Birds of Kuskovo Park

Today’s forest park occupies part of the former palace-and-park grounds of the Sheremetev summer estate, but the settlement of Kuskovo predates the estate. The village was first mentioned in the early 16th century, when Boyar Vasily Sheremetev exchanged for it; the village included a small pond. A 1624 land register records two ponds, both part of rural Kuskovo long before the estate ensemble was created. In the 18th century, Pyotr Borisovich Sheremetev turned the property into a country residence. Later, in the late 19th century, Sergei Dmitrievich Sheremetev leased surrounding land for summer houses: their number grew from seven in 1880 to about 300 in 1891. Isaac Levitan lived at one of these houses in 1899 while directing the summer landscape workshop of the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture. Residential houses still stood within the present forest park until the mid-1970s; their demolition began in 1972, and by 1980 the park had assumed its settled form.

An account of the forest park’s fauna lists about 60 bird species, including mallard, common goldeneye, nightingale, long-eared owl and several kinds of woodpecker. Birds recorded nearby include great tit, Eurasian blue tit, hooded crow and Eurasian tree sparrow.