Local residents call these birds "atayki".
“After the first snow melted, large puddles formed in the harvested fields, where many atayki rest and feed during their migration,” local residents shared.
Ecologist Alexander Sosnovsky explained who the atayki are.
“Atayka is the popular name for the common shelduck. These large waterfowl belong to the duck family. In Kyrgyzstan, shelducks nest in the foothills and prefer to build their nests in burrows. Atayki are listed in the Red Book, and hunting them is strictly prohibited,” noted the ecologist.
