STARLING’s top bird photographer Yves Adams, the excellent floating hides of Mr. Jan Gear and the finesse of Kazakhstan specialist Rubythroat tours, a combination that must create sparks indeed! A photography tour to Kazakhstan that is organized by STARLING and STARLING only. Enjoying marsh terns, waders and ducks, with your mouth on the ground. And the setting? Breathtaking! Untouched nature of steppes and steppe lakes all the way to the horizon. You will not only come home with unique images, you will undoubtedly come back home fully recharged. What are you waiting for?

A truly unique tour

Kazakhstan during spring is synonymous with an abundance of birds. The Siberian winter has given way to glorious continental spring weather and the northern tundra is about to thaw. The local breeding birds are singing their hearts out. The steppe lakes that we encounter around the village of Korgalzhyn act as a magnet for the wading birds that temporarily interrupt their migration here. They come all the way from Southeast Asia and gain extra strength here before some of the species cross over to the north.

How about terek sandpipers, marsh sandpipers and black-tailed godwits, 10,000 little stints, hundreds of curlews, thousands of ruffs in breeding plumage, hundreds of curlew sandpipers, … you name it! Did you know that almost 1 million (!) grey phalaropes were once counted on one lake here? And then there is also the chance of the seriously endangered sociable lapwing! No less than thirty-five species of waders are possible here in the spring, a true spectacle! Other species that you see breed in the vicinity. That hopefully applies to the Caspian plovers that can fly around our ears yodeling.

From ducks to raptors

Apart from shorebirds, the nutritious lakes are also loved in particularly by waterbirds. A small selection: white-headed duck, common pochard, ferruginous duck, garganey, European flamingo, black-winged pratincole, slender-billed gull, pallas’s gull and large colonies of white-winged tern and caspian terns. Quite a hectic extravaganza in the middle of the breeding season while thousand-and-one photographic opportunities await. Don’t be mistaken: it’s also a lot of fun on shore. Demoiselle cranes return from India and bring lots of steppe inhabitants with them. Birds of prey such as pallid harrier, steppe eagle, long-legged buzzard and red-footed falcon chase numerous potential prey items such as for example white-winged lark and calandra lark. 

Unique photography tour: floating hides and shorebirds

To approach waterfowl and waders, we use floating hides on the water. This allows us to achieve an incredibly beautiful viewpoint thanks to our waterproof waders that we use to walk on the bottom of the steppe lakes. We are also far less conspicuous to the birds, who are less likely to fly away for a camouflaged hump that creeps closer.

Have you ever worked with the floating hide on one of our trips or workshops? Then you know that this is probably the most fun way to photograph birds. It also gives the most satisfaction because you can fully indulge your own creativity. You choose your own light, distance, background, … and you have your own hide. We also choose different bodies of water.

For newcomers, we naturally provide an extensive introduction so that you can get started with it yourself. Rest assured: you will quickly get the hang of it and have rarely experienced such a kick behind the lens.

During this photography tour we will use, among other things, the inflatable floating hides of the manufacturer Mr Jan Gear. Our tour guide Yves is an ambassador for them and helped design their successful floating hides. This tour is an ideal opportunity to try the hides out extensively!

The steppes of far-away Kazakhstan

For this photography tour we go to the steppes of Central Kazakhstan. Not your average destination and the untouched nature of this area is also the basis of the idea of ​​this trip. No one bothers us, the birds are particularly numerous thanks to the remote location and the fauna is almost untouched. The water surfaces immediately go into full bloom after the hard winter, making everything fresh and green. An ideal background for photography!

It is the unique location in the middle of a sea of ​​grass that makes the steppe lakes so interesting. Furthermore, it is a crossing point to the north and both migration routes and breeding grounds of local species come together. Because we are very dependent on the water level, we have numerous plan B locations in case the water level is not perfect. These are spread over the wide area, varying from various steppe lakes, river meanders, marshes, …