Visit Malik's village for the Little Bustard. Day 2.

Night was with rain, morning is overcast. But already when we had breakfast (many thanks Malik and Kuralai) the sun appeared. So we went to the nests of Little Bustards with the perfect weather. Grass after rain was wet and my shoes became fully wet too with my first steps on field. Malik marked the nests found in fields by the stick, stuck into the ground (he calls it “my GPS”). But it’s impossible to view the nest even staying directly near Malik’s “GPS”, because nest is covered by the high grass. But Malik finds the nests by himself method (it’s secret to me how he do it) and begins the shamanic ritual of opening of bird. Malik very carefully clean up grass from the female sitting on nest. Malik said if you don’t touch bird by stick, bird don’t flush but continues to sit on nest. It’s really true, we saw how Malik almost full opens Bustard but bird only watch to the humans staying at one meter from nest. Fantastic! Then Malik carefully covered bird on nest by grass and we moved to the next nest where Malik repeated ritual. We took photos of bird again and went on to the gardens in foothills. Here we attracted to sound the Yellow-breasted Tit, and took photos of as if on purpose flying two Cinerious Vultures and three Eurasian Griphons. Then we came back to the yesterday nest of Little Bustard, but nest was without bird, which flew to feeding. But it was not so bad to us because we also wanted to view the eggs. Latters are dark-green, large, almost as chicken eggs. Malik said that egg shell is very stout therefore when birds feed a long time, eggs doesn’t cool even under the rain. After taking photos of eggs we went to find Great Bustards, but didn’t find them unfortunately. But we shot the male Little Bustard not in fly but in ground and from a short distance, so we can treat it as success.

After the lunch (many thanks to Malik and his wife Kuralai again), we shot the birds in the backyard (Rosy pastors, Long-tailed Shrikes, Indian Sparrow attacked the mirror), and we go back to home. On the back road we visited ters-Ashybulak when found couple of Demoiselle Cranes, nest of Northern lapwing and flock of Black-winged Pratincoles. And as fast as possible went to Almaty. On the road we twice photographed Night Herons (at Aspara and at bridge in Chu river), and once Eurasian Spoonbill (Chu). After Chu the night fallen upon us and the rest way to Almaty we were in darkness.

1. Rosy Starling (Sturnus roseus)

2. Female Little Bustard (Tetrax tetrax) on the nest

3. Red-headed Bunting (Emberiza bruniceps)

4.

5. Boraldai-Tau

6. Corn poppy (Papaver rhoeas)

7. Yellow-breasted Tit (Parus flavipectus)

8. Cinereous Vulture (Aegypius monachus)

9. Griffon Vulture (Gyps fulvus)

10. Eurasian Hobby (Falco subbuteo)

11. Ruddy Shelduck (Tadorna ferruginea)

12. Greig's Tulip (Tulipa greigii)

13. Male Little Bustard (Tetrax tetrax)

14. Indian Sparrows (Passer indicus)

15. Long-tailed Shrike (Lanius schach)

16. Demoiselle Crane (Anthropoides virgo)

17. Nest of Northern Lapwing (Vanellus vanellus)

18. Black-crowned Night Heron (Nycticorax nycticorax)