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Seeing Sociable Lapwing in Kazakhstan

10,000 Birds

Kazakhstan – May 2009 After our excellent time at the Korgalzhyn State Nature Reserve we bid a fond farewell to its gorgeous grassy terrain and made our way to a location where Sociable Lapwing were known to breed. Above is the area where the three pairs we observed were nesting which we were told was rather typical for the species.

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We need to talk about your life list

10,000 Birds

Before we turn our attention to your various bird lists, let me tell you a story about some wheatears of the genus Oenanthe that are found in Kazakhstan’s Mangghystau province. The species you will shake your fist at after reading this post is the Pied Wheatear Oenanthe pleschanka. pleschanka : the Eastern Black-eared Wheatear.

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Where Tulips Come From (It Ain’t Holland)

10,000 Birds

Kazakhstan, May 2009 During the two days spent out in the steppe in Kazakhstan I couldn’t help but notice the sheer number of flowers that dotted the grassy steppe. Was it part of some gigantic-scale gardening project planned by the Soviets when Kazakhstan was a part of the USSR? No, no, and no!

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The World’s Most Beautiful Goose?

10,000 Birds

According to the British Trust for Ornithology’s BirdFacts website, “Although a small number of vagrant Red-breasted Geese from the declining arctic Siberian breeding population winter in Britain each year, the species is popular in wildfowl collections and many birds are of captive origin. The post The World’s Most Beautiful Goose?

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Caspian Gull: The continental gull

10,000 Birds

Amongst all the species that were split off the Herring Gull, the Caspian Gull is my favourite one, and its existence alone is our fair reward for the identification crisis we had to endure during the dark ages of the 1990s. This is lake Bukhtarma in far eastern Kazakhstan. You can’t get further away from any ocean than this.

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The Chukar Situation

10,000 Birds

Then of course, Chukars have style as they’ve chosen landscapes like this for them to roam… Kazakhstan’s Mangghystau province. You may argue that they don’t wreak the same havoc with the indigenous species as do the two aforementioned invasives, but that would be a rather avicentric view. But Chukars are okay.

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Pink Finches I Have Known

10,000 Birds

Both of our redpoll species, Common Redpolls and Hoary Redpolls , have nice pink coloration. Both species are wonderful birds and every winter I hope that it will be an irruption year so that I can spot redpolls again. It took a trip to Kazakhstan to see more pink finches.