part 13:

Along the Khalkh gol

north of Sumber

text by Armin Schneider

( links to previous posts: part 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 ,12)

Sumber north camp, Jun 2014, © K. Krätzel

Fantastic view from inside Matze’s tent

Sumber north camp, Jun 2014, © M. Putze

Excellent birding from our elevated site above the valley!

Sumber north camp, Jun 2014, © K. Krätzel

After another shopping trip to Sumber on 3 June, Abu had the idea to camp at a site north of the village. A couple of kilometers later we made a first attempt to find the right place but instead of this we located our first singing Chinese Bush Warblers. Because of the high density of mosquitoes down in the valley and the low density of birds we chose a campsite above the eroding bank of the Khalkh gol (Khalkh river). Here we settled down for the next few nights (3 to 6 June and again from 9 to 10 June). Although not totally mosquito-free, this site was well chosen not only for its beautiful settings but also for a set of first class bird species (see part 12: Baikal Bush Warbler).

Eagle Owl

Sumber north camp, Jun 2014, © T. Langenberg

Chinese Bush Warbler

Sumber north camp, Jun 2014, © A. Schneider

Chinese Bush Warbler

Sumber north camp, Jun 2014, © T. Langenberg

Even before the camp was ready for occupation, two Eagle Owls jumped from the rocky edge below our camp ground. To us it seemed that their large flight distance could be a hint for a more intense hunting activity in this area. The birds kept a distance of more than 150 meters despite the high probability that they had their owlets in the area (we did not find their nest, though).

Black-browed Reed Warbler

Sumber north camp, Jun 2014, © T. Langenberg

Black-browed Reed Warbler

Sumber north camp, Jun 2014, © T. Langenberg

Black-browed Reed Warbler

Sumber north camp, Jun 2014, © M. Putze

Radde’s Warbler

Sumber north camp, Jun 2014, © T. Langenberg

Siberian Blue Robin

Sumber north camp, Jun 2014, © T. Langenberg

Lanceolated Warbler

Sumber north camp, Jun 2014, © A. Schneider

During our stays we explored the area and the team found Black-browed Reed Warblers (just arrived and singing all day!), Pallas's Grasshopper Warblers, Thick-billed Warblers, Siberian Rubythroats, Daurian Starlings, Yellow-browed and Radde’s Warblers, one territory of a Lanceolated Warbler, 2 or 3 territories of Lesser Whitethroat and a Siberian Blue Robin trying to hide inside a bush. Furthermore, we found at least 6 territories of Chinese Bush Warbler as well as 3 Black-naped Orioles and a Yellow-breasted Bunting which was singing from the reeds. One day (4 June) we spotted a migrant White-throated Needletail which was seen by most of us thanks to the use of radio! A singing Brambling was present in the willows all the time.

Black-naped Oriole

Sumber north camp, Jun 2014, © T. Langenberg

Dark-sided Flycatcher

Sumber north camp, Jun 2014, © M. Putze

Common Cuckoo

Sumber north camp, Jun 2014, © M. Putze

Singing Daurian Starling

Sumber north camp, Jun 2014, © M. Putze

2cy male Yellow-breasted Bunting

Sumber north camp, Jun 2014, © A. Buchheim

It was not only that we had to celebrate the birthday of one of us during our stay at the camp, with lots of shashlik and drinks, the birds were responsible for repeated celebrations, too:

On 4 June Armin started another expedition and in an “African Savanna”-like habitat and he accidentally came across a bird he was not familiar with. The unknown bird was shouted out via radio and identification help was on its way soon after. What it turned out to be will be posted next!

Siberian Roe Deer

Sumber north camp, Jun 2014, © M. Putze

Would you believe it?

Celebrating without beer!

Sumber north camp, Jun 2014, © M. Putze

Novemberbirding

text & photos by ABu

This year I spent the entire November in Mongolia, the first complete November here for me. Unfortunately I had not much time to go out birding, mainly because of lots of family commitments, and the weather also played against me: Not that it had been extremely cold, but there were many days with snowfall and heavy overcast conditions, not ideal for a guy who also likes to take photographs. The Tuul River, which runs through Ulaanbaatar’s south did not completely freeze over all month, but my stroll mid-month along a c.5 km-long stretch did not yield any observations of the “better” birds like Solitary Snipe or White-throated Dipper.

So I went to the area below Songino Khairkhan Uul to the west of the capital three times, on 7, 14 and 27 Nov 2015. The trees were full of berries, hence I expected lots of berry-eaters like thrushes and waxwings. I ended up with a single observation of a Red-throated Thrush and the maximum of Bohemian Waxwings at the site was a poor 30. Very disappointing!

Photographic options were likewise limited. Most birds gave me a wide berth and one day it even started to snow just after I had arrived. Nevertheless I hope that my selection of pictures will be pleasing.

male Hawfinch

below Songino Khairkahn Uul, UB, Nov 2015

male Hawfinch

below Songino Khairkahn Uul, UB, Nov 2015

female Hawfinch

below Songino Khairkahn Uul, UB, Nov 2015

male Hawfinch

below Songino Khairkahn Uul, UB, Nov 2015

male Hawfinch

below Songino Khairkahn Uul, UB, Nov 2015

Combined Bird List (30 species)

Ruddy Shelduck c.140
Mallard 7
Eurasian Black Vulture 2
Upland Buzzard 1
Common Kestrel 3
Rock Pigeon c.50
Black Woodpecker 1
Grey-headed Woodpecker 1
White-backed Woodpecker 1

male White-backed Woodpecker

below Songino Khairkahn Uul, UB, Nov 2015

Portrait of the same male White-backed Woodpecker

below Songino Khairkahn Uul, UB, Nov 2015

Mongolian Horned Lark 12
Red-throated Thrush 1
Great Tit 2
Azure Tit 6
Willow Tit 5
Long-tailed Tit 2
Eurasian Nuthatch 1
Asian Azure-winged Magpie 1
Common Magpie c.15
Daurian Jackdaw 4
Red-billed Chough 25
Oriental (Carrion) Crow c.10
Northern Raven 4
Eurasian Tree Sparrow c.150
House Sparrow c.20
Rock Sparrow c.45
Small Snow Sparrow aka Père David’s Snowfinch 2
Chaffinch 1
Brambling 1
Hawfinch c.220 (7 Nov.), c.140 (14 Nov), c. 60(27 Nov)
Long-tailed Rosefinch 2

Small Snow Sparrow

below Songino Khairkahn Uul,

UB, November 2015

Rock Sparrow

below Songino Khairkahn Uul, UB, Nov 2015

Rock Sparrow

below Songino Khairkahn Uul, UB, Nov 2015

part twelve:

First field pictures of

Baikal Bush Warbler from Mongolia

text by Abu

( links to previous posts: part 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 )

Baikal Bush Warbler, original version of the photo!

north of Sumber, Jun 2014, © A. Buchheim

There are two species of bush warbler on the Mongolian Bird list: Chinese or Tacsanowski’s Bush Warbler Locustella tacsanowskia and Baikal Bush Warbler L. davidi. Both subspecies of the latter could occur (even as breeders) in the country, but to our knowledge there are almost no sightings, and until now there was no photograph of a bird in field available. In fact, the only record of Baikal Bush Warbler known to us is of one bird captured in south-central Mongolia during migration. 

Note 1 The Asian bush warblers formerly subsumed within the genus Bradypterus have recently been ascribed to the genus Locustella.

Note 2 Baikal Bush Warbler was formerly considered conspecific with Spotted Bush Warbler L. thoracica (sometimes still called Bradypterus thoracicus).

Note 3 Gombobaatar & Monks (2011) list only B. t. przewalskii for Mongolia in the Mongolian Red List of Birds. This taxon, now considered a subspecies of Spotted Bush Warbler sensu stricto does not occur in Mongolia.

Bush warblers are notorious skulkers and very small, making any observation difficult, and it is hard to acquire decent photos. So, the first obstacle to overcome is always to find a bush warbler. After that, one has to find a way of taking a picture. The bird featured here was found by me by almost stepping on it while it was moving through ankle high grass just a few km north of Sumber—exactly at the site, where we had recorded two new species for Mongolia in 2011 (Eastern Crowned Warbler and Band-bellied Crake). It flew to a low branch and gave a short juicy “chuck” call before it retreated into the thick undergrowth. I immediately sat down but it took almost 10 minutes until I got good enough views to identify it. Then I alarmed my fellow birdwatchers via radio. Unfortunately, they arrived too late and the bird did not show again then. A few hours later, Matze, Sönke and I (the others were bird watching elsewhere) tried the site again and indeed, the bird popped out from the very dark dense cover. We fired some shots but those I achieved were pitch black on the display of the camera (see above). With the help of some friends and a lot of digital processing it was possible to make the bird visible, see below. Amazing technology that is at hand nowadays!

Baikal Bush Warbler

The improved version of the picture from above

north of Sumber, Jun 2014, © A. Buchheim

Baikal Bush Warbler

An improved version of another picture

north of Sumber, Jun 2014, © A. Buchheim

Baikal Bush Warbler

north of Sumber, Jun 2014, © M. Putze

Baikal Bush Warbler

north of Sumber, Jun 2014, © M. Putze

All pictures are of the same individual, the only one we came across during our trip. It showed characters of the western subspecies L. d. suschkini (breeding from the foothills of the northern Russian Altai in a narrow belt to the southern part of the Baikal region), notably:

• reddish brown confined to forecrown

• greyish nape-sides

• dark spots on breast coalescing to form a dark grey patch

This is a bit strange, since the bird appeared within or close to the potential breeding area of the eastern subspecies, the nominate form (breeding in Russia in SE Transbaikalia E to W Amurland, and NE China). However, it is quite likely that the bird was still on migration to its more westerly breeding grounds.

More to come soon…

part eleven:

Pit Stop Sumber

text by Abu

( links to previous posts: part 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 )

Pit stop in Sumber, Jun 2014, © K. Krätzel

Actually, we had not been only once, but three times in Sumber during this trip in June 2014. As this village is the only large settlement in the Far East of Mongolia, it is mandatory to go there, for refueling provisions or for taking gas from the only gas station. And if you want to visit Nömrög Strictly Protected Area you also have to pay the SPA headquarters plus the border police station a visit. Of course we had lunch there, and, on one occasion, even had to seek for a new tyre. Because the administrative visits are well known to always take some time, we even could do some birding in and around the village. Apart from the standard village bird species we found a group of 8 Grey-headed Lapwings including a bird that was sitting on its nest at the nearby river. Another goodie was found even within the village: Grey-streaked Flycatcher. This bird had been heard singing high up in a poplar tree but then ventured down into the remains of a building where the photographers were able to take some decent pictures. Probably all of the few previous reports of this flycatcher from Mongolia are undocumented, and thus the photos presented here might be the first ironclad proof that the species does occur in Mongolia sometimes!

Grey-headed Lapwing

Sumber, Jun 2014, © T. Langenberg

Grey-headed Lapwing

Sumber, Jun 2014, © T. Langenberg

Grey-headed Lapwing

Sumber, Jun 2014, © M. Putze

Grey-streaked Flycatcher

“downtown” Sumber, Jun 2014, © M. Putze

Grey-streaked Flycatcher

“downtown” Sumber, Jun 2014, © M. Putze

For comparison: Dark-sided Flycatcher

“downtown” Sumber, Jun 2014, © T. Langenberg

During the next days we discovered more birds north of the village and even took the first ever in-field photographs (for Mongolia) of a very skilled megaskulker, so come back and see!

Steppe Eagle

now globally ENDANGERED

Steppe Eagle, Ulaanbaatar, May 2011. © M. Putze

In the 2015 Global IUCN Red List for birds the Steppe Eagle Aquila nipalensis, formerly treated as “Least Concern”, has been listed for the first time, under the threat category “Endangered”.

Steppe Eagle, Ulaanbaatar, May 2011. © M. Putze

From the BirdLife species fact sheet:

Justification
This species has undergone extremely rapid population declines within its European range. The majority of its range lies outside Europe where it was not thought to be declining at a sufficiently rapid rate to approach the threshold for Vulnerable. However recent information suggests that the population outside Europe may be exposed to greater threats than was previously thought and has also undergone very rapid recent declines across much of the range. It is therefore classified as Endangered.

Steppe Eagle, Bale Mountain National Park,

Ethiopia, Jan 2014. © M. Putze

Steppe Eagle, Bale Mountain National Park,

Ethiopia, Jan 2014. © M. Putze

Further changes involving species occurring in Mongolia:

formerly least concern, now near threatened:

• Northern Lapwing (migrant breeder)
• Bar-tailed Godwit (rare passage migrant)
• Red Knot (rare passage migrant)
• Curlew Sandpiper (common passage migrant)
• Red-necked Stint (abundant passage migrant)

• Redwing (scarce passage migrant)

Uplisted from least concern to Vulnerable:

• Common Pochard (migrant breeder and passage migrant
• Horned (or Slavonian) Grebe (migrant breeder and passage migrant)
• European Turtle Dove (possible very rare migrant breeder)

Uplisted from “Vulnerable” to “Endangered”

• Far Eastern Curlew (rare passage migrant)

part ten:

Dollarbird Eurystomus orientalis:

second record for Mongolia

text by Armin Schneider

( links to previous posts: part 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 )

Dollarbird, record shot

south of Sumber, Jun 2014, © A. Buchheim

Next morning, on 3 June, we had again a horrible experience in the bushes. All the group members were totally annoyed due to the incredible density and agression of the local mossies. Therefore not everybody had an enthusiastic start into the day. However, Abu walked fearless away and after a while he reported via radio a second for Mongolia: Dollarbird aka Broad-billed Roller!

At first he thought that he had found a single Dollarbird, but in fact we observed two individuals hawking insects above the dense riparian vegetation, very often returning to a favorite perch. We observed them for about 30 minutes, but always from a large distance. Any attempt to get closer to the birds was halted by the impenetrable vegetation.

The most likely subspecies (based on range) involved is the migratory E. o. calonyx. At least the better photographed individual of he two can be aged as adult by its red bill. That two birds together had been seen catching their prey at the same spot does not have to mean that they did or intended to breed there, but it is not impossible that they did or tried, given the fact that there are larger trees—they breed in old woodpecker holes—available.

The only other Mongolian record of the species concerns an observation of a flyby (photographed by Shane McPherson) in open steppe of Khentii province near Darkhan on 17 June 2006 (Gombobaatar et al. 2007).

Another record shot of Dollarbird

south of Sumber, Jun 2014, © T. Langenberg

Dollarbird, south of Sumber, Jun 2014, © Mathias Putze

(composite picture: same individual shown here twice!)

Wow, what a fantastic spot! Despite the amazing birds around the camp we decided later to abandon the camp to switch to a more dry area where we hoped to meet with less smaller flying objects there. So we went back to Sumber for a quick pit stop and found some further good birds, but this will be on show next… keep on checking Birding Mongolia!

Litature

Gombobaatar, S., Munkhzaya, B., Gantulga, B., Odkhuu, B., McPherson, S. 2007. A new finding for Mongolian bird species and unusual bird migration in the steppe. Scientific Proceedings of the Biological Institute of the Mongolian Academy of Sciences 26:104-107.