Reed and Birds

22.06.2014

The next three month of my fieldwork in Kazakhstan are all about reed (Phragmites communis) and birds in the Ili Delta.
We just returned from Basa Delta, which is my first bird observation site. The stop along the way in Karoy, Niels and Ayan use for more reed sampling. And I continue studying the local bird fauna.

Everywhere Typha and reed
Überall Rohrkolben und Schilf
Typha latifolia et Phragmites communis



Turkestan Shrike
Rotschwanzwürger
Lanius phoenicuroides






That's my main problem ... Already gone ... What was it now?

Niels and Ayan are going to cut some more reed!
Niels is examining the biomass production of reed in the Ili Delta region. Therefore at every site, that he wants to investigate, he marks a waypoint. Around that point he goes 20 m to the north, 20 m west, south and also 20 m to the east. So he gets four subpoints, where he cuts the reed in a 1 m². He counts the reed stems and divides these into dead and alive ones.

Of the alive reed, he randomly picks out 10 stems. These need to be measured in length, the diameter at the interface and the number of leaves.
It takes a while ... So I have enough time for my bird watching.

Crows
Rabenkrähen
Corvus corone



Dragonfly
Libelle
Odonata

Tomorrow we will drive back to Bakanas, where we will meet Clare and professor Nurtazin again. Afterwards I will see Kuygan, my secound bird observation site, the first time!

____________________