No snow in eastern Mongolia. Feb 2015 © A. Buchheim

Hard time in finding birds, any birds!

text by ABu

Winter expeditions to find Snowy Owl are already a kind of tradition for some members of the Mongolian Birdwatching Club (for more winter birding reports click on “winter”, the lowermost link under “LABELS” at the sidebar) and we tried to find the wintering white owls and other species between 10 and 16 Feb 2015. It was very hard work with almost no birds seen—and the few we saw proofed to be difficult to capture with our cameras. In the end were rather frustrated and the guys even spent time to take photos of Common Magpie and Eurasian Tree Sparrow, simply because virtually nothing else was on show. As a consequence of that you will find pictures of very few species in this post.

Asphalt road east of UB, Feb 2015 © A. Buchheim

Breeding Bearded Vulture, E Mongolia, Feb 2015 © A. Buchheim

First we headed eastwards via Öndörkhaan. Near this city we tried a site where Snowy Owl had been seen this winter but failed to relocate it. Before we spent the first night of the trip in Choibalsan (CB) we paid Mongolia’s easternmost breeding pair of Bearded Vulture a short visit. As they were breeding already we skipped our idea of searching along the cliffs for Wallcreeper which had been seen here in winter by Batmunkh and went on after a few minutes. From CB we took the track northwestwards to pass Yakhi Nuur on its western side until we reached the abandoned settlement of Mardai. The grass along our route was high, the weather fine, although cloudy and we came across a number of species like Hen Harrier, Merlin and Rough-legged Buzzards, but nothing special. The former village of Mardai was built by the Russians and was intended to be home for the workers of a former uranium mine nearby. We had hoped that the local plantation would provide shelter for birds but we could not find much. It was here where we added Daurian Partridge and Northern Grey Shrike to our trip list.

Mardai ruins with the “plantation” in the foreground

E Mongolia, Feb 2015 © Andreas Buchheim

Relaxed birders enjoying “mild” minus 23°C (minus 9.4°F)

NE Mongolia, Feb 2015 © Andreas Buchheim

Standard view of Mongolian Gazelle

NE Mongolia, Feb 2015 © Andreas Buchheim

Mongolian Gazelles

NE Mongolia, Feb 2015 © Andreas Buchheim

Mongolian Gazelles

NE Mongolia, Feb 2015 © Andreas Buchheim

After a short lunch break in the almost completely destroyed plantation we continued towards Dashbalbar where we stayed overnight. Here the ground was covered by just one centimetre of snow (but that was more than elsewhere) and within the village several flocks of Mongolian Lark were around. The next day (12 February) we followed the Ulds River and had very good views of…
… Mongolian Gazelle, but birds were rare and we saw nothing out of the ordinary. Some areas had a little more snow than others and the further north we got the more snow was on the ground.

1 cm snow in the northern parts of the country

NE Mongolia, Feb 2015 © Andreas Buchheim

Border between the provinces of Dornod and Khentii

NE Mongolia, Feb 2015 © Andreas Buchheim

Until nightfall we made it to the village of Bayan Andraga (which is already on the shores of the Onon River in Khentii Province, overnight stay here) and tried out the riparian forest to the west of this village the next morning (13 February). Previously, the site had been filled with berry bushes and berry trees but this time there were no berries at all on the few remaining bushes and trees (and hence not fruit eating birds). However, White-backed Woodpeckers were drumming everywhere but always gave us a wide berth. A group of c20 Black Grouse, mainly consisting of females, allowed a rather close approach.

Pair of Black Grouse

NE Mongolia, Feb 2015 © Gankhuyag Purev-Ochir

Black Grouse, 2 females

Can you spot the second bird in the background?

NE Mongolia, Feb 2015 © Andreas Buchheim

Female Black Grouse

NE Mongolia, Feb 2015 © Andreas Buchheim

Another female Black Grouse

NE Mongolia, Feb 2015 © Andreas Buchheim

Birch seed, the food of Black Grouse

NE Mongolia, Feb 2015 © Andreas Buchheim

After checking a Seabuckthorn plantation on the way (again: no berries; and again: no berry eating birds!) we arrived at a companioned family of race horse breeders in the valley of the Khurkh River where we were revived by a good lunch. It was here, where the desperate photographers spent the waiting time with photographing the aforementioned magpies and sparrows. Off we went to the west soon after the meal and the next night we slept near the Baldan Bereiven Monastery, this time in the car. It was only minus 25°C, so not too cold and we already had developed a kind of routine how to organize us within the car. Amarkhuu and Batmunkh even slept in the tent. On our penultimate day (15 February) we birded the forest above the Bayan Gol Tourist Camp (not many birds, but at least some!) before we drove to Möngön Morit and here we spent the last night of the trip. The final trip day brought us to the forest north of the village. A larger flock of Baikal Bullfinch aka Grey Bullfinch caught our attention and we took a lot of frames but the other birds disappeared quickly. On the way back to UB we also checked out Gun Galuut (and again: very few birds). Despite the fact that we failed to find the most desired species, and despite the fact that we also did not see many birds at all, it was a wonderful trip through the eastern steppe of the Dornod Province with always happy guys and-above all- the fantastic hospitality of the Mongolians. THANK YOU!

Onon River valley

NE Mongolia, Feb 2015 © Andreas Buchheim

Male Mealy Redpoll

NE Mongolia, Feb 2015 © Gankhuyag Purev-Ochir

Female Hazel Grouse

NE Mongolia, Feb 2015 © Batmunkh Davaasuren

Male Hazel Grouse

NE Mongolia, Feb 2015 © Andreas Buchheim

Head of the same male Hazel Grouse

NE Mongolia, Feb 2015, © Andreas Buchheim

Species list (47 species)

Black Grouse c50 seen in Khentii, at three sites
Hazel Grouse two seen above Bayangol Ger Camp
Daurian Partridge c40 at Mardai
Eurasian Black Vulture every now and then seen in small groups or singles
Bearded Vulture one incubating between Öndörkhaan and Choibalsan
Golden Eagle 2
Hen Harrier at least 7 between Choibalsan and Dashbalbar
Rough-legged Buzzard few scattered around the steppe
Upland Buzzard lots of them at certain rodent-rich sites, i.e. c90 near Öndörkhaan
Northern Goshawk a male near Baldan Bareven Monastery
Common Kestrel seen at many sites, but not as common as in summer
Merlin c10
Saker surprisingly, only few observed
Rock Dove/Feral Pigeon some at all larger settlements
Hill Pigeon only in Dashbalbar (25)
Little Owl 1 Mögönmorit
Grey-headed Woodpecker 1 Mögönmorit, singing
Great Spotted Woodpecker
Lesser Spotted Woodpecker
White-backed Woodpecker some at the Onon River near Binder, already drumming
Three-toed Woodpecker

Female Three-toed Woodpecker

NE Mongolia, Feb 2015 © Batmunkh Davaasuren

Male Three-toed Woodpecker

NE Mongolia, Feb 2015 © Andreas Buchheim

Khentii Larch forest

Feb 2015 © Andreas Buchheim

Regrown woods after a forest fire

NE Mongolia, Feb 2015 © Andreas Buchheim

Partly burnt steppe in Khentii

Feb 2015 © Andreas Buchheim

Mongolian (Steppe) Horned Lark only small groups
Mongolian Lark everywhere in the steppe, even in Dashbalbar, but nowhere larger flocks
Great Tit
Azure Tit
Coal Tit
Willow Tit
Eastern Marsh Tit already singing
Eurasian Nuthatch
Northern Grey Shrike

Male Lesser Spotted Woodpecker

NE Mongolia, Feb 2015 © Andreas Buchheim

Head of the same Lesser Spotted Woodpecker

NE Mongolia, Feb 2015 © Andreas Buchheim

Common Magpie
Eurasian Jay
Spotted Nutcracker
Red-billed Chough
Oriental (Carrion) Crow
Northern Raven
House Sparrow
Eurasian Tree Sparrow
Rock Sparrow
Pèrre David’s Snowfinch
Mealy Redpol
Arctic Redpoll
Grey/Baikal Bullfinch two small flocks

Male Grey/Baikal Bullfinch

NE Mongolia, Feb 2015 © Andreas Buchheim

Male Grey/Baikal Bullfinch

NE Mongolia, Feb 2015 © Andreas Buchheim

Male Grey/Baikal Bullfinch

NE Mongolia, Feb 2015 © Andreas Buchheim

Male Grey/Baikal Bullfinch

NE Mongolia, Feb 2015 © Batmunkh Davaasuren

Female Grey/Baikal Bullfinch

NE Mongolia, Feb 2015 © Andreas Buchheim

Female Grey/Baikal Bullfinch

NE Mongolia, Feb 2015 © Batmunkh Davaasuren

Female Grey/Baikal Bullfinch

NE Mongolia, Feb 2015 © Batmunkh Davaasuren

Common Crossbill few near the Bayangol Ger Camp
Long-tailed Rosefinch
Pallas’s Rosefinch 2 nice but unfortunately also very shy adult males above Bayangol Ger Camp
Lapland Bunting only a single flock of c30
Meadow Bunting
Godlewski’s Bunting 1 above Bayangol Ger Camp

Pair of Common Crossbill

NE Mongolia, Feb 2015 © Batmunkh Davaasuren

Female Common Crossbill

NE Mongolia, Feb 2015 © Batmunkh Davaasuren

Male Common Crossbill

NE Mongolia, Feb 2015 © Batmunkh Davaasuren

Happy Winterbirders

NE Mongolia, Feb 2015 © Batmunkh Davaasuren

Note: This post relates really to 2015, a latecomer, but published at the right season…