BIRDING MONGOLIA

part five:

The waders at Buir Nuur

text by Abu

( links to previous posts: part 1, 2, 3, 4 )

Waders’ heaven,

Buir Nuur west, May 2014, © Kirsten Krätzel

Waders welcome, installing the walk-in traps,

Buir Nuur west, May 2014, © Mathias Putze

After several wet summers the western part of Buir Nuur’s shoreline had turned into a wader heaven, so it seems appropriate to publish an additional wader special, this time without any Broad-billed Sandpipers (see part 2). The list of wader species seen at the lake is long and in 2010 “Aki and his Golden Horde” recorded a first for Mongolia at one of the bigger lagoons: Great Knot (see here). Naturally, we failed in photographing all the species that we saw in May 2014, but maybe you can still enjoy our selection of species and pictures.

Have a look at the commoner plovers first.

Pacific Golden Plovers

Buir Nuur west, May 2014. © Andreas Buchheim

Male Kentish Plover

Buir Nuur west, May 2014. © Thomas Langenberg

Male Kentish Plover

Buir Nuur west, May 2014. © Mathias Putze

Little Ringed Plover

Buir Nuur west, May 2014. © Mathias Putze

Now the much rarer Mongolian Sand Plover which, despite its name, does not even breed in Mongolia and is seen during migration only and only in small numbers. This is a pity, given the fact that it is a beauty, at least the males.

Female Mongolian Sand Plover

Buir Nuur west, May 2014. © Mathias Putze

Another beauty, and also a much sought-after species, is featured in the following pictures: Oriental Plover. Apparently the females were sitting tight on their clutches; we saw males only. They preferred the golf course like vegetation which often was in direct vicinity of humans. One male even attended a patch that had recently (been?) burned down. It was so hot that they even used a piece of sh…-- you see what it is--for standing higher up in the breeze.

Male Oriental Plover and one of our cars,

Buir Nuur west, May 2014. © Kirsten Krätzel

Male Oriental Plover

Buir Nuur west, May 2014. © Thomas Langenberg

Male Oriental Plover

Buir Nuur west, May 2014. ©Mathias Putze

Northern Lapwing, Pied Avocet, Eastern Black-tailed Godwit and Marsh Sandpiper are quite common at all Mongolian wetlands. To get decent shots of these is most easily done. With the modern camera gear flight shots are targeted. Their bigger size, when compared to the stints, helps in getting reasonable results.

Male Northern Lapwing

Buir Nuur west, May 2014. ©Mathias Putze

Pied Avocet

Buir Nuur west, May 2014. © Thomas Langenberg

Pied Avocets

Buir Nuur west, May 2014. © Mathias Putze

Eastern Black-tailed Godwits

Buir Nuur west, May 2014. © Mathias Putze

Marsh Sandpiper

Buir Nuur west, May 2014. © Mathias Putze

Marsh Sandpiper

Buir Nuur west, May 2014. © Mathias Putze

In spring and summer many waders of the tundra show a certain kind of color: brick red. This can be seen in Curlew Sandpiper, Sanderling, Red-necked Stint and Little Stint, all of which are shown in the pictures below.

Curlew Sandpiper

Buir Nuur west, May 2014. © Andreas Buchheim

Curlew Sandpiper
Buir Nuur west, May 2014. © Andreas Buchheim

Curlew Sandpiper

Buir Nuur west, May 2014. © Andreas Buchheim

Looks like a Red-necked Stint, but actually is a Sanderling

Sanderling

The size difference between Red-necked Stint (left) and

Sanderling (right) is only obvious in direct comparison.

The groups of foraging Red-necked Stints were successfully scrutinized for flagged individuals and all we saw had been marked in Australia. Thomas managed to get photographs that allowed reading the inscription on the metal ring. Fantastic job! And as we carefully checked every stint around, we found 3 Little Stints as well.