Yes, they're storks. I visited in 1974. For what it's worth, the two-week guided tour (that's all there were, run by Intourist) from London included airfare, hotels, breakfasts and dinners, and surface transportation for...£250. The itinerary was London - Leningrad - Tashkent - Dushanbe (Tajikistan) - Samarkand - Bukhara - Urgench/Khiva - Tashkent - Moscow - London.

The USSR had only opened the central Asian republics to foreign tourism a couple of years earlier, spurred mainly by permitting SAS to land at Tashkent for refueling on its Asia routes; otherwise many Europe - Asia flights had to stop in Alaska for refueling and crew changes, since overflying Soviet airspace was curtailed. My friend and I (part of our group of about 15) spent a night in Tashkent drinking way too much (lousy but cheap) Uzbek champagne with SAS FAs on a layover... but that's another story.

Some other pictures if interested (not trying to hijack your thread - it's quite marvelous, by the way...)

Spice seller, Bukhara market



Roadside repairs, also Bukhara



Back street, Samarkand



Anybody want a melon? Bukhara.