Pink starlings in Ashgabat: the heat is coming
Oleg Vinokurov
Noisy flocks of pink starlings, flown from India, can be seen in the crowns of the trees of the city parks in Ashgabat. Their cheerful hubbub says of the imminent arrival of the summer heat and promises a threat to the numerous insect pests that starlings eat. The next spring migration of birds in Turkmenistan is coming to an end.
The geography of places where many of the nesting birds in Turkmenistan spent the winter is quite wide. In addition too India, this is Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, the Persian Gulf region and the Arabian Peninsula. There are species that have overcome the path even from distant Africa, such as black swifts and village swallows. By the end of April or beginning of May, the cuckoo, the green and golden bee-eaters also arrived home.
The last birds will fly to the nest by the end of May. All summer they and sedentary birds will be busy breeding their offspring. And already in August or later in the autumn the travelers will again go to wintering in hot countries.
A total of about four hundred species of birds are found on the territory of Turkmenistan and about 80% of them are those, which scientists consider to be migratory-nesting, migrating and wintering.
On a regular basis, several dozen species of birds are "registered" in the country. This is, first of all, predatory birds - the Golden Eagle, the vulture's kestrel. And also the crested lark, turtledoves, sparrows, lanes and others.
