in the form of Black-bellied Sandgrouse, Desert Finch and of course wagtails, with White-headed (leucocephala), Black-backed Citrine (calcarata), and most of all four East Siberian (ocularis) (just two sightings known!) top finds. Two birds looking like Eastern Yellow (tschutschensis) were also seen. An immature Baikal (baicalensis) would be impossible to prove… We saw our only Saker (seriously reduced in numbers by falconers) here as well. By scanning the numerous Calandra Larks, a few Bimaculated could be found, but the same strategy with Greater Short-toed Larks failed to produce a single certain Lesser for me!
A long, virtually birdless drive to Alaköl lake yielded our first great black-headed Pallas’s Gulls (among more immatures) and a single White-tailed Eagle. Of the various reptiles, Horsfield’s Tortoise was the nicest (especially the one-year old one, aaaaah!)
After one Saxaul Sparrow somewhere in the 100-km wide shrub-covered dunescape of the Taukum desert (where we stopped for a pair of Steppe Grey Shrikes), more of these stunning sparrows were found in open turanga (poplar) woodland near Zheltorangghy. Pale-backed (Yellow-eyed) Pigeon was common there, while the White-winged Woodpeckers were a bit too close to Great Spotted to be remarkable. Other birds here included Turkestan Tit (which may well be an armchair-lump), Sykes’s Warbler and singing Siberian Chiffchaffs. We also noted a few Eastern Olivaceous Warblers in the area, which may well be underrecorded. Shikras provided some good views, after earlier fly-overs in the desert. Three Indian Golden Orioles were a ‘Ripley guide’ tick. A huge flock of martins at Topar consisted mostly of Pale Sand Martins.
Five White-winged Larks were a surprise in the desert south of Qanshenggel. Unfortunately, the Eastern Rock Nuthatch nest at Tangbaly had been demolished – ancient rock drawings and singing Blyth’s Reed Warblers in the valley bottom were the consolation prize.
A short visit to the Qaskeleng valley in rainy weather was enough to secure a handful of Meadow Buntings.

Ile Alatau NP, Big Almaty Valley (May 13-15): Hydroelectric plant, Big Almaty Lake, Astronomical Observatory, Kosmostantsia.
The next days, the weather in Ile Alatau NP was excellent. Things went so smoothly that our last day was spent by revisiting our favourite juniper shrub sites: what a luxury!
At the hydroelectric plant, both Blue Whistling-Thrush and Brown Dipper were conspicuous. A bit higher up, Songar Tit was present in the spruce forest, given away by its Willow Tit-copy song. The local, subtly different Winter Wrens (tianschanicus) and Goldcrests (tristis) provided nice “insurance” ticks.
The ever-popular, second-easiest Ibisbill in the world showed well in the gravel above Big Almaty Lake; another group even found its nest (through the telescope, they hastened to add). A “Red-capped” Falcon (usually considered a Barbary Falcon, but a Peregrine race according to the Ripley guide) flying by was followed by two at the dilapidated Russian enclave of the Kosmostantsia (apparently the site where the Soviet hydrogen bomb was developed).
In order of altitude, three redstarts (Blue-capped, Eversmann’s and Güldenstadt’s) and accentors (Black-throated, Brown and Altai) were found. The most obvious bird in the juniper shrub around the Observatory was the fantastic Himalayan Rubythroat; other inhabitants were Sulphur-bellied Warbler (among the rocks – earlier we had seen one bird in a tree near Temirlik), Red-mantled Rosefinch, the stealthy White-winged Grosbeak, very flighty Red-fronted Serin and White-browed Tit-Warbler, which showed excellently to all. Its call is the best way to find it among the junipers: patience will provide good views of this shockingly tasteless colour combination. For the fluffy animal fans, Turkestan Red Pikas were provided.
Higher up, pairs of Himalayan Snowcock were seen distantly but well along with the rather variable Plain Mountain-Finches; a large flock high up turned out to consist of them as well after I checked the calls I recorded (I had hoped for Black-headed…). The snow fields were apparently smaller than usual (but a lot of snow fell after we left). A few Lammergeiers crossed the valley.
On the way down, Himalayan Griffon and Cinereous Vultures were seen, but no addition to the trip list (like Three-toed Woodpecker) could be found.

North (May 16-19): Astana, Qorghalzhyn [Korgalzhyn], Qarazhar [Karazhar].
Next, we flew to Kazakhstan’s new capital Astana (a must if you like pompous oil-dollar-sponsored architecture), to spend a few days on the steppes near Korghalzhyn. Trouble with drivers and guides cost us Pine Bunting along the road, which was a sour note to this great region.
This area is famous for Sociable Lapwing, of which we saw some 20 at three known locations around the village, with a surprise extra 10 along the Astana–Qorghalzhyn road. Looking for Caspian Plovers again resulted in failure, although it yielded dozens of White-winged Larks. Black Lark numbered in the hundreds if not more in the same region, with their slow-motion display flights being quite a sight. Females were harder to find. Booted Warbler was present in every bush. The local Merlins (very pale pallidus) and Twites (heavily striped kirghizorum) looked very odd – nice to have seen those!
With few lifers for the group left, most of the time could be spent on pretty carefree birding. Southern flavour was provided by White-headed Duck, Dalmatian Pelican, Greater Flamingo and the rare Moustached Warbler, eastern specialities were Pallid Harrier (no Montague’s at all!), Paddyfield Warbler, Black-winged Pratincole colonies, displaying Marsh Sandpiper and 1000s of White-winged Terns, while northern influences were the various grebes, Black-throated Diver (Arctic Loon) and many waders, especially Ruff (10,000s) and Red-necked Phalarope (1000s). Larophiles would enjoy the views and remarkably distinctive calls of Steppe Gulls, with the added incentive of finding Caspian and Heuglin’s Gulls among them; even larophobes should enjoy Pallas’s and Slender-billed. The “migrant trap garden” in Qarazhar provided stunning views of common migrants like Greenish Warbler.
Wagtails were mostly Sykes’s (‘beema’) and Grey-headed (thunbergi) An odd bird with a white head and a few black markings on its cheek was obviously some hybrid. I didn't see Yellow-headed Wagtail (lutea).
On the road back, Red-footed Falcons (with a small colony) were the highlight.
In Almaty, the European Scops-Owl was still calling when we left for our early morning flight back.
 
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A "true" report is to be published elsewhere by another participant (that's why I haven't given any specific locations here). I still have to edit two hours of sound recordings...
 
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