BIRDING MONGOLIA: March 2015

March 9, 2015

part six:

Along the Khalkh gol - The Plantation

text by Armin Schneider

( links to previous posts: part 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 )

Camp Khalkh gol Plantation

Jun 2014, © Armin Schneider

After our group had had a lot of fun at Buir Nuur, we even had more fun at Khalkh gol (“Khalkh River”) which is Mongolia’s easternmost river. For the next couple of days we had three different camp sites along the river.

At first, we spent a night very close to Khalkhgol village where we arrived on 1 June. Our campsite was just beside the bundle of huts near the remains of a former agricultural plantation. A few dozens of poplars and other trees as well as bushes plus the dense vegetation along the river made this place a very good choice, although the willows near the river were full of mosquitoes. It took not too long until we recorded some more interesting bird species. One of the many unexpected observations was a small group of three male Mandarin Ducks flying along the river on 2 June. They even landed close to the camp but somehow disappeared totally undetected by us. During our breakfast on 3 June a male Crested Honey Buzzard flew by our camp and we also found a nice Black-naped Oriole.

Record shot of the 3 male Mandarin Ducks

Khalkh gol , Jun 2014, © Armin Schneider

Male Crested Honey Buzzard

Khalkh gol, Jun 2014, © Thomas Langenberg

Black-naped Oriole

Khalkh gol plantation, Jun 2014, © T. Langenberg

Above our tents a few Amur Falcons had their nests and they sometimes disputed ownership with Daurian Jackdaws. We also observed a pair of Chinese Grey Shrikes. This species is known to breed in eastern Mongolia since several years (contra Gombobaatar et al. 2013). In fact, members of the Eastern Specialties Tour had found a nest as early as 2011 but did not even consider it to be the first one ever that had been found in the country (see here). Insofar it was not a real surprise when Abu found a nest just 200 m from our campsite.

Bush with the nest of Chinese Grey Shrike

Khalkh gol plantation, Jun 2014, © Kirsten Krätzel

Clutch and nest of Chinese Grey Shrike

Khalkh gol plantation, Jun 2014, © T. Langenberg

Chinese Grey Shrike

Khalkh gol plantation, Jun 2014, © Mathias Putze

Chinese Grey Shrike

Khalkh gol plantation, Jun 2014, © T. Langenberg

By checking the surrounding area, Armin flushed a Grey Nightjar from the ground which made it possible to get daylight photos of the flying bird. Besides the already mentioned species we also logged commoner birds like Two-barred Warbler, Black-faced Bunting, Sooty Flycatcher, Common Rosefinch, Daurian Jackdaw and White-cheeked Starling.

Grey Nightjar

Khalkh gol plantation, Jun 2014, © Armin Schneider

Male Amur Falcon and its abundant prey

Khalkh gol plantation, Jun 2014, © Armin Schneider

Dispute between Daurian Jackdaw and Amur Falcon

Khalkh gol plantation, Jun 2014, © Mathias Putze

Daurian Jackdaw in flight

Khalkh gol plantation, Jun 2014, © Mathias Putze

Daurian Jackdaw

Khalkh gol plantation, Jun 2014, © A. Buchheim

Hoopoe

Khalkh gol plantation, Jun 2014, © T. Langenberg

Two-barred Warbler

Khalkh gol plantation, Jun 2014, © A. Buchheim

Two-barred Warbler

Khalkh gol plantation, Jun 2014, © A. Buchheim

Youngster Daurian Pika

Khalkh gol plantation, Jun 2014, © Armin Schneider

Unbelievable, the guys at their siesta!

Khalkh gol plantation, Jun 2014, © Kirsten Krätzel

After our short stay here we went on to camp near Sumber where we found some very good birds. So keep checking BirdingMongolia!

Literatur cited

Gombobaatar, S., Shirihai, H. & Dorjlkhagvajantsan, G. 2013. The first breeding record of the Chinese Grey Shrike (Lanius sphenocercus Cabanis, 1873) in Mongolia. Ornis Mongolica 2: 31-34.

March 4, 2015

A day out in the forest

above Gachuurt

text & photos by ABu

(© A. Buchheim)

Gachuurt valley from above, UB, Feb 2015

On 15 February 2015 I picked up Jonathan Stacey and we set off for birding above Gachuurt, just 40 km NNE of UB. The forest there is not so much influenced by livestock and the part north of the pass belongs already to the Gorkhi Terelj National Park. We spent about 5 hours walking through the area and virtually the first bird we came across was a lifer for Jonathan: Siberian Tit (or, as our American friends call it, Gray-headed Chickadee)

That definitively was a good start and during our stay we had a series of high quality observations of some high quality birds. Of course, we could not find all of the good ones: no Great Grey Owl and no Siberian Jay, just to mention the most sought-after species we did not see.

Bird List (20 species without the capercaillie)

Hazel Grouse - 2
(Black-billed Capercaillie) - Jonathan found some droppings, the only evidence for its continued presence up here
Eurasian Black Vulture - 2 crossing the valley
Black Woodpecker - 1 very brilliantly seen
Grey-headed Woodpecker - 1 near the start of the ascent to the pass
Great Spotted Woodpecker - 1
Mongolian / Steppe Horned Lark - few small flocks along the valley
Goldcrest - 1
Great Tit - 2
Willow Tit - the most numerous bird
Siberian Tit - apart from the lifer individual we also saw at least 4 more

Siberian Tit

This is not the lifer, Gachuurt pass, UB, Feb 2015

Mixed coniferous forest,

Gachuurt pass, UB, Feb 2015

Eurasian Nuthatch - present
Eurasian Treecreeper - at least 3 heard, none seen
Eurasian Jay - 2
Spotted Nutcracker - several, but always high up in the trees
Common Raven - 6, some performing their spectacular flight show
Mealy Redpoll - just a handful
Arctic Redpoll - as uncommon as Mealy Redpoll
Pine Grosbeak - several around, but only one came close enough, though it almost always preferred to stay in the shade

Female Pine Grosbeak

Gachuurt pass, UB, Feb 2015

Female Pine Grosbeak

Gachuurt pass, UB, Feb 2015

Hawfinch - a singing male
Common Crossbill - the second most common species today, but mostly flying high above the forest or being on the wrong side of the anyway all-too-high trees

Male Common Crossbill

Gachuurt pass, UB, Feb 2015

Another male Common Crossbill

Gachuurt pass, UB, Feb 2015

One more male Common Crossbill

This one has quite pale cutting edges to its bill.

Gachuurt pass, UB, Feb 2015

2cy male Common Crossbill

Gachuurt pass, UB, Feb 2015

Female Common Crossbill

Gachuurt pass, UB, Feb 2015

Another female Common Crossbill

Gachuurt pass, UB, Feb 2015

One more female Common Crossbill

Gachuurt pass, UB, Feb 2015

The National Park side of the pass,

Gachuurt pass, UB, Feb 2015

March 2, 2015

A blue day below

Songino Khairkhan Uul

text & photos by Abu

On 12 February 2015 I went to check out the area below Songino Khairkhan Uul (near Ulaanbaatar), mainly to see whether we could conduct training in taking bird measurements there. After three hours I went back home with a very disappointing result: almost no birds apart from corvids.

Luckily (for me) c.30 Asian Azure-winged Magpies were a bit more approachable than usual which gave me the rather rare opportunity to take some behaviour photographs. In the sequence below you can see that the single magpie was joined by one, then by two, then even by three and finally by no less than four other individuals. Each bird greeted(?) the others by pointing its slightly fanned tail to the sky and its bill to the ground, but this could also have been another (rather non-aggressive as the bills pointed downwards) function. Then, out of the sudden, they took flight and parted.

Educated comments are, as always, very welcome. Enjoy!