Birding in Uzbekistan Highlights

Check out the details of my next planned Central Asia Birding Tour that includes Uzbekistan.

The undoubted ornithological highlight in Uzbekistan, and the bird that attracts most people to visit this fantastic country is Turkestan Ground Jay Podoces panderi.

Found only in arid areas of Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan, Turkestan Ground Jay has an extremely limited global range and, like many birds, it is under threat from a variety of issues such as desertification and human encroachment. However, in the semi-desert within a few hours of the city of Bukhara they are fairly easy to see and watching them call from the top of stringy vegetation as the sun rises is a very memorable birding spectacle indeed.

The Kyzylkum desert does not have many distinguishing features so it is wise not to walk too far away from the road to avoid getting lost. Just driving along the highway through the desert provides birders with plenty of opportunities to see Turkestan Ground Jay and in this way it is possible to find family groups of this special bird at the right time of the year. When the adults are feeding recently fledged young they sometimes come quite close as they search for food, providing good photo opportunities.

Due to the inaccessibility of much of the range of Turkestan Ground Jay it is rather difficult to know exactly how many of them exist and although they are listed as "Least Concern" from a conservation point of view, the population is known to be declining. 

Turkestand Ground Jay has also been know as Pander's Ground Jay and Saxaul Ground Jay.

When I first thought about visiting Uzbekistan I did not really know what to expect. Of course I had heard of the city of Samarkand which sort of conjoured up ideas of rocky deserts and plateaus and while those habitats do exist I was surprised to find large areas of European style arable farmland and havig done some research I was drawn to areas of high, snowy mountains. However if you want to see a lot of birds then visit a lot of habitats and with woodland, river valleys, lakes as well as mountains and desert a lot of different species of birds can be seen in Uzbekistan.

Cool weather, incredible views, beautiful birds, top quality hotels and long walks in enormous landscapes make birding in the mountains in Uzbekistan a wonderful experience. In the north and east of the country there are high mountains along the borders with Tajikstan, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan with peaks over 4000 metres covered in snow all year round. Birds such as the cute Azure Tit are common in shrubby vegetation along valleys and low hillsides while large raptors such as the massive Himalayan Griffon Vulture cruise overhead at higher altitude.

Zaamin National Park is particularly good for birders with a lot of higher altitude species being very accessible. Mountain species such as White-winged Grosbeak, Blue-capped Redstart and Rufous-naped Tit can be found easily here but the real speciality for many birders is Blyth's Rosefinch, which is not uncommon at this beautiful location. I have a more comprehensive account of birding at Zaamin NP here - Independent Birding at Zaamin National Park.

If you like long mountain walks while doing your birding then Chimgan in northern Uzbekistan is perfect for you. Birding along the river valley at Chimgan produces birds such as White-crowned Penduline Tit, Common Nightingale, Indian Golden Oriole, European Red-rumped Swallow and Hume's Lesser Whitethroat while walking uphill, through juniper copses into open Alpine meadows and snowy peaks can turn up species such as Eastern Rock Nuthatch, Lammergeier, White-capped Bunting and Rufous-naped Tit; Mountain Birding from Chimgan.

While perhaps not the first habitat many people would associate with Uzbekistan, there is some exceptional high mountain scenery within the country and lots of great birds that inhabit them.

Wetlands situated within a greater arid landscape obviously attract a large number of birds and this is the case in Uzbekistan.

On the tours I lead I always include a visit to the Jeyran Ecocentre, an hour from Bukhara city centre and here we always find a lot of good birds. The noisy White-tailed Lapwing usually finds us rather than the other way around as it warns us not to go close to its nest and anywhere there are reeds usually has the song of Clamorous Reed Warbler eminating from it in the spring. Species such as Western Marsh Harrier, Red-crested Pochard, Common Tern, Pygmy Cormorant and Red-necked Phalarope are obviously attracted to water by their very nature but there are also a lot of birds that live in the vegetation that grows around wetlands because of the abundance of water. Birds such as Rufous-tailed Scrub Robin, Menetries's Warbler, Little Owl and Sykes's Warbler can all be found in these areas too.

Checklist of the Birds of Jeyran Ecocentre

How could you not enjoy seeing Red-crested Pochard? With its colourful head and bright red bill contrasting with the rest of its black and white plumage makes this a really striking duck. This is probably the commonest duck in Uzbekistan's wetlands in the breeding season and it is easy to see.

On one trip in 2024 we watched a family group of Red-crested Pochards swim across a lake into an area of aquatic vegetation but were horrified to see a Western Marsh Harrier swoop in and take a duckling. Around ten minutes later the harrier returned and took another duckling, presumably it also had young in a nest nearby somewhere and they also needed food. Nature can be brutal at times.

Western Marsh Harrier is the largest raptor likely to be seen around most wetlands in Uzbekistan and in fact it is rather common as soon as there is any habitat with water and reeds. 

When a Marsh Harrier comes cruising over a reed bed and is suddenly silhouetted against the sky many other birds will take off and some, such as White-tailed Lapwing, will launch an aerial attack in an attempt to drive it off and away from its young. Some, like the Red-crested Pochard as described above, try to hide but are not always successful in eluding such a voracious predator.

As one travels north from Samarkand to the capital city of Tashkent there are large areas of wet farmland, it seems like rice growing land along with wet ditches and some fishponds, where White Stork suddenly becomes very common.

Traveling either by car or train there are White Stork nests on every pylon or wire-carrying pole along the way with some actually supporting two or three of these massive nests. I took this photograph at a fuel station along the highway where there were several nests and the birds were totally unconcerned about all the people milling around underneath.

In stands of reeds where there are shallow pools of water silence reigns for much of the year until in late April migratory warblers arrive including Clamorous Reed Warbler which broadcasts its song from high up on reed stems.

The word "warbler" conjures up the idea of a beautiful song to most people but the song of Clamorous Reed Warbler, and most other birds in the same genus, is just a collection of scratchy sounds delivered in a jumble of phrases; not exactly the sweet melody that the name "warbler" might poetically imply. However, in these wetlands Clamorous Reed Warbler brings the reedbeds alive.

The Kyzylkum Desert stretches across a large part of Western Uzbekistan across the border into Turkmenistan and some of Southwestern Kazakhstan. Travelling into the desert from Bukhara the landscape is mostly flat, stony and covered in spindly shrubs and I think it fits most people's idea of a semi desert rather than the completely vegetation-free landscape that the word "desert" implies to most people.

Turkestan Ground Jay is the key species for birders here.

The tiny Streaked Scrub Warbler is another species that occupies the same habitat as the Turkestan Ground Jay, moving around in the saxaul scrub in jolly parties as they search for food.

Desert Finch is another bird that occurs in small groups within this semi-desert habitat, coming to ephemeral puddles to drink and bathe and nesting where the odd small tree occurs.

Many other birds can also be found in the desert, mostly where there are areas of water and vegetation which often occur close to where humans have provided water for livestock. These small pockets of irrigation host birds such as Blue-cheeked Bee-eater, Eurasian Hoopoe, Sykes's Warbler and a number of migrants in spring and autumn while Crested Lark is ditributed across the stony plains.

Most birdwatchers visiting the Kyzylkum Desert will stay in the city of Bukhara. This historic city was once an unwelcome place for many foreigners but these days welcomes an increasing number of tourists. 

The old city is an incredible place to visit, like stepping into a set from Indian Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark, full of beautiful architecture, Islamic monuments and colourful bazaars.

Craggy, green stony hills occur in the foothills of much larger mountains in a belt south of the city of Samarkand and these make for an excellent birding location with a number of sought-after species present that are scarce and/or have world ranges in countries that are hard to access elsewhere.

These hills are very pleasant to hike around, very undemanding but at the same time they give one the feeling of being enveloped in wilderness with some high quality birds like Finsch's Wheatear to be found.

Other exciting birds in this habitat include;

• Eastern Rock Nuthatch
• White-throated Robin
• Hume's Lark
• Pied Wheatear
• Red-headed Bunting
• Griffon Vulture
• Upcher's Warbler
• Grey-crowned Goldfinch

Visiting the areas of rocky hills for key birds is best done from the city of Samarkand which is a must-visit location in itself with its plethora of ancient Islamic buildings. For us birders, Alpine Swifts are common around the madrasas and mosques.

If you would like to go birding in Uzbekistan why not join me on my next trip to Central Asia? On this trip you will not only see all the birds I have presented in this article but you get to learn a lot about the birds and the conservation issues that affect them.

Central Asia Birding Tour

The groups I lead in Central Asia always have a good time as well as enjoying the birds with a great atmosphere throughout the tour as we enjoy some local food, local drinks and good discussion about the birds we have seen and the places we visit.