In Kazakhstan, when nature photographer Oleg Belyalov finally decided that we were serious naturalists, he wanted to make sure we saw the best birds.
We had been out for a long day, so he took us to one of the clear little trout streams that flow through Almaty, where, in a bush on the bank, we spied one of these,
To be sure we got the point as well as a bird in our life list, he kept repeating “WORLD CLASS BIRD!”
It was. And as we had already that day seen an ibisbill, a Eurasian black vulture, a snowcock, and a LAMMER GEIER, it was especially noteworthy how high Oleg placed this bird…
I guess I’m failing the pop quiz here – what is it?