There weren't any new birds in foothills. A lot of Rooks, and (Red-headed Buntings, Rollers, Bee-eaters, Corn Buntings, and Lesser Grey Shrikes) are also common birds of the foothills. In Sunkar one male Ruddy Shelduck, Common Starlings and Isabelline Wheatears were occurred. On the roadside between Sunkar and Degeres I have seen Rooks and Wood Pigeons. Like a two times I saw Hobbies but didn't have a luck to see a Kestrels. I have found two nests of Long-legged Buzzards. In one of them there were three quite large nestlings. There was not abundance of Spanish Sparrows. The colony of these birds was empty. I saw Spanish Sparrows only in the nests of Long-legged Buzzards. Degeres. The first birds in Degeres were the soaring raptors: about 5-6 Himalayan Vultures, 3-4 Cinereous Vultures and one Egyptian Vulture. The birds quite quickly ascended and flew out therefore I didn't have much time to observe them and to make photos. In the rocks I saw two Grey-headed Buntings, one female Rufous-tailed [...... read more ]

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Today I have seen the Long-tailed Shrike on the Square. [...... read more ]

Today we went to the places where I was last week. The birds were the same I saw previous time. Many Pied Wheatears and Red-headed Buntings. Pied Wheatears fed the juveniles. Today I saw how neatly female Pied Wheatear caught the butterfly and gave it to juvenile. Jackdaws, Rollers, Lesser Kestrels flew by. Several times we saw flights of Black Kites. Almost all time the flocks of Rosy Starlings flew by. In the gorge the nesting places of Rosy Starlings are well appreciable by the white from the dung rocks. New birds. The male Monatgu's Harrier, later we saw it in steppe. The Rock Nuthatch appeared, it isn't cry actively as yet. Also we saw Egyptian Vulture. The news in the nest of Golden Eagles is there too. Today we saw two nestlings, one of them all white but another one has many black feathers. [...... read more ]

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A lot of Grenish Warblers. They are flew and sang all around. Brown Dipper, Kestrel, Mistle Thrushes attacked the Magpies. [...... read more ]

Recent years on the second decade of May the weather in Almaty was rainy. This season I always observed the Nightjars in the Republic Square. Today was not the exclusion, I saw one light Nightjar. In addition to Nightjar I saw two Long-tailed Shrikes, Greenfinches, Blackbirds, Great Tits, Magpies. In the dense spruce trees and thickets I heard the songs of Warblers. Sparrowhawk very actively flew between the trees. [...... read more ]

First time in this year I saw the Blue Whistling Thrushes. The male sang very beauty but female was looking for anything in the grass. Later both birds flew to the rocks and male was singing on flight. About half hour later Blue Whistling Thrushes came back. In high spruce trees I heard the calls of Kestrels. [...... read more ]

Today's trip began early. Of the birds I saw on the road until Kapchagai I want to note only Cuckoos (two birds) and Grey Heron near Kapchagai. Over the Kapchagai reservoir Ile river crossed very beauty gorge. Probably Oriental Turtle Doves which I saw were flying to steppe zone from this gorge. The steppe was wet after the yesterday's rain. The wet grass glistened on the sun. I noticed Hoopoes (2 birds), Rollers, Red-headed Buntings, Larks, and flock of Rosy Starlings on alone tree. The Red-heading Bunting is the most popular bird today. I observed it in steppe, in desert and in rocks. In addition to Red-headed Bunting in the rocks of gorge I often noticed Pied Wheatears, Chukars and Rosy Starlings. The Rosy Starlings probably nest in the branch of gorge. It's my guess because I saw a lot of these birds. Also in this branch I saw nesting Lesser Kestrels and Jackdaws. Both birds entered to rocks' split. The rock walls near these splits were white from the birds' dung. The Golden Eagles [...... read more ]

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Kaskelen gorge. On the slopes with dog-rose thickets I saw Rollers, Magpies, all the time the calls of Pheasants and Chukars were hearable. The Kestrel flew along the slope. Once the Golden Eagle appeared high above the rocks and soared a short time, the pair of Sparrowhawk escorted Eagle and tried to attack it. Twice Chukars flew from one slope to another. The songs of Stonechats were heard in many places. On afternoon the weather was rainy. The birds were gone. In the mixed birch-spruce wood the Leaf Warblers were hearable. On the edges the Stonechats and Hume Warblers flew under the rain. Once I saw Mistle Thrush. After the dinner we went to Degeres. Almost all time the rain was there. Along the road on the wires, poles, bushes and trees I saw Magpies, Rooks, Rollers, Corn Buntings, Kestrels, two Hobbies, Black-headed Wagtails, Lesser Grey Shrikes. After the rain we watched the perching on the pole Long-legged Buzzard dried the wings. The Red-headed Buntings drank the water from the [...... read more ]

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In Karasay region in foothills of Ile Alatau there were a lot of Rollers. They perched almost on each roadside pole. In addition to Rollers we watched one soaring Black Kite and heard one singing in the bushes Common Nightingale. In the steppes between Kaskelen and Sorbulak there were a lot of Rollers too. Some of them flew one after another and made the quite difficult pirouettes. But I also saw one bird already entered to the hole. Probably some birds almost have breeding games but other ones already build the nest. In the roadside thickets there were a lot of nesting Rooks and Jackdaws. In some places the Barn Swallows flew over the water. Twice I saw Cuckoos. In Shamalgan station on the wet meadows the Citrine and Black-headed Wagtails are common birds. The grass on the meadows is tall. Some time I walked on meadow and shied four Wagtails which flew from the grass almost under my foot. Probably the Wagtails' nesting time almost began. But I didn't find the nest because I don't have [...... read more ]

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The road to Ushkonur lake was blocked and guarded as in all of my previous visits. Birds I saw: a lot of Common Rollers (first time in this year); on the way to the plateau we watched one Chukar Partridge; and at the plateau the Kestrel, Long-legged Buzzard, the pair of Himalayan Gryphon-Vultures, one Golden Eagle, many Rollers and the pair of Common Stonechats. The small lake in foothills. Pair of Mallards, some unidentified ducks (presumably Garganeys), some Moorhens. Grey-headed Goldfinches flew around. Though it was raining along the foothills until to Sunkar, the nesting Rooks were active and most noticeable of birds. There were many singing Corn Buntings perching on the wires. We also watched Rollers, Linnets, Grey-headed Goldfinches, Wood Pigeons, Magpies, Masked Wagtails, and Lesser Grey Shrike. One Greater Spotted Eagle was attacked by several Rooks. First, the eagle perched in a tree, then trying to keep a distance from us, moved farther to the field and then disappeared. It was [...... read more ]

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