Tuul Gol, 13 September 2016

text & photos by ABu

Autumn has arrived. Tuul Gol, UB, September 2016

Juvenile Mandarin Duck

Tuul Gol, UB, September 2016

A bright sunny day followed yet another cold night and when I was at the river it was still only 3°C (37.4°F). Despite the fantastic light, today was a very frustrating day. On arrival I came across a flock of dabbling ducks, mainly consisting of Mallards and Common Teals. One bird stood out immediately: a (the?) juvenile Mandarin Duck. Despite my most careful approach the Mandarin slowly swam into dense cover and through the bushes I could only take very poor record shots of it while the other ducks took flight right away. As I didn’t take my scope with me and because of the bad quality of the pictures the sex of this bird remains unclear, still.

Next was a group of about 120 Little Buntings. Although I literally was surrounded by them I could not achieve good shots. Apparently they knew exactly when they had to fly off: in the very moment my camera got the focus on them. The Little Bunting picture in this blog is that of a single bird. And so it went on all the 6 hours I walked around. Apart from the buntings there wasn’t much and sometimes I walked for a while without seeing a single bird.

Then there was that late Lanceolated Warbler which ran through the grass just a meter in front of me. Sounds good, eh? No, it isn’t. That is too close for photographing with my long lens! Anyway it would have been probably nothing more than a record shot of a small thing behind a lot of vegetation.

Finally the few penduline tits around preferred to stay inside the young bushy Siberian Elms. Only once, shortly after the Northern Sparrowhawk had flown along they came out for a brief check and I could manage to get a single bird documented.

Definitively I have to go again! Not only to get better shots of the Mandarin Duck.

Little Bunting

Tuul Gol, UB, September 2016

Azure Tit

Tuul Gol, UB, September 2016

Azure Tit

Tuul Gol, UB, September 2016

Azure Tit

Tuul Gol, UB, September 2016

Bird List (46 species)

Ruddy Shelduck 2
Mallard 12
Gadwall 2
Common Teal 10
Garganey 5
Mandarin Duck 1 juv.
Common Merganser 1 juv
Great Cormorant 9 juv.
Grey Heron 1
Black-eared Kite 4 ad.
Booted Eagle 1 ad.
Northern Sparrowhawk 1
Common Kestrel 1
Eurasian Hobby 1 juv.
Green Sandpiper 1
Spotted Redshank 1 (heard only)
Common Snipe 1
Lesser Spotted Woodpecker 3
Black Woodpecker 1

Great Cormorant

Tuul Gol, UB, September 2016

Grey Heron

Tuul Gol, UB, September 2016

Booted Eagle

Tuul Gol, UB, September 2016

Booted Eagle

Tuul Gol, UB, September 2016

Mongolian Horned Lark 2
Red-throated Pipit 4
Olive-backed Pipit c15
Grey Wagtail 2
Citrine Wagtail 2 juv.
Bluethroat 1 ad. male
Daurian Redstart 10
Siberian Chiffchaff 1
Yellow-browed Warbler c20
Dusky Warbler c15
Lanceolated Warbler 1
Taiga Flycatcher 7
Eurasian Tree Sparrow c120
Azure Tit c. 30
Great Tit 4
presumed "Stoliczka’s" White-crowned Penduline Tit 7

White-crowned Penduline Tit

Tuul Gol, UB, September 2016

Taiga Flycatcher juv.

Tuul Gol, UB, September 2016

Olive-backed Pipit

Tuul Gol, UB, September 2016

Northern Raven 4
Eurasian Magpie c10
Red-billed Chough 5
Daurian Jackdaw 4
Oriental Crow 2
Common Rosefinch six 1cy
Long-tailed Rosefinch c10
Pine Bunting c40
Little Bunting c300
Black-faced Bunting c10
Meadow Bunting 1

Long-tailed Rosefinch

Tuul Gol, UB, September 2016

Long-tailed Rosefinch

Tuul Gol, UB, September 2016

“Golden” leaves

Tuul Gol, UB, September 2016

Tuul Gol, 9 September 2016

text & photos by ABu

Azure Tit

Tuul Gol, UB, September 2016

After a cloudy night I went once more down to the river to see whether any new birds were around. There were, but not many. One of the first birds I saw that morning—I spent 5 hours along the Tuul—was a juvenile Goosander/Common Merganser. Unfortunately the light was still too poor and so are the two shots below. At around noon I heard a familiar call and tried looking for the bird. It took my quite a while to spot it circling fairly high above my head. Because this species, Japanese Sparrowhawk, has not been mentioned on our blog often, I include a composite picture of the juvenile female. Please excuse the awful quality of these shots.

Goosander

Tuul Gol, UB, September 2016

Goosander

Tuul Gol, UB, September 2016

Composite picture of the Japanese Sparrowhawk

Tuul Gol, UB, September 2016

Again, photographing birds proved too difficult in the vast majority of the cases so in the end I was taken even more pictures of the "Stoliczka’s" White-crowned Penduline Tits. Please note that the adults did not yet complete their moult. On some pictures the growing and still short secondaries are poking out. In case you find any Chinese Penduline Tit among those pictures, please let BirdingMongolia know! The Long-eared Owl that I flushed disappeared not to be found again. This applies to many other birds likewise. Else the bushes had not been overly crowded with birds and I had to criss-cross the area to get the birds on the day list.

Bird List (42 species)

Ruddy Shelduck 3
Mallard 6
Eurasian Wigeon 1
Northern Shoveler 2
Common Merganser 3 juv
Great Cormorant 2 juv.
Black-eared Kite 1 ad.
Booted Eagle 1 ad.
Japanese Sparrowhawk 1 juv. female
Common Kestrel 2
Northern Lapwing 1
Green Sandpiper 1
Spotted Redshank 2 juv.
Long-eared Owl 1
Lesser Spotted Woodpecker 4

Black-eared Kite

Tuul Gol, UB, September 2016

Common Magpie

Tuul Gol, UB, September 2016

Red-throated Pipit 5
Olive-backed Pipit c20
Grey Wagtail 2
Siberian Rubythroat 7
Bluethroat one 1cy
Daurian Redstart 2 females
presumed Siberian Lesser Whitethroat 2
Siberian Chiffchaff 1
Yellow-browed Warbler c25
Arctic Warbler 1
Dusky Warbler c15
Taiga Flycatcher 9
Eurasian Tree Sparrow c20
Azure Tit c50
Great Tit 10
presumed "Stoliczka’s" White-crowned Penduline Tit c50

White-crowned Penduline Tit

Tuul Gol, UB, September 2016

White-crowned Penduline Tit

Tuul Gol, UB, September 2016

White-crowned Penduline Tit

Tuul Gol, UB, September 2016

White-crowned Penduline Tit

Tuul Gol, UB, September 2016

White-crowned Penduline Tit

Tuul Gol, UB, September 2016

White-crowned Penduline Tit

Tuul Gol, UB, September 2016

White-crowned Penduline Tit

Tuul Gol, UB, September 2016

White-crowned Penduline Tit

Tuul Gol, UB, September 2016

White-crowned Penduline Tit

Tuul Gol, UB, September 2016

Eurasian Nuthatch 1
Northern Raven 4
Eurasian Magpie c10
Red-billed Chough c40
Daurian Jackdaw c30
Oriental Crow 6
Common Rosefinch two 1cy
Long-tailed Rosefinch c25
Pine Bunting c20
Little Bunting c90
Black-faced Bunting c20

Little Bunting

Tuul Gol, UB, September 2016

Tuul Gol, 5 September 2016

text & photos by ABu

The largest oxbow lake along my birding stretch.

Tuul Gol, UB, September 2016

Yet another attempt to take pictures of the birds, but this time I found fewer birds. The night before my visit had been clear and that might have urged the birds to move on. And so I tried my luck on the dragonflies instead (not much luck, though).

All pictures shown here had been taken with a handheld digital camera.

Booted Eagle

Tuul Gol, UB, September 2016

Long-tailed Rosefinch

Tuul Gol, UB, September 2016

Bird List (31 species)

Great Cormorant 5 juv.
Black-eared Kite 1 ad.
Booted Eagle 1 ad.
Common Kestrel 1
Eurasian Hobby 1 ad. and 1 juv.
Green Sandpiper 1
Common Snipe 1
Lesser Spotted Woodpecker 4

Asian Brown Flycatcher

Tuul Gol, UB, September 2016

Asian Brown Flycatcher

Tuul Gol, UB, September 2016

Asian Brown Flycatcher

Tuul Gol, UB, September 2016

Richard’s Pipit 1
Olive-backed Pipit c.25
Grey Wagtail 4
White Wagtail 2, taxon/taxa unclear
presumed Siberian Whitethroat 1
Siberian Chiffchaff 3
Yellow-browed Warbler c.15
Hume’s Warbler 1
Dusky Warbler c.25
Taiga Flycatcher 1
Asian Brown Flycatcher 1
Eurasian Tree Sparrow c.30
Azure Tit c.40
Great Tit 2
presumed Stoliczka’s White-crowned Tit c.15
Northern Raven 6
Eurasian Magpie 5
Red-billed Chough c.10
Oriental Crow c.20
Long-tailed Rosefinch c.15
Pine Bunting c.30
Little Bunting c.15
Black-faced Bunting 6

Tandem of ovipositing Black Darters Sympetrum danae

Tuul Gol, UB, September 2016

male Banded Darter Sympetrum pedemontanum

Tuul Gol, UB, September 2016

Well camouflaged pair of Banded Darter S. pedemontanum

Tuul Gol, UB, September 2016

Moustached Darter Sympetrum vulgatum

Tuul Gol, UB, September 2016

bulrush Typha laxmannii

Tuul Gol, UB, September 2016

Tuul Gol, 2 September 2016

text & photos by ABu

Inside the vegetation—as dark as it gets!

Tuul Gol, UB, September 2016

Lots of view-blocking twigs and leaves, too…

Tuul Gol, UB, September 2016

presumed Long-leafed False Tamarisk Myricaria longifolia

Heteropappus hispidus (?)

Tuul Gol, UB, September 2016

Algae. Tuul Gol, UB, September 2016

I went out this day to get more photos of the penduline tits and immediately on my arrival at the river it was obvious that more birds, mostly buntings, were around. Once again, it turned out that most of the birds outsmarted me with ease. For 5.5 hours I crawled (sometimes) through the near impenetrable vegetation in pursuit of birds. At my early start it was only plus 5°C (41°F) which is obvious in the pictures of the fluffy (presumed) Stejneger’s Stonechat. Many leaves had turned into the brighter autumn colours but not many of them had been dropped. The plant (is it indeed a False Tamarisk, Myricaria?) on which the penduline tits preferred to search for food had turn dark orange. Some flowers, such as the presumed Heteropappus hispidus (?), were on full show still! At some stretches of the river algae were still growing. Usually these slimy algae indicate lots of organic input but this species, I believe, does not. It grows very patchily and normally the waste-water indicating algae grow everywhere.

With the now higher vegetation available, the Eurasian Red Squirrel, which is not red at all in this country, had returned. I found two but could “capture” only the young individual with my camera. Birds were, as already mentioned, much more difficult, but a few I got get a grip on, see yourself.
All pictures shown here had been taken with a handheld digital camera.

Eurasian Red Squirrel Sciurus vulgaris altaicus

Tuul Gol, UB, September 2016

Bird List (41 species)

Mallard 9
Goosander 1 female
Great Cormorant 2 juv.
Black-eared Kite 5, only 1 juv.
Booted Eagle 1
Common Kestrel 1
Green Sandpiper 2
Common Snipe 1
Hoopoe 1
Lesser Spotted Woodpecker 2

presumed Stejneger’s Stonechat

Tuul Gol, UB, September 2016

presumed Stejneger’s Stonechat

Tuul Gol, UB, September 2016

presumed Stejneger’s Stonechat

Tuul Gol, UB, September 2016

Richard’s Pipit 3
Olive-backed Pipit c.25
Grey Wagtail 4
White Wagtail 2, taxon/taxa unclear
presumed Stejneger’s Stonechat 6
presumed Siberian Whitethroat 2
Pallas’s Warbler 2
Yellow-browed Warbler c.20
Hume’s Warbler 1
Arctic Warbler c.40
Two-barred Greenish Warbler 4
Dusky Warbler c.70
Taiga Flycatcher c.30
Eurasian Tree Sparrow c.150
Azure Tit c.40
Great Tit 5
Long-tailed Tit 3
presumed Stoliczka’s White-crowned Tit c.40

White-crowned Penduline Tit

Tuul Gol, UB, September 2016

White-crowned Penduline Tit

Tuul Gol, UB, September 2016

White-crowned Penduline Tit

Tuul Gol, UB, September 2016

White-crowned Penduline Tit

Tuul Gol, UB, September 2016

Brandt’s Jay 1
Northern Raven 2
Eurasian Magpie c.10
Red-billed Chough c.25
Oriental Crow c.15
Brown Shrike 1
Isabelline Shrike 2
Common Rosefinch 6
Long-tailed Rosefinch c.20
Pine Bunting c.30
Little Bunting c.50
Black-faced Bunting c.10
Pallas’s (Reed) Bunting 8, taxon/taxa unclear

Little Bunting

Tuul Gol, UB, September 2016

Old oxbow lake

Tuul Gol, UB, September 2016