Unfortunately I endured another poor night's sleep due to the heat and the preceding long day. The fatigue was really starting to hit me now, reducing my motivation and enthusiasm. We started by staking out a watering hole but I struggled to stay awake which was a pity (and I knew it) because the birding was epic. We had Brandti Shorelark, Greater Short-toed Lark, Tree Pipit, Grey-necked Bunting, Mongolian Finch, Izzy Wheatear, Tawny Pipit and Pallas's Sandgrouse. If I hadn't taken some photos I'd have very little recollection of the birds we saw.
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| Doesn't look like much of a watering hole but the birds here were epic! |
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| Mongolian Finch |
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| Grey-necked Bunting |
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| Brandti Shorelark |
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| Small flock of Pallas's Sandgrouse |
I can't help feeling a bit sad looking the above photos. I was struggling to stay awake and managed only very mediocre photos of some amazing birds. There wasn't really anything I could do about it other than power through it all, I reasoned with myself that I could rest when I got home because I might never be here again.
We stopped at the Kopek pass for White-capped Bunting. ebird checklist here.
As we approached the old capital of Almaty we looked for Indian Golden Oriole and managed to find five of these elegant albeit rather skulking birds. We also had two Long-tailed Shrike in the same area.
Another stop further along we had a pair of Indian Golden Oriole's by a nest.
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| Indian Golden Oriole |
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| Just hitting rush hour in Almaty |
We arrived into Almaty and checked into our hotel. The heat of the desert was now behind us and my room had a nice comfy looking bed, I hoped to finally catch up on some much needed sleep. The hotel itself was very interesting. It came complete with a Bird of Prey aviary containing mostly Lanner Falcons that had been confiscated by customs as they were being smuggled out of the country!! All in all a rather sad sight to see. We had singing Blue Whistling Thrush along the river beside the hotel and after dark a Eurasian Scops Owl sang outside my room.
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