This is the second in Mark Havenhand’s two-post series on birding Central Eurasia. Earlier this month, Mark introduced us to Georgia and the Caucasus Mountains. Today, we visit Kazakhstan, China’s neighbor to the northwest. Among the birds of Kazakhstan are species familiar to birders who have worked in Xinjiang. Clockwise from L: Long-legged Buzzard, Fieldfare, Grey-crowned Goldfinch, Tree Pipit, and Black-throated Thrush. — Craig Brelsford
by Mark Havenhand
for shanghaibirding.com
With my appetite primed by Georgia, it felt time to take a bigger bite out of Central Eurasia—so Kazakhstan it was. I went in July. I flew courtesy of Turkish Airlines and their marvellous new airport in Istanbul to Almaty. In my jet-lagged state I noted in a nearby parklet European Red-rumped Swallow and many Common Myna. Next day a short internal flight brought me to Oskemen with cooler temperatures and a relaxed vibe—time for a little birding by the Irtysh River. Noteworthy were huge numbers of Common Merganser, plentiful Caspian Gull and wheeling Gull-billed Tern. The only raptors were set to be a theme in Kazakhstan—Black Kite. The low trees on the roadside yielded Spotted Flycatcher and Greenish Warbler, as well as a solitary White-backed Woodpecker. I organised a 4WD to take me beyond Ridder to the Russian border—a distance of about 200 km (125 mi.).
Ridder is a small town close to the Ivanovsky Mountains and reaching elevations of some 2500 m (8,200 ft.). I based myself in a forest lodge and enjoyed a week of walking and birding in the taiga forest. I should mention the clock is odd—in Ridder in July, daylight begins at 3:30 a.m., and lodges offer breakfast at 8 or 9 a.m.—halfway through the day and useless for those aiming to get in a good six to eight hours of walking before the rain starts. Also to be noted: There are very few people in the area. Typically I would meet one or two a day. There are no paths and no maps, and there are many rivers and marshes to cross. Your feet remain wet all day. There are many biting insects. In compensation there is abundant nature—a high density of birds, flowers, and butterflies starting at 1000 m (3,280 ft.). This is bear territory. I carried a whistle at all times, saw fresh tracks, and had no encounters. Highlights included a Ural Owl winging its way in the early morning through the birches like a grey ghost, Common Rosefinch, Sulphur-bellied Warbler, Fieldfare, Black-throated Thrush, and Black-winged Pratincole on the taiga ponds, plus birds familiar from Shanghai like White’s Thrush. See bird list below. In general the flora and fauna are “European”—chaffinches, bullfinches, greenfinches, etc., with often Asian subspecies and at this time of year many juveniles. In summary, this area is magical.
My next trek was back to Oskemen and a long car journey to Katon Karagay, the entrance to the Altai. This is the “trailhead” to stock up on supplies, but the real Altai lies ahead a further 80 km (50 mi.). A border permit is needed beyond here and will be checked. Given the experience of crossing rivers in the north, I hired a horse and ponyman. I spent the next seven days scratching the surface of the Altai, mostly at elevations of 2000–3000 m (6,560–9,840 ft.). First off—a horse is much better and safer at wetlands than I, and second, a horse makes a very poor base for birding—trying to manage binocs and reins was a disaster. On the whole the birding was more successful in Ridder—I saw few raptors and may have been too high for the birds. Noteworthy at Kariiye village, my trailhead, was one of the highest densities, with Eurasian Hoopoe, Yellowhammer, Plain Mountain Finch, Tree Pipit, Grey-crowned Goldfinch, Siberian Rubythroat, etc.
Finally, with a week left, I returned to Almaty and had some days in the Ile Alatau Mountains, barely 30 km or 20 miles from the city. There are few access roads, few lodging options, and many “city” tourists. I managed walks up to 3500 m (11,480 ft.) but found it hard to escape the crowds. As in all the places I visited, thunderstorms brewed essentially every afternoon around 2 p.m. In hindsight, I would have visited another, more remote region than these mountains—the lower parts are given over to mass tourism, the higher parts are of difficult access and, being close to the Kyrgyz border, of unsure legality for foreigners. The Ile Alatau yielded Chukar Partridge, Himalayan Snowcock, and a clear Pied Harrier, which would be a first for Central Asia so I have to call it a Pallid Harrier. I logged as well many Common Grasshopper Warbler, Lesser Whitethroat, Isabelline Wheatear, Long-legged Buzzard, and Common Buzzard.
In general I found it difficult to find reliable information on paths, accommodation, road conditions, and whether I needed border permits. My Russian is rudimentary—it could be that information is simply not available in English. Accessing the high mountains is not easy—I mentioned the marshiness but also the lower slopes are covered in low bushes making walking difficult—there is no livestock to graze them as in Kygyzstan and therefore no need for access paths or people to walk them. The forest can be featureless and getting lost would be easy and painful here. Overall, I would say birding in Georgia is a holiday, birding in Kazakhstan an adventure.
I wish to thank Arend Wassinki for gently correcting my worst birding mistakes. Those that remain are mine!
PHOTOS
BIRD LIST
The following is the list of birds Mark Havenhand noted in Kazakhstan in July 2025. Hyperlinks connect to entries in Craig Brelsford’s Photographic Field Guide to the Birds of China, published in its entirety on this website:
Mallard Anas platyrhynchos
Common Merganser Mergus merganser
Himalayan Snowcock Tetraogallus himalayensis
Chukar Partridge Alectoris chukar
Common Swift Apus apus
Pallas’s Sandgrouse Syrrhaptes paradoxus
Rock Dove (Feral Pigeon) Columba livia
Oriental Turtle Dove Streptopelia orientalis
Corn Crake Crex crex
Common Sandpiper Actitis hypoleucos
Wood Sandpiper Tringa glareola
Black-winged Pratincole Glareola nordmanni
Gull-billed Tern Gelochelidon nilotica
Caspian Tern Hydroprogne caspia
Caspian Gull Larus cachinnans
Great Cormorant Phalacrocorax carbo
Golden Eagle Aquila chrysaetos
Shikra Tachyspiza badia
Pallid Harrier Circus macrourus
Black Kite Milvus migrans
Common Buzzard Buteo buteo
Long-legged Buzzard B. rufinus
Ural Owl Strix uralensis
Eurasian Hoopoe Upupa epops
Eurasian Three-toed Woodpecker Picoides tridactylus
Lesser Spotted Woodpecker Dryobates minor
White-backed Woodpecker Dendrocopos leucotos
Grey-headed Woodpecker Picus canus
Common Kestrel Falco tinnunculus
Eurasian Hobby F. subbuteo
Red-backed Shrike Lanius collurio
Red-tailed Shrike L. phoenicuroides
Siberian Jay Perisoreus infaustus
Eurasian Magpie Pica pica
Northern Nutcracker Nucifraga caryocatactes
Hooded Crow Corvus cornix
Carrion Crow C. corone
Northern Raven C. corax
Coal Tit Periparus ater
Willow Tit Poecile montanus
Great Tit Parus major
Black Lark Melanocorypha yeltoniensis
Barn Swallow Hirundo rustica
European Red-rumped Swallow Cecropis rufula
White-browed Tit-Warbler Leptopoecile sophiae
Hume’s Leaf Warbler Phylloscopus humei
Common Chiffchaff P. collybita
Greenish Warbler P. trochiloides
Blyth’s Reed Warbler Acrocephalus dumetorum
Pallas’s Grasshopper Warbler Helopsaltes certhiola
Common Grasshopper Warbler Locustella naevia
Lesser Whitethroat Curruca curruca
Common Whitethroat C. communis
Goldcrest Regulus regulus
Eurasian Nuthatch Sitta europaea
Common Myna Acridotheres tristis
White’s Thrush Zoothera aurea
Mistle Thrush Turdus viscivorus
Common Blackbird T. merula
Fieldfare T. pilaris
Black-throated Thrush T. atrogularis
Dark-sided Flycatcher Muscicapa sibirica
Spotted Flycatcher M. striata
Thrush Nightingale Luscinia luscinia
Bluethroat L. svecica
Siberian Rubythroat Calliope calliope
Siberian Blue Robin Larvivora cyane
Taiga Flycatcher Ficedula albicilla
Red-flanked Bluetail Tarsiger cyanurus
Blue-capped Redstart Phoenicurus coeruleocephala
Common Redstart P. phoenicurus
Whinchat Saxicola rubetra
Siberian Stonechat S. maurus
Isabelline Wheatear Oenanthe isabellina
Rock Sparrow Petronia petronia
Eurasian Tree Sparrow Passer montanus
Alpine Accentor Prunella collaris
Grey Wagtail Motacilla cinerea
White Wagtail M. alba
Richard’s Pipit Anthus richardi
Tawny Pipit A. campestris
Tree Pipit A. trivialis
Water Pipit A. spinoletta
Eurasian Chaffinch Fringilla coelebs
Eurasian Bullfinch Pyrrhula pyrrhula
Crimson-winged Finch Rhodopechys sanguineus
Mongolian Finch Bucanetes mongolicus
Plain Mountain Finch Leucosticte nemoricola
Common Rosefinch Carpodacus erythrinus
European Greenfinch Chloris chloris
Twite Linaria flavirostris
Common Linnet L. cannabina
Red Crossbill Loxia curvirostra
Grey-crowned Goldfinch Carduelis caniceps
Yellowhammer Emberiza citrinella
Pine Bunting E. leucocephalos
Common Reed Bunting E. schoeniclus
BIRDING CENTRAL EURASIA
Read Mark Havenhand’s series on birding Central Eurasia:
• Birding the Caucasus Mountains in Georgia: The avifauna of Georgia is rich—a mix of species well-known to Europeans plus plenty that occur in western China, particularly Xinjiang. Explorers wishing to understand the birds of the vast Eurasian interior will profit from a visit to the Caucasus Mountains.
• Birding Eastern Kazakhstan (you are here)
See also our coverage of Chinese Central Eurasia:
The shanghaibirding.com Index Page on Xinjiang: Birding in Xinjiang is the adventure of a lifetime. In China’s largest and most northwesterly province, the birds, natural scenery, and people, including people wearing the uniforms of the state, are endlessly fascinating. See the complete list of our posts, including one by renowned author John MacKinnon.
The shanghaibirding.com Index Page on Qinghai: Start here for a list of our posts on birding in Qinghai. The Yellow, Yangtze, and Mekong rivers rise in the sparsely populated province, which lies almost entirely on the Tibetan Plateau. Qinghai is big—three times larger than the United Kingdom and slightly larger than Texas. The average elevation is more than 3000 m (9,800 ft.).
Featured photo: Among the birds of Kazakhstan are species familiar to birders who have worked in neighboring Xinjiang. Clockwise from L: Long-legged Buzzard, Fieldfare, Grey-crowned Goldfinch, Tree Pipit, and Black-throated Thrush. All photographed in Xinjiang by shanghaibirding.com founder Craig Brelsford.
This post is pretty incredible.
I can’t imagine only running into a couple of other people per day, let alone what that probably means for the local nature!
Excellent article. I am always interested to read reports from areas which are not so much on the global birding map.