Birdwatching in Kazakhstan: where and when to go

Kazakhstan has more than 500 recorded bird species, and about 400 breed here, according to the OSME country profile. The country sits on the Central Asian flyway, used by more than 600 species according to BirdLife. Plan around spring and autumn passage.

Target birds

OSME singles out Kazakhstan for Dalmatian pelican, steppe eagle, demoiselle crane, sociable lapwing, and black and white-winged larks. Other targets include the relict gull, white-headed duck, Pallas’s sandgrouse and the Ili form of Pander’s ground jay, a subspecies found only here. Fifty-nine birds are on the national Red Book list.

Where to go

Site	Why go	Species recorded	Access
Korgalzhyn	Flamingo, Dalmatian pelican, white-headed duck, passage	365	Guide, set routes, by arrangement
Naurzum	Steppe lakes, rare passage birds	see park page	By arrangement
Alakol	Relict gull	324	By arrangement; islands closed
Ile-Balkhash	Ili delta wetlands	unconfirmed	By arrangement
Akzhaiyk	Ural delta: flamingo, pelican, swan	unconfirmed	Procedure unconfirmed

UNESCO credits the Korgalzhyn-Tengiz lakes with feeding up to 15 to 16 million birds, including up to 2.5 million geese, and up to 350,000 nesting waterfowl. Naurzum supports up to 500,000 more. Closest to Almaty is Sorbulak, the city’s treated-wastewater reservoir: its whole lake system is a Key Biodiversity Area, with thousands of breeding pairs of cormorants, gulls and terns.

Korgalzhyn: flock of pink flamingos on a shallow Korgalzhyn lake, May — Greater flamingos at Korgalzhyn. Staranya · Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0

When to go

Period	What happens	Where
Spring (May at Akzhaiyk)	Spring passage	Korgalzhyn, Akzhaiyk
Summer	Breeding, flamingo chicks	Tengiz islands, from a distance only
Autumn (September at Akzhaiyk, early October in Mangystau)	Autumn passage	Akzhaiyk, Mangystau, Korgalzhyn
December to February	Largely off-season in the north	108 wintering species recorded at Alakol

Practical notes

Bring your own optics, or ask about the kit available at the bird centre in Korgalzhyn village. Published Korgalzhyn routes run from 90 to 220 km, so start early. Access in strict reserves needs advance arrangement, usually in Russian or Kazakh. See Kazakhstan’s nature reserves. Do not approach nests or colony islands.

Not verified yet