Ibisbill (Ibidorhyncha struthersii)
Finally the time has come to put on as many layer of clothes and thermo stuff I could possibly fit under my tight softshell jacket. Leggings, pants, hat, everything on!
Watching the Almaty Lake gem - the Ibisbill
The time has come to go the the mountains. Namely to visit the Great Almaty lake with the grand bird goal of our whole trip - the Ibisbill! As soon as we went out of our bus, it actually started snowing. The snow was a bit wet, though, so we took out our raincoats. Now I really had everyhting I possibly could put on.
At the Great Almaty Lake
We walked along the path around the lake and occassionally took a look at the lake. We were surprised to see a Eurasian Wigeon and a couple of Ruddy Shelducks. And then someone proclaimed: "The Ibisbill!". Indeed, it was there, with its black face and a beautifully curved beak. How happy we were! We walked farther to the other end of the lake where we could probably tak a better look. There we actually saw a pair, wading in the snow. It was awesome, but rather cold, too. As expected, the binocular around my neck started tearing the raincoat.
Weather is terrible, but mood great!
Then we moved to a side valley. Along the way we met a few new bird species like a Yellow-billed Chough, Blue-capped and Eversmann's Redstarts and Red-fronted Serin.We were very happy to also see one of the big Rosefinches - the Red-mantled Rosefinch.
In the next smaller valley, there was nothig but rocks and snow. Some pine trees and short bushes. We stayed there for a while, looking left and right, but there was really not much to see. Until someone spotted a Black-throated Accentor perched on a tip of one of the smalled pine trees long enoug for everyone to take a picture.
Black-throated Accentor (Prunella atrogularis)
There was a song to be heard form the other site. We traced its origin to a small black bird silhouette hard to see agains the light. It was excitedly jerking its tail and hopping on the underbrush. In the end I was able to see a red throat that was changing shape as the Himalayan Rubythroat was singing. What a beautiful sight!
Himalayan Rubyhroat (Luscinia pectoralis)
We then moved back to the lake on the now muddy and slippery path with bunch of big fat marmots watching us struggle.
Tian Shan
We went back to the spot where we could see the Ibisbill and met several more birds including a Western Grasshopper Warbler which we made come slightly closer by plaing its voice. The tiny bird took a pose on a bush with its slender leg extended out like a supermodel.
And also a baby owl perched on a tree. We looked long and hard into what kind of owl it could be, and came to a conclusion it should be a baby Long-eared Owl (Asio flammeus).
Tree Pipit (Anthus trivialis)
Blue-capped Redstart (Phoenicurus caerulocephalus)
Red-mantled Rosefinch (Carpodacus rhodochlamys)
Long-eared Owl (Asio flammeus)
Western Grasshopper Warbler (Locustella naevia)
Mountainview
Eversmann's Redstart (Phoenicurus erythronotus)
We were having hour lunch when it started to rain. There was a map stand with a small roof I did my best to fit under as my reincoat was so torn now it was basically useless.
Lunch
Anar and Akmaral - the two sisters organizing our trip have brought us food
After lunch, our two busses took us up the road to a military base or
whatever it was. It was 2700 m above sea level now. There was a mountain
meadow these - that is only my guess as it was all covered in snow now.
Watchig for birds on the mountain slope
We crossed the plain to stand just below one of the mountain slopes with some green bushes and rocks covering it. And snow, of course. We stayed there quite a while and watched for birds.
Mountain plain
There were quite a few species we've seen near the lake, but apart from them also a Water Pipit (Anthus spinoletta), a Brown Accentor (Prunella fulvescens) and an Oriental Turtle Dove (Streptopelia orientalis). From above the mountain shields we could here a call whose owner we all would have loved to see - the Himalayan Snowcock. (Tetraogallus himalayensis). However, it came from way above us.
Red-mantled Rosefinch (Carpodacus rhodochlamys) feeding on berries
After a while there seem to be nothing more to see and we headed back down. The busses were waiting at our lunch spot - maybe a couple kilometers down the mountain. The descent was easy on an asphalt road and it was an opportunity for us to look for birds.
Great Almaty Lake
We broke into smaller groups and only met other people at interesting spots. At one such spot - covered in juniper trees - there were a few lovely stocky birds - White-winged Grosbeaks (Mycerobas carniceps).
Then someone called out and amidst the junipers we saw a tine shadow move. The luckier ones saw it for maybe a couple of seconds, I managed maybe half a second. Someone somhow even took a picture. The people who saw it best thought it could have been a tiny beautiful bird we all wished to see today - a White-browed Tit-warbler (Leptopoecile sophiae). We spent a long while staring into the junipers, but it has never showed its tail again. Form the photo that was taken, though, we could confirm it was indeed the Tit-warbler.
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While standing there, watching, we did see a shodow of a bird move in perhaps a similar fashion. It turned out to be a Himalayan Rubyhroat (Luscinia pectoralis) again.
No can do, we just continued on our way. And met a Spotted Nutcracker (Nucifraga caryocatactes).
Back in the hotel we met after dinner on the hotel terrrace for the last dinner. We discussed all the birds we saw today etc. We also asked Anar if there was a chance we could actually taste the horse meat we heard is frequently eaten in Kazakhstan. She didn't dare to offer it before, it seemed, and said she can provide and and if someone didn't want to taste it, they'd get something different. No such person appeared, though. We'll have an interesting lunch tommorrow.
Himalayan Rubyhroat (Luscinia pectoralis)
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