Wood lark is rare passage migrant in Kazakhstan. 3rd photo record in website www.birds.kz. It should also be noted that date of record (11th of July) indicates to possible of breeding.

First record of Yellow-browed Bunting in Kazakhstan.

Rare and northernmost record in Kazakhstan. Forth record, prevoius three ones were in South-Easthern Kazakhstan: July 4th 2009, December 7th 2013 (both Sorbilak lake), and from December 13, 2014 to January 24, 2015 (Taldykurgan).

New species for Kazakhstan.

The second record of the Woodchat Shrike in Kazakhstan. The first one was recorded on May 3, 2015, also in Aktau (Mangistau).

Rare passage migrant. One bird was observed in flock of the Greater White-fronted Gooses.

The second record of the Spanish Sparrow in the region. One female kept in a flock of the Tree Sparrow. Before one male was observed on the south coast of Tengiz on July 27, 2000 (Koshkin, 2017). This is still the most northern records of vagrant birds of this species.

Rare record for Mangyshlak peninsuls. In the middle of the last century Red-breasted Goose was common migrant in coast of Mangyshlak (Gubin, 2015), due wintering place was in Southern Caspian Sea. Then wintering places moved to Black Sea coast in Bulgaria, Romania and Ukraine, in that regard the migration path changed.

Губин Б.М. Орнитофауна п-ова Мангышлак // Птицы пустынь Казахстана. Часть 1. Алматы, 2015.

Полевой определитель гусеобразных птиц России / ред.-сост. Е. Е. Сыроечковский. - Москва: Рабочая группа по гусеобразным Северной Евразии: Всероссийский научно-исследовательский ин-т охраны природы, 2011

Rare vagrant, far from the basic migration path.

The nothernmost winter record of Little Grebe in Kazakhstan. Usual Little Grebe winterings are in southern and south-eastern Kazakhstan, but recent years wintering range enlarged to North-East up to Alacol depression (Berezovikov, 2005, 2012).

First winter record for Kazakhstan, second one for Central Asia. First single bird was recorded January 16, 2009 at Issyk-Kul lake.

Kulagin S, Sagymbayev S, Flechtner S, 2008. First winter record of Glossy Ibis (Plegadis falcinellus) in Cenral Asia // Selevinia: 259.

The northernmost record of Wallcreeper in Kazakhstan. Outside Kazakstan only two more northern records from Alatisky Krai of Russia are known: valley of Chu river (S.Pisarevsky, sibirds.ru) and mouth of Ursul river (V.Pankratov, sibirds.ru).

New species of Naurzum Reserve. In northern part of Kazakhstan Pygmy
Cormorant previously was recorded at October 6th, 1998 in Kulykol lake
(Pynnonen, 1999), about 180 km to west from the point of new record.
Also singles or group of 2-80 birds were regularly observed in
Kurgaldzhin Reserve since 2001.

Ерохов С.Н., Березовиков Н.Н. 2009. Материалы к орнитофауне озёрной
степи и лесостепи Кустанайской области. Часть 1 // Рус. орнитол. журн.
18 (516): 1715-1742.
Кошкин А.В. 2017. Орнитофауна Тениз-Коргалжынского региона (Центральный
Казахстан) // Рус. орнитол. журн. 26 (1415): 909-956.

Rare vagrant visitors in SE Kazakhstan.

Rare vagrant bird. First record in western part of Kazakhstan. Before observed in Central Kazakhstan (Kurgaldzhino), and in S and SE Kazakhstan.

Second photo record of Long-billed Dowitcher in Kazakhstan. The first one was recorded in Sorbulak lakes too at September 7th, 2014 (Fedorenko, Isabekov, Dyakin, 2014). Group of birdwatchers with Peter Kennely also watched this bird in Sholak lake near Kurgaldzhino village at May 15, 2005, but unfortunately no evidence of this record was provided.
Орнитологический вестник Казахстана и Средней Азии, вып. 3, Алматы, 2014: 211-212

The second record for Tengiz-Korgalzhyn area. Before this record one bird was observed at December 12, 1969 in floodland of Nura river.
Кошкин А.В. 2017. Орнитофауна Тениз-Коргалжынского региона (Центральный Казахстан) // Рус. орнитол. журн. 26 (1415): 909-956.

Fist record of Amur Wagtail (Motacilla alba leucopsis) in Kazakhstan. Most of systematics treat this taxon as subspecies of White Wagtail (Mac Kinnon&Phillips, 2000; Степанян, 2003; Roberts, 2006; Brazil, 2014; Clements, 2016; HBW, 2016) but include it to special group of eastern races. Breeding range of this bird contains Far East Russia, Korea peninsula, SW Japan, central and eastern China. Winters in Southern Asia eastward to Northern India. Records of vagrant birds known in Vitim Reserve (Russia, Northern Trans-Baikal area) at April 29, 2014 (S.L.Volkov, www.sibrids.ru) and in Eastern Mongolia (Gombobaatar & Monks, 2011). From November 27 to December 2 of 2015 one male was observed in Finland (Kujala, Päijät-Häme), it's third record in Western Palearctic.

The first nest of Altai Snowcock found in Kazakhstan. Previously only several broods were recorded.

New species for Sorbulak system.

Rare record for Mangyshlak peninsula. Previously the following records are known: June 1-2 1888 in area of Sherkala mountain and Akmysh well, May 06, 1947 in vicinity of Fort-Shevchenko, May 07, 1964 in Danga, May 17, 2009 near Kaundy depression, and May 09, 2017 in the square of Aktau city.

The new species for Moinkum desert. The known breeding range of Finsch's Wheatear in Kazakhstan covers Mangyshlak, Ustyurt and Kyzylkum desert. The records in area eastward of Syrdaria river were not known. In May of 2017, Sergey Domashevski recorded adults and huveniles in Togyzkentau, NW of Moinkum desert. This record indicate to expantion of breeding range in eastern direction.

New species for Kazakhstan. The closest breeding spots are located in Turkmenistan, at a distance about 600 km (Stepanyan, 2003). Also recorded in areas near southern cliff of Ustyurt (Mischenko, Scherbak, 1980; Bukreev, 1997), 400 km in south of this record. In the western coast of Caspian Sea Pale Rock-Finch lives in NE Dagestan (400 km in west direction, behind the sea). It should also be noted that Sergei Bukreev (2000) found birds with territotial behavior in Baskunchak lake (48˚N) near Kazakhstan-Russia border; this record is much more north than Caucasus and Mangyshlak (43˚-44˚N), about 600 km to NW.

One more record of rare vagrant visitor in Kazakhstan.

Rare record of Blue Whistling Thrush ouside the Northern Tian Shan. In addition to this record the following ones are known: in Taukum desert (April 28-29 1996, Berezovikov, Erokhov, 1996); in Chulak mountains (April 14 1973, Kovshar, Berezovikov, 2001); and in upper Charyn river (June 14 1980, Kubykin, 1991).

The first record in Mangyshlak peninsula. The closest breeding spots of Wallcreeper are located in Kopetdag and Great Balkhan mountains (Turkmenia), more than 500 kms to south.

First photo of rare wintering species in Sorbulak, and generelly in SE Kazakhstan. Before this record male and female were observed in flock of Tufted Ducks at February 2nd, 2003; and single bird at Jabuary 18th, February 21st, and March 13th of 2004 (Belyalov, Karpov 2012).

Second record of Dunnock in South-Easten Kazkahstan. Only one record for region was known before: at January 10, 1993 in northern foothills of Zailisky Alatau ridge, in sandthorn thickets of Chilik river four Dunnocks were recorded (Губин, 2002).

First winter record in Sorbulak lakes. Only spring records are known before this one: May 30, 1995 (Erokhov, 2002), April 11, 1999 (Grachev, 2002), and April 23, 2017 (Dyakin, www.birds.kz). In winter time Pygmy Cormorant is not rare in Chardara reservoir (Erokhov et al, 2006; Kovalenko, Kravchenko, 2007; Kovalenko, Karpov, 2008); recent years was observed in Taraz (Kolbintsev, 2009; M.Nukusbekov, www.birds.kz; A.Balykin, www.birds.kz), in foothill part of Chu river valley (Belyalov, Karpov, 2009), one specimen was photographed at December 23, 2017 in Taldykurgan vicinity (A.Belyaev, www.birds.kz).

Rare observation of Black Kite in Kazakhstan in winter time. Previously in winter time recorded in Almaty oblast (Karpov, Belyalov, 2009; Berezovikov, 2014; S.Shmygalev, www.birds.kz); in Mangyshlak (Yasko, 2017); and in Chardara (A.Kovalenko, www.birds.kz).

Березовиков Н.Н. 2014. Зимняя встреча черноухого коршуна Milvus migrans lineatus в городе Алматы // Рус. орнитол. журн. 23 (1082): 3957.
Карпов Ф.Ф., Белялов О.В. 2009. О зимней встрече чёрного коршуна в Алматинской области // Selevinia: 234.
Ясько А.О. 2017. Орнитологические наблюдения в городе Актау // Рус. орнитол. журн. 26 (1399): 382-394.

First record in Mangyshlak peninsula.

The second winter record of Black Redstart in S and SE Kazakhstan. Before this record one male was observed in 7th of February, 1998 in Zhabagly village (Чаликова, 2008).

First winter record in Dzhungar Alatau area. The closest wintering spots of Pygmy Cormorant are known in Chu river valley near Korday village, border of Kyrgyz Republic (Белялов, Карпов 2008). Also in wintering recorded in Issyk-Kul lake (Кулагин 2006).

Белялов О.В., Карпов Ф.Ф. 2008. Обследование мест зимовки птиц в предгорной части поймы реки Чу // Каз. орнитол. бюл.: 88-93. Кулагин С.В. 2008. Малый баклан Phalacrocorax pygmaeus – новый зимующий вид Иссык-Куля // Рус. орнитол. журн. 17 (435): 1262 [2006].

First record of so huge number of wintering White-winged Larks in Kazahstan. In Arys irrigated lands the observers recorded eight flocks of 150 to 15 000 birds, totally about 30 000 birds. The reason of the concentration of Larks in one spot is the snowy weather in the day before the day of record.

The first photo record of this subspecies on the site birds.kz.

The second record in Semirechye. From November 17 to December 7 one Lesser White-fronted Goose and five White-fronted Geese were observed together at one of Karachingil lakes. Before this 3 birds had been met on March 9th of 2003 in the floodplain of Kopy near the Saz railway station (Karpov, Belyalov, Kovshar 2004).
Карпов Ф.Ф., Белялов О.В., Ковшарь В.А. Первая встреча пискульки на юго-востоке Казахстана//Каз. орнитол. бюлл. 2003. Алматы, 2004. С. 135.

The first record on Mangyshlak. The nearest known record points are located too much to east: Karatau ridge (Nukusbekov, www.birds.kz; Chalikova, Kolbintsev, 2005) and the foothills of Talas Alatau (Belousov, www.birds.kz).

The easternmost record in Kazakhstan. During migration Blackcap mostly occurs in Western Kazakhstan. For a long time the easternmost record was the observation in Borovoe (Shtegman, 1934). In Kurgaldzhino birds were recorded both in spring and autumn migration (Koshkin, 2017). In Russia this species distributes in east up to Tomsk and Kemerovo oblast (Ryabitsev, 2014; Vasilchenko, 2004). In China first Blackcap was recorded in 2012 in Kashi (Guo H., Ma M., 2013), also birds were later observed at November 21st and December 29th of 2013 (www.xinjiang.birds.watch). Probably the occurring of Blackcaps so far to east relates to the new wintering spots of the eastern populations of this species.

Васильченко А.А. «Птицы Кемеровской области». Кемерово: Кузбассвузиздат, 2004-488 с. Гаврилов Э.И. "Фауна и распространение птиц Казахстана". Алматы, 1999. Кошкин А.В. 2017. Орнитофауна Тениз-Коргалжынского региона (Центральный Казахстан) // Рус. орнитол. журн. 26 (1415): 909-956.
Рябицев В.К. "Птицы Сибири". Москва-Екатеринбург, Изд-во "Кабинетный ученый", 2014. Guo H., Ma M. Eurasian Blackcap (Sylvia atricapilla)-a new bird record in China [Chinese]. Zoological Research, 2013, Oct. 34(5). P. 507-508

Rare migrant in Almaty oblast, and first record for Altyn-Emel National Park.