Longest twitch in Mongolia 
 

Brian Watmough, 22 June 2011
 

Just completed the longest twitch in Mongolia, 392 kilometres round trip in under 8 hours. Abu [Andreas Buchheim] sent me a text at 12:30 saying there were 3 Siberian Cranes 190 kilometres east of UB, on a small reservoir just a kilometre north of the main road. I realised I had no meetings in the afternoon, so the choice was finishing a report or 3 cranes. Just 5 hours later I was looking at 3 immature Siberian Cranes. My colleagues were bemused that I should make such an effort just to see three birds.

immature Siberian Cranes, c. 60 km E of Baganuur,

22 Jun 2011. © A. Buchheim
 

Siberian Cranes and a Demoiselle Crane, E of Baganuur,

22 Jun 2011. © A. Buchheim

Please look out for flagged

shorebirds from Thailand

Over 10,000 waders have been flagged and banded in Thailand by the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plants Conservation during 2007 to the present under a national programme for wild bird surveillance. This has resulted in well over 100 foreign resightings of Thai-flagged waders, most from the coasts of E and NE China, with others from Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia.

cannon-netting shorebirds. © Wicha Narungsri

A handful of Broad-billed Sandpipers. © Pinit Saengkaew

Roughly half of all waders flagged are Greater and Lesser Sand Plovers, for which Thailand holds internationally important wintering populations. As yet, we have yet to receive any resightings of either species in any country to the north of Thailand. Since the race(s) of Lesser Sand Plover that winter in Thailand are in the “atrifrons group” (probably mostly C. m. schaeferi), which breeds in Central Asia [along with Greater Sand Plover], this lack of resightings is understandable, especially given the huge land areas and the paucity of observers in that region.

Lesser Sand Plover © Philip Round/The Wetland Trust

© Pinit Saengkaew

© Pinit Saengkaew

We appeal to observers making birding trips in Mongolia, western China, and other Central Asian countries in the summer months to look carefully at any waders they see in order to search for birds bearing coloured leg-flags. Besides sand plovers there are other shorebirds bearing Thai flags that migrate overland and/or breed in Central Asia (e.g. Common Redshank) that should be looked out for.

leg-flagged Common Redshank, Pak Thale, Thailand. © Christopher Taylor

Department of National Parks ringing team. © Pinit Saengkaew

Thailand uses a black flag placed above a green flag. It is important to record both the shape of the flag (oblong or triangular), and whether the flags are on the right or left leg. (The flags may be both on the tibia, or with the black flag on the tibia and the green flag on the tarsus–precise position of the flags on the leg is not relevant to the resighting).

We should be most grateful for any reports of flagged waders. Resightings of flagged birds may be reported via the Australasian Wader Study Group web-page using the form provided: click here or direct to Ms. Duangrat Phothieng, Department of National Parks Wildlife and Plants Conservation, Bangkok, Thailand: pothieng at hotmail dot com

Birding the Gobi, late April

Brian Watmough

It’s the second half of April and the numbers of migrant birds are increasing by the day. I was in Dalanzadgad (DZ) the capital of Umnogobi aimag (South Gobi Province) for a conference but managed to spend a few hours birding with Tumendelger (Tume), local birder and photographer. The trees in the centre of town regularly attract migrants but on early morning visits on 21, 22 and 23 April I only saw Daurian Redstart (2), Black-throated Thrush (4), Brambling (1) and Common Chaffinch (2). On 22nd Tume drove us to DZ Pond, a small lake and marsh at southern edge of town. There were 5 Common Pochard, 3 Tufted Duck and a single female Common Goldeneye on the water, Little Ringed Plover feeding on the shore with flocks of Water Pipit, a Desert Wheatear was singing and two White Wagtails flew overhead. From there we drove to the tree nursery on the south of town where we saw 3 male Daurian Redstart and a Siberian Accentor.

Common Shelduck Gobi, Mongolia, April 2011 © Tumendelger 

The rest of the morning was in meetings but in the afternoon we drove to small salty lakes some 30 km to the east of DZ. Here there was a good variety of waterfowl including 2 Falcated Duck and 3 Whooper Swans. When we returned to DZ around dusk a flock of 14 Black Kites was circling overhead looking for a safe roosting place, and were joined by flock of 40 Daurian Jackdaws and 6 Amur Falcons.

Lake in the Gobi, April 2011 © B. Watmough

Lake in the Gobi, April 2011 © B. Watmough

Species list
Whooper Swan (3), Common Shelduck (25), Ruddy Shelduck (10), Gadwall (5), Falcated Duck (2), Eurasian Wigeon (55), Northern Shoveler, Northern Pintail (10), Common Pochard (30), Tufted Duck (15), Common Goldeneye (10), Grey Heron (3), Great Cormorant (2), Black Kite (20), Hen (Northern) Harrier (1 ringtail), Eurasian Sparrowhawk (1), Northern Goshawk (1), Amur Falcon (6), Eurasian Coot (1), Pied Avocet (18), Northern Lapwing (3), Little Ringed Plover (20), Kentish Plover (4), Green Sandpiper (2), Mongolian Gull (2), Asian Short-toed Lark, Crested Lark (1 by ger), Eurasian Skylark, Horned Lark, Black-throated Thrush (12), Daurian Redstart (6), Northern Wheatear (1), Desert Wheatear (3), Siberian Accentor (1), White Wagtail (2), Water Pipit (30), Brambling (1), Common Chaffinch (2), Mongolian Finch (15).


PS Tume took this picture earlier this month on steppe 70km north of DZ

McQueen's Bustard, Gobi, Mongolia, April 2011 © Tumendelger

Ducks in the Gobi

Ferruginous Ducks, Gobi, 30 Mar 2011

Purevsuren Tsolmonjav sent these photos of a migrant waterfowl resting in a tiny (c. 60 x 30 m) pond at the Oyu tolgoi mine in the South Gobi province.

Mining pond in the South Gobi Province

On 29 March 2011 he observed together with Dorjderem Sukhragchaa 4 Eastern Spot-billed Ducks (or Chinese Spot-billed Ducks) Anas zonorhyncha.

Eastern Spot-billed Ducks, Gobi, 29 Mar 2011

On 30 March there were 2 Ruddy Shelducks, 1 Eurasian Teal, a pair of Gadwall, and 4 male Ferruginous Ducks on the pond!

Gadwalls and Eurasian Teal, Gobi, 30 Mar 2011

Thank you Puujee for sending these photos, and keep up the good work!

White-cheeked Starling

The White-cheeked or Grey Starling (new name Poliopsar cineraceus, old name Sturnus cineraceus) is a rather common breeding visitor to northern Mongolia. For example, it can easily be observed in the region around Ulaanbaatar. Often rather large flocks gather at the famous “UB Ponds” (Omchij nuur).

Purevsuren Tsolmonjav took these photos of a migrant in an area with some Siberian Elm Ulmus pumila trees in the South Gobi Province on 27 March 2011.

Mongolia revokes decision
to allow leopard hunting for science
ULAN BATOR, March 23 (Xinhua) -- The Mongolian government had revoked a decision it made earlier this month to allow foreigners to hunt leopards for scientific purpose, local media reported Wednesday.

Mongolian Environment and Tourism Minister L. Gansukh cancelled the permission to kill four leopards for scientific purpose this year, after meeting researchers and representatives of non-government organizations to discuss the issue.

The researchers opposed the decision made by the cabinet on March 2. They said genetic research and other modern technologies made it possible to do scientific research without killing the highly endangered species.

The decision to allow four leopards to be hunted incurred opposition worldwide. Snow Leopard Network, a major organization aimed at protecting the species, sent a written appeal to the government, urging it to reverse its decision.

The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, an international agreement which entered into force in 1975 to protect wild animals and plants, has listed the snow leopard as one of species threatened with extinction which are or may be affected by trade.

Snow leopards normally live between 3,000 and 5,500 meters above sea level in the rocky mountain ranges of Central Asia. According to a survey conducted in 2009 and 2010, there are more than 1,200 leopards in Mongolia.

above from:
English.news.cn 2011-03-23 20:45:12; Editor: Fang Yang
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/sci/2011-03/23/c_13794720.htm

A big thank you to all who signed the petition against the hunting of Snow Leopards!

Snow Leopards
to be hunted in Mongolia!?

The Mongolian Government has recently proposed the legal hunting of up to four – and possibly many more – Snow Leopards in 2011, for “research”.

Sign this petition and join with Panthera in pledging your support for Snow Leopards, and telling the Mongolian government that all information required to conserve these cats is obtainable through non-lethal means.

© Steve Winter/National Geographic

Today 3,500–7,000 Snow Leopards remain across 12 range states in Asia. They are listed as Endangered and are in decline in many parts of their range.

Panthera and our partner, the Snow Leopard Trust, are conducting the longest and largest ever Snow Leopard study, located in the Tost mountains in Mongolia. Our combined efforts are resulting in the most data ever collected on this rare and elusive species; and these data are being used to help better protect Snow Leopards long into the future. Hunting endangered Snow Leopards will in no way aid research efforts.

Those who have worked with the Mongolian Government to establish and implement sound biodiversity conservation policies have been deeply shocked and disappointed to hear of these plans.

Click here to read the letter by Panthera’s Snow Leopard experts Dr. George Schaller and Dr. Tom McCarthy to the Ministry of Nature, Environment and Tourism requesting that the decision to permit the hunting of Snow Leopards be reconsidered.

Read more about Mongolia’s proposal to hunt the Endangered Snow Leopard here. And about Panthera’s Snow Leopard Conservation Program. 

Observations from the Gobi
February & March 2011

Purevsuren Tsolmonjav

The research and monitoring team of the environmental department of Oyu Tolgoi LLC has started to conduct wildlife observation around Oyu Tolgoi license area in the Gobi on a monthly basis.

Asian Short-toed Lark. © Purevsuren Tsolmonjav

During the first survey on 19 February 2011 a total of 12 species of birds were recorded:

Pallas’s Sandgrouse (many), Common Raven (many), Common Magpie (many), Mongolian Ground-jay (8), Wallcreeper (1), Siberian Accentor (many), Common Redpoll (many), Chaffinch (2), Little Owl (1), Bearded Vulture (1), and Cinereous Vulture (1).

Common Redpoll. © Purevsuren Tsolmonjav

Mongolian Finches. © Purevsuren Tsolmonjav

Mongolian Finch.© Purevsuren Tsolmonjav

During the second survey on 19 March 2011 a total of 16 species of birds were recorded:

Pallas’s Sandgrouse (many), Common Raven (many), Common Magpie (many), Chukar (many), Mongolian Ground-jay (2), Daurian Jackdaw (many), Siberian Accentor (many), Common Redpoll (many), Chaffinch (1), Asian Short-toed Lark (many), Mongolian Finch (many), Güldenstadt’s Redstart (1), Godlewski’s Bunting (many), Eurasian Tree Sparrow (many), Horned Lark (1), Cinereous Vulture (1).

Güldenstadt’s Redstart. © Purevsuren Tsolmonjav

Güldenstadt’s Redstart. © Purevsuren Tsolmonjav

Mongolian Ground-jay. © Purevsuren Tsolmonjav

First Chinese re-sighting of a
Whooper Swan marked in W Mongolia

Whooper Swan, Moguhu Lake, Xinjiang, China,

March 2011. © Jiansheng Liu &  Jie Xu

A Whooper Swan marked with the blue neck collar “OT51” by a Wildlife Science and Conservation Center of Mongolia – Mongolian Academy of Sciences team at Airag Lake (48°54’ N, 93°23’ E) in western Mongolia on 29 July 2010 has been photographed in Xinjiang, western China on 13 March 2011. The information came from Mr. Jiansheng Liu and Mr. Jie Xu , who saw the swan together with about 100 other swans at Moguhu Lake (44°26’54.69 N, 85°54’26.98, altitude 391 m). Moguhu Lake is a waste lake near the big city of Shihezi.

Location of capture and re-sighting of the Whooper Swan.

Map © Google Earth, 2011

This information was communicated by Prof. Ma Ming from the Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Many thanks to Prof. Ma Ming and the observers, Mr. Jiansheng Liu and Mr. Jie Xu.

You can learn more about our waterbird marking efforts from the Wildlife Science and Conservation Center of Mongolia website.

The Crossley ID Guide: Eastern Birds

An America field guide: useful for birding in Mongolia?

Why a review of an America field guide on a blog about birds in Mongolia? There are two main reasons:

1. The Crossley ID Guide from Princeton University Press covers 115 species occurring in Mongolia (c. 25% of the country total), including 25 species of waders (shorebirds) alone.

2. The Crossley ID Guide uses a radical new approach for a field guide (more about this below), resulting in the presentation of 10,000 photos!

So, what is so special about it? Each plate of the guide is a lifelike “scene”, a piece of photographed habitat that has been composed (“photoshopped” photomontages) of a large numbers of photographic colour images of a single species seen from multiple angles and distances, with birds shown in various plumages and behaviours, resting on land, swimming, and flying. The total number of plates (= species) is 640! While a few plates look a bit kitschy to me, most are rather pleasing lifelike.

Sample page from The Crossley ID Guide: Osprey

One example for a species breeding in Mongolia: On the Gull-billed Tern plate, resting birds shown include an adult in non-breeding plumage, an adult in breeding plumage, a fully grown juvenile, and two more adults resting in breeding habitat. In flight a distant juvenile and a distant bird in its first summer plumage + 6 more birds are shown. The scenes capture the birds as one would see them in reality, contrary to most other field guides, which present birds in an idealised style. Thus The Crossley ID Guide won’t replace traditional identification guides. But studying the scenes will certainly help to prepare for the field, or to appreciate what one has just encountered outdoors.

Sample page from The Crossley ID Guide: Black Scoter

The Crossley ID Guide is probably a book no one will take into the field in Mongolia. It’s a huge tome, measuring 25 x 19 x 3.5 cm and weighting impressing 1.6 kilos. However, at just US$ 35 cover price (already available for US$ 21 at Amazon.com) it is definitely very good value for your money. I wish I had a copy when I was living in Mongolia—it would have been really diverting during the fiercely cold winter days and the dust storm periods in spring!

The associated website: click here



If you are interested: a throughout review (and links pointing to more reviews) can be found at: 10,000 Birds.

2011 IUCN Red List

The current round of review of revisions for the 2011 IUCN Red List has now ended. BirdLife International has assessed these contributions and finalised the list of decisions affecting the 2011 IUCN Red List. For all species, the final list can be viewed on the forum: click here. The updated documentation and categories will be incorporated into the 2011 Red List, which will be released by BirdLife in May 2011, and by IUCN in September 2011.

Two species occurring in Mongolia are affected: Lesser Kestrel Falco naumanni and Baikal Teal Anas formosa, both listed as Vulnerable in the 2010 Red List, will be downlisted to Least Concern, i.e. they won’t be considered globally threatened or near-threatened anymore!

Tracks of American Mink

Tracks of American Mink, Tuul Gol,

Feb 2011. © Brian Watmough

In his recent posting “A day west of the capital” Abu mentioned (and published a photo) of tracks found at the Tuul Gol, west of Ulaanbaatar. These tracks are not of Eurasian Otter as mistakenly believed, but most likely of American Mink Neovison vison (Abu's and Brian's second assumption). Thanks go to Michael und Annegret Stubbe for commenting on the ID.

Tracks of American Mink, Tuul Gol,

Feb 2011. © Brian Watmough

The non-native American Mink is occurring in many wetlands in Mongolia now. It is thought that the introduction it to Mongolia may be having negative impacts on native fauna of the region, however, no studies had yet been conducted to assess its impact.

Tracks of American Mink, Tuul Gol,

Feb 2011. © Brian Watmough

Tracks of American Mink, (compared to human footprints),

Tuul Gol, Feb 2011. © Brian Watmough

American Mink (photo taken in Germany)

© Axel Gebauer

Mongolian Bird Watching Club’s
Ulaanbaatar waterbird census

Members of the Mongolian Bird Watching Club, led by N. Tseveenmyadag have observed and counted wintering birds in the area of Umkhii lake (“UB ponds”) and Songino Khairkhan Mountain, to the west of Ulaanbaatar on 22 January 2011. 26 species, totalling over 1000 birds were the final tally:

Ruddy Shelduck 163, Mallard 157, Goldeneye 3, Cinereous Vulture 12, Lesser Spotted Woodpecker 1, Great Spotted Woodpecker 3, White-backed Woodpecker 1, Common Magpie 14, Azure-winged Magpie 22, Red-billed Chough 51, Carrion Crow 9, Common Raven 46, Bohemian Waxwing 400+, Great Tit 8, Azure Tit 13, Horned Lark 40, Eurasian Nuthatch 2, White-cheeked Starling (Grey Starling) 1, Red-throated Thrush 2, Eurasian Tree Sparrow 60, Siberian Accentor 1, Common Redpoll 26, Arctic Redpoll 3, Hawfinch 30, Eurasian Bullfinch 9, and Pallas’s Rosefinch 2.

Remarkable is the winter record of White-cheeked Starling (with photo on the website linked below).

For the full report (in Mongolian), including maps and photos click here.

A day west of the capital

text and most photos © Andreas Buchheim

On 13 February 2011 Brian and I took a taxi to the west of Ulaanbaatar. We drove about 20 km past the airport to an agricultural area. Our first stop - at a brisk minus 27° C - was at the Botanical Garden, a small patch of sea buckthorn plus some other bushes. Here we saw just 2 Bohemian Waxwings and about 10 Eurasian Tree Sparrows. Most of the land is fenced or even walled here but we managed to get onto some fields without being bitten by the many guard dogs. Asian Short-toed Larks were already singing and a group of 3 Lapland Buntings was feeding between the stubbles. A huge flock of Eurasian Tree Sparrows soon number one individual less because this was taken by a Saker Falcon which could not enjoy its meal for long as 9 Eurasian Magpies chased it away after a few seconds.

Lapland Bunting, Feb 2011

We continued west past the egg-farm and checked out the riparian forest of the Tuul Gol. Although the habitat looked great there were few birds only: a male Lesser Spotted Woodpecker, a few Azure Tits and Eurasian Tree Sparrows plus a large flock of about 30 Eurasian Magpies. Best here was a track of a mammal that had come out of a hole in the ice (even down here there are stretches of open river) and then went. There were tail-drags in between the footprints which were at around 70 cm (measured by the use of own footprints) apart from the next. This – we think – points to Eurasian Otter but could American Mink be safely excluded? Anyway the animal must have come through the water underneath the ice for about 50 m. Just before we entered our taxi we found a group of 55 Ruddy Shelduck which had come down from the UB Ponds.

Tuul Gol c. 35km west of UB, Feb 2011

Tracks of Eurasian Otter (?), Tuul Gol, Feb 2011

Ruddy Shelduck, Tuul Gol, Feb 2011

Our last stop was below Songino Khairkhan Mountain were we got the usual birds like Bohemian Waxwing, Common (Mealy) Redpoll, Pallas’s Rosefinch, Hawfinch and Red-throated Thrush. A Black Woodpecker was present as well.

Red-throated Thrush, below Songino Khairkhan Mountain, Feb 2011

 With this posting my contribution to winter birding comes to an end as I will be in Europe for a while, just to return to Mongolia at the end of spring.

Upland Buzzard, portrait of the bird which visited my window in Feb 2011

Bohemian Waxwing, portrait of a head-scratcher

below Songino Khairkhan Mountain in Feb 2011.

Abu, portrait of a birdwatcher
(no comments on my hat, Andrew!).  © Brian Watmough

Roadside Birding in February

text and photos © Andreas Buchheim

Social matters brought me to the small village of Buutsagaan some 160 km west of Bayankhongor where I stayed in a ger (yurt) for 4 nights (from 5–9 February). There was not much time left for proper birding thus I had to concentrate on roadside birding. It takes about 20 hours from Ulaanbaatar to Buutsagaan by car. On the way down there I did not see many birds, just 3 Asian Black Vultures on the 200 km between Arvaikheer and Bayankhongor, and few small flocks of larks (mainly Horned Lark, but also Mongolian Lark and Asian Short-toed Lark) plus 4 Upland Buzzards. In Arvaikheer alone I saw 9 Asian Black Vultures indicating a better feeding area than the steppe itself. Best was a flock of 50 to 60 Snow Buntings which we almost hit with the car about 10 km west of Arvaikheer. During the night drive from Bayankhongor to Buutsagaan only mammals were seen: Corsac Fox, Tolai Hare and Manul (Pallas’s Cat). Mayor events during this lag were car-related: we had to pull two cars out of the snow, we had to help people to pull their car back onto the wheels (don’t drink and drive!) and to change a tire because of a puncture.

Hill south of Buutsagaan, Feb 2011

Hill Pigeon, Buutsagaan, Feb 2011.

Eurasian Tree Sparrows, Buutsagaan, Feb 2011.

From the ger I saw the usual village birds like Eurasian Tree Sparrow, Common Raven and Hill Pigeon. As there were 11 Asian Black Vultures and a pair of Bearded Vultures searching for food over the hills south of the village I decided to go there the next day. Conditions for photographing were very good that day: blue sky and a strong wind from the north so I hoped to get good shots of head-on soaring birds in brilliant light. But as so often the weather had changed until the next day and the even stronger wind now came from the south so I got the birds only from behind. Anyway there were only 5 birds around (a single Asian Black Vulture, a group of 3 Common Raven and a Bearded Vulture) which I saw only very briefly and I could only take some strange shots of the latter, though. Grrrrr!

Bearded Vulture “gotta pick a bone with yor”, Buutsagaan, Feb 2011

On my way back to the village across the plains I found a flock of about 100 Horned Lark of the local form brandti and among them at least one “Northern” Horned Lark flava plus a single Lapland Bunting.

Brandt’s Horned Larks busily foraging but quite wary,
Buutsagaan, Feb 2011.

Soon it was time to head back to the capital. The best bird of the trip was seen soon after sunrise: a (non-adult male type) Snowy Owl had taken residency on a ridge overlooking a broad valley about 4 km west of the village of Bumbugur. This was the good side; the bad side was that I was not driving the car and we had stopped (pee break) shortly before I saw it thus I could not claim some prostate-problems to stop again and so I saw the bird just from the driving vehicle (luckily the windows had not yet been frost-covered). Other birds seen were some flocks of Lapland Bunting (during another stop), the new potential armchair tick “Northern Little Owl” (the proposed English name does not seem to fit as related taxa occur further to the north in European Russia) and a single Asian Black Vulture. We arrived back in the middle of the night. A quite tiring trip but definitely worth for the Snowy Owl.