BIRDING MONGOLIA

April 24, 2014

part eleven:

Bayan/Tsagaan Nuur

text by ABu

Links to previous Mountain Birds 2012 on Birding Mongolia:

part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5, part 6, part 7, part 8, part 9, part 10

The IBA Dashinchilen Bayan Nuur aka Tsagaan Nuur (IBA description: PDF 642 kb) lies only 200 km west of Mongolia’s capital and this makes it a quite well-watched site. We stopped there on our way back to UB from 24 to 27 June 2012. In contrast to most other lakes in Mongolia this one had a very high water level (the highest since 2005, at least) and birdlife was accordingly rich.

Upland Buzzard chicks near Dashinchilen,

Jun 2012, © T. Langenberg

Male Isabelline Shrike, Dashinchilen,

Jun 2012, © T. Langenberg

Female Isabelline Shrike, Dashinchilen,

Jun 2012, © T. Langenberg

Most ducks were on the northern part of the lake but the reed-fringed southern pond held Great Crested Grebe, Black-necked Grebe and the usual pair of Whooper Swan guarding its six chicks. A male Baikal Teal was a nice surprise as was the fact that we suddenly were watched by another group of birders: these turned out to be Axel and the guys he guided, namely Jodie van Dieen and Paul B. Jones (see Paul’s trip report “Mongolia with Axel Bräunlich and Nomadic Journeys - June 24 to July 14, 2012“ and his superb photos on flickr), very good reasons to have some extra beers that evening.

Talking birds, Dashinchilen Bayan Nuur,

Jun 2012, © K. Krätzel

Male Baikal Teal, Dashinchilen Bayan Nuur,

Jun 2012, © T. Langenberg

Whooper Swan with a slightly damaged neck collar,

Dashinchilen Bayan Nuur, Jun 2012, © A. Buchheim

Great Crested Grebe, Dashinchilen Bayan Nuur,

Jun 2012, © A. Buchheim

Black-necked Grebe, Dashinchilen Bayan Nuur,

Jun 2012, © A. Buchheim

Over the last years the higher water levels led to an expansion of the reeds. The lake hosts now up to five pairs of White-naped Crane (only one pair was successful in 2012). Several pairs of Common Crane moved in recently. We heard Spotted Crake, Eastern (Brown-eared) Water Rail and Eastern Baillon’s Crakes. The latter did NOT respond to our playback of the song of its western relatives!

The reeds were full of Paddyfield Warblers, Oriental Reed Warblers and Pallas’s Grasshopper Warblers while there was a fair amount of breeding Bearded Tits and Eastern Marsh Harriers. We experienced some rain showers during our stay and even in a very dry country like this, with an average of only 200 mm precipitation per year, you could be out during the wrong time.

Having been out during a shower,

Dashinchilen Bayan Nuur, Jun 2012, © A. Schneider

Paddyfield Warbler, Dashinchilen Bayan Nuur,

Jun 2012, © A. Buchheim

Pallas’s Grasshopper Warbler, Dashinchilen Bayan Nuur,

Jun 2012, © A. Buchheim/T. Langenberg

Male Bearded Tit, Dashinchilen Bayan Nuur,

Jun 2012, © A. Buchheim/T. Langenberg

Female Eastern Baillon’s Crake, Dashinchilen Bayan Nuur,

Jun 2012, © T. Langenberg

Male Eastern Baillon’s Crake, Dashinchilen Bayan Nuur,

But after one of our delicious meals birding could continue at full strength. The wet meadows attracted Eastern Yellow Wagtail, Richards Pipit, Marsh Sandpiper, Black-winged Stilt and even the rare Asian Dowitcher. All in all a very nice set of birds, indeed.