21st May - 3rd June 2012

The following small selection of bird images were taken on a birding trip to Kazakhstan and which was purchased from the Norwegian Ornithological Society's birding company NOF-Travel but organized in Kazakhstan by Rubythroat Birding. This was a pure birding trip aimed at seeing as many species as possible and no priority was given for bird photography although of course it was possible to document many observations at most locations. Unfortunatly these images are not always of the highest quality due to hazy photography conditions not helped by the originals being taken as jpegs. However, presenting them here will give an idea of some of the exciting birding that can be had from a trip this amazing country. Our group consisted of 14 Norwegian birders which included the NOF-Travel representative, plus a local guide, a language translator and a driver. The itinerary was divided in two with the first part starting in the south of the country out from Almaty (earlier named Alma Alta) and the second part in the north out from the new capital Nur-Sultan (called Astana in 2012). The flight between these cities was by Air Astana and included in the total price. Accommodation varied from simple cheap hostels, a desert yurt, and hunting lodges all of generally simple quality, but every night was spent at fantastic birding localities. Food served during the whole trip was basic or simple local dishes often washed down with very strong and cheap local beer. We were transported between locations by coaches of varying standard and occasionally several skeptical participants showed concern about the safety factor of one coach that we used, although there were no real issues during the whole trip. Kazakhstan offers many species that are very rare in the Western Palearctic and also some exciting Asian ones, but the impression I got was that it is essential to know where the different localities are for each species and that there is very little to see between these. Unfortunatly most of the exact localities were not noted and this reflects why they are mostly missing from these images. 

We managed to see ca. 250 bird species plus 12 additional subspecies, some interesting mammals and several butterfly species that you could only dream of finding in Europe.

To sum up, Kazakhstan is a fantastic birding country to visit although would be impossible without a local birding guide with knowlege of all the localities. Rubythroat Birding can be thoroughly recommended to other photobirders, particularly if a bird photography agreement could be made, but don't expect quality accommodation or gourmet food, just fantastic birding.

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