Birding The Tien Shan Mountains Part 2

If you'd like to read the first part of this leg of our Kazakhstan trip, visit here.

I think the Tien Shan Mountains were my favorite, check it out in the above photo--glaciers! One of the people in our group had been to this area before. He said that his group started earlier than ours and he knew of where we should be and at what time. After we spent the morning enjoying great birds like brown dipper, Eurasian hobby, and Himalayan rubythroats, it was time for lunch. Our guide found a nice clearing in the sun with a great view and not so much snow. However, the other birders wanted to go higher and staged a bit of a mutiny.

We drove up to a higher elevation that was covered in snow. If you were willing to walk up a very vertical and rocky ledge, you wound up at this abandon research station. And this was where other birds like white-browed tit-warbler. All the birders scattered in various directions. I tried, but there weren't very many clear paths. The few that were there, were covered in very deep water. I opted to walk through the snow and discovered that in some parts, it wen all the way up to my hips. I think I have said it before in the blog and I'll say it again, I have a new appreciation and respect for the REI convertible pants.  I stayed fairly warm and the material dried out quickly. It was hard work toting my scope, pack, recently acquired bagged lunch through such deep snow and rather than struggle to keep up with the tenacious long-legged birders in hot pursuit of tit-warblers and accentors, I decided to answer the call of my stomach and eat. I trudged my way to the building's steps.

Above is my provided bag lunch.  The food in Kazakhstan was not what I would call exciting--edible, yes. A sensation for the taste buds, not so much. What struck me most was that every single meal (even breakfast) included cucumbers and tomatoes. Usually in the form of a salad with a light dill vinaigrette, but in the bagged lunches, we got a whole tomato and a hunk of cucumber. The above lunch included a boiled potato, apple, hard boiled egg, a chicken thigh with a lot of paprika, and  four rolls (one of which reminded me of the female anatomy). Breads were common at meals too. The favorite to eat was a fried bread, kind of like a donut with out the sugar, which is a good way to describe a lot of the Kazak food. At some meals a plate of rice and meat would be in front of you and being fairly close to China, you expected it to be spicy. Not the case, it was quite bland, but if you wanted fuel to keep going, then this food did accomplish that goal.

This was my view during lunch. I could hear several Himalayan snowcocks singing all around me in the crisp mountain air. It was nice to take a break from the birding and just admire the beauty of the remote region I was in. I thought about what I would be doing if I were home, what others were doing. I thought about how huge and beautiful our planet is despite what we hear in the news and how little time any of us have to see it. Sometimes I get to a location and realize that my chances of ever being here again are next to impossible, I want to burn them into my brain. It was already pretty amazing I had made here in this lifetime.

Northern wheatears were all around too. What a treat to see this bird up close! Rarely, one will come down out of Alaska and hit the very northern tips of Minnesota, but never in sleek breeding plumage. And what funny noises they made! This one made sounds like a camera shutter going off. I don't know much about wheatears to know if they are a mimic species. I do know that they make all sorts of crazy sounds, but this one really had my attention.  I did manage to get some video with my digiscoping equipment, you may have to crank your volume to hear it:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91JBg6ZzJog[/youtube]

My buddy Clay came over and digiscoped it too. He pointed to the mountain side behind the wheatear where we could hear snowcocks chasing each other and said, "See the Batman?

And there it was, the Batman Insignia made of a collection of fairly large mountain rocks. If I had to guess, it was about 40 feet long. Those researchers at the abandon station must have gone pretty darned stir crazy sometimes. I love how I'm in one of the most remote regions on the planet and yet, cannot escape Western culture.

Much to the reluctance of our group, we had to begin the slow decent down the mountains. It was early afternoon and we had to get down to the bottom in time for dinner and for part of our group to leave. I stayed for a couple more days, but most of our group was leaving that night and getting a large group of birders to move, especially in a place where once in a lifetime birds are packed, is no easy feat. Above was one of our target birds called a black-throated accentor.  This little bird just refused to perch in better light, but you can see a photo of it here. The higher we went, the less variety we had, but still cool birds nonetheless. I don't think anyone in our group got the tit-warbler, so I do have some excuse to come back.

This was lovely little bird that we saw flitting about called a blue-capped redstart. I'm not sure where the redstart comes from, but at least it had a blue cap.

Magpies were common on the Steppes in Kazakhstan and common in the trees in the mountains.

As the day became later, the light became perfect. We saw less and less snow and our faster pace made us warm up.

Tim Appleton (the guy who started the British Bird Fair) and is one of the most interesting birders I have ever met) came over to us and said, "There's a ruddy shelduck in perfect light for a photo." He was correct, what lovely color this duck was. We had seen them earlier on the lake, but they were very far away, this one was much closer and Tim was correct, in perfect light. It was about this time that I was starting to fade. Kazakhstan is about eleven hours ahead Minnesota and we'd been hitting hotel beds at midnight and getting up by 5am pretty regularly. Fortunately, Corey Finger became my pusher man with his oh so tasty cappuccino caffeine pills--bless that man. They did have some coffee in Kazakhstan but it was more int he form of NesCafe.

After perking up, I was able to enjoy the birds, like this mistle thrush perched in perfect view taking a preen. You can view a video of this large robin like bird here.  We eventually made our way down the mountain, but moving a group of birders is like herding cats, we made it to the restaurant late and many of the people taking flight that night had to change clothes and repack carry on luggage in the parking lot.

The restaurant had all kinds of Kazakh symbols around, even part of  a replica of the Independence Monument found in Independence Square in Almaty. The full monument is a golden man holding what I think is supposed to be a golden eagle and the golden man is riding a flying snow leopard. I know the bird is dinky for a golden eagle, but hey, this is a golden man, chances are if a dude is made of gold, he's going to be bigger than your average male. When I told people that I couldn't believe I had the chance to go to Kazakhstan, one of the first reactions was, "No one ever goes there." The truth is that I have always wanted to go, ever since I had read about tours to see Kazakh tribesmen hunt with golden eagles. We didn't get to do that on this trip, but we did see wild ones flying over.

Here is one of the dining rooms at the restaurant. We didn't get this one, our room had chairs, but it's basically the same decor and color in a huge outdoor gazebo. All of our chairs had blankets we could drape over ourselves as the darkness brought with it the cold mountain air.

By the time the food arrived, I was so hungry that I could eat a horse, which was fortunate, because that's some of what they served us. They also had chicken, beef, and something tougher that I suspect was goat, but the horse was a surprise. It was mixed in with a cucumber and tomato salad (again with the cucumbers and tomatoes) but it was pleasantly marinated and was quite possibly the tastiest thing I had the whole week (outside of the odd pizza that had no sauce but had carrots as as a topping).

After is was quite dark, one of my favorite bird names dropped in to our gazebo--a great tit. The bird fluttered right over us and began hawking for insects attracted to the light bulb. Clever bird, ignoring the usual convention of roosting at night and taking advantage of an abundant food source.

Birding The Tien Shan Mountains Part 1

I've blogged quite a bit about the first part of my amazing trip to Kazakhstan.  We spent the first half on the Steppes (short grass prairie) and then flew from Astana to Almaty.  I think my favorite part of the trip was exploring the Tien Shan Mountains near Almaty--beautiful, remote, rugged.  Everywhere you went, even in downtown Almaty (above) you felt that adventure was just around the corner.

And for people who think birding is boring, I submit this photo.  How can you see birders perched on on a peak surrounded by snow capped mountains in Kazakhstan and say that bird watching is boring?  Especially with the types of birds we saw.

Look at this little beauty.  This is a Himalayan rubythroat singing on territory--I love that I saw birds with the word "Himalaya" mixed into their name.  Some of the other birds our group saw on this glorious day included red-mantled rosefinch and fire-fronted serin.

After an interesting breakfast of cold cuts, tomato cucumber salad, porridge, various breads, really white sausage, and Nescafe we loaded up into vans and took some very vertical and rutted dirt roads into the Tien Shan Mountains.  We were on our way to Ili Alatau National Park (follow the link to the park and take note of the wildlife species list).  It was a warm May day outside our hotel but I noticed that the mountains in the distance had snow, so I wore my convertible pants, socks with my Keens, wore a fleece and kept a scarf around my neck.

Everywhere we looked, we were surrounded by grandeur.  We made a few stops for soaring raptors and found black kites and a non raptor called a chough (pronounced "chuff").  All kinds of smaller birds could be heard echoing from the mountains.

We made a stop here for brown dipper.  It was cumbersome getting a large group of eager digiscopers around the rocks, we were all impatient for this cool life bird and anxious to get a photo.  I got a brief look and the bird flew round the bend.  Some of the group followed, but I opted to stay in my spot.  If this dipper was like the dippers in North America, it would be back.

While I waited, a grey wagtail perched nearby.  One of the British birders made a comment that I shouldn't be wasting time with that species, there were more exciting ones to be seen.  Wagtails in all sorts of color variations are prevalent in Europe and since I hadn't been anywhere near Europe up to that point, it was very exciting to me.

The group that followed the brown dipper got great looks at a mating display.  All of us ended up getting photos of this little brown bobbing bird.

We eventually made to our destination--Big Almaty Lake.  Our target bird was a shorebird called an ibisbill.  The birds have nested in this area in the past.  Alas, we did not see it on this trip, but who cares when you have scenery like that to take in?  Despite all the snow and ice, it was perfect hiking weather.  I even had to remove the fleece because I got so hot.

There was a pair of common kestrels hunting over our heads (above is the male).  That was not the only falcon--there was also a pair of Eurasian hobbys screaming and flying overhead--I was so excited to see those and they totally make up for the lack of ibisbill.  I have always wanted to see a hobby ever since I was a kid and watched an episode of the Leo the Lion called The Falcons when an angry flock of hobby falcons get dropped off in Leo's jungle via a tornado and attack all the animals.

While we were walking, we could hear Himalayan snowcocks calling all around us.  They sound kind of like loons or perhaps a bit more like elk.  I scanned the tops of the mountains wondering where they were when Philippe Jacques Dubois (the dude in the above photo) actually found them with the scope!

The arrow is pointing to roughly where the snowcock was standing and calling.

And there is the snowcock and here is a link so you can what they look like close up.  There was also a female who would pop up and down causing the male to go into full display mode--it was awesome.  I was so excited to see these birds here in their native habitat.  We actaully have a population of these birds in Nevada...a snowcock introduction program was started in the 1960s because Nevada felt there weren't enough native game birds to hunt, so why not bring in an Asian species?

But being surrounded by the gorgeous mountains while listening to the lonely wail of the snowcock made for a perfect day.

More coming.

Playing With The New Swarovski Digiscoping Adaptor

Now that spring migration has settled down a bit, I can talk more about Kazakhstan.  I took out a group this weekend for some birding and one asked, "Why did you go to Kazakhstan?" There were several reasons, the biggest was that I have always wanted to go ever since I read about the country years ago.  It sounded wild, remote and untamed.

The other reason was a bird called the sociable lapwing (kind of a very snazzy killdeer--seen above).  Swarovski Optik is a species champion of this bird through BirdLife International.  It's a bird population that has dramatically declined in recent years and is of great concern.  It's not certain what the original population was on the Steppes of Kazakhstan.  There was a count of 5,000 birds in 1990 and another count in 2002 put their numbers at 1200 in 2002.

Current research suggests that the decline of the sociable lapwing is due in part to unevenly grazed habitat.  Sociable lapwings used to live among ungulates known as saiga (do click on the photo of the saiga, that is one crazy looking ungulate). As the saiga declined, so did the sociable lapwing numbers.  Incidentally, there were about 2 million saiga on the Kazakh Steppes in the 1950s, but a dramatic decline hit in the 1990s because of poaching--Saiga horn is used in traditional Chinese medicine as a fever cure.  The lapwings apparently really liked the way the Saiga grazed the grasses to make watching for predators good for them when they are nesting.

Swarovski and BirdLife International has made it possible for teams of locals to come out and monitor the lapwings, work with the locals to appreciate the birds and hopefully avoid the nests, and to work with cattle owners to graze in a way that mimics saiga grazing and is favorable for the lapwing.  Note the young faces who are part of the Kazak research team, it's local people working with their birds and their communities, not a bunch of foreigners coming in and telling people how to manage their land.

Swarovski is also coming out with a new digiscoping adaptor called the UCA.  It's a bit more universal in the sense that many different cameras (even small video cameras) can be attached to the scope and it slides off easily.  When we were taken to the sociable lapwing area, we were asked to test out the new adaptor.  I have to admit, being on a trip of a lifetime and seeing unbelievable life birds, that last thing I wanted to do was learn a new adaptor for my camera and scope.  But it was surprisingly easy to figure out.

Now, the challenge became how to get twenty some odd birders close to skittish ground nesting bird when there isn't a lot of cover.  I don't think we were all that sneaky behind that power pole.  The researchers had us march in a single file line towards the lapwings, but the rightly suspicious birds just kept walking in the other direction.

We had to be careful, because the females easily flush of the nest and the research team did not want to risk losing one valuable nest of this declining bird.  We were getting great looks at the birds, but they were too far away to get great photos.

Plus, heat shimmer was really starting to become a factor.  The area behind the cow looks like a van Gogh painting.  I even took a video and it looks like a raging forcefield is behind the cow.  You'll note that a lone man walks behind the cow, apparently oblivious to the rare and sensitive birds nesting around him.  That's part of the research team's job is to work with locals and let them know about these cool birds and hey, maybe don't walk right through their nesting territories right now.

We went out in search of other birds around the Korgalzhyn State Natre Reserve with the adaptors and we were able to get some cool shots.  Above is a citrine wagtail--isn't that a fabulous little yellow bird and so accommodating to perch out in the open.

I was even able to digiscope a warbler with the new adaptor--and those aren't easy.  I have to say, warblers over in Europe and Asia aren't anything like our warblers here in the Americas.  Above is a booted warbler and it pretty much looks like all the other Euro warblers: small, brown and fairly non-descript.  Other warblers you can see over there are reed warbler, Hume's warbler, and Savi's warbler--brown, brown, brown.  I'm used to prothonotary warbler and blue-winged warbler.  I'll never complain about fall warblers in North America again.  Even an orange-crowned warbler in the fall is more colorful than a booted warblers.

I also got some amazing shots of a female common redstart...they look a bit different than our American redstarts.  It's not a wood warbler like what we see in North America, it's more like a flycatcher.  The males are quite snazzy, but so are the females with their red tails.  Since she was so accommodating, I thought I would get some video of her with the UCA.  My Fuji FinePix E900 does video as well as photos:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WptkbSWFwiI[/youtube]

While on the preserve, we also found a nice mudflat to check out for some waterfowl.

Above is Corey from 10,000 Birds and Dale from Discovering Alpine Birds getting some shots of the ducks and shorebirds.  Some of the species we saw included spotted redshank (gotta love a black shorebird), red-crested pochard, white-headed duck, and white-winged black tern.  There were some familiar birds too.  I heard gadwalls calling and I went to grab my cell phone (gadwall is one of my ringtones).  Then I remembered that my phone didn't work in Kazakhstan and looked overhead.  There were three gadwalls flying over--ah the familiar in a strange land!

We also saw black-winged stilts and pied avocet (that's the avocet pictured above, distinctive with their long, upturned bill).

As we ended our time on the Kazakhstan Steppes, an Isabelline shrike popped up.

I was surprised at the photos I got using the new adaptor that I had not worked with before in a place where I was unfamiliar with the birds.  I don't think I will trade in my DCA for digiscoping with my Swarovski scope, but if my current camera craps out and the next one I get does not work with the DCA, I could see myself using a UCA.  It's a bit larger, so doesn't fit in a pocket as neatly, but it is light in weight could be hooked around a finger.

Swarovski Digiscoper of the Year Contest

This is—quite possibly—the coolest contest that I have ever been able to offer on my blog.  There are super sweet runner-up prizes and there is one-giant-spanky-mondo-super-cool prize. I present you with the Swarovski Digiscoper of the Year Contest.

These are the official list of rules (and make sure to read them carefully) for entering the contest but essentially, anyone over 18 years of age who uses a camera (either point-and-shoot or an SLR) with a spotting  scope to take a photo is eligible to enter.  The scope does not have to be a Swarovski scope, it can be any make or model and you can do it by borrowing your friend's equipment.

DO NOT SEND ME YOUR ENTRIES FOR THE CONTEST. You are supposed to enter your photos here.

Digiscoping images must be pictures of animals living in the wild that are created using a digital camera through the eyepiece of a field spotting scope.  Above is a western meadowlark that I digiscoped as an example.

Here are the prizes: The best 10 images (places 1 to 10) will be published with the photographer’s name on the Swarovski Optik homepage.

The three entrants chosen as “Digiscoper of the Year North America” will receive the following prizes from Swarovski Optik:

1st PRIZE: EL 32 binocular (I use an 8x32 EL) 2nd PRIZE: Pocket Tyrol 3rd PRIZE: Swarovski Crystal Spoonbill

In addition these pictures will take part in the international Swarovski Optik Photography competition, so enter today.

And remember, this does not have to be a Swarovski scope or even your own scope to enter.  Just get a cool photo of a bird or other animal with a scope.  And don't limit it to photos, go for video too, get creative and get outside.  You have nothing to lose and some great prizes to gain.

I am totally shocked to be offering these prizes... these are like birding magazine prizes.  So take advantage of this contest!

Adventures In Female Urination

This post maybe TMI for some people.  Take note of the title and if that is not your favorite subject or something you don't like imagine other people doing, I would recommend you stop reading and maybe check out this cool post by my buddy Amber about some gannet rescue she did while on vacation in Florida. When I travel, I'm periodically asked by friends to take along a stuffed animal or  a Flat Stanley for photos.  I almost always decline.  Number one--suitcase space is an issue and number two--I always lose something when I travel, whether it be accidental or confiscated by airport staff.  Stuff just goes missing.  If I lost a friend's treasured critter that's been photographed all over the planet, I'd feel terrible.

So, I got a request from an online rabbit name Audrey from All About You asking if I could take a stunt Audrey with me overseas.  She has a blog and it would be a reciprocal blogging thing.  I thought, "Okay, they have stunt rabbits, this isn't a treasured animal, I can do this."

So, Audrey came with me and we had a lovely time in Frankfurt.  Above she is hanging out with a rather large snail outside our Frankfurt hotel.

We shared a beer in a Frankfurt bar (although, I had to chuckle at her choice of fruity beer--grapefruit beer?  Really?).

And then this is the last known photo of Audrey.  After getting her photo next to a Frankfurt sign warning that you are being watched, she nestled into my checked luggage for our flight to Kazakhstan...and hasn't been seen since.

ARRRGH!  I feel terrible!

And she wasn't the only thing missing from my checked luggage.  I had also recently won a female urinary device known as GoGirl at an outdoor convention.  I was anxious to try this out.  But like Audrey, it was missing from my checked luggage.  I don't know why, don't want to know why.

And there were several times I missed my GoGirl.  For example, above is one of our restroom stops.  Our birding guide in Kazakhstan was more of an ornithologist than tour leader, so his bathroom breaks were stops like this with girls on one side boys on the other.  I can go outdoors, but with short legs, there are some challenges, and I have a shy bladder.  This was not ideal for me...I like a bush, a shrub for the illusion of privacy.  Also, I like something to lean on or prop up against.

If we did have restrooms, they were like this.  Let's take a closer look.

I really missed my GoGirl here.

I was excited at this birding spot--if you look in the distance towards the center left, there's an old wall--a perfect spot for female privacy.  I went around the wall, away from the birding group, I got in a good leaning position and started to go.  All was running smoothly until a slight movement in my peripheral vision caught my attention.  I looked and focused on the critter that was the same color as the wall and about to crawl on my exposed area...and that was the moment I got my lifer scorpion.  Didn't know they had those in Kazakhstan.

I lept up, there was spray, and a little tumbling.  After a moment's recovery, I got my camera out for a photo.

Apparently, my chosen leaning location was a little nook that the scorpion liked to crawl into.  All I got was a photo of its tail.  It was only about four inches long, but still freaked out this Midwestern girl.  I also have a new appreciation for the quick dry material on REI's convertible pants.

On our final day in Kazakhstan we hit a storm and it got very rainy.  I asked our guide if we could stop some place for a toilet.  He looked around and said, "This place is good," and pointed to the surrounding shrubbery.

I said, "I really need someplace dry and maybe we could go to a gas station, I'll buy the vehicle some gas. A cafe?  I'll buy some food, any place but I just want it dry."

He looked skeptical but said he would find me some place dry.  Our vehicle stopped and I didn't see any buildings, the terrain was as remote as the above photo.  He pointed to a blue railing along the road and said, "See that blue pipe? That is bridge, you go under road, it be dry there."

And it was dry and I appreciated it.

So, Audrey and GoGirl, where ever you two are, I hope you are being put to good use.

Birding Korgalzhyn State Nature Reserve

Below is one of my favorite shots from Kazakhstan.  It makes me wish I could paint.  I would love to spend an entire day lost in creating this shot of a brown bird, with a stunning sky blue and rust patch on his throat, surrounded by golden reeds:

It's a bluethroat, these are actually possible to see in Alaska during the breeding season, then they head to Asia for the winter.  However, it is a common bird in Europe and Asia.  I love it, in my neck of the woods I have a common yellowthroat in the reeds, over there, it's a bluethroat.  Although, it's not a warbler, it's actually in the family turdidae...same as American robin.

kaz-prairie-106

We birded our way through Korgalzhyn State Nature Reserve on our way to our evening accommodations.  I hope you're not tired of the long range shots of Kazakhstan.  Our information about the country said that there are fewer than six people per square mile...when you are out of the major cities, you could feel it.  What a treat to be out in the middle of nowhere and at times not hear the sound of human or machinery.

kazakhstan-cattle-drive1

When we did encounter locals while we were birding, it was almost always Kazak cowboys--sometimes it was a joint effort of husband and wife and at other times, a lone cowboy on a horse with his trusty canine companion beside him.

kaz-research-station-02

One of the items that was noticeable in my itinerary for Kazakhstan was the note that we would be going to Korgalzhyn State Nature Reserve and "small huts provide simple accommodation. We recommend a sleeping bag for this overnight stay."  The photo included with the brochure showed the small huts surrounded by snow.  I was fortunate that our visit was late enough in the spring that they snow had melted.

luz-accomodations1

The huts were indeed simple accommodations that included two beds, a night stand, and a tv (it barely got one channel and was intended for searching out severe weather reports)--the shower was outdoors and the toilet was an outhouse (more on using the adventures of going outdoors later).

Before I left, I wondered how I could pack my sleeping bag--it's huge and easily takes up half a large suitcase.  Fortunately, Mr. Neil (being a well experienced traveller) loaned me a tiny yet oh so warm silk sleeping bag.  I was grateful for the toasty sleeping bag, the sleeping quarters were sparse and meant for researchers working the nature reserve and the extra warmth was much appreciated as the temps felt like they got down into the 40 degree Fahrenheit range.

barn-swallow1

Check it out, one of the most common birds in the world--the barn swallow!  I think even though this is the same species as the one I see in North American, it seemed to have a longer tail--must be a regional difference.  We had already done a full day's birding on our way to the research station with the huts.  The plan was to spend the night, try out some new Swarovski equipment in the morning and then head off to see the sociable lapwing.  It was a delight around the research station for anyone remotely into photography--we arrived last in the afternoon and the light was perfect.  We were cut loose from the formal part of the tour and given time to explore the area while our evening meal was prepared for us.  An excited group of birders at a remote research station, surrounded by new birds in perfect light while food and beer was being gathered for us when the sun went down--how could it not be more perfect than that?

There were some bugs.  None of my photos do the bugs justice.  I even got a video of my buddy Clay walking up through the grass to kicking them up, but YouTube just does not have the quality to convey the quantity.  Here's a link to a photo of a hatch of mayflies...this sort of conveys it.  They didn't really bite, but every time we took a step in the grass, a swarm flew up and they just kind of floated and would hang near your hears, or accidentally get inhaled into your nose.  Corey and I both remarked at how miserable our respective spouses would be having all these bugs all over the place.

a-swallows

It also explained why there were so many swallows around the research station.

oriental-turtledove1

But the birding was just grand!  I think the above is now one of my all time favorite does.  It's called an Oriental turtle dove and the coloration reminded me of a kestrel--heck the birds have pointed wings, so when flying they look very much like  a kestrel.

eurasian-tree-sparrow1

I was very excited to see one of these--this is a Eurasian tree sparrow.  There's actually a small introduced population of these birds in St. Louis, MO.  But it's more fun to see a bird in its natural habitat.  Quite a few hung around the research station, very similar in habit to the house sparrow.

As I was walking along, I heard a very familiar sound...it took a moment to register...what was that sound...I know I should know it...then it hit me:

merlin1

It was a merlin--just like the one's we see in Minnesota.  Merlins can have different color variations, some are dark and some are light.  In the US, usually the prairie merlins are lighter in color.  Well, here we were in the short-grass prairie area of the Steppes and this was hands down one of the lightest merlins I had ever seen in my life.  Merlins are a falcon like a kestrel or a peregrine.  One of the things that all falcons of the world have in common is a malar stripe.  That stripe that goes vertically down under each eye.  Click on the photo links to some falcons: peregrine, kestrel, hobby, lanner--note that they all have that stripe?   Merlins have a lighter malar stripe in general, but this bird was so pale, he looked like he had no stripe at all.

a-magpie

Speaking of familiar birds, we also saw several magpies.  Here we call them black-billed magpies, there they are just magpies--both have the same latin name: Pica pica. Yes, I choose you.

tree-pipit1

Quite a few of the birds were out and about eating the insects we were kicking up.  Above is a tree pipit that would fly off the wire and go for them.

spotted-flycatcher1

Here is a spotted flycatcher that was also going after the insects.  This bird was actually perched near a bird banding station.  Some nets were out, but they were closed and tied up--easy for the birds to see and difficult or them to become trapped.  The flimsy insects did get caught in them and the flycatcher took full advantage of the situation, flying down get the bugs trapped in the nets.  This bird was not the brightest bulb on the tree...the next morning, one of the researchers unfurled the nets and withing moments...

kazakhstan-bird-banding

The spotted flycatcher was caught in the nets and banded (or ringed as they call it over there).

kazakhstan-beer

As the light became too dim to photograph, all of us made our way back to the station for nourishment.  I avoided tap water on this trip (and for those curious, I did not get any shots before I left, my tetnus was updated, and I opted to not get any of the Hepatitus or Typhiod vaccines).  I stuck with bottled water, Fanta, beer, vodka, wine, and aquavit.

kazakhstan-food

Meals were interesting, you would get something like the rice and meat dish seen above and you would think, "OK, we're near China, this is going to have an Asian flavor to it." It did not, it was quite bland and refused to make any kind of flavor statement.  It was good filling food, but not a taste sensation.  I would say that the one constant with all our meals was tomatoes and cucumbers.  Those were served with breakfast, lunch, and dinner.  Often in the form of a salad with a light dill vinagerette or as in the case of our packed lunches--just raw.  Bread was also a constant--we either had very dry crusty bread or a fried dough ball...kind of like a donut without the sugar.

kaz-research-station-37

After dinner we sat around a bonfire with our box beer.  The fire was no small feet--trees are few and far between on the Steppes, so it was made with wood from old crates or collapsing building near the station.

a-musician

We were treated to the music styling of a young woman not only dressed in traditional costume, but also played a small guitar of Kazak folk tunes.  It started with her and later her father played a few tunes on the instrument.  The small guitar looking instrument only had two strings, but both players got incredible harmonies out of it.  I caught a little on my camera--and do listen, it's incredible for how simple and instrument it looks: 
 

Woman playing traditional Kazak music around the fire--her instrument only has 2 strings.

A lovely way to end a day of amazing birding and it was exciting to know that more adventures awaited us.

Odd Birding Moments In Kazakhstan

Most of the time I was in Kazakhstan, I just kind of looked around with an overwhelming sense of gratitude and wondering, "How the heck did I get here?"

I also had some strange birding moments.  Take the above wood sandpiper (it looks very similar to the yellowlegs we see in the US).  This should have been a target species for me in it's native habitat.  However, I had already seen one--almost a year to the day I took this photo on the Steppes.  This time last year, Clay Taylor and I were on a digiscoping team at the World Series of Birding.  Right before we arrived, a wood sandpiper had been reported in Delaware, so we both headed over to see it.  And now, here Clay and I were watching it in it's natural environment.  I looked at Clay and said, "Can you believe this, we saw this species last year."

"Yeah," he said, "3000 miles away."

Who would have thought that a year later we'd be in Kazakhstan watching it in it's native environment.  Life is strange that way.

There were other birds too, like the European birders were always quick to point out the common cranes--a beautiful species...that I also saw last year in Nebraska--how weird, I should have been way more excited about that bird.  Not that it wasn't cool to see, but just strange that there would be birds I had already seen as rarities in North America.

There were some odd challenges on this trip.  As one of only three Americans in the group, I was totally in the minority and  much different target birds than the many European birders.  To them, lapwings, wagtails, and ruffs were common birds.  To me, they were lifers.  There are some birds I'm content to get a brief look and trudge on for more unique species, but there are some iconic birds like northern lapwing that I really wanted a good look at.  I didn't get the look I was hoping for of a lapwing, but I'm sure I'll be in England at some point.

The European birders were very excited about black larks...and they were hard birds to get close to.  Many wanted to get it's photo, but being a bird of open space, they were wary and it's hard to sneak up on a bird without any cover for you yourself to hide in.  But it seemed as though we stopped for just about every black lark we passed.

The closest we got to a lark was this young one about ready to fledge.  It used its cryptic plumage to blend in with the surrounding vegetation rather than fly away from potential predators on uncertain wings.

Meanwhile, a couple of the Brits thought I was nuts for wanting the bus to stop to stop for ruffs.  These are a charismatic species of shorebird that sometimes make it to the US--it's rare bird worthy in my state, but it's a bird I have not managed to see.  To have a chance to see one--let alone a whole flock was just too much.  I asked the bus to stop for a photo.  One of the Brit's said, "Oh, that's not much of a look, let's keep going."

"Oy," I said, "we've stopped for a bunch of black larks, we can stop or this girl's lifer ruff."

He was right, it wasn't the best look at a ruff--they're barely poking above the grass, but this was as good as it was going to get for me on this trip.

All part of the fun of negotiating birds on a trip.  I could understand their logic.  This would be like me leading a trip in North Dakota to go see a Baird's sparrow and someone was freaked out and wanted to stop because they just saw their lifer Baltimore oriole fly over the bus.  My logic would be, "Orioles are feeder birds, we can get it later, let's go for the harder to see Baird's sparrow."

However, that person may not have another shot while they are in the country--all part of the fun and challenge of birding!

I Learned Why It's Called A Rookery!

Hey, if you're looking for a good reference of collective bird names, check this out.  I don't know about you, but I'm feeling  about as giddy as a a conventicle of magpies. I've had more than one person ask me why heron colonies are called "rookeries" and I've never gotten around to looking up the answer.  Well, I had the chance to find out first hand why they are called that.

We found a few spots in Kazakhstan where several large nests were built in the trees--not unlike heron nests.

Only these were not built by herons, but were built by rooks.  They look like crows with a sort of reverse goatee thing going on.  The area around their bill is featherless and shows pale gray skin.  As we were looking at a rook in the field guide, my buddy Clay read, "Rooks nest in colonies called 'rookeries."

We both looked at each other and said, "Duh!"

I was excited at this realization--ah rooks--nesting together in a rookery--like a heron rookery.  I was surprised that I didn't figure this out sooner.  I have been vaguely aware of rooks, but since they are like crows and crows in my neck of the woods are not colony nesters, I never put two and two together.

Rooks are a common bird in Kazakhstan and in Europe.  One of our fellow participants by the name of Mike Weedon thought it odd that I came all the way to Kazakhstan to get a photo of what would be a common garden bird for him--but one person's common bird is another's lifer.

Here's a video that isn't all that exciting, except that you can hear other rooks calling the background.  I chuckled because I realized that when I was a kid and watched the movie, The Last Unicorn, rook calls were used in the background.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMx3D63ZMxQ[/youtube]

The Steppe Family

So in some ways it was like being around one large blended family when birding the Kazakh Steppes:  What gull is that?  Steppe gull.  What eagle is that? Steppe eagle? Oh, cute! What mammal is that? Steppe marmot.

Above is a Steppe eagle being mobbed by a hooded crows, rooks, and carrion crows (apparently the crows did not get the memo that they should be Steppe crows).

Now, if you're wondering why is this area called The Steppes--is it one large stair case? No, it's basically short-grass prairie and I think the word steppe comes from a Russian word...which I don't have the keyboard to spell.  Although, I just went to Babel Fish and typed in "Steppe" and it gave me this: Степь.

Quite a bit of the birding was like birding in North and South Dakota.  But unlike North Dakota where we're only seeing less than 1% of the prairie that was once there, in Kazakhstan...it goes on and on and on.  Our tour info read that there are less then 6 people per square mile in Kazakhstan.  When you got out of the cities, you could feel how that number was true.

Above is a pair of Steppe marmots...kind of like groundhogs where I live.  Although, with their coloring, they kind of looked like over sized prairie dogs.

Most in our group where digiscoping our adventures--using point and shoot cameras or SLRs attached to our spotting scopes to get photos.  A few in our group would use their own cameras.  It was fun to watch them sneak up closer and closer to the marmots.  I actually have video of their movements...but I'm pretty sure I'd destroy some European relations if I posted it.  As the photographers crouched closer and closer...

...the marmots crouched lower and lower in response.  One finally went down in the burrow.  The remaining marmot did not appear to buy our efforts at hiding:

It stood guard and barked at us.  Here is a video and you can hear the high pitched barking (and lots of wind).

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUp0szhgJvg[/youtube]

We all got our shots and then left the barking marmots in peace.

I'm sure that marmot is feeling very macho and said to its partner,  "Did you see that?  That group of twenty humans stopped near our burrow, about a half dozen of them closed in and my mighty bark forced them to flee.  I am Macho Marmot, Terror of the Steppes!"

Just don't try that strategy with a Steppe eagle, dude.

Landing In Kazakhstan

We departed Frankfurt, Germany for Kazakhstan.  Our flight left in early afternoon and between the long flight and time change, it was well past 11pm when we arrived in Astana, Kazakhstan.

As we de-boarded the plane, a woman in a corner wearing a lab coat and mask aimed some kind scanner at us to see if anyone was carrying a significant fever (presumably over swine flu fears).  We got our bags, made through the above security screening and taxi drivers and were on our way to the hotel.  The taller building had these odd lights surrounding their structures which gave the illusion that they were sparkling.  We checked in and I made to my room a little after midnight.  I called my husband through Skype to let him know I was alive and what my initial impressions were.  I told him I had to meet the group at 6:30am and he told me to get to bed.  As soon as I hung up, I heard outside my hotel room door:

"Hey, Shaz, you awake?"

It was my buddy Clay Taylor.  I could hear mischief in his voice, so I said, "You betcha!"

"You gotta come out and see this!"

I stepped out and found on the hotel's spiral staircase:

that the jet lagged and somewhat slap happy Swarovski employees had artfully displayed all of their spotting scopes onto the stairs.  Pictures were being taken at all angles and all this was going on well past 1am and we had to meet at 6:30am.

When I made it back to my room to settle in for a few hours sleep, I noticed this sticker on the mini bar.  I'm not sure what the hotel was trying to tell me.  Perhaps that I should feel comfortable enough to dawn a Speedo in my room and have some ice cream.

I'm also not sure if I have officially said why I went to Kazakhstan in the blog.  Swarovski Optik is introducing some new equipment including spotting scopes, eye pieces, and digiscoping adaptor.  They invited a group from the US and Europe to not only test out this new equipment but to also witness some of the work they are funding with the sociable lapwing with BirdLife International.

When the group introduced themselves at breakfast that first morning, I was struck that only Corey Finger of 10,000 Birds and myself were the only attending from the US.  I was also the only one there remotely representing a birding publication from the US (you can find my articles in WildBird Magazine).  The rest were editors of other birding publications from England, Germany, Italy, all over Europe--I'll go more indepth later, I have a new affection for birding with Eupopeans--especially the Brits.  It's like birding with regular people who happen to have a strong interest in birds.

Anyway, with the group of people who were invited, I was honored to be included as an attendee and was constantly looking around asking myself, "How the heck did I end up here?"

Proving once again that the Talking Heads Letting The Days Go By is my theme song.

We started our birding adventure on the Steppes which was basically large tracts of short grass priaire.  So much of it reminded me of the Dakotas.  I had to contain myself as we passed common birds to make it to the assigned birding patch.  But I couldn't help but salivate as we passed dozens of red-footed falcons nesting right off the side of the road.

However, a pair of demoiselle cranes was enough to force our buses over before we reached our destination.  They were distant, but with the scopes we could get some souvenir shots.  My point and shoot camera isn't strong enough to catch every detail when the bird is at a distance.  When I looked through with my naked eye, I could see this birds blazing red eye--what a cool start to our birding trip.

One of the common birds we saw right away was this stonechat.  As the birds popped up on the prairie, I was able to get some shots and felt a great relief that I wouldn't as challenging a time taking photos as I did under the heavy tree canopy in Guatemala.

A super exciting bird that I got to see at a great distance was a wild flamingo!  I always thought that I would have to go to Africa to see one of those wild and untamed, but they also breed in Kazakhstan.  Not the best view in the world, but still I was able to make out that iconic shape in the distance.

I was suprised by the overlap of species that I saw, that I could see in the US.  Above is a short-eared owl--we saw a couple of them.  I love this photo, the owl hidden in some brush, it would be hunting soon...note the big fat pellet on the ground in front of it (even its little ear tufts are up).  This was not the only bird.  At one point, I was watching some waterfowl and I heard the familiar "meep, meep, meep" of a gadwall.  I thought it was a ringtone on my phone and then remembered my phone wasn't working and saw three fly overhead.  It was nice and fun to see some familiar birds.

I have to step out to do some eagle banding, we will continue our Kazakhstan travels soon.