“Gulling” the East

text and photos by ABu

part two

(link to part 1)

Right from the beginning of my visits to Mongolia, ringing (banding) gulls, especially Mongolian Gulls, has been my prime motive and this year’s first expedition was meant to be entirely devoted to wing-tag adult Mongolian Gulls. I had chosen to visit two colonies in the east of the country. Both colonies had been found during the famous “Swamprunner Tour 2014”.

We started on 20 May and hoped to reach to first colony by evening the same day. For several reasons, among them heavy traffic between UB and Nalaikh (the next bigger city to the east), we did not make it that far and camped on the banks of the Kherlen River a little east of the town formerly called Öndörkhaan, which has been renamed “Chinggis City” recently. It was very windy and we had only 15°C (59°F). During the fading light I walked around the camp and photographed some of the few birds around. A late Hen Harrier was noteworthy but bird of the day was doubtlessly a 2cy male Siberian Thrush. Unfortunately it was quite elusive and I could not even take a record shot. Teaser 1 of the first part was photographed on this evening and another photograph of this 2cy male Taiga Flycatcher can be seen below. Before we left after a cold (-2°C/28.4°F) and windy night I digitally got some more Taiga Flycatchers.

2cy male Taiga Flycatcher (teaser 1)

Eastern Mongolia, May 2016, © Andreas Buchheim

Adult male Taiga Flycatcher

Eastern Mongolia, May 2016, © Andreas Buchheim

Female Taiga Flycatcher

Eastern Mongolia, May 2016, © Andreas Buchheim

Portrait of the same female Taiga Flycatcher

Eastern Mongolia, May 2016, © Andreas Buchheim

Female Taiga Flycatcher

Eastern Mongolia, May 2016, © Andreas Buchheim

Then we went on to the colony, but when we arrived we had to learn that planning ahead is rather difficult in this country: The lake was dry and no gulls around (180 breeding pairs two years ago). This led us to press on and we reached our regular camp ground near Choibalsan by the afternoon of 21 May. As it was impossible to set up mist nets, thanks to the strong winds (this spring was extremely windy and cold, even for Mongolian standards!), I went for birding. Under these windy conditions it is not easy to find birds within the bushes that grow along the river. Every twig, every leaf is moving and catching an unusual movement (which ideally should be a bird, but sometimes is just a falling leaf or a butterfly) was a real challenge. Just before it got dark I found a male Mugimaki Flycatcher which posed for the teaser picture number 2. All the pictures I took that day were more or less blurred and I hoped that the bird would give me another chance the next day. Birds don’t move during unfavorable conditions like strong headwinds and if they have problems to feed (not many insects available when it is cold). So luckily the bird still was around the next day (22 May). The thick cloud cover didn’t help in photographing it well but at least I got some half decent shots. It was mostly feeding out in the steppe and not within the bushes which helped to keep track on it.

Male Mugimaki Flycatcher (teaser 2)

Eastern Mongolia, May 2016, © Andreas Buchheim

Male Mugimaki Flycatcher (teaser 2)

Eastern Mongolia, May 2016, © Andreas Buchheim

Male Mugimaki Flycatcher (teaser 2)

Eastern Mongolia, May 2016, © Andreas Buchheim

A pair of “Stoliczka’s” White-crowned Penduline Tits was busily building their nest. I only could take some picture of the male which still did not show the dark band across its nape. Only if seen from behind this area looked dark (see lowermost penduline tit picture). The pale tips to these feathers have to wear off so early in spring almost no male shows this dark band. Other birds along the river were 3 Eastern Spotbills and several Siberian Blue Robins. Generally there were not many birds around (or they were too good in hiding).

The water level of the river was about 1 m below what I think could be the average and it was quite murky, so we went into the city to bunker drinking water. There I saw more Siberian Blue Robins and two adult Siberian Thrushes in the (inaccessible so no pictures) gardens.

Male White-crowned Penduline Tit

Eastern Mongolia, May 2016, © Andreas Buchheim

Male White-crowned Penduline Tit

Eastern Mongolia, May 2016, © Andreas Buchheim

Male White-crowned Penduline Tit

Eastern Mongolia, May 2016, © Andreas Buchheim

2cy male Daurian Redstart

Eastern Mongolia, May 2016, © Andreas Buchheim

2cy male Siberian Blue Robin

Eastern Mongolia, May 2016, © Andreas Buchheim

The same Siberian Blue Robin from behind

Eastern Mongolia, May 2016, © Andreas Buchheim

Pair of Eastern Spotbills

Eastern Mongolia, May 2016, © Andreas Buchheim

We then went on toward Buir Nuur and arrived at the second of the chosen gull colonies in the late afternoon after a rather eventless journey through the steppes of Menengijn Tal. Only hundreds of larks and very few migrants like Isabelline Shrikes and an Eastern Buzzard were around. A colony of Pied Avocet consisted of c100 pairs. Three Whimbrels flew over so I could not identify the subspecies they belonged to. And then… more next so come back!

Pied Avocett colony

Eastern Mongolia, Mai 2016, © Andreas Buchheim