Kazakhstan Birdtours

   Tien Shan Mountains  

In the far south-east of Kazakhstan lies the city of Almaty, at the feet of the mighty Tien Shan Mountains. We stay in a comfortable hotel with the mountains for a view from the room balconies. The hotel has well-wooded gardens and we had Great Tit, Shikra and, every night, singing European Scops-owl.

To really see the birds of the mountains you must stay in the mountains, not just nearby. We were soon heading up the mountain road aiming towards our stop for the night, an astronomical observatory. Of course, on the way up we stop at various places known to our guides. The first stop had us admiring Azure Tits, Common Mynas, a fine male Common Rosefinch and Greenish and Hume's Warblers. At the next stop we watched a singing male Blue Whistling-thrush and at our third stop we had the tianschanica subspecies of Common Treecreeper. Also at the third stop we had the slightly strange sound of the call of a Common Cuckoo coming through the mist - here a common bird in the mountains.

Wooded gardens and the Tien Shan Mountains from a hotel balcony	The Observatory

Right next to the observatory is an area of juniper bushes and spruce trees. This habitat is home to some excellent mountain species: Himalayan Rubythroat, Sulphur-bellied Warbler, Svertsov's Tit-warbler, Black-throated Accentor, White-winged Grosbeak and Eversmann's Redstart, all seen well on the 2004 trip. We also recorded here a male Red-mantled Rosefinch, and the very-hard-to-see Red-breasted Rosefinch, normally only found very high up in the mountains but flying over the observatory for us.

Juniper bushes and Spruce trees	Male Himalayan Rubythroat

Scree and patchy grass is another habitat of the mountains and one that attracts its own series of birds. Hodgson's (Plain) Mountain-finches are common as are Water Pipits. Amongst the Hodgson's we have found Brandt's Mountain-finch, normally a bird of much higher up. Brown Accentors are found here as are Red-fronted Serins.

We also visit another part of the observatory that is much higher up the mountain. Here we are birding in the snow, searching for truly alpine species: Altai (Himalayan) Accentor, Güldenstädt's Redstart, Red-billed and Alpine Choughs. Plus the bird we have been hearing since we were within reach of the snowline: Himalayan Snowcock. With some effort we usually locate this bird, sitting up on a rock giving its far-carrying curlew-like call.

The snow-covered mountains of the Top Observatory	The 2004 group high above the snow line

There is another significant reason for visiting the mountains, for a bird many people have as their top bird to see when visiting Kazakhstan - Ibisbill. The lake, one of the sources of water for the city of Almaty, is situated below the lower observatory and holds two breeding pairs and we usually have no difficulty finding at least one individual. The lake is also home to a few pairs of Ruddy Shelduck although they actually breed in amongst rocks on the mountain sides. The trees around the lake also hold Coal Tit, Red-mantled Rosefinch and Tree Pipit.

Great Almaty Lake	Ruddy Shelduck