Well here I am in Kazakhstan. As usually I carried out a short walk to Republic Square. Nothing unusual. Flocks of Bramblings occured here and there, Siskins are fed on birches. Many Blackbirds, Magpies, Rooks and Hooded Crows. [...... read more ]

Today is the holiday - Kurban-Ait or Idi Kurbon as Tadjiks say. Cloudy weather, sometimes strong wind blows. That is weather obviously not to bird watching. The walk to the Botanical garden was short and ineffective. I met Eversmann's Redstart and Bar-tailed Treecreeper in the same places I saw them last time. As well as last time Treecreeper was together with Blackbirds. But Black-throated Thrushes widely wandered on whole garden. Also I saw Magpies, Chaffinches and Mynahs. Once I spied a little warbler. Later I only heard its voice, but it was not possible to see it in high trees against the cloudy sky. It is possible to tell same words about Turkestan Tit, I only heard it but didn't see. [...... read more ]

Kingfishers didn't depart, today I saw two birds. Water has receded from the coast, therefore Kingfishers should hunt from coast. The large white gulls like Caspian Gull were added to Black-headed Gulls. Mallards and Waders are on them own places. Today I saw unknown, new to me Sandpiper with some up curved beak (Terek Sandpiper - thanks to Igor). Both Grey Heron and Great White Egret were on lake too, Egret was very well visible from afar, but here I found Grey Heron only in photos. The passerines were Chaffinches, Bramblings and two Masked Wagtails. [...... read more ]

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The warm sunny day. I didn't go anywhere, in the city saw Common Starlings only. [...... read more ]

Today is very cloudy and rainy day. On early morning I saw one Common Starling. I noticed it because I heard its voice. The Starling sat highly on a plane tree, against the murky sky only its silhouette was visible. But it was accurately visible that it was a Starling, because nearby to Starling on the next branch two Mynahs sat. Mynahs were much larger than Starling. In Varzob gorge there was a rain. Saw only two unknown birds. Small grey birdies scurried about among rocks. They did not fly vertically upwards as a bird but crept as the mouse. Probably birds were Wallcreepers, but I did not notice red wings. I didn't see anything more. [...... read more ]

The winter again has left, today is a warm sunny day. In the morning in city centre near the Aini Theatre I met the Masked Wagtail. Then in Kushtepa kishlak I saw two Kites. After a dinner I went to Komsomol lake. The water in lake became much less, in the channel near the lake the water already is not present absolutely. There are a lot of Common Sandpipers and Black-headed Gulls on the lake. On the next to lake small reservoir there are three Green Sandpipers and one Grey Heron. One more Grey Heron and one Great White Egret were fed on lake. Number of Mallards became lesser, also I saw three Common Teal. Today I did not seen any Kingfisher and White-capped Redstart. But I have met the Wallcreeper. The birdie was very mobile and I made only one picture before it departed to other coast of the channel. [...... read more ]

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Yesterday this year first snow dropped out. After snow the air became cold, yesterday weather was cloudy, but today the sun shines and the air has become a little warmer. I have gone today to Komsomol lake on purpose to visit Kingfishers, to check they have departed to the south. On morning time the western half of lake has been tightened by thin ice, but on midday there were only small sites of ice on a lake surface. Kingfishers have not departed. On the contrary Kingfishers became more, in my opinion. Today I met not less than 7-8 birds, once I even saw pair of birds simultaneously. On the lake's coast with the plane trees there were many the mixed flocks of Chaffinches and Bramblings. They were fed seeds of plane trees, but mostly searched seeds on the ground among the fallen down foliage.White-capped Redstart also has not departed. Today I saw it not on the lake but on the bank of the channel flowing near to lake. In the same place I met also Kingfisher, Eurasian Collared and Laughing [...... read more ]

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Last days it was necessary to pass nearest vicinities of Dushanbe. Somewhere people else harvested the clap, but mostly peasants already plough fields. Yesterday over the cleaned field I saw sitting on a column Kestrel, and today saw flights of birds were fed on ploughed field. Mostly birds were Mynahs and Rooks. There are also Laughing Doves, Tree Sparrows and Crested Larks. But once it seemed to me that I saw a flock Rosy Pastors. While the car has stopped, while I left and have reached this place, birds have already disappeared. So I cannot authentically tell that it were Rosy Pastors. While I searched Rosy Pastors I noticed pair of Black Kites over the same ploughed field. [...... read more ]

The Gissar Botanical Garden is lesser than Dushanbe one. It was very pleasant to hear songs of the birds. Base birds were Mynahs and Tree Sparrows, but also there were a lot of Blackbirds, Chaffinches and Bramblings. Once Streaked Laughingthrush jumped out from bushes direct to me, may be on three meters from me.At the evening I went to Komsomol lake. Again met Kingfishers apparently not going to depart somewhere, one Masked Wagtail. On a shore inaccessible to people Black-headed Gulls and Wadres were fed and rested. Already at home examining photos I thought, that Sandpipers most likely are not Wood but Common Sandpipers. They were large almost like Gulls by size. One of Sandpipers probably fed on that coast I strolled. I did not see bird and noticed it only when it flew up already. And so flight of Sandpiper was more sedate and less bustling, than Green and Wood Sandpipers, wingspan is more. I think that birds are Common Sandpipers.Ducks were displaced to the middle of lake on evening [...... read more ]

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People said there are three botanical gardens in Dushanbe. Today I visited one of them. Uncommon that there are a little of Mynahs but Chaffinches and Bramblings were present. Flocks of Hooded Crows and Rooks were fed near the big dumps. The first bird surprised and pleased me is Turkestan Tit. Tit led me to the big coniferous tree. In a crone of this tree I heard cheeping of Goldcrests. The next bird is Black-billed Magpie the common bird to inhabitants of Kazakhstan. There are not Magpies in Dushanbe but there are in a botanical garden. Magpies behave as wood not city birds, silent fly from a tree another one, on the long distance from the people.I sat down under berry trees and waited the arrival of birds. I did not see such fruit-trees in the city, but in the botanical garden they are present. The first large good luck was arrived Eversmann's Redstart, a bright, very beautiful and quiet bird. Then I saw the large flight of blackbirds ate red berries. Chaffinches and even Black-throated [...... read more ]

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