Migration is going on!

text & photos by Abu (© A. Buchheim)

Can you identify it? see pic 12

Tuul River, UB, Oct 2014

For a birdwatcher the best way to overcome a jetlag is to go birding. And so I did on 3 Oct, just one day after my return to Mongolia. I started at 9 a.m. at the Marshall Bridge near the presidential palace. The sky was brilliantly blue and it was perfectly calm, wind wise. Feather wise I quickly realized that the bushes were full of birds. Most of them were quick in disappearing but until I left the riverbanks at 3 p.m. I managed to get some species on the list. By the time I finished the weather had worsened, with the wind reaching force 5 on the Beaufort scale. It had blown in clouds from the north. Bogd Khan Uul, the huge mountain to the south of Ulaanbaatar, even received some snow. Down at the river I caught a few raindrops only.

Photographing was not only difficult because of the behaviour of the birds but also because not all leaves had dropped. Thanks to the inaccessibility of the site due to high water levels the bushes had obviously grown denser (compare here: twigs, twigs, twigs).

Bird list (39 species)

Mallard c.40 flew along the river
Eurasian Teal 9 flying along with the Mallards
Grey Heron 1
Eurasian Black Vulture a single non-juv. crossing the valley towards Bogd Khan Uul
Eurasian Sparrowhawk 1
Northern Goshawk 1 juv. circling over the slopes of Bodg Khan Uul
Common Kestrel 1
Common Snipe two birds flushed
Oriental Turtle Dove all 6 birds seen well enough had been juv, two more seen, but not good enough to allow aging

juv. Oriental Turtle Dove, Tuul River, UB, Oct 2014

juv. Oriental Turtle Dove, same bird as above

Tuul River, UB, Oct 2014

juv. Oriental Turtle Dove, different bird

Tuul River, UB, Oct 2014

juv. Oriental Turtle Dove, third individual

Tuul River, UB, Oct 2014

Common Skylark c.20 flying around
Grey Wagtail 1
Siberian Accentor c.40 seen and many more heard
Red-flanked Bluetail c.25

Siberian Accentor, Tuul River, UB, Oct 2014

adult male Red-flanked Bluetail

Tuul River, UB, Oct 2014

Red-flanked Bluetail, same individual

Tuul River, UB, Oct 2014

Daurian Redstart c.25
Red-throated Thrush 3
Dusky Thrush 1
Naumann’s Thrush 12
(many more thrushes seen, but left unidentified)
Siberian Thrush one 1cy flushed but not relocated
Pallas’s Warbler about 5 seen and few more heard
Two-barred Greenish or Arctic Warbler 1, only glimpsed
Great Tit 10 (not many)
Azure Tit about 45, as usual very difficult to catch with my camera, some coming incredibly close, down to 0.5 m, that is too close for my lens, though!

Azure Tit, Tuul River, UB, Oct 2014

Eurasian Nuthatch c.10
Common Magpie c.15
Daurian Jackdaw c.60 in a mixed corvid flock
Eastern Rook 110 in a mixed corvid flock
Oriental Crow c.30
Red-billed Chough 2
Common Raven 6
Tree Sparrow c.50
Brambling 3
Pale Mountain Twite 5
Long-tailed Rosefinch most of them heard, only 20 seen

"Pale Mountain" Twite (ssp altaica)

Tuul River, UB, Oct 2014

male Long-tailed Rosefinch, the orangey

colouration is due to the leaves in front of it!

Tuul River, UB, Oct 2014
 

Little Bunting, same as in the first picture

Tuul River, UB, Oct 2014

 Little Bunting, Tuul River, UB, Oct 2014

Little Bunting, Tuul River, UB, Oct 2014

Common Reed Bunting c.25
Little Bunting c.70
Rustic Bunting 1
Pine Bunting c.45
Meadow Bunting c.60
Black-faced Bunting c.15

Common Reed Bunting, Tuul River, UB, Oct 2014

Common Reed Bunting, same bird as above

Tuul River, UB, Oct 2014

Common Reed Bunting, Tuul River, UB, Oct 2014

male Meadow Bunting, Tuul River, UB, Oct 2014

male Meadow Bunting, Tuul River, UB, Oct 2014

Meadow Bunting, Tuul River, UB, Oct 2014

Meadow Bunting, Tuul River, UB, Oct 2014

Meadow Bunting, Tuul River, UB, Oct 2014

Meadow Bunting, same as in previous pic

Tuul River, UB, Oct 2014

Rustic Bunting, Tuul River, UB, Oct 2014