part 18 (final part):

Gorkhi Terelj National Park

text by Thomas Langenberg

( links to previous posts:

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 ,12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)

Entrance gate in the rain, Gorkhi Terelj NP

Jun 2014 © Matze Putze

Ruled by heavy rains, Gorkhi Terelj NP

Jun 2014 © Armin Schneider

Skies are clearing up, Gorkhi Terelj NP

Jun 2014 © Armin Schneider

Inside the forest, Gorkhi Terelj NP

Jun 2014 © Matze Putze

Rhododendron dahuricum, Gorkhi Terelj NP

Jun 2014 © Andreas Buchheim

On 15 June we travelled the short way up from Gun Galuut to the famed Gorkhi Terelj National Park. The NP is well developed but as we wanted to camp undisturbed we went into the forest for the rest of the trip. Our aim was to see some forest species. As the NP lies at the southern fringe of the Siberian taiga we hoped for Siberian birds like Siberian Tit (known as Gray-headed Chickadee in North America) and Siberian Jay plus the difficult Black-billed Capercaillie (BBC). Upon our arrival the forest was quiet, no wonder as the rain continued for several hours. But soon after the rain had ceased Orange-flanked Bluetails, Pallas’s and Two-barred Warblers and Olive-backed Pipits started to sing, mostly from the tree tops. On an escarpment we found an occupied nest of Eurasian Black Vulture and just above our kitchen tent a pair of Taiga Flycatchers was busily feeding their chicks, nice!

Orange-flanked Bluetail

Gorkhi Terelj NP, Jun 2014 © Thomas Langenberg

Oriental Cuckoo

Gorkhi Terelj NP, Jun 2014 © Matze Putze

Ural Owl

Gorkhi Terelj NP, Jun 2014 © Thomas Langenberg

Ural Owl

Gorkhi Terelj NP, Jun 2014 © Andreas Buchheim

Ural Owl

Gorkhi Terelj NP, Jun 2014 © Thomas Langenberg

For the next two days we explored the forest, mostly by hiking up the valley which was quite exhausting. The reward was to see up to 15 BBC per day. These birds proofed to be impossible to get photographed. As soon as we saw one, the bird took flight and dashed through the forest so our cameras had no chance to track them for a shot. A bit more cooperative birds we came across on one of our walks: A family of Spotted Nutcracker, though venturing off straight away, and finally we saw also Siberian Tit and Siberian Jay. Another good one to discover was an Ural Owl in tree not far from our camp. Sönke checked out the distress calls of Red-throated Thrushes and by doing so he found the owl. Well done!

Eurasian Black Vulture

Gorkhi Terelj NP, Jun 2014 © Armin Schneider

Eastern Buzzard, one bird of the breeding pair

Gorkhi Terelj NP, Jun 2014 © Thomas Langenberg

Aquilegia sibirica

Gorkhi Terelj NP, Jun 2014 © Armin Schneider

Male Taiga Flycatcher

Gorkhi Terelj NP, Jun 2014 © Thomas Langenberg

Male Taiga Flycatcher

Gorkhi Terelj NP, Jun 2014 © Thomas Langenberg

Grey Wagtail...

and no running water around at the top of the mountain…

Gorkhi Terelj NP, Jun 2014 © Andreas Buchheim

Northern Pika

Gorkhi Terelj NP, Jun 2014 © Armin Schneider

Siberian Chipmunk

Gorkhi Terelj NP, Jun 2014 © Matze Putze

Siberian Chipmunk

Gorkhi Terelj NP, Jun 2014 © Armin Schneider

Siberian Jay, juvenile

Gorkhi Terelj NP, Jun 2014 © Thomas Langenberg

Spotted Nutcracker, juvenile

Gorkhi Terelj NP, Jun 2014 © Thomas Langenberg

Siberian Tit

Gorkhi Terelj NP, Jun 2014 © Thomas Langenberg

Siberian Tit

Gorkhi Terelj NP, Jun 2014 © Thomas Langenberg

On our last day it started to rain again and we packed our wet tents to dry them in our hotel in UB later. With more than 210 species seen during this trip, and lots of goodies among them, we returned back to Germany very satisfied! We will come back!

Group of Swamprunners

Gorkhi Terelj NP, Jun 2014 © Thomas Langenberg

A juvenile hybrid dabbling duck

text & photos by ABu

When I was birding the UB Ponds on 15 Sep 2016 a strange looking duck caught my eyes. It was within a small flock of Baikal Teal and somehow resembled them. But the duck also differed from the Baikal Teals in a few points. It was clearly bigger and also longer. The general coloration was paler and it had a kind of diluted Baikal Teal’s face pattern. Its bill was longer and showed much more grey than can be seen on young Baikal Teals, which usually show only a small grey triangular patch on the base of the bill sides. After I had taken the record shots below, the flock slowly swam away to disappear behind the bushes and I could not relocate the ducks, so the two pictures here are all we got.

Back home I checked the photographs on the computer screen. This more or less convinced me that my initial field ID was right (as right as it can be with these hybrids when the parents are not known for sure): Northern Pintail x Baikal Teal. To get the opinion of experts I contacted Osao and Michiaki Ujihara, authors of this book, and they swiftly replied: a juvenile hybrid Northern Pintail x Baikal Teal. Generally this hybrid combination is quite well known and is recorded every now and then, but—according to the Ujiharas—juveniles of this combination have not yet been documented anywhere so far.The only illustration of a female of this hybrid is a painted female in their book. Males are also known because they are much more obvious and hence more often found.

My thanks go to Osao and Michiaki Ujihara for their expertise and to Nial Moores of Birds Korea who draw my attention to this hybrid combination many years ago.

Juvenile hybrid Northern Pintail x Baikal Teal with Baikal Teals

UB Ponds, September 2016. © Andreas Buchheim

Juvenile hybrid Northern Pintail x Baikal Teal with Baikal Teals

UB Ponds, September 2016. © Andreas Buchheim

UB Ponds, soon lost to industry!

15 September 2016

text & photos by ABu

UB Ponds are falling dry because of the new dam

that has cut off the main pond from the stream (foreground).

UB, September 2016

Several of the UB Ponds are going to be filled up soon.

UB, September 2016

Industry has come very near. UB Ponds, September 2016

A well visited stake-out for waterbirds and more are the UB Ponds, aka Green Ponds (in Mongolian). These ponds are under severe threat: The city government concluded that they pose a risk for the planes which start from or land at the airport and in addition to this different companies have decided to make a “better” use of this “useless” land. Industrial encroachment has started a few years ago and more and more ponds had been filled up meanwhile. Other ponds had only been fenced off so far but it will not take long until we have lost this site. The sewage stream had recently been cut off from the main pond which is now almost dry. We will see how many water birds will still winter here in the future.

I visited the ponds for a few hours on 15 September. Unfortunately it was very cloudy and it even rained during my visit. This meant that photographing was more a less just documenting the birds by achieving nothing more than record shots. Try to enjoy my shot which had been taking by hand-held equipment and excuse the poor quality of the pictures.

Goosander. UB Ponds, September 2016

Goosander. UB Ponds, September 2016

Juv. Falcated Duck framed by 2 Baikal Teals,

Mallard and Northern Pintail in the back

UB Ponds, September 2016

Falcated Duck. UB Ponds, September 2016

leading Falcated Duck plus 3 Gadwalls

UB Ponds, September 2016

Falcated Duck following 3 Gadwalls

UB Ponds, September 2016

Bird List (54 species)

Whooper Swan 7 (a family)
Swan Goose 2
Greylag Goose 3
Ruddy Shelduck c220
Mallard c140
Gadwall c80
Northern Pintail 9
Falcated Duck 4
Northern Shoveler c25
Eurasian Wigeon c20
Baikal Teal 15
Common Teal c90
Garganey 2
Common Pochard 17
Tufted Duck c45
Common Goldeneye 12
Common Merganser 3
Crested Grebe 8
Little Grebe 1 (ssp poggei)
Great Cormorant 18
Grey Heron c70
Black-eared Kite c450
Booted Eagle 1 dark morph juv.
Saker Falcon 1
Common Moorhen heard only
Common Coot c30
Northern Lapwing c20
Temminck’s Stint 1
Green Sandpiper 6
Spotted Redshank 14
Eastern Black-tailed Godwit 1 juv.
Common Greenshank 2
Common Snipe c10
Black-headed Gull 6
Mongolian Gull 7

landing Baikal Teal. UB Ponds, September 2016

Eastern Little Grebe (background: Spotted Redshank)

UB Ponds, September 2016

Common Snipe trying to hide behind a very thing twig

UB Ponds, September 2016

Barn Swallow 17
Red-throated Pipit 4
White Wagtail c35, mostly juv.
Grey Wagtail 2 juv.
Citrine Wagtail 2 juv.
Eastern Yellow Wagtail 1
Daurian Redstart 6
Two-barred Greenish Warbler 1
Dusky Warbler 5
Eurasian Tree Sparrow c250
Azure Tit 6
presumed “Stoliczka’s” White-crowned Tit c10

White Wagtail. UB Ponds, September 2016

Grey Wagtail. UB Ponds, September 2016

Grey Wagtail with a Gammarus sp

UB Ponds, September 2016

Northern Raven 8
Eurasian Magpie c15
Daurian Jackdaw 7
Eastern Rook c35
Oriental Crow 8
Little Bunting 9
Common Reed Bunting 1

I must try this site again in better weather!