Today I saw Magpie running the Sparrowhawk. And also I saw the pair of Hobbies. It's interesting that I saw Hobbies on Republic Square not first time, probably Hobbies nest in this place. [...... read more ]

Today I tried to wait the Warblers' flying off from spruce, but unsuccessfully. I think that it's possible to obtain of Warblers' flying off only by the bait on sound. Stonechats still not fly out. Yesterday I tried to bait the Scops Owl by sound record. At first the Owl sang together with my record but later flew off. Probably anything troubled the Owl. [...... read more ]

Stonechats are still on migration pass. Today I saw 4-5 birds. Inside the spruce trees the little warblers sing but it's impossible to watch them. I propose that they are Lesser Whitethroats but I am not sure. Grey-headed Goldfinch today sang in Samal. [...... read more ]

The sunny warm day. Birds were a bit, probably on account of our late arriving (9.50 am). In first I noted the singing White-bellied Dipper. In addition to Dipper also Greenish Warblers, Coal Tits and Tree Pipits were singing a lot. Greenish Warblers were singing among the spruce-trees branches, but Tree Pipits were singing from the top of spruce-trees. Also today I heard very perfect song of Blue Whistling Thrush. The Black-throated Accentors already didn't sing so actively, today I heard them twice only and noted one only pair hid in spruce-tree. Probably Accentors have clutch already. As songs of birds were everywhere hearable, but singing birds (Tree Pipits and Greenish Warblers) are small, not bright and so not well visible birds. On the northern slope of gorge, especially in the spruce-trees shadows there were the snow; on the border of snow and wet ground I saw feeding Red-rumped Rosefinches, Coal Tits and Mistle Thrushes.My trying to find birds in the juniper thickets was unsuccessful. [...... read more ]

The sunny day. Not all of my waiting from the trip to Ushkonyr gorge measured up. I wanted to watch the Rock Bunting and the soaring birds of prey. But the raptors were a bit and they were soaring very high. We saw one Lammergeyer, one Long-legged Buzzard and one Black Kite. Birds were a bit but the resting people were a lot. The majority of birds we saw in very short time, so short that we couldn't identify them. So I can only presumably tell that we noted Black-throated Thrush. The Chiffchaffs were identified mostly by the sounds, the quickly flying by Grey-headed Goldfinches were identified by the calls too. But we also noted both Goldfinches and Chiffchaffs perching on trees. Other noted birds: Stonechats (2 males), Hoopoes, Pied Wheatears (2 females), Jackdaws, Magpies, Chukar Partridges, one flew by Raven. Twice we saw singing Rock Buntings. Some time we watched the pair of Grey Wagtails which presumably were building the nest. [...... read more ]

The trip to Ile's rocks with Raufael Bairashev, Gennady Dyakin and Nurlan Kalchinov. The morning was murky with scattered rain, but later the sky became open, and the sun became shine. We saw the flock of Rosy Starlings (about 20-30 birds), but the main arrival of them still is not began. The first bird we saw was the sheltered from the rain under the rock the Hoopoe. But the Rufous-tailed Rock Thrush wasn't sheltered from the rain and being wet and dishevelled postured on the stone. The Rock Nuthatch on our appearance flew from the nest and hid into the next stones. But later it came back with the bug in bill. In our opinion the bird was the male feeding the female sitting on the clutch. Later we heard the calls and alarm calls of other Nuthatches in other points.The rain quite quickly ended. When the rain ended the Red-rumped Swallows and Crag Martins appeared. Swallows and Martins were building the nests. On the stones after the rain the little pools were formed, and Swallows and Martins [...... read more ]

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Murky weather, scattered rain. In the rainy weather the birds rest and don't continue the migration. Therefore during and after the rain on the Republic Square it's possible to watch more birds than usually. For example today the Hoopoe arrived to the Square. Also I saw Blackbirds, flying Sparrowhawk, and Magpies running one to another. I again noted and again didn't shot the Bluethroat. This year Bluethroats are very watchful. Also I watched the flock of Stonechats about 15-20 birds, mostly males. I thought that this year the Stonechats and Shrikes migrated beside the city. But I mistook. I saw Shrikes too - one Turkestan Shrike and one Long-tailed Shrike. That's all results of my short walking. [...... read more ]

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The mostly cloudy and windy day. The road from Almaty to Shelek along the Big Almaty Channel is separated to the two parts: firstly the road passes on the roadside thickets, but further the road meanders on the open foothills of the Bokaidyn Tau mountains. On the first part of the road I saw a lot of Wood Pigeons, one Oriental Turtle Dove and singing Corn Buntings. The second part of the road was more abundant to the birds. I saw Jackdaws, Common Starlings, Tree Sparrows, Stonechats and flying Kestrels. The most interesting landscape is the stony meadows, on these meadows I watched Hoopoes, Pied Wheatears, one Linnet, Tawny Pipits, Chukar Partridges, the pair of Black-bellied Sandgrouses, Jackdaws and two Grey-headed Goldfinches which were flushed from tree by me. Today I saw the pair of Pied Wheatears of vitata morph; both male and female in this pair have white throat.The little pool near the turning to Kyzylsharyk is very interesting place. On this pool there are always the birds, usually [...... read more ]

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The Grey Wagtails in a numerous number are singing songs, flying very high, perching on wires and running one to another. The pair of White-bellies Dippers are much easier than Wagtails. I saw one Blue Whistling Thrush. And also one peony. [...... read more ]

It's important to observe Ile rocks before the Rosy Starlings arriving, because after arriving of Rosy Starlings it's impossible to watch and hear anything. On the rocks I noted the pair of Tree (?) Pipits and some later one male Stonechat. Twice the flights of Demoiselle Cranes passed to North-East. Five Black Kites flew by to Ile mouth, later Kites soared over the rocks. I found the nest of Rock Nuthatch, I saw Nuthatch too but didn't wait it to shot. But I attended the Crag Martins which were building the nest. Crag Martins were not wary and I made photos from very close distance. Also Crag Martins together with Red-rumped Swallows formed the colony on the holey rocks near the river's coast. In same place I saw nesting Lesser Kestrel and Mynah too. On the water border I noted Grey Wagtail and Common Sandpiper, twice Mallard Ducks flew by.Almost all the time the pair of Golden Eagles was within sight. But both them nest are without nestlings. From time to time Eagles flew through the [...... read more ]

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