I have just finished a three-night stay in Ile-Alatau National Park in the snow-capped Tien Shan mountains just outside of Almaty, Kazakhstan. I wanted to spend some time walking in the mountains and taking some photos of birds, not really being fussy about which species I saw, just enjoying the scenery and clean air. I booked three nights at Namaste Shalle 2000M Hotel, close to the Shymbulak ski resort and with fantastic views of the snowy peaks a little further up the valley as well as access to riverside woodland and hiking into the mountains where I saw a really nice selection of species and was able to achieve my target of obtaining some nice photos, particularly of the cute Azure Tit which I saw every day in the garden of Namaste Shalle.

Azure Tit

Azure Tit has to be one of the cutest birds around and when I was first planning leading a birding tour to Kazakhstan this little bird stood out as a potential highlight. Having spoken to many birders it turns out that my opinion is not unique, most put Azure Tit high on their list of “most-wanted” birds. The good news is that they are not rare and I was really happy for a pair of them to be the first birds I saw as I went out on my first birding walk from Namaste Shalle – right in the garden! And of course there was the view!

Around the vicinity of the hotel there were hillside meadows and open pine forest alongside a rushing stream and I found a nice variety of species in these habitats. Birds familiar to me from UK included Common Cuckoo, Wren, Common Kestrel, Mistle Thrush, Carrion Crow, Magpie, Great Tit, Tree Pipit, Grey Wagtail as well as a few from UK that I am less familiar with including Golden Eagle and Common Grasshopper Warbler.

Tree Pipit

There were also some species that I am familiar with from Thailand; several Common Rosefinches, Blue Whistlingthrush, Common Myna, lots of Hume’s Leaf Warblers and a good number of Greenish Warblers too.

Hume’s Leaf Warbler

Greenish Warbler

All of these birds were nice, however, it was even more satisfying to find some of the birds that brings birders to Kazakhstan which on my first morning included Blue-capped Redstart and Black-throated Accentor.

Blue-capped Redstart

Black-throated Accentor

Along the rushing streams close to the hotel I found both Brown Dipper and White-throated Dipper. The Brown Dippers were feeding fledged young which, in their speckled plumage, were noisily begging for food.

Brown Dipper

All very enjoyable but hiking higher up was my aim, both in terms of experiencing some great scenery and in finding some of the higher altitude birds. The hike was a long one and at 2000m plus at times it was a little breathless too, particularly when walking up very steep slopes to get to around 3000m. However, it paid off with some nice birds including lots of Alpine Choughs, nesting Ravens, a Lammergier, plenty more Black-throated Accentors, several more Blue-capped Redstarts and then a real highlight – a singing, male Himalayan Rubythroat.

Himalayan Rubythroat

The higher I got the more of these I saw, with a total of 4-5 birds on my second afternoon with my attention being drawn away by a couple of Plain Mountain Finches and Red-mantled Rosefinches.

Plain Mountain Finch

Being high up in the mountains was great in itself, hours of hiking and nobody else in sight with amazing surroundings and only the call of birds and a noisy Altai (Grey) Marmot for company.

Altai (Grey) Marmot

One afternoon I had been hiking for a long time with not too much reward but then happened on one of those moments which can completely change the feel of a day. While attempting to photograph Black-throated Accentor I spotted a singing Eversmann’s Redstart on top of a tree which was then followed by a very obliging Sulphur-bellied Warbler.

Sulphur-bellied Warbler

As pleased as I was to get good views of this bird it was totally eclipsed by what happened next. I spotted some movement in the undergrowth which, on investigation, turned out to be a female White-browed Tit-warbler. This is a very scarce bird so it was a nice find but where was the male? Well, he wasn’t far behind and wow, what a great bird.

White-browed Tit-warbler

What a bird as the pinnacle of a lovely three-night stay at Namaste Shalle. Add to this a further supporting cast of Coal Tit, Oriental Turtle Dove, Spotted Nutcracker, Siberian Ibex and Large-eared Pika it turned out to be a very memorable visit and one I will hope to repeat in the not too distant future. We will hope to repeat all the bird sightings in the next few days when the group arrive tomorrow morning and the tour starts in full.