2008 Tour Narrative
It took a while for us to locate our main target species in the Chimgan Hills, but eventually we had good and prolonged views of Rufous-naped Tit. We had seen lots of other nice species while looking for this one, including some big flocks of Oriental Honey Buzzards, Eurasian Griffon, lots of Yellow-breasted and Turkestan Tits, and some very obliging White-capped and Rock Buntings. House Martins and Red-rumped Swallows buzzed around the hotel building, and the songs of countless Nightingales and Hume’s Lesser Whitethroats provided the soundtrack to our sunny day in the mountains.
Setting off for Samarkand, we stopped to look at the ever-expanding White Stork colony and found that our Variable Wheatear quarry now had a road through the middle of it; what was left was inhabited by Pied Wheatears. We had our first taste of the wonders of the amazing city of Samarkand with a visit to the Registan. An early start took us into the hills close to Samarkand, where we enjoyed a delightful walk in glorious sunshine along a valley dotted with flowering hawthorn bushes and awash with wildflowers, with the snow-capped Pamir Mountains in the distance.
Red-headed Buntings seemed to be singing from every bush, and by the time we returned to the vehicles for a glass of beer cooled in the stream, we had seen singing White-throated Robins, lots of Lesser Gray Shrikes, Eastern Orphean Warber, and Upcher’s and Barred Warblers, among many other species. Hume’s Short-toed Larks posed for photos, and our picnic lunch was prepared as we searched for Asian Paradise Flycatchers. Although the Finsch’s Wheatears required a walk in the midday sun, they eventually showed well. Back in Samarkand, we switched our attention back to ancient history with visits to Gur Emir, Bibi Khanum, and Shah-e-Zindeh; of course, the birds were not ignored, with hordes of Alpine and Common Swifts screaming around the blue domes and Shikra flying over.
We had time to see some Eastern Olivaceous Warblers and White-crowned Penduline Tits and to visit Uleg Beg’s observatory before Bukhara beckoned. Arriving in time for lunch, we had a leisurely stroll around the old town, visiting the Ark, Kalen Minaret and mosque, and the famous bazaars. Moving out to the desert we had strong wind to contend with, making birding far from easy, but in spite of the wind we had the best-ever views of Ménétries Warbler, which shared the bushes with Rufous Bush Robins and noisy Sykes’s Warblers while the roadside wires held rows of Blue-cheeked Bee-eaters, Rollers, Eurasian and Oriental Turtle Doves, and displaying Pied Bush Chats. A nearby wetland had several showy White-tailed Plovers and Red-necked Phalaropes. The wind stayed with us for our visit to Tady Kol, where an Arctic Skua was unexpected and new to the WINGS Central Asia list. More usual birds there included Pygmy Cormorant, Purple Heron, Spoonbill, Clamorous Reed Warbler, and smart Citrine Wagtails. Pander’s Ground Jays gave great views in the desert, where a small overgrown garden held a staggering array of migrants including Blyth’s Reed and Booted Warblers, Thrush Nightingale, Ortolan Bunting, and hordes of Common Rosefinches.
Leaving Tashkent and Uzbekistan behind, we flew to Kazakhstan and set off straight away to the east and our first camp, picking up Long-tailed Shrike on the way. From our camp we explored the region’s arid plains, valleys, and canyons, where highlights included Himalayan Griffon, Lesser Kestrel, Long-legged Buzzard, Steppe Eagle, some frustratingly brief flyby Pallas’s Sandgrouse, Shore Lark, Asian Desert Warbler, Steppe Gray Shrike, Desert Wheatear, Desert Finch, Mongolian Finch, Gray-necked Bunting, and Rock Sparrow, among many others. Stopping to regroup with a night at a hotel in Almaty, we reached our second camp in the Taukum Desert, after a stop at Tamgaly to look at ancient rock carvings and Eastern Rock Nuthatch. In the desert around the camp we found displaying Macqueen’s Bustards, lots of Black-bellied Sand-grouse, Greater Sand Plover, Calandra, Bimaculated, and Greater and Lesser Short-toed Larks.
The nearby village held lots of migrants, ranging from an obliging European Nightjar to Black-throated Thrush and Hume’s Leaf and Blyth’s Reed Warblers, Thrush and Common Nightingales, Greenish Warbler, Siberian Chiffchaff, and yet more Common Rosefinches. Towards the Illi River delta we found an adult White-tailed Sea Eagle, Saxual Sparrow, Yellow-eyed Stock Dove, White-winged Woodpecker, and Azure Tit in the turanga woodland; the biggest surprise here was the Striated Scops Owl that we finally managed to add to the WINGS list. The northern steppe came next with its Sociable Plovers, White-headed Ducks, Pallid Harriers, Red-footed Falcons, Black-winged Pratincoles, and, of course, the wonderful White-winged and Black Larks. Although there was very little snow in the mountains this year, we had to dodge some rain in order to eventually see all the specialties, which included Ibisbill, Himalayan Snowcock, White-tailed Rubythroat, Severtzov’s Tit Warbler, Sulphur-bellied Warbler, White-winged Grosbeak, Red-mantled Rosefinch, and Güldenstädt’s, Eversmann’s, and Blue-capped Redstarts. Lower down we had seen Songar Tit in the dense spruce forest and Blue Whistling-Thrush and Brown and White-bellied Dippers on the streams, and we eventually all had good views of Red-fronted Serin. Then it was back to Almaty, where there was just time for the Kazakhstan national dish before our flight back to London.
- Steve Rooke
Updated: June 2008