Аннотация
The East Kazakhstan Upland is poorly studied by ornithologists, although this is a large steppe territory of great importance for raptors.We studied birds of prey in Kalba Altai (the area east of the Kazakh Upland) in 2006 and investigated the easternmost part of the Kazakh Upland in 2007 within the framework of the Important Bird Area (IBA) identification project (Association for Conservation of Biodiversity of Kazakhstan) (Smelansky et al. 2006, 2008, Sklyarenko et al. 2008).There is virtually no raptor research being undertaken in the Kazakh Upland, the few ornithologists working in this region choosing to study other bird species.The studies of Kazakhstan ornithologist Anatoly Levin are devoted to the post-nesting period and relate only to a small part of the Kazakh Upland (Levin & Karpov 2005).This steppe area is an important habitat for rare and endangered birds of prey such as Saker Falcon Falco cherrug, Lesser Kestrel Falco naumanni, Imperial Eagle Aquila heliaca, Steppe Eagle Aquila nipalensis, Golden Eagle Aquila chrysaetos, Pallid Harrier Circus macrourus and European Eagle Owl Bubo bubo (IUCN 2009).The project aimed to investigate birds of prey of the Kazakh Upland including studying raptor number and distribution in different habitats and identifying places of high conservation value for the target species in the area investigated.