Most of the time I was in Kazakhstan, I just kind of looked around with an overwhelming sense of gratitude and wondering, “How the heck did I get here?” I also had some strange birding moments. Take the above wood sandpiper (it looks very similar to the yellowlegs we see in the US). This should [ Read More ]
Hey, if you’re looking for a good reference of collective bird names, check this out. I don’t know about you, but I’m feeling about as giddy as a a conventicle of magpies. I’ve had more than one person ask me why heron colonies are called “rookeries” and I’ve never gotten around to looking up the [ Read More ]
So in some ways it was like being around one large blended family when birding the Kazakh Steppes: What gull is that? Steppe gull. What eagle is that? Steppe eagle? Oh, cute! What mammal is that? Steppe marmot. Above is a Steppe eagle being mobbed by a hooded crows, rooks, and carrion crows (apparently the [ Read More ]
We departed Frankfurt, Germany for Kazakhstan. Our flight left in early afternoon and between the long flight and time change, it was well past 11pm when we arrived in Astana, Kazakhstan. As we de-boarded the plane, a woman in a corner wearing a lab coat and mask aimed some kind scanner at us to see [ Read More ]
