Uzbekistan is a surprising country with a wide variety of landscapes, ancient historical monuments, some interesting food and drink as well as good infratructure that makes the country easy to travel in independently. However, my wife and I pushed this a little further than most travelers to the country by visiting Zaamin National Park where the Turkestan mountain range forms the border with Tajikstan. The taxi ride from the city of Samarkand took around 4.5 hours and took us through some amazing landscapes, with vast areas of wilderness with snowy peaks as a backdrop for the last two hours of the journey, along some fairly rough, unpaved roads, making for a real sense of adventure. Once in the national park our hotel was situated with an imperious view of the mountains and it didn’t take long, taking a short walk to take some holiday photos, to find birds that included Rufous-naped Tit, Blyth’s Rosefinch, Rock Bunting and Azure Tit. And over the course of the next couple of days there would be plenty more good weather, great views and excellent birds.

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

We arrived in the afternoon and took a walk into the scattered woodland on the hotel property. The views were lovely and while taking some photos with my wife I almost immediately heard the call of Rufous-naped Tit. On my trip to Uzbekistan last year I had to search really hard to find this species while birding at Chimgan but at Zaamin NP it had found me. A couple of these cute little birds came in close to us, feeding in juniper trees, only stopping to scold us, allowing for really good views and some nice photographs.

As the pair of Rufous-naped Tits drifted off our attention was drawn back to the scenery. Although we would have great weather over the next few days this can never be guaranteed in mountainous areas so we were keen to take in the atmosphere and take some holiday snaps while we had the chance. Indeed, birds and scenery were of equal interest throughout the stay here.

However, birding is in the blood and the smallest of movements in a juniper bush drew my attention. Approaching the bush a little at first a single Rock Bunting popped out into the open, followed by a second. This is a bird I have seen in a number of countries, France, Croatia, Kazakhstan and previously in Uzbekistan too, but not one I ever get to spend much time with (although that would certainly change at Zaamin) so it was nice to be able to see this attractive bird at close range and to listen to it as it sang its territorial song.

Most of the birdlife as we walked consisted of Common Woodpigeons and Common Magpies perched on treetops more or less everywhere I looked but I also spotted a nice male Siberian Stonechat perched on a small bush and a couple of Pied Wagtails were fussing around in the car park. However, there were a couple more birds to enjoy before it was time for dinner. The familiar sound of Azure Tit alerted me to the presence of this lovely little bird. Although I had seen plenty of these earlier in the trip at Chimgan, this is one of those birds that if you have grown tired of seeing it, you need to get a new hobby so I took the opportunity to enjoy this pair of Azure Tits. While watching these beauties I noticed two other birds fly in and perch in the open just above them; Blyth’s Rosefinch.

Unfortunately they were both female type birds, lacking that pink glow of the adult male, and this would become a theme over the next few days but at least the female of this species is easy to seperate from any other confusing species in this area. This had been a very pleasant short walk and it was even more pleasant to have dinner together while watching the sun set behind the snowy peaks.

We awoke to a beautiful clear sky on the next day and before breakfast I took a walk around the hotel area and along the road uphill through more beautiful forest and mountain scenery. As soon as I walked out of the hotel door I could hear a cheerful song coming from the top of a small ornamental tree; a Grey Wagtail. This is one of those very widespread birds but when such a good example of one is sitting out in the open it is always worth looking.

The early morning chorus on the mountain was very nice with Rock Buntings calling everywhere, a Eurasian Skylark performing its towering flight from a grassy plateau, the pleasant cooing of Common Woodpigeon, the scolding call of Rufous-naped Tit and the jumbled song of Hume’s Lesser Whitethroat eminating from every tangled bush. The call of Chukar Partridge came from a rocky area near the road and with a bit of scanning through the binoculars I was able to spot one as it scurried away through the rocks. Added to this was the insect-like song of Hume’s Warbler and the repetitive call of (Siberian) Chiffchaff to really ring in a lovely morning. As I got some distance up the road I added Mistle Thrush to my list before hearing a call that I recognised from my trips to Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan; White-winged Grosbeak. I have seen this amsart bird several times but have never been able to watch it at close range for prolonged periods or get any good photos of the male so it was delightful to spot an adult male feeding quietly in a set of tiny bushes and tufty grass only metres away from the roadside.

White-winged Grosbeak was one of those birds to make a morning but I also came across two more Blyth’s Rosefinches, although once again they were both females! Just as I was turning around I heard the soft song of something I recognised and by scanning the nearby treetops I came across a nice Blue-capped Redstart. This is a bird I have seen a few times in Central Asia in the past but this was a first one for my Uzbekistan list and a good one before heading back to the hotel to have breakfast with my wife.

Another short walk after a break didn’t turn much up due to the unexpectedly hot weather. I did add Sand Martin to my Kazakhstan list, a group of five birds that seemed to have come over the mountains and were moving on with a purpose; presumed migrants. There was a Eurasian Hobby cruising through the skies and I took the time to photograph Siberian Stonechat before going back to the room and some lunch.

In the afternoon my wife and I took a taxi to Zaamin Sanatorium area where there is a trail through the forest into the mountains. The journey took about fifteen minites and gace us some nice views before we walked around the back of the Sanatorium to start the trail. The area contained some lovely juniper forest with many of the birds that were already becomining familiar; Rock Bunting, Rufous-naped Tit, Azure Tit and Hume’s Warbler. A couple of Eurasian Blackbirds were foraging on the woodland floor while a dark morph Booted Eagle gliding along the mountain ridges overhead. Mostly, we climbed and enjoyed the forest, atmosphere and spending time together, taking some time out to tease a Cetti’s Warbler out of the tangles. This is a bird I am familiar with from UK but there it is usually associated with scrubby areas in wetlands but here it was on a wooded hillside and the subspecies in these mountains is much paler and rustier in colour.

A flyover White-winged Grosbeak and a Hume’s Lesser Whitethroat made up the remainder of the cast before we descended to eat a local kebab for dinner before taking a taxi back to our hotel.

This was to be our final morning in Uzbekistan so before breakfast and packing I took another walk along the road where there was an increased level of bird activity from the previous day. Within just a few paces of the hotel door I heard a sound that I am very familiar with from the UK. When I was ay university my dissertation was on Corn Buntings, most specifically the crop and songpost selection of calling males, and I have also done surveys on Corn Buntings close to the house I grew up in back in Kent, England, so when I heard the faint song of this bird I immediately recognised it and was soon able to spot two calling males perched on small shrubs and was able to approach one quite closely.

A couple of European Greenfinches flew in to feed on some weed seeds, several Siberian Stonechats were singing in the morning sunshine, Rock Buntings were, again, common and a Common Raven flew past. Most of these birds I had not seen on the previous day, highlighting how birding in the same place on consecutive days always has the potential for new birds to be seen. My walk gave me the opportunity to see and photograph many of the birds from the previous day including five White-winged Grosbeaks, numerous Azure Tits and Rufous-naped Tits, Mistle Thrush and the same Blue-capped Redstart from yesterday.

Incredibly, I came across several small groups of Blyth’s Rosefinches, once again all females so that I would have to come back at some point to see a smartly-coloured male but a familiar call from previous Central Asian trips made me look at the base of a thorny tree where a lovely Red-fronted Serin was feeding. Given the habitat type I had expected to see more raptors but another Booted Eagle was all that I saw/

Having seen a lot of nice birds and being able to watch them in good light at close range it was time to bring an end to my time at Zaamin National park, and Uzbekistan overall byt going back to the hotel where the reception staff arranged a taxi for the 4.5 hour journey back to Tashkent from where we would take a flight back to Bangkok.

This part of Uzbekistan is both beautiful and charming with some great birds to see and I will be including 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.