In the Southern Altai mountains.

The half-day trip to the mountains to east from Ust-Kamenogorsk with Viktor Kolesnikov. The weather is mostly cloudy and quite windy, but it’s very easy in some downwind gorges. Due to snow we couldn’t go far from the road therefore we watched birds mostly near asphalt. We saw Dipper in Malaya Ulba river; in the roadside thickets we watched Long-tailed Rosefinches, Willow Tits (feeding sunflower seeds directly on the road), Great Tits, Nuthatches, one Jay. No any bird of prey but one Raven soared over us. Over “Altai Alps” we went deep to the mixed forest (most birch and pine trees) where saw the Black Woodpecker's holes in trees but itself was not visible and hearable. We watched at least 4 Great Spotted Woodpeckers, some flocks of shy Bullfinches feeding on their favorite ash-trees, the large flock of Long-tailed Tits attracting to sound.

Viktor, thank you for the trip!