In the second half of January, a winter bird census was conducted in the Kaplankyr State Nature Reserve. This was reported by the press service of the Ministry of Environmental Protection of Turkmenistan.

The monitoring covered the areas of the Zengibaba, Uzynshor, Atabayshor and Sarykamysh, the coastal areas of the Dashoguz tributary of Lake ‘Altyn Asyr’, as well as other parts of the reserve.

The field work was carried out by specialists from the reserve with the assistance of the UNDP project on the conservation and sustainable management of ecosystems in the Aral region. The survey was conducted along an 811 km road route and 36 km of walking routes. Small water bodies were considered as separate observation sites, and Lake Sarykamysh was divided into sectors — Mergenashan, Mashryk-Aji, Gulanly and Hallychakan. Observations were made from fixed points using optical equipment.

A total of 45 bird species were recorded. Nine of them are sedentary, including the common owl, hawk, jay, desert crow and wagtail. The remaining species are migratory, nesting and wintering birds. Waterfowl accounted for 26 species, or 57.7% of the total.

The total number of birds recorded reached 32,416 individuals.