Boring boreal forest

text & photos by ABu

(© A. Buchheim)

Rocky outcrop on top of the ridge

Bogd Khan Uul, UB, Jan 2015

Bird watching in the boreal forest can be very boring, especially in winter. Many species have left for wintering in more comfortable regions and the few songbirds that hang on, join to form flocks that wander around. To find these flocks one has to spend quite a while walking through the forest. Among the few species that maintain their respective territories year round are the owls. Ural Owl is probably as common as it can be (by territory size) in the forests of Mongolia and they even inhabit the still large forest tracts of Bogd Khan Uul, the mountain south of the capital city.

On 20 January I visited this forest for 3 hours. I didn’t see much. Only c20 Willow Tits, 2 Eastern Marsh Tits, 2 Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers, 5 Northern Ravens, 2 Common Crossbills, a flyby Asian Rosy Finch, which was too quick for subspecific ID and the 2 Ural Owls that are shown in the photographs below.

Always amazing is the fact that the owls blend perfectly into the environment, especially when leaning against a tree trunk (picture 3). Although I am searching for these owls whenever I am in their habitat, I simply chanced on the first individual. It tolerated my presence but I did not want to disturb it too much. The second bird (picture 5) was announced by a Common Crossbill and it was much more flighty. After it had inspected me (?) briefly, it went back into the deeper forest not to be seen again. The mobbing crossbill followed.

Boreal Forest,

Bogd Khan Uul, UB, Jan 2015

Ural Owl

Bogd Khan Uul, UB, Jan 2015

Ural Owl, same bird as above

Bogd Khan Uul, UB, Jan 2015

Ural Owl, the second bird

Bogd Khan Uul, UB, Jan 2015

Two goodies at noon

text & photos by Abu

(© A. Buchheim)

So far, this “cold season” has been a winter for wimps. Compared to the average Mongolian winter, temperatures have been 20 degrees Celsius higher—and that is a lot. No wonder that there are still tiny stretches of the Tuul River which are not frozen over and up to two White-throated Dippers of the beautiful subspecies C. c. leucogaster have been seen at one of these openings (see here, for example). Amarkhuu, a member of the Mongolian Birdwatching Club, had reported a Water Pipit, so I went down to the Tuul on 16 January 2015 to check out the dippers and search for the pipit.

Central Asian Water Pipit

Tuul River, UB, January 2015

Central Asian Water Pipit

Tuul River, UB, January 2015

Central Asian Water Pipit

with a Plecoptera larva, Tuul River, UB, Jan 2015

Central Asian Water Pipit

Tuul River, UB, January 2015

Central Asian Water Pipit

Tuul River, UB, January 2015

Pipits are not known to overwinter in Mongolia (but dippers do! cf here, here and here) and hence any pipit seen in January is a very good find. Theoretically, a “water” pipit along a river during the winter time could be also Buff-bellied Pipit which winters not far to the south; and even a Red-throated Pipit had once been found in the Khangai in early winter: on 2 December 2007 in Tsetserleg, see here.

Well, the dippers eluded me, but I found the pipit and, indeed, it was a Central Asian Water Pipit. The local taxon blakistoni has recently been proposed to be a candidate for a future split from spinoletta of Europe and coutellii of the Asia Minor and the Caucasus (Martin Garner, Yoav Perlman, Yosef Kiat & Martin Collinson 2015: Water Pipits: three species rather than one? British Birds 108: 42-48).

Note on Water Pipit phenology in W Mongolia: Axel has one winter record from westernmost Mongolia: One at Khovd river c18 km NE of Olgii city, Bayan-Ölgii Province on 9 March 2001. In 2006 and 2007, he recorded the species in Khovd town, at the foot of the Mongolian Altai during migration from early April (7 Apr 2006, 6 Apr 2007) to early/late November (9 Nov 2006, 28 Nov 2007).

Hooded Crow

Tuul River, UB, January 2015

Hooded Crow in flight

Tuul River, UB, January 2015

On my way back to the car, a calling crow reminded me to check the crow flock which usually hangs around the river. I had already asked my fellow Mongolian birdwatchers to inform me if they would come across a Hooded Crow, a species I have never seen in Mongolia. Since several winters I have searched for it myself, alas all in vain. But now—bang—the caller was a Hooded Crow! I hastily fired a series of record shots and left for home.

There are not many records of Hooded Crow for Mongolia, and, given its western distribution, records could be expected mainly from the west of the country. During his time in Khovd, Axel has seen no Hooded Crow, and only once (10 Sep 2006) two hybrids between Hooded and Oriental Crow, and prior to that, one bird which might have been a pure Hooded Crow just outside Olgii town on 9 March 2001.

record shot of Corvus - hybrids 

Oriental C. (corone) orientalis x Hooded Crows C. cornix sharpi

Buyant river near Khovd, 10 Sep 2006. © A. Bräunlich

Kozlova (1933) mentioned in her major multi-part paper The Birds of South-West Transbaikalia, Northern Mongolia and Central Gobi (1932/33) that „Hybrids of this [Eastern Carrion Crow] and the Grey Crow (Corvus cornix sharpii) were met with on several occasions in the Lacustrine Depression and the vicinity of Ulan-bator.”

In recent years, it had been photographed at least once in Selenge Province, northern Mongolia, and in the greater UB area at least two times: One bird had been photographed near the Manzshir monastery on the south side of Bogd Khan Mountain and the second individual had been photographed in UB few years ago. The Mongolian Red List of Birds (2011) unfortunately does not give any information on this taxon.

When dealing with these birds one has to make sure that you are not looking at a hybrid between cornix and orientalis. The January-2015 bird had no extra streaks on its hind neck, no extra black on its underwing and all-grey under tail coverts hence does not exhibit any treats of orientalis influence.

Therefore it safely can be called Hooded Crow—thus this is the third modern record for Greater UB, yeah!

I also could take pictures of some commoner species as well and include some for pleasure here, enjoy.

Azure Tit

Tuul River, UB, January 2015

Azure Tit

Tuul River, UB, January 2015

Azure Tit

Tuul River, UB, January 2015

Male Meadow Bunting

One out of c220 seen, Tuul River, UB, Jan 2015

Male Northern Bullfinch

This singing guy popped out of the shade for

a few seconds, Tuul River, UB, January 2015

Another surprise

below Songino Khairkhan Uul

text & photos by Abu

(© A. Buchheim)

During the excursion with the participants of the Birdwatchers’ Meeting which had been organized by the Mongolian Birdwatching Club, we came across a female Common Starling. This comprises the first winter record (let us know, if you know it better!) for the greater Ulaanbaatar region. Please excuse the bad quality of my record shots.

Otherwise we saw very few birds but this time I withstood the temptation to take more pictures of Bohemian Waxwing. Nevertheless I could not resist in taken shots of one of the three Arctic Redpolls we encountered and a male Mealy Redpoll also posed so nicely that I had to take a photograph of it.

Female Common Starling,

below Songino Khairkhan Uul, UB, Jan 2015

Female Common Starling,

below Songino Khairkhan Uul, UB, Jan 2015

Arctic Redpoll

below Songino Khairkhan Uul, UB, Jan 2015

Male (see the red on its cheek!) Mealy Redpoll

below Songino Khairkhan Uul, UB, Jan 2015

part four:

The incredible Buir Nuur

text by Sönke Tautz

( links to previous posts: part 1, 2, 3 )

Ocean of grass…

Menengijn Tal, May 2014, © Kirsten Krätzel

Steppe Eagle

Menengijn Tal, May 2014 © Mathias Putze

To reach Buir Nuur, one has to cross a very flat and uninhabited area called Menengijn-Tal (MT) where everybody has to register at the border police post before entering the plain. MT has no natural water supply (apart from rain) and therefore no people live here and hence there is no livestock at all. It is, more or less, in a quite pristine state, allowing wild animals to live as they did before mankind had driven them out of the best habitats. MT is famed for its huge herds of Mongolian Gazelle but on our bone-shaking haul on 29 May we saw only ONE! This is close to the result from three years ago (Eastern Specialties Tour, part two) and it appears that the gazelles are elsewhere at this time of the year. MT stretches across more than 60 km from west to east and the low grazing pressure enables grass to grow taller than in the rest of Mongolia where it is grazed down to almost zero by the all-too-high number of sheep, cows, horses, camels and a much increased number of goats. The sandy road winded through an ocean of Stipa-grass which gave the area a silvery shimmer. In 2011 the grass was low (but still higher than elsewhere in the country!) and the ladies had to walk quite a distance if they needed some shelter. Now this was no problem anymore. Driving was slow because the former (in 2011) flat “highway” track had turned into a very bumpy chain of deep holes. Many of these holes were filled with water. These attracted hundreds of birds and the dominating species was, of course, a lark: Greater Short-toed Lark. This species breeds here as do other ground-dwelling species like Richard’s Pipit, Asian Short-toed Lark, Mongolian (Brandt’s) Horned Lark and Mongolian Lark but we logged also some migrant species: huge numbers of Sooty Flycatcher perched on the grass stems and both, Brown and Isabelline Shrikes did likewise, although in much lower numbers. In the middle of now-where, a Common Moorhen walked slowly out of the water when we approached. This was a much unexpected species in these grasslands. Further we flushed a Steppe Eagle, a single Short-eared Owl as well as Pallas’s Sandgrouses and we wondered whether both latter species actually could be breeding here.

West Buir Nuur Camp,

Buir Nuur, May 2014 © Mathias Putze

Asian Short-toed Lark

Buir Nuur, May 2014 © Mathias Putze

Female Mongolian (Pallas’s) Bunting

Buir Nuur, May 2014 © Mathias Putze

In the evening we arrived at the western end of the lake and were greeted by our first Oriental Plover, a stunning male. Finding a campsite proved to be difficult but in the end we found a flatter spot within the “toilet”-grass-tussocks (Achnatherum splendens). Thanks to the much higher water level the lagoons around our camp were full of foraging waders: Most of them were Red-necked Stints with c.1700, but more than 200 Pacific Golden Plovers, more than 40 Broad-billed Sandpipers (see here, part 2), about 20 Sanderlings, lots of Pied Avocets, Black-winged Stilts, Kentish Plovers, Temmick’s Stints, 4 Terek Sandpipers, 3 Mongolian (Lesser) Sand Plovers and a single Asian Dowitcher were most welcome. The same applies to our dinner and a couple of wader-beers.

In the early morning of 30 May, we set up our walk-in traps and everybody went birdwatching. Not much walked in though (2 Red-necked Stints and 2 Broad-billed Sandpipers). Surely, there were too many alternatives for the waders. The Asian Dowitcher could not be relocated, but c.25 Grey-tailed Tattlers, which roosted in one of the lagoons in a tight flock, caused some stir among us. With Pale-legged Leaf-warbler, Taiga Flycatcher and Siberian Blue Robin plus other species of leaf-warblers we bagged a nice set of migrants but the number of migrants wasn’t as high as in MT. Scanning through the flocks of Yellow Wagtails produced a few tschutschensis (or look-alikes, possibly female macronyx?) but the majority belonged to macronyx anyway. Other species encountered were 1 Purple Heron, several flocks of 2cy Eurasian Spoonbills, hundreds of White-winged Terns, some Common Sandpipers and a single Ruddy Turnstone. The local Père David’s Snowfinches were busily feeding their young on more elevated and thus drier ground.

Pallas’s Leaf-warbler

Buir Nuur, May 2014, ©Thomas Langenberg

2cy Eurasian Spoonbills

Buir Nuur, May 2014 © Andreas Buchheim

Smew

Buir Nuur, May 2014 © Mathias Putze

Most migrant ducks had left already and finding birds on the lake was a time-consuming task. With many hours spent searching we managed to see the following: 50 Asian White-winged Scoters, 8 plus 10 migrating Smews and a Red-crested Pochard.

After two nights, on 1 June, we moved to the delta of the Khalkhgol River in the north-east of the lake. On this short trip we had 4 male Oriental Plovers of which one was tolerating our presence. After we had selected our campsite we explored the area. It was amazing to see how many Great Cormorants commuted between their colony in the willows and the lake. There must be plenty of fish to feed them. Eastern Marsh Harrier, Great White Egret and Purple Heron were a common sight and we heard many Oriental Reed Warblers singing from the flooded forest. Other birds worth mentioning were Little Terns (courtship feeding), Amur Falcons and, best of all, a breeding pair of Chinese Grey Shrike. There also were at least 20 pairs of Northern Lapwing breeding here but the other lapwing, Grey-headed Lapwing, didn’t show up, yet. Also noteworthy are 36 Eurasian Spoonbills, 1 Whiskered Tern and 2 drakes Falcated Duck. Birdwatching was a bit hampered by the trillions of flies, luckily not of the biting variety.

Male Eastern Marsh Harrier

Buir Nuur, Jun 2014, © Thomas Langenberg

Male Eastern Marsh Harrier, same bird as above,

Buir Nuur, Jun 2014, © Thomas Langenberg

Whiskered Tern

Buir Nuur, Jun 2014, © Thomas Langenberg

Gull-billed Tern

Buir Nuur, Jun 2014, © Thomas Langenberg

Little Tern pair

Buir Nuur, Jun 2014, © Thomas Langenberg

Little Tern

Buir Nuur, Jun 2014, © Thomas Langenberg

During our few day at the lake, temperatures easily reached the mid and high thirties (in numbers: 34°C /93°F on 30 May, 37°C/98.6°F on 31 May and cooling down to a still hot 33°C/91.4°F on 1 June) which is more than 20 degrees higher than three years ago! This sucked a lot of energy and we found that the birds suffered in the same way from the heat than we did: During one of our “siestas”, we had a Pallas’s Leaf-warbler seeking for shade under one of our cars. The warm-hearted of us provided some drinking water for the poor bird which was taken immediately and hopefully helped the small creature to survive the incredible heat wave. By the way: the photographers did an incredible job in the heat because only the 2 or 3 hours after sunrise were without any heat haze. Well done guys!

Chinese Grey Shrike

Buir Nuur, Jun 2014, ©Thomas Langenberg

Chinese Grey Shrike

Buir Nuur, Jun 2014, ©Thomas Langenberg

Chinese Grey Shrike

Buir Nuur, Jun 2014 © Mathias Putze

With so many flies in the air…

…you’ll never bird alone!

Buir Nuur, Jun 2014 © Mathias Putze

There is, of course, more to report and the next blog post will be about the waders we saw, so keep checking this site!

First Birding 2015

text & photos by Abu

(© A. Buchheim)

Ice-art at the sewage stream. UB, Jan 2015

Unbelievably, it took me until 3 January to finally go birding, he he. Together with Nyambayar, Huyagaa and Amarkhuu, I went out to find a good spot, ideally filled with birds. This was in preparation for the Birdwatcher’s Weekend on 10 and 11 January to which already more than 90 individuals have signed in. This is an as impressive as well as unexpected high number and we hoped to find a spot with good numbers of birds!

Our search started in the area below Songino Khairkhan Uul at about 9:30 in the morning. It was quite chilly still, about minus 22°C (minus 7.6°F) and the wind had blown all the city smog down there.

After that we headed for the Medical Botanical Garden a few km west of Songino village. Here, a small plantation of Sea Buckthorn attracted more than a hundred Bohemian Waxwings which were quite approachable. We also checked a patch of riparian forest west of what is called “UB bird plant” and finally tried to check out the UB Ponds. Thanks to seemingly uncontrolled and excessive occupation of the land we could not make it there before it got too late.

I have included some appetizing shots here, nothing special, though. For the waxwings and redpolls you may also check these posts (Bohemian Rhapsody, redpoll ID).

Male White-backed Woodpecker

below Songino Khairkhan Uul, UB, Jan 2015

Male White-backed Woodpecker

below Songino Khairkhan Uul, UB, Jan 2015

Bird List (32 species)

Ruddy Shelduck - c10
Common Pochard - 1 male was an addition to my UB winter list
Common Goldeneye - 8 on the sewage stream
Daurian Partridge 1 - flushed at the Med. Bot. Gardens
Common Kestrel - 2
Rock Dove - present
Eurasian Collared Dove - 2 near the “bird plant”
White-backed Woodpecker - 2
Lesser Spotted Woodpecker - 2
Mongolian Horned Lark - several hundred in the field around Med. Bot. Gardens
Mongolian Lark - several hundred in the fields

Male Lesser Spotted Woodpecker

Med. Bot.Gardens, UB, Jan 2015

Target: berries for the waxwings

Med. Bot.Gardens, UB, Jan 2015

Male Bohemian Waxwing

Med. Bot.Gardens, UB, Jan 2015

1st winter female Bohemian Waxwing picking a berry

Med. Bot.Gardens, UB, Jan 2015

Another 1st winter female Bohemian Waxwing

Med. Bot.Gardens, UB, Jan 2015

She preferred “square” berries

Med. Bot.Gardens, UB, Jan 2015

Portrait of a male Bohemian Waxwing

Med. Bot.Gardens, UB, Jan 2015

Portrait of another male Bohemian Waxwing

Med. Bot.Gardens, UB, Jan 2015

Portrait of a female Bohemian Waxwing

Med. Bot.Gardens, UB, Jan 2015

Bohemian Waxwing – only 50 below Songino Khairkhan Uul but 150 at Med. Bot. Gardens
Red-throated Thrush - 1 only
Great Tit - a few at each location
Azure Tit - 3
Willow Tit - 2
Eurasian Nuthatch - 2
Asian Azure-winged Magpie - c30 below Songino Khairkhan Uul
Eurasian Magpie - present
Daurian Jackdaw - 4 below Songino Khairkhan Uul
Eastern Rook (pastinator) - 6
Oriental (Carrion) Crow (orientalis)- present
Common Raven - present
House Sparrow - present
Eurasian Tree Sparrow - present
Chaffinch - 1 female below Sonigon Khairkhan Uul
Brambling - 1
"Pale Mountain" Twite - 3
Mealy Redpoll - c25 below Songino Khairkhan Uul
Hawfinch - c15
Long-tailed Rosefinch - a pair below Songino Khairkhan Uul
Meadow Bunting - c10

Male Mealy Redpoll

below Songino Khairkhan Uul, UB, Jan 2015

Male Mealy Redpoll

below Songino Khairkhan Uul, UB, Jan 2015

Male Mealy Redpoll

below Songino Khairkhan Uul, UB, Jan 2015

Female Mealy Redpoll

below Songino Khairkhan Uul, UB, Jan 2015

Female Mealy Redpoll dropping foodparts

below Songino Khairkhan Uul, UB, Jan 2015