BIRDING MONGOLIA

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.