Bird Watching
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Kyrgyz postage stamps featuring Birds of Prey
When I was at school, one of my friends, Paul, got tired of not having anything to do during the long lunch break, that he decided to organize a club … and because he was an avid bird watcher, he set up an Ornithological Club. I can’t remember how many members he recruited – but I do remember going to the first meeting, to offer support, and to a couple of others … when the weather was bad and they showed a film.
The trouble is that I have problems identifying many birds, unless I see them close up. Some are fairly easy: the Robin with its distinctive red breast and the Kingfisher, the mynah bird – a fairly common sight here in Bishkek. The majority, however, blur one with another. There are so many different species and varieties that I easily get confused.
I should have an easier time here as there are less than 250 species of birds in Kyrgyzstan, (according to The Atlas of Birds: Diversity, Behavior, and Conservation by Mike Unwin – although other lists report some 400 – see my postcard Birds), whereas in Britain, there are something like 600.
I was once asked about the possibility of organizing a bird watching tour for ornithologists … and I admit to “chickening out” (pun intended). The problem, I felt, was in being able to guarantee people the chance of seeing a selection of interesting birds. I don’t like “promising” things that I am not certain that I can actually deliver.
Guarantee is a strong word … a formal promise or assurance that something will be fulfilled, and in the event that it isn’t some recompense if, for some reason, it is not, (for example the repair or replacement of a piece of equipment if it breaks down within a given period).
Sometimes people are fairly free and easy with their use of language – especially when they are speaking in a foreign language, (e.g. English), and I often have to take someone to task for “guaranteeing” me something which I consider they can’t realistically be expected to deliver. I point out to them that their lackadaisical use of the word tells me that either they don’t understand English – or that they don’t understand what they are promising … which suggests that they are not serious as potential partners.
That’s not to say that we won’t organize a Bird Watching trip – just that we are anxious about ensuring satisfying a client’s wishes.
It’s not that we don’t have interesting birds … just that they are wild and it can be difficult in “guaranteeing” that one will encounter a number of them on any particular trip. I have seen many eagles, for example, during my eighteen years here in Kyrgyzstan … and I was been “as thrilled as the next man” to see a white eagle rise up a valley towards Lake Son Kul … riding on a thermal air flow before soaring away over us towards the lake … but that’s only happened once in eighteen years.
On another occasion, I was asked by a tourist, (who was travelling the Great Silk Road and using our services to organize a trip across the Torugart Pass to Kashgar in China), about her chances of seeing some Cranes – and I replied that it was possible: it was the right time of year when they were known to migrate across Kyrgyzstan and the itinerary included three areas where they were known to frequent: Issul Kul, Son Kul and Chatyr Kul … but that I couldn’t guarantee it. I am pleased to say that she got her wish … but I felt anxious about possibly letting her down right up until after the tour was over and the guide reported back that they had indeed seen some..
Incidentally, today is the World Day of Cranes – although these birds, which originated back in the days of the dinosaurs, originated in the Americas, they migrated across Asia and Africa and even to Australia … and are now widespread throughout much of the world. Having said that, several species of Crane are listed as endangered. The first “Crane Day” was celebrated in 2002 as part of a campaign to protect the Whooping Crane in the United States.
Oh, and here’s an interesting article on Whooping Cranes teaching their young migratory routes from National Geographic
Of the 57 species of birds that are found in Kyrgyzstan that are considered to be endangered, and therefore – presumably – of most interest to serious ornithologists, the chances of seeing any particular species on a visit seems pretty remote.
As I said, however, that’s not to say that we won’t organize a Bird Watching trip – just that we are anxious about ensuring satisfying a client’s wishes … and as a result we tend to issue a wide range of qualifiers.
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Bishkek