Shcherbakov B. V.

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Last Updated on Saturday, 04 January 2025 12:06

 Boris Vassilyevich Shcherbakov (1939), ornithologist and writer.

The name of the famous Ust-Kamenogorsk's naturalist writer and ornithologist Boris Vassilyevich Shcherbakov is known to the reader due to his numerous publications in periodical press, collected stories named "The face of the Earth" and his books, such as "The inhabitant of moon's riparian forests", "Revived relicts", "Near the lake of ringing bells", "Birds beyond the windows", "Buy yourself a parrot" etc.

An expert of flora and fauna, he had an alert eye and sensitive ear; he could see something unnoticed by others in the nature. He told us not only about the richness of our native land, but also about necessity of saving and renewal of primordial nature.

B.Shcherbakov was born on July 6th, 1939 in Ust-Kamenogorsk. His father was killed at the front and just after the war his mother died too. He was brought up by his grandmother. Since his early years he worked as a baby-sitter and a herdsman. When he became a little bit older, he started to work as a loading workman on barges and goods vans. And, of course, he didn't forget about studying. The hardness of life just made the future scientist stronger, formed persistent and firm character. Since the early childhood he was interested in blooming grasses, rustling leaves, whispering rivers and splashing fish, the voices of birds in the skies. His childish interest soon grew into a scientific interest and after early years of naturalistic observations of birds B. Shcherbakov devoted himself to research efforts in ornithology.

B.Shcherbakov graduated from the biology department of East Kazakhstan State University (former Ust-Kamenogorsk teachers' training institute) and has a degree of candidate of biological sciences.

During his long expeditionary trips he visited every remote place of East Kazakhstan. He visited valleys of the Uba, Ulba, Bukhtarma, Kurchum, Black Irtysh rivers, the districts of Zayssan and Markakol lakes; Ubinsky, Kalbinsky, Narymsky and Tarbagataisky mountain ranges. He walked and rode about 50 thousand kilometers around his native land. He wrote down everything he found interesting and notable in his diary during his journeys. The note grew into different short stories and sketching of nature, which were gladly published in different local magazines. Based on his journey observations, B.Shcherbakov published his first book "The inhabitants of moon's riparian forests" (1976). There were more than 20 short stories about amazing world of nature.

His talent became more apparent in his book "Near the lake of ringing bells" (1980) in which the writer revealed to his readers a wonderful world of inhabitants of deserts and semi-deserts of Zayssan kettle.

Together with the author the reader makes a voyage around the little clayey desert Kyyn-Kyrshy with its "mysterious and colourful landscape", around the lakesides of Zayssan, where he can hear distant ringing of bells, around the Monraco canyon and Buckonsky sands.

For over 20 years B.Shcherbakov was the head of zoological study groups at a local station of young naturalists. The writer told about his trips and botanical-zoological expeditions to the valley of Rudnyi Altai (which is called paradisiacal for its beauty) with the people from the study group in the book "A one-year long path" (1985).

B.Shcherbakov is the author of a hundred works in biology and ecology. He was the first, who made the cadastre of vertebrates and described 132 types of local birds. He was the first in the world, who found a nest of Altaic pine grosbeak subspecies and central Asian singing cricket. He discovered 21 types and 1 subspecies of new birds. For him birds were a fairy-tale type of fauna that owned the skies and were very colourful. The books of B.Shcherbakov "Birds beyond the windows" and "The birds of East Kazakhstan" (1996) were dedicated to them. And his book "Buy yourself a parrot" (1997) was not only about parrots, but about the relationship between people and birds, about people, whose lives changed after their communication with the birds, and became richer and fuller.

B.Shcherbakov is an active ecologist and a high achiever of public education. He assisted in creation of West Altaic reserve, Tarbagataysky wildlife preserve. He also helped to develop 6 educational ecological routes for the students of schools and lyceums of region. Now Ulbinsky mountain steppe wildlife preserve is under construction.

Translated by Yuliya Visloguzova, translation major student, KAFU
The works of B.V. Shcherbacov:

"Budgerigar: Recomendations for breeding, nursing and how to teach your parrot to speak". - Ust-Kamenogorsk, 1995. - 25 pages.
"Green house: A tale and short stories". - Alma-Ata: Zhasushy, 1985. - 158 pages.
"The gold pathways of autumn". - Alma-Ata: Kaynar, 1983. - 128 pages.
"Buy yourself a parrot". - Almaty: Kazakhstan, 1997. - 158 pages.
"Revived relicts". - Alma-Ata: Kaynar, 1981. - 120 pages.
"The hunt for the books: the manual for preschool and school children". - Ust-Kamenogorsk: EKSU (VKGU), 2002. - 76 pages.
"Birds beyond the windows: (Manual about the birds of East Kazakhstan settlements)"/ Educational department of East Kazakhstan. - Ust-Kamenogorsk: 1996. - 144 pages.
"Herbs of memory: Tales and short stories". - Alma-Ata: Zhazushy, 1990. - 192 pages.
"A one-year long path". - Alma-Ata: Kaynar, 1985. - 184 pages.
"Near the lake of ringing bells". - Alma-Ata: Zhalyn, 1980. - 79 pages.