This is undoubtedly the worst gallery of any species among nearly 2,000 bird galleries on my website. You have to trust the author a bit to believe that it is indeed this bird in the photos, rather than another – a bit of irony about my photographic failure to capture the Arabian bustard. These are not really photos, but more like painted pictures. Usually, I don’t create galleries for species photographed in less than documentary quality during my trips, but I made an exception for the Macqueen's Bustard. Why? Because this species was one of the reasons I went to Kazakhstan. I really wanted to see the Macqueen's Bustard and, of course, take pictures. This species is part of Poland’s fauna and belongs to the bustard family, which I have favored for years. At sunrise, I saw the Macqueen's Bustard courtship dance through the spotting scope. Amazing, beautiful! It’s unforgettable. Then I tried to get closer to the birds, but unfortunately without success. The birds were shy and considered a few hundred meters a safe distance. To illustrate how far the birds were, I included one photo (currently the last in the gallery) without cropping, taken with a 600 mm lens, a 2x converter, and a full-frame camera, giving a focal length of 1200 mm! The birds moved among small shrubs like in a labyrinth, appearing and disappearing constantly. It’s unlikely I will have another chance to see these birds, so I created the gallery. In the past, it was similar with the galleries of the Eurasian Thick-knee, Greater Spotted Eagle, Pallas's gull, and others. Who knows? Maybe the content of this gallery will unexpectedly improve, but after what I saw in Kazakhstan – how shy and elusive these birds are and considering their range – it probably won’t happen soon.

KAZACHSTAN-j.ANGIELSKI

Body

Kazakhstan – 05/2024- introductory text – Black Lark
NEWS galery
BIRDS:
1.Black Lark(T). 2.White-winged lark(V). 3.Bimacula  ted lark. 4. Oriental Turtle-Dove. 5. Booted Warbler.(V) 6.Paddyfield Warbler(V). 7.Red-headed Bunting(V). 8.Terek Sandpiper. 9.Turkestan Shrike. 10.Macqueen's Bustard. 11.Magellanic Plover. 12.Sykes's Warbler(V). 13.Brown Dipper(T).14.Pallid Scops-Owl 15.Grey-necked Bunting. 16.Saxaul Sparrow(V) 17.White-winged Woodpecker(V). 18.Pale-backed Pigeon. 19.Hume's Whitethroat.
MAMMALS : 1.Great gerbil. 2.Goitered gazelle.
REPTILES : 1.Russian tortoise. 2.Steppe agama. 3.Secret toadhead agama.

CHANGES in Galleries:
BIRDS:
1.Black-bellied sandgrouse(V). 2.Pallas's gull(V). 3.Calandra Lark. 4.Lesser Grey Shrike (V). 5.Red-footed Falcon. 6. Eurasian Sparrowhawk. 7.Eurasian hobby. 8.Long-legged buzzard. 9.Marsh harrier. 10.Pallid Harrier. 11.Montagu's Harrier. 12.Black Kite. 13.Northern Wheatear. 14.Isabelline wheatear. 15.Pied Wheatear.16.Temminck's Stint. 17.Barn Swallow. 18.Blue Whistling-Thrush. 19.Rosy Starling(T,V). 20.Ruddy shelduck. 21.Demoiselle Crane. 22.Brown-necked Raven. 23.Eurasian Tree Sparrow. 24.Bluethroat. 25.Common Cuckoo. 26.Common Myna. 27.Spotted Flycatcher. 28.Rufous-tailed Rock Thrush. 29.White Wagtail. 30.Western Yellow Wagtail. 31.Citrine wagtail. 32.White-throated dipper. 33.Redstart. 34.Common Tern. 35.Caspian Tern. 36.White-winged Tern. 37.Black-tailed Godwit. 38.Greater Sand Plove. 39. Azure Tit. 40.Short-toed Lark. 41.Mediterranean Short-toed Lark. 42.Tawny Pipit. 43.Buff-browed Warbler. 44.Ortolan Bunting. 45.Eurasian skylark. 46.Crested Lark. 47.Siberian Stonechat. 48.Wood Sandpiper. 49.Caspian Gull. 50.Red-crested pochard. 51.House Sparrow. 52.White-tailed eagle. 53.Great Tit. 54.Western Jackdaw. 55.European Roller. 56.Egyptian vulture. 57.Chukar patridge.58.Shikra(V).

Kazakhstan FAUNA        Kazakhstan FLORA         Kazakhstan KRAJOBRAZ              Kazakhstan ASTANA

Kazakhstan diaporama - YouTube