KAZAKHSTAN 24 May–2 June 2010 Extension to 6 June 2010 Leader: Dr Svetlana Ashby

Kazakhstan is located between the Caspian Sea and the borders of western China and stands at the crossroads of history and cultures. Situated on the great Silk Route, it has an immense diversity of habitats ranging from huge canyons to sand deserts and beautiful Spruce forests. Birdfinders have been offering tours to the country for 10 years and have unparalleled access to local information. Additionally, we provide four-wheel drive transport to ensure we reach the Caspian Plover breeding grounds and offer luxury yurts at our camp in the desert with real beds and hot water showers!

Day 1 Overight flight from London to Almaty.

Day 2 Early morning arrival and breakfast. Afterwards, we will drive east from Almaty to a valley in the foothills of the spectacular Tien Shan Mountains. Our main target bird is Siberian Meadow Bunting, which is at the extreme western edge of its range here. Other species we may see include Common Whitethroat (rubicola), Grasshopper Warbler, Common Rosefinch and Corn, Red-headed and Rock Buntings. This is also an extremely good valley for birds of prey, including Monk Vulture, Golden and Booted Eagle, Long-legged Buzzard and Common Kestrel, whilst Common Quail call from nearby fields and Daurian Partridge can sometimes be found. Along the river, we will look for the leucogaster race of White-throated Dipper and White-crowned Penduline-tit, whilst Azure Tit is common. This is also a superb valley for butterflies. Overnight in Almaty where Blyth’s Reed-warblers sing in the gardens.

Days 3–4 Early morning transfer to Konchengil for a two-night stay. En route we will visit a large lake with colonies of Dalmatian and White Pelicans as well as many passage waders and a huge colony of breeding Rose-coloured Starlings. The desert of Saryesik Atyrau stretches for about 400km south of Lake Balkhash and this is our destination. It is an un-eroded, healthy sand desert with enough vegetation to support rich plant and animal life. As we drive we will see numerous European Rollers, European Bee-eaters, Eurasian Hoopoes, Lesser Grey Shrikes, Common Cuckoos and Eurasian Golden Orioles. We will also stop to look for the distinctive migratory race of House Sparrow known as 'Bactrian' Sparrow and Pied Wheatear, which also has a distinctive white-throated vittata form here. Colonies of the attractive Great Gerbil are scattered throughout little valleys surrounded by sand dunes or Barkhans. Birds we will be looking for here include Golden and Short-toed Snake-eagles, Macqueen's Bustard, Caspian Plover, Greater Sandplover, Desert and Isabelline Wheatears, Asian Desert Warbler and Brown-necked Raven. In the grassy areas, larks abound with Sky, Oriental, Greater and Lesser Short-toed, Crested, Calandra and Bimaculated Larks all being present. The artesian wells near our camp attract migrants and flocks of Black-bellied Sandgrouse to drink. We will also visit a gorge containing petroglyphs where Eastern Rock Nuthatch breeds. Pallid and Montagu’s Harriers quarter the grasslands and we may even find White-winged Larks.

Day 5 We leave camp early and travel north towards Lake Balkhash. Numerous smaller lakes can be found in the desert and they abound with birds including Ferruginous Duck, White-tailed Eagle, Shikra, Oriental Turtle-dove, Black-headed Penduline-tit and Eurasian (Caspian) Reed-warbler. Paddyfield and Sykes's Warbler and Isabelline and Southern (Steppe) Grey Shrikes breed in the arid tamarisk-covered areas nearby. Our next stop will be in remnant turanga woodland, where Eversmann's Dove, White-winged Woodpeckers, Eastern Olivaceous Warbler and Turkestan Tit breed. On one occasion we even found a Pallid Scops-owl here. Continuing, we will visit an old cemetery where Rufous Bush-robin, Lesser Whitethroat (halimodendri) and Saxaul Sparrow can be found. We return to Almaty in the evening for one night.

Day 6 Today we will drive to the spectacular Red and Yellow Canyons of Charyn. En-route we will make several stops for Chukar, Eurasian Crag-martin, Blue and Rufous-tailed Rock-thrushes, Hume’s Whitethroat, Grey-necked and White-capped Buntings. The canyons are exceedingly scenic and amongst the birds we may encounter are Egyptian Vulture, Eastern Imperial and Steppe Eagles, Lesser Kestrel, Saker Falcon, Upland Buzzard, Demoiselle Crane and Shore Lark. In the afternoon we will visit a well where Rock Petronias, good numbers of Mongolian Finches and occasionally Crimson-winged Finches come to drink. Later, we will travel to a nearby village where we will stay for the night in a basic hotel. In the evening we will look for European Scops-owl.

Day 7 This morning we will visit a well where Pallas's Sandgrouse regularly come to drink. Desert Finches can also be found here amongst the spectacular scenery of the River Ili and the foothills of the Dzungarian Alatau Mountains in the distance. In the afternoon, we will make our way back towards Almaty, stopping en route to visit a Pale Martin colony (diluta split from Sand Martin) and look for Long-tailed Shrike. Overnight Almaty.

Days 8–9 After a good night's sleep, we drive up to an observatory high in the Tien Shan Mountains. The journey will take most of the morning however, because we will make numerous stops as we ascend to look for Blue Whistling-thrush, Brown and White-throated Dippers, Corn Crake, Songar Tit, Spotted Nutcracker, Eurasian Three-toed Woodpecker, Red-fronted Serin and Black-throated Accentor. Eventually, we will arrive at Great Almaty Lake, which at 8000 feet, offers us a chance to see the incredible Ibisbill and Ruddy Shelduck; Merlin and Black Grouse are also possible here. We will arrive at the observatory in time for lunch and in the afternoon, either bird around the observatory area or ascend to the highest navigable point on the road at 11,000 feet, depending on weather. Species we will look for above the treeline include Water Pipit, Güldenstädt's Redstart, Northern Wheatear, Himalayan Rubythroat, Alpine, Altai and Brown Accentors, Grey-headed Goldfinch, Red-mantled Rosefinch and Plain Mountain-finch, whilst all around us the haunting calls of Himalayan Snowcock may lead us to a male calling high up on a rocky crag. Raptors may include Lammergeier, Eurasian and Himalayan Griffon-vultures. In the past, we have had a lot of success in finding the much rarer Brandt's Mountain-finch whilst even Northern Hawk-owl, Eurasian Pygmy-owl, Wallcreeper and Red-breasted Rosefinch have been found by us on previous tours. Blue-headed and Eversmann's Redstarts, Severtzov's Tit-warbler, Greenish, Hume's and Sulphur-bellied Warblers, Oriental Turtle-dove and White-winged Grosbeak inhabit the beautiful forests of Tien Shan Spruce and Turkestan Juniper and we will spend time looking for all these species. Throughout the whole area the variety of plant life is astounding, with over 6000 species recorded in this part of central Asia. In the afternoon of Day 9, we will descend to Almaty where we will have dinner and spend the night.

Day 10 Early morning flight to London, where the tour concludes.

Extension

Days 10–13 We take an early morning flight to the modern new capital city of Astana followed by a 200km drive southwest to the vast steppes of the country. Our targets here will be several species rarely seen by birders. Specialities we will look for include Black-throated Diver and Greater Flamingo (at the extreme edge of their ranges), White-headed Duck, Red-footed Falcon, 'Steppe' Merlin, Sociable Lapwing, Marsh Sandpiper, Black-winged Pratincole, Great Black-headed, Slender-billed and Steppe Gulls, Booted, Moustached and Savi’s Warblers, Great Reed-warbler and Black and White-winged Larks. Three nights in private houses in Kurgaldgin village enjoying traditional Kazakh hospitality. En route back to Astana on the last day, we will stop at a regular breeding site for Pine Bunting before we fly back to Almaty on a late-evening flight in time to catch the international flight back to the UK, arriving early in the morning of Day 14.

General Information The climate is variable, from cold in the mountains to hot in the deserts; some rain is possible. Accommodation standards range from good in Almaty with en-suite facilities to more basic in the Tien Shan observatory and in the village in the Suguty Valley with shared facilities. In our camp (which is comprised of authentic yurts), each yurt is carpeted and has two proper beds, an electric light and a recharging socket with shared hot water showers and WC tents. On the extension we will be spread around several nearby houses with shared facilities. Food standards are good, with most drinks being included. Transport is by comfortable minibus or four-wheel drive. There are no special health requirements. A moderate degree of fitness is required for some of the walks, especially at high altitude. Visas are required and the relevant documents will be supplied. Photographic opportunities are excellent. For examples of the birds photographed in Kazakhstan visit our friends at Kazakhstan Birdtours.

Group size Minimum number for tour to go ahead: 8; maximum group size: 16 with 2 leaders.

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