Vast landscapes of mountains, farmland, stony plains, semi-desert and steppe have been the backdrop for the last few weeks in Kazakhstan where the birds have been superb in some amazing settings incredible for their scale. Before the trip I was asked if we would see many raptors on this birding tour of Kazakhstan and it proved that we did, not only good numbers of them, but a wide range of species were seen too. Black-eared Kites were the most numerous species over the course of the trip although Common Kestrel was the only raptor species seen every day. Spectacular views of Steppe Eagle, Long-legged Buzzard, Lesser Kestrel, Red-footed Falcon, Pallid Harrier and Lammergeier were very memorable but it was also good to see Upland Buzzard, Golden Eagle, Cinereous Vulture, Egyptian Vulture and many others as part of a superb Kazakhstan birding tour.

If you would like to join me on a birding trip in Kazakhstan take a look at the dates, itinerary and all the details of my next tour – Central Asia Birding Tour.

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I am currently sitting in a hotel room in Almaty, looking back on the last few days of the recent Kazakhstan birding tour that I have just finished leading. Our trip ended in the capital city of Kazakhstan, Nur Sultan (recently renamed from Astana), where we spent a few days birding in steppe and wetlands, enjoying some excellent birding, in fact it was in these last few days that we experienced the highest abundance of birds of the whole tour – a great way to finish. The undoubted highlights were the sighting of 6 critically endangered Sociable Lapwings, large numbers of spectacular Black Larks, watching White-winged Larks in song flight, huge numbers of Red-necked Phalaropes and a nesting colony of Pallas’s Gulls. However, it was not just about connecting with key birds, we just enjoyed a lot of top-quality birding and lots of excellent views of a wide variety of species.

If you would like to join me on a birding trip in Kazakhstan take a look at the dates, itinerary and all the details of my next tour – Central Asia Birding Tour.

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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.

If you would like to join me on a birding trip in Kazakhstan take a look at the dates, itinerary and all the details of my next tour – Central Asia Birding Tour.
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