BIRDING MONGOLIA: January 2017

January 31, 2017

"Gulling" the East

part five: plantation of lords

text & photos by ABu

(links to part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4)

Forest Wagtail in poor light, Khalkhgol plantation

Eastern Mongolia, May 2016 © Andreas Buchheim

Forest Wagtail in better light, Khalkhgol plantation

Eastern Mongolia, May 2016 © Andreas Buchheim

singing (!) Forest Wagtail, Khalkhgol plantation

Eastern Mongolia, May 2016 © Andreas Buchheim

During the few days (26 to 29 May) in the Khalkhgol plantation I searched for rare species every day. I turned each and every warbler and did the same with flycatchers, but the big hit—that would be a national first like Blue-and-white Flycatcher or a second for the country like Eastern-crowned Warbler—was unfortunately not among them, or I just didn't find it. On my first walk I found several rare or kind of rare birds though ("teasers": see here): about the 5th record for Mongolia of Forest Wagtail (teaser 3), a female White-throated Rock Thrush (teaser 4) and a female Yellow-rumped Flycatcher (teaser 5). The light was very poor but luckily all three of them stayed for more than one day, enabling me to get better shots. Since this was already my second Forest Wagtail (see here for the other one, 2011), out of three visits to the Far East of Mongolia during spring, it seems that the species is not a real rarity and the singing bird suggests that they might even breed somewhere nearby. If not in Mongolia, which does not have the right habitat (?), then across the border.

Female White-throated Rock Thrush, Khalkhgol plantation

Eastern Mongolia, May 2016 © Andreas Buchheim

the same White-throated Rock Thrush, Khalkhgol plantation

Eastern Mongolia, May 2016 © Andreas Buchheim

The well-skulking White-throated Rock Thrush is likewise not often seen in the country but if, then it is mostly in the east. This female was not so approachable but as it couldn't hide away inside the degraded plantation that easily, I managed to get half-decent pictures.

And the Yellow-rumped Flycatcher? Since territorial males are recorded every now and then, it cannot be regarded as a rarity, at least in the east. There is a single record from UB even, but further west not a single individual has ever been seen. A few should be on show to those observers taking the effort traveling to eastern Mongolia during spring and summer. I photographed three individuals, all of which behaved a bit skittish, naturally!

2cy female Yellow-rumped Flycatcher, Khalkhgol plantation

Eastern Mongolia, May 2016 © Andreas Buchheim

2cy female Yellow-rumped Flycatcher, Khalkhgol plantation

Eastern Mongolia, May 2016 © Andreas Buchheim

2cy male Yellow-rumped Flycatcher, Khalkhgol plantation

Eastern Mongolia, May 2016 © Andreas Buchheim

2cy male Yellow-rumped Flycatcher, Khalkhgol plantation

Eastern Mongolia, May 2016 © Andreas Buchheim

ad male Yellow-rumped Flycatcher, Khalkhgol plantation

Eastern Mongolia, May 2016 © Andreas Buchheim

While I was on my walk through the plantation on 28 May I saw a bird in the air crossing a wide open space. It looked strange but fortunately it chose to land in the lonely dead tree (can a dead tree be lonely?) in front of me: it was a 2cy male Mugimaki Flycatcher. It decided to press on almost immediately so I got only a single shot (in much too harsh light). This species is recorded only very infrequently within Mongolia's boundaries although it might even breed in the taiga. It took me almost 30 visits over a period of 12 years to get it on my list. Surprising, indeed!

Two more species I got photographed that I would consider rare or more precisely: rarely seen follow. Eye-browed Thrush is one of them. Actually it is a regular migrant in small numbers but it also breeds in Gorkhi-Terelj National Park not far from UB. It is a rather shy thrush and thus quite often overlooked and, even more often, not photographed. During the storm a group of 8 foraged between the rows of bushes. They must have been quite exhausted to let me get that close.

2cy Mugimaki Flycatcher, Khalkhgol plantation

Eastern Mongolia, May 2016 © Andreas Buchheim

Eye-browed Thrush, Khalkhgol plantation

Eastern Mongolia, May 2016 © Andreas Buchheim

Eye-browed Thrush, Khalkhgol plantation

Eastern Mongolia, May 2016 © Andreas Buchheim

Eye-browed Thrush, Khalkhgol plantation

Eastern Mongolia, May 2016 © Andreas Buchheim

Eye-browed Thrush, Khalkhgol plantation

Eastern Mongolia, May 2016 © Andreas Buchheim

Eye-browed Thrush, Khalkhgol plantation

Eastern Mongolia, May 2016 © Andreas Buchheim

Eye-browed Thrush, Khalkhgol plantation

Eastern Mongolia, May 2016 © Andreas Buchheim

The other species was a common migrant and breeder in Asia but is now on the brink of extinction: Yellow-breasted Bunting. I saw 2 birds in the plantation and could take photos of a 2cy female. The other was an adult female. It is a pity that such a beautiful bird is still being caught in huge numbers in China, where it is called "rice bird" for a very obvious reason: they are eaten! Now it is really a rare sight in Mongolia, even on migration and you need a great deal of luck to find one during a spring trip. Only tiny "left-over" breeding population pockets are currently known. Wake up, neighbours, and stop eating them all up!

2cy Yellow-breasted Bunting, Khalkhgol plantation

Eastern Mongolia, May 2016 © Andreas Buchheim

2cy Yellow-breasted Bunting, Khalkhgol plantation

Eastern Mongolia, May 2016 © Andreas Buchheim

I saw only two other rarer birds, actually it was only one that I saw alive: on 26 May found a bunch of oriole feathers under a bush, but they were only those small bright yellow body feathers that gave no clue to which oriole species had been killed. Black-naped Oriole is the more likely species, though.

On 28 May an adult Striated Heron flew down river but disappeared too quickly. They breed in very low numbers in the Far East of Mongolia. This time I could not find more rarities and did not even see a single Chinese Grey Shrike, a species that has bred in the plantation, but not this year.

We headed back to the west on 29 May but this part of the journey will be covered in the next post.

January 23, 2017

Ashy Minivet

Pericrocotus divaricatus:

first record for Mongolia

text and photos by Ariunbaatar Barkhashbaatar

On 30 June 2016 Otgonsuren Avirmed and I were measuring Elm Ulmus pumilo trees at the Undai River in Khanbogd soum, Umnugobi province (42.6734ºN 106.9606ºE). This was part of an ongoing survey by the Wildlife Conservation Society of Mongolia.

When I looked up I saw a strange bird which was mainly white, grey and black. It was feeding slowly within the canopy of the trees and I quickly took two photographs. I could not identify it at the spot so pictures were sent to Gankhuyag Purev-Ochir, Purevsuren Tsolmonjav, Amarkhuu Gungaa and Batmunkh Davaasuren for checking. It turned out that we had found Mongolia's first Ashy Minivet! We could not check the site the next day so it remains a one-day wonder.

Male Ashy Minivet

Khanbogd, southern Mongolia, 30 June 2016

Male Ashy Minivet

Khanbogd, southern Mongolia, 30 June 2016

Comment by BirdingMongolia

Ashy Minivet has been on our "next for the country list" for long. It breeds from Amurland in Russia's Far East and NE China south to Korea and also in Japan. Its non-breeding range lies mainly in SE Asia, on the Greater Sundas and in the Philippines, and it occurs also regularly India. Given this range the species has been expected to visit Mongolia on migration for some time! Congrats guys!

January 20, 2017

Autumn colours

text by ABu

Autumn in Gorkhi Terelj NP

September 2016, © Andreas Buchheim

Early morning of 17 Sep 2016 I picked up Augusto and Jonathan and the three of us went to Gorkhi Terelj National Park to try our luck on Black-billed Capercaillie, aka BBC. We parked the car near the village of Terelj and next was a 3-hour ascent up to a plateau 500 m higher than the parking lot. Apparently, not many have ever tried to seek these birds out during this time of the year and our expectations to find a BBC were not high. The main reason for this was the fact that we were not alone in the forest. Nutters, who collect pine nuts by banging huge wooden hammers against the trees, causing not only the nut-containing cones to fall down, but also damage the trees and cause a lot of disturbance, were on the move as well. Luckily the collecting season was almost over and the forest was not shaken by the hammering sound. Most numerous were Eurasian Red Squirrel Sciurus vulgaris of which we easily saw more than 100, including 2 or 3 of the locally rare red-colour morph. The only other mammal we saw, also in larger numbers, was Northern Red-backed Vole Myodes rutilus (thanx for the pic Augusto!). They also were collecting pine nuts.

Eurasian Red Squirrel, Gorkhi Terelj NP

September 2016, © Andreas Buchheim

Northern Red-backed Vole, Gorkhi Terelj NP

September 2016, © Augusto Faustino

Once on the plateau we spread out and combed the forest. It did not take long until we flushed the first BBC, a stately male. Our views, however, were not satisfactorily. So we went on and by the time we returned to the car we had seen about 5 or 7 males and 1 female. Although some of them took flight from branches directly above us, photographing them proved impossible, once again!

Nevertheless, it seems that autumn is a rather good time for finding the species as they get somehow accustomed to the presence of humans allowing a closer approach. The main problem still is to see them before the take off. Some males were already singing, which also helped in locating them. We also checked the air above the Valley of the Turtle and a complete list of the birds seen can be found below. We returned to UB in the evening: Mission accomplished

Bird list (23 species):

Black-billed Capercaillie: 6 to 8, one even seen walking on the ground but even this one sneaked away with ease
Booted Eagle: 1 dark morph
Eastern Buzzard: 2, actually the only birds photographed that day
Bearded Vulture: 1 ad.
Eurasian Black Vulture: 4
Northern Goshawk: 1 immat.
Eurasian Sparrowhawk: 1

Juvenile Eastern Buzzard, Gorkhi Terelj NP

September 2016, © Andreas Buchheim

2cy Eastern Buzzard, Gorkhi Terelj NP

September 2016, © Andreas Buchheim

Great Spotted Woodpecker
Lesser Spotted Woodpecker
Eurasian Treecreeper: c.6, most of them just heard
Orange-flanked Bluetail: 1
Daurian Redstart: c.10
Common Crossbill: c.50
Olive-backed Pipit: c.30
Coal Tit: c.20
Willow Tit
Siberian Tit
Eye-browed Thrush: 2
Red-throated Thrush
Eurasian Nuthatch
Hawfinch: c.30
Brambling: several
Northern Raven

Autumn colours, Gorkhi Terelj NP

September 2016, © Andreas Buchheim

January 8, 2017

“Gulling” the East

part four: plantation of commons

text and photos by ABu

(links to part 1, part 2, part 3)

The degraded Khalkhgol plantation

Eastern Mongolia, May 2016 © Andreas Buchheim

The degraded Khalkhgol plantation

Eastern Mongolia, May 2016 © Andreas Buchheim

This post will feature some of the commoner birds I encountered and photographed while staying in the Khalkhgol plantation (26 to 29 May). Eastern Mongolia is probably the most under-watched part in this generally under-watched country! So especially for "half rare" species it is difficult to draw the line between what is considered to be common and what is considered to be rare. My selection of common species can be found below. Common does not necessarily mean that I saw larger numbers of the mentioned species but it characterizes species that are commonly seen in Mongolia.

The plantation, a former site for agricultural research, had almost become totally destroyed: The fence, already mainly fallen down when we first visited this site in 2011 (see here) was now fully gone and every day lots of livestock entered for grazing (and to a much lesser extent for browsing). The quality of the bushes had changed accordingly: Not many sites to hide away are left. It is only a matter of time until the whole plantation will be gone. Repeatedly, cars were crossing the plantation causing disturbance to the birds and their observer!

Male Amur Falcon, Khalkhgol plantation

Eastern Mongolia, May 2016 © Andreas Buchheim

Female Taiga Flycatcher, Khalkhgol plantation

Eastern Mongolia, May 2016 © Andreas Buchheim

2cy male Taiga Flycatcher, Khalkhgol plantation

Eastern Mongolia, May 2016 © Andreas Buchheim

Amur Falcons breed in the plantation and I counted 15 pairs that had started to prepare for this year's breeding season. Most eye-catching was the abundance of flycatchers on 26 May (with about 60 Taiga, 25 Asian Brown and 5 Dark-sided) and again on 28 May (about 20 Taiga, 160 Asian Brown and 180 Dark-sided) but almost zero of each on 27 May.

Asian Brown Flycatcher, Khalkhgol plantation

Eastern Mongolia, May 2016 © Andreas Buchheim

Asian Brown Flycatcher, Khalkhgol plantation

Eastern Mongolia, May 2016 © Andreas Buchheim

Asian Brown Flycatcher, Khalkhgol plantation

Eastern Mongolia, May 2016 © Andreas Buchheim

Asian Brown Flycatcher, Khalkhgol plantation

Eastern Mongolia, May 2016 © Andreas Buchheim

Asian Brown Flycatcher, Khalkhgol plantation

Dark-sided Flycatcher, Khalkhgol plantation

I also witnessed a fall of leaf warblers on 28 May with c.200 each of Arctic and Two-barred Warblers. Naturally I turned them all, both, the warbler and the aforementioned flycatchers, twice to find the odd one but no success, though.

All Brown Shrikes (up to 22 counted on a single day) belonged to the nominate subspecies and I wondered how regular lucionensis might be (compare here) and whether it could be a later arriving taxon. On 27 May a group of 350 Bean Geese migrated north but they had been too distant to allow a more detailed ID (i.e. which taxa was/were involved).

Nominate Brown Shrike, Khalkhgol plantation

Female Garganey, Khalkhgol plantation

Male Garganey, Khalkhgol plantation

Male Gadwall, Khalkhgol plantation

Other common species encountered were: Garganey, Gadwall, Eurasian Spoonbill, Oriental Turtle Dove, Siberian Blue Robin (seen daily with up to 7), Common and Long-tailed Rosefinches, including an orange-plumaged male of the former, Oriental Greenfinch (probably breeding as they behaved quite secretly and one bird was always singing from the same tree) and several flocks of eastern Yellow Wagtails (either macronyx or thunbergi, or both).

Orange male Common Rosefinch, Khalkhgol plantation,

Male Siberian Blue Robin, Khalkhgol plantation,

Eurasian Swallowtail Papilio machaon, Khalkhgol plantation,

It remained windy with force 7 (bft) winds and chilly night temperatures down to 2°C (35.6°F) which meant that I could not erect any mist nets and therefore daily walked the area twice in search for birds. As mentioned before, finding birds when everything is moving is already a difficult task, but taking pictures is even more difficult. Unless a bird is on the ground (which ideally should not shake…) the twigs, branches and trees were shaken to death by the gale force winds and keeping my arms steady was almost impossible, too. From my trashy photos I extracted the best ones and hope they are, although very flycatcher-biased, pleasing enough. Enjoy!

The rare species will be covered in the next post so stay tuned!