BIRDING MONGOLIA

July 25, 2013

Nomads on the trek, Khangai Mts, May 2013, © A. Buchheim

part one:

Heading towards Telmen Nuur

Singing male Barn Swallow (ssp. tytleri),

almost without the dark breast band,

Lun, May 2013, © A. Buchheim

This year we aimed for two main things: First, we wanted to catch, wing-tag and measure more adult Mongolian Gulls. Our second goal was to check the area around Bayankhongorijn Khukh Nuur for Hodgson’s Bushchat. Catching adult Mongolian Gulls in larger numbers is only possible when they are incubating which means that their Mongolian colonies should be visited around 25 May. Two lakes had been chosen for this: Telmen Nuur and Bayankhongorijn Khukh Nuur (!). The first lake is at almost 1800 m altitude and thus there is always the risk that it is frozen during the optimal time. In this case it would be impossible to get onto the small breeding islands. From the plane, Patrick and I had checked Telmen Nuur for this and saw that there was no ice left. Unfortunately we could not see the other lake as it was obscured by clouds. Khukh Nuur is high up in the Khangai Mountains at a chilly 2600 m a. s. l. hosting one of the highest colonies of large gulls worldwide, if not the highest.

We arrived at Ulaanbataar’s International Airport on 21 May 2013 to team up with Brian Watmough who had been in Mongolia since April. We left the capital the next morning and spent the next night near Erdenesant in a very picturesque valley with elm trees. Bird migration was in full swing but thanks to the brilliant weather only few migrants were present.