I have always loved immersing myself in mountain landscapes but over recent years my opportunity to do so has been limited with much of my time spent in tropical forests and wetlands in Thailand so when the opportunity presented itself to spend some time birding in mountain habitats in Uzbekistan I took it without having to think much about it. Even though the number of potential new birds for me was very low, the cool weather, craggy scenery and an avifauna that I spend little time with made a visit to the village of Chimgan very attractive. Indeed, the scenery turned out to be even more impressive than I had imagined and with birds such as Himalayan Griffon, White-capped Penduline Tit, White-capped Bunting, Azure Tit and, eventually, Rufous-naped Tit, I had a really enjoyable two-night visit filled with some nice birding and wonderful hikes.

With a birding tour to lead, beginning in Bukhara, and flights from Bangkok heading to Tashkent, I decided to spend some time doing some birding and sight-seeing in Uzbekistan before the tour commenced. One concern was that independent travel could be difficult but by downloading the Yandex App I was able to summon a taxi from anywhere to anywhere within minutes as I bought a SIM card providing me with internet access on arrival at the airport. The taxi ride from my hotel in Tashkent to my accommodation at Chimgan took about two hours and the scenery as I neared my destination was spectacular with towering, snow-capped mountains dominating the view. As soon as I was in the hotel car park I heard the call of the cute little Azure Tit, calling in the sunshine, and a quick assembly of the camera allowed me to get some nice photos of this yellow-breasted version of this lovely bird. Azure Tit is a bird I saw on my last visit to Central Asia but this yellow-breasted race is one of those potential splits for the future. Either way, it is a beautiful bird.

Azure Tit

I was too early to check in at Archazor Mountain Resort but the very helpful staff let me store my luggage while I went off for a walk. A small side road took me through some scrubby, hillside woodland with a view across the valley with more cheerful Azure Tits showing themselves and these wonderful birds would prove to be a familiar sight in the trees along the valley over the next couple of days. Within a few steps I found myself in a mini meadow with the song of Common Nightingale emanating from thick vegetation, the call of a Blyth’s Reed Warbler chacking away from a blossoming bush and the song of a Hume’s Lesser Whitethroat providing accompaniment. The Nightingale took some tracking down with it typically buried in deep cover but over the course of my stay I saw several more just due to the sheer abundance of this bird with seemingly one singing from every bush all over the valley and mountain sides.

The high-pitched call of a Penduline Tit caught my attention and it did not take long before a lovely White-crowned Penduline Tit was performing close by, collecting nest material before disappearing off to its partially constructed home.

White-crowned Penduline Tit

There were also a number of species that I am familiar with from Britain in the tree-lined valley around my hotel such as several calling Common Cuckoos, lots of Common Magpies and Carrion Crows, a single singing European Greenfinch, Common Kestrel as well as Eurasian Hobby and plenty of Eurasian Blackbirds that were obvious from their attractive song coming from the trees.

Eurasian Blackbird

Eurasian Hobby

Once I walked up to the main road along the valley I was able to get a wonderful view of the hills and mountains that surrounded me; a superb vista and it seemed an excellent time to see soaring raptors with a single European Griffon Vulture appearing as well as a pair of Cinereous Vultures accompanied by a single Lammergeier. The thermals were obviously forming at this time with several other large raptors circling too far away to be identified but a couple of Himalayan Griffons were much closer and easier to identify. This is a bird I have seen several times in Thailand, Myanmar and Kazakhstan but infrequently enough so that they were still an exciting sighting.

Himalayan Griffon

After checking into my room and admiring the spectacular view from my balcony I had a very good lunch in the rooftop restaurant and then took off for an afternoon walk.

Chimgan

Hiking quickly up the road I reached the beginning of a trail that led towards the snowy mountains, following a rushing stream and affording more amazing views of snowy peaks and glaciers. This sort of Alpine habitat did not seem to be the type of place to see a Common Myna but they were there in decent numbers to prove me wrong. Red-rumped Swallows swooped around my head but overall birds were in short supply apart from a few Woodpigeons, Blackbirds and Magpies. However, further up I ran into an area with a few Rock Bunting territories as well as Hume’s Lesser Whitethroat. One of the Rock Buntings gave me the chance to take a few shots.

Rock Bunting

I was able to add Mistle Thrush and Siberian Stonechat to my growing Uzbekistan list but by this time I had walked a long way up the valley to see a rare thing, an accumulating glacier, and with the glow of the evening light telling me it was time to head back my, by now, weary legs took me back to the hotel where I tracked down a Blue Whistlingthrush after hearing its song. I was able to enjoy the sunset from my balcony before a nice dinner in the restaurant and look forward to the next day.

The next morning brought cloud and rain but an excellent breakfast. I planned to get a taxi to a more distant area to look for Rufous-naped Tit, my main reason for visiting this area in the first place. The rain more or less stopped so I summoned a taxi to the remote area I wanted to visit having bought some snacks to eat in the mountains. Twenty minutes later it became clear that the road I wanted to bird along, where most Rufous-naped Tit sightings are made, was closed for roadworks; we were not allowed to access the area I wanted to get to. However, the taxi driver communicated to me that he could take me to another area so I ended up quite some distance away at another high altitude area with ski lodges and some sort of visitor centre in suitable-looking habitat.

I started hiking up into the wooded hills but the story of the morning was that cloud rolled in, making it impossible to see anything more than a few feet away, followed by torrential rain for around an hour, in which I was soaked. I did come across a pair of White-capped Buntings which I could view at close range and get a very foggy photo of the male. The following is the result after a lot of manipulation on the computer.

White-capped Bunting

At one point I took shelter in a beekeeper’s hut and as the rain started to finish I moved on to a viewpoint where I immediately heard the call of a Rufous-naped Tit. I spotted it….about two hundred metres away on top of a tree and viewed it through fogged up binoculars; not exactly a stellar view for a bird that was a lifer. I slipped down the hill in the mud-bath that the trail has become to get a better view but could never re-find the bird. A couple of Oriental Turtle Doves showed up, Spotted Flycatcher was also drying itself out and a Common Raven harassed a pair of Carrion Crows but the only tits were more Azure Tits.

Exhausted by this time I sat down, ready to give up and accept the feeble views of Rufous-naped Tit that I had managed, but after some snacks and a drink the air cleared and birds began to appear; first a Booted Eagle, a European Roller and then a couple of Himalayan Griffons gliding slowly over the mountainside at low level. As activity levels began to increase and the weather continued to break up with some blue patches of sky I decided to have another go at getting a decent view of Rufous-naped Tit. Things had dried out a bit and walking back towards where I had seen the previous bird was a little easier and with Common Nightingales singing from almost every bush I stood and looked for the most likely area of habitat. Identifying an area that looked good to me I hiked uphill, occasionally playing the call until I caught a brief reply in some distant pines. Getting uphill as fast I could suddenly the call was right in front of me and there it was; Rufous-naped Tit. This close range view was not foggy and my binoculars were not covered in raindrops and I was able to get some reasonably good photos.

Rufous-naped Tit

With the afternoon growing late and being out on a mountain more than 30 kilometres from my accommodation I decided it was time to see if it was possible to summon a taxi. At first it seemed like I was out of luck and I started on what would be an enormous walk at the end of an already tiring day. However, fortunately I was able to get a taxi through the app, being able to get a phone and internet signal, and within 30 minutes I was enjoying a cup of tea, with my feet up, looking out onto the snowy mountains from my room.

On my final morning at Chimgan I enjoyed a good breakfast and took a birding walk from the hotel being able to enjoy more Azure Tits, Blyth’s Reed Warblers, Eurasian Blackbirds, Common Nightingales and Greenish Warblers all in song on a bright sunny day. A good number of Red-rumped Swallows and Western House Martins were busy collecting mud from a puddle close to the roadside for their nests and overhead another excellent display from Himalayan Griffons was a treat.

Red-rumped Swallow

As I packed up and waited for a taxi back to the city of Tashkent an Indian Golden Oriole began to call and flew into some trees next to the hotel car park to signify a nice ending to my short stay here. This part of Uzbekistan is both beautiful and charming with some great birds to see and I will be sure to incorporate it into the next Central Asian Birding Tour that I lead. You can take a look at the full itinerary of the next upcoming visit here – Central Asia Birding Tour – join me in this amazing location for lots of exciting birds and awesome landscapes.