A blue day below

Songino Khairkhan Uul

text & photos by Abu

(© A. Buchheim)

On 12 February 2015 I went to check out the area below Songino Khairkhan Uul (near Ulaanbaatar), mainly to see whether we could conduct training in taking bird measurements there. After three hours I went back home with a very disappointing result: almost no birds apart from corvids.

Luckily (for me) c.30 Asian Azure-winged Magpies were a bit more approachable than usual which gave me the rather rare opportunity to take some behaviour photographs. In the sequence below you can see that the single magpie was joined by one, then by two, then even by three and finally by no less than four other individuals. Each bird greeted(?) the others by pointing its slightly fanned tail to the sky and its bill to the ground, but this could also have been another (rather non-aggressive as the bills pointed downwards) function. Then, out of the sudden, they took flight and parted.

Educated comments are, as always, very welcome. Enjoy!

Asian Azure-winged Magpie with a berry

(almost none left on the trees!),

below Songino Khairkhan Uul, UB, Feb 2015

Asian Azure-winged Magpie - still lonesome,

below Songino Khairkhan Uul, UB, Feb 2015

Asian Azure-winged Magpies - the join-up has begun,

below Songino Khairkhan Uul, UB, Feb 2015

Asian Azure-winged Magpies - the next one is joining in,

below Songino Khairkhan Uul, UB, Feb 2015

Asian Azure-winged Magpies

maybe this was too close for the front one so it jumps aside,

below Songino Khairkhan Uul, UB, Feb 2015

Asian Azure-winged Magpies - now already 4,

below Songino Khairkhan Uul, UB, Feb 2015

Asian Azure-winged Magpies - # 5 is approaching,

below Songino Khairkhan Uul, UB, Feb 2015

Asian Azure-winged Magpies -  the sudden departure,

below Songino Khairkhan Uul, UB, Feb 2015

Asian Azure-winged Magpie

below Songino Khairkhan Uul, UB, Feb 2015

Solitary Snipe Special

text & photos by ABu

Solitary Snipe habitat,

Urd Tamir River, Tsetserleg, Feb 2014

Solitary Snipe has always been on my “find it!” list. Not just because I have seen it once before only (in Japan), but mainly for my desire to get some good photographs of this species. The bird I had seen in Japan was feeding at the unreachable side of a small stream which I couldn’t cross. So whenever I was out during wintertime, especially when I was birding along the sewage stream in UB, I kept looking out for it, alas I never found one. The winter 2013/2014 was a mild one, given Mongolian standards: when I arrived at the end of November, the Tuul River here in UB still had open stretches. Temperatures had been rising to above zero (32°F) even in January and the nights had been “warmer” than they had been during previous winters. Only from 30 January to mid-February the night temperatures had fallen below minus 30°C (-22°F).

Temperature is one factor, water flow is another. The summers of 2012 and 2013 can be considered as wet summers, especially that of 2013. In summer, the water level of the Tuul River was too high to allow me to walk my standard transect along it. If this held true for other regions of Mongolia, then the combined factors made the winter of 2013/2014 an ideal one for finding a Solitary Snipe. Yet it was up to me to check out the right stretch of the right river.

Of course I started nearby at the Tuul River: Nothing, not even a White-throated Dipper (another species which I have been waiting for here in UB since a while).

Then the sewage stream: Nothing.

The only other chance that arose was on 9 February during the winter birding trip with other members of the Birdwatching Club of Mongolia. On that day I finally found one quietly feeding at the Urd Tamir River, just 2 km south of the city of Tsetserleg. Bingo! Tsaaa!

I approached the snipe in slow motion, but as the ground was covered with snow it was impossible to do so silently. Always when I started to move forward, the snipe stopped foraging and did not move a feather. This clearly was a sign of discomfort. I stopped and did not move a muscle (thanks to the lack of feathers I had to adopt a slightly modified strategy). After a few seconds it was apparently convinced that I would not pose any harm, and feeding in the shallows continued. Now it was up to me to move in closer and so I did. The snipe interrupted foraging again. And I stood still again until it was feeding again. The distance between me and the bird was still too big to get good pictures. The game between the snipe and me went on for long until I finally got almost close enough, I thought. That was a bit too close for the snipe. It stretched one wing and then performed a double wing flap. This behavior is shown by many species of wader just when they intend to take flight. But that was the last thing I wanted to happen. Time for my retreat! I did so as slow as I had moved in. As soon as the snipe was feeding again I started closing the gap step by step again. It took maybe five or six more times to freeze until I was only 15 m from the bird. Every now and then, when I watched it motionless, I had fired series of shots. Now I was close enough but had not enough light anymore.

Solitary Snipe, stretching one wing,

Urd Tamir River, Tsetserleg, Feb 2014

Solitary Snipe, double wing flap,

Urd Tamir River, Tsetserleg, Feb 2014

Solitary Snipe, hind view,

Urd Tamir River, Tsetserleg, Feb 2014

Solitary Snipe, checking out my lens,

Urd Tamir River, Tsetserleg, Feb 2014

At times the snipe got alert and then moved a bit before it started feeding again. I could not figure out what it actually caught. Luckily I am not working on this species’ diet…

Solitary Snipe, moving to another foraging spot,

Urd Tamir River, Tsetserleg, Feb 2014

Solitary Snipe, closing its eyes while feeding,

Urd Tamir River, Tsetserleg, Feb 2014

Solitary Snipe

Urd Tamir River, Tsetserleg, Feb 2014

As I had been birdwatching on my own I went back to the car to show my find to Amarkhuu. Then we went back to Tsetserleg for a beer.

Never give up!

Note: Solitary Snipe has once been featured at Birding Mongolia before, with photos from the Khangai Mts and Khovd, and some more general information on the species in Mongolia: click here.

Digging fruits out of the snow

text & photos © by Abu

On 12 January 2014 I was in the area below Songino Khairkhan Uul , together with 25 members of the Mongolian Birdwatching Club. Only few birds (in total we saw 23 species) were around and photographing was slow as the birds proved not only to be few but were shy as well. Nevertheless I was able to document that Bohemian Waxwings are digging fallen fruits out of the snow. Thanks to the cold weather during the last week with temperatures well below minus 30°C during all nights (we started at a chilly minus 34°C this day), the steam from the sewage stream had covered all the trees in thick frost. Most Bohemian Waxwings—there were only about 30 around—searched for food on the ground. They dropped from the branches, hopped around and dug out fruits as illustrated by the juvenile bird in the pictures below.

Bohemian Waxwing digging in the snow,

below Songino Khairkhan Uul, UB, Jan 2014

Bohemian Waxwing digging in the snow,

below Songino Khairkhan Uul, UB, Jan 2014

Bohemian Waxwing—got one,

below Songino Khairkhan Uul, UB, Jan 2014

Bohemian Waxwing gulping it down,

below Songino Khairkhan Uul, UB, Jan 2014

Bohemian Waxwing

Of the fruit only the stem is visible here (it’s not the tongue!),

below Songino Khairkhan Uul, UB, Jan 2014

Birding Mongolia summer 2012 tour

text and photos © Paul B. Jones

part 1

From June 22 to July 14, 2012 we explored Mongolia on a trip designed and guided entirely by Axel Bräunlich of Birding Mongolia, and successfully accomplished with the expertise and services of the Ulaanbaatar-based tour company Nomadic Journeys. We had a wonderful time in this beautiful and interesting country.

The Team in Toson Hulstai Nature Reserve, eastern Mongolia, photo by ranger Amar. From the left: on trouble-shooting, translation and backing vocals, Agiimaa "Agii" (Nomadic Journeys guide), the big man Axel Bräunlich (tour & bird guide), on the Canon 800mm f5.6 USM IS – Paul Jones, on the Canon 300mm f2.8 USM IS II – Jodie van Dieen, and on lead vocals and behind the wheel, Batsuuri "Suur" (Nomadic Journey driver). 

Thanks go to Axel Bräunlich whose blog “Birding Mongolia” triggered the expedition and to guide and driver Agii and Suur, our now close friends.

Thanks also to Jan Wigsten, Manda and all those behind the scenes at Nomadic Journeys HQ.

Thanks to everyone else who carried us across the steppes and mountains including our driver and support team in the northern lakes, our transfer driver out of Dalanzadgad, Batjargal, Anand and Yondon (the mobile ger camp team in the east ) and the workers at all the set ger camps along the way. Special thanks to Ranger Amar and the work of the Nature Conservancy in protecting Toson Hulstai and its spectacular population of Mongolian Gazelle. Thanks finally for the friendly hospitality from the herders and villagers we met on the journey.

ERDENESANT

The first leg of the trip led us to the Erdenesant Mountains.

Our camp in the Erdenesant Mountains

For this part of our journey across Mongolia we stayed in temporary camps pitched each afternoon and taken down the next day. This was a particularly beautiful spot.

Unfortunately I was too focused on climbing the hill in the nice early morning light and was left with a rather blown out landscape on the way down when I finally got around to snapping a picture.

The raptor cliffs at Erdenesant

Not far from the town of Erdenesant in central Mongolia there is a range of mountainous rock outcrops that hold good numbers of vultures and other raptors. We positioned ourselves halfway up this cliff and waited for them to fly by.

subadult Himalayan Griffon, Jun 2012

The Himalayan Vulture or Himalayan Griffon Vulture is an Old World vulture in the family Accipitridae. It is closely related to the European Griffon Vulture G. fulvus. Some uncertainty lingers over the exact status of the two species in Mongolia, although most if not all sightings are now thought to refer to himalayensis.

The photographs were taken in the mountains near Erdenesant, a small Mongolian town to the west of the capital city Ulaanbaatar. I was using a Canon combination 1DM4 camera and EF 800mm f5.6 IS USM L lens; all mounted on a Wimberley 2 gimbal head atop a Gitzo carbon fibre tripod.

immature Himalayan Griffon, Jun 2012

Lammergeier Gypaetus barbatus, Jun 2012

This beautiful bird of prey is also known as the Bearded Vulture and, in Mongolian, Ооч ёл or simply Ёл  (which translates as Yol). The image is heavily cropped because the bird was up fairly high but it was a great life sighting of a long coveted species.

Blind Spot - Cinereous Vulture attacks Himalayan Griffon

As I was tracking a Griffon in the viewfinder I noticed a Cinerous Vulture creeping up behind it. The Griffon was looking around so I assumed it knew it was being followed.

The birds were at quite a distance so the images are heavily cropped.

The Cinerous Vulture suddenly climbed above the Griffon.

It was now apparent the Griffon had no idea what was behind it.

Still no clue of a big surprise.

Gotcha!

There was no burst of feathers or sign of blood and the attacker did not follow up. The two birds went their separate ways, with no apparent lasting harm.

White-backed Woodpecker

foraging on bone marrow

White-backed Woodpecker, March 2007. Photo K. Schleicher

In 2007 Konrad Schleicher documented an unusual behaviour of White-backed Woodpecker, see his entry on Birding Mongolia. Now he published a note about it. Here’s the abstract:

Schleicher, K. 2010. Weißrückenspecht Dendrocopos leucotos nutzt Knochen als Nahrungsquelle. Vogelwelt 131: 213–215.

“White-backed Woodpecker Dendrocopos leucotus foraging on bone marrow.

A previously undescribed kind of foraging has been documented for the White-backed Woodpecker in the Mongolian forest steppe. Pecking in bone fragments was observed at three occasions in the Central Mongolian village of Tsetserleg. The behaviour was documented by a series of photos. It can be interpreted as foraging on bones or components of bone fragments. This assumption is supported by traces of the White-backed Woodpecker’s bill found in the marrow of bones which had been pecked by the individuals observed. The repeated observation of this kind of foraging, as well as the targeted approaching of the bones and their intensive examination, leads to the assumption that it is a common behaviour. Thus, it may be concluded that one or several individuals of the White-backed Woodpecker have specialised on marrow or other components of bone fragments as food source.”