Them again!

22 February 2017

text & photos by ABu

What was once a very common sight inside all riparian forests

is now extremely rare: tree hole-nesting birds.

Eurasian Tree Sparrow, Tuul Gol, UB, Febuary 2017

The day before I was about to fly back to work I went down to the river to see what is around there. I caught this Eurasian Tree Sparrow singing from his nest site. Thanks to the unsustainable use of the riparian forests along Mongolia’s rivers this is not seen as often as it used to be. Most big trees had been cut down to be used as fuel wood or for the construction of fences and in many areas no larger trees are left. The high grazing/browsing pressure by too much life stock prevents any sapling to grow and it is not difficult to predict that in the nearer future Mongolia will have no riparian forest any more. Does anybody care? No!

Pallas’s Rosefinch

Tuul Gol, UB, Febuary 2017

Pallas’s Rosefinch

Tuul Gol, UB, Febuary 2017

Finding birds today way not easy. My stretch of the river was almost devoid of birds and I did not discover any “better” crow among the c50 corvids that were hanging around. A female White-backed Woodpecker stayed well hidden until it suddenly took flight to disappear somewhere in the distance and a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker remained always on the far side of the trees.

After a while I flushed a group of six birds, finches according to their jizz, and I recognized the calls of European Greenfinch. The group flew upstream and it took me quite a while to relocate them. The flock consisted of four Pallas’s Rosefinches and a pair of European Greenfinches. The birds were incredibly shy and I only managed to get the female documented.

This is already my third sighting here in UB (see here “Surprise below Songino Khairkhan Uul”; and I saw them again in October 2014 at the International School of Ulaanbaatar). With so few sightings it is hard to know whether something is going on or not. Although UB is the base for most local birdwatchers there are no other records. Only the future will tell if they are wintering in the area regularly.

European Greenfinch

Tuul Gol, UB, Febuary 2017

European Greenfinch

Tuul Gol, UB, Febuary 2017

"Gulling" the East

part five: plantation of lords

text & photos by ABu

(links to part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4)

Forest Wagtail in poor light, Khalkhgol plantation

Eastern Mongolia, May 2016 © Andreas Buchheim

Forest Wagtail in better light, Khalkhgol plantation

Eastern Mongolia, May 2016 © Andreas Buchheim

singing (!) Forest Wagtail, Khalkhgol plantation

Eastern Mongolia, May 2016 © Andreas Buchheim

During the few days (26 to 29 May) in the Khalkhgol plantation I searched for rare species every day. I turned each and every warbler and did the same with flycatchers, but the big hit—that would be a national first like Blue-and-white Flycatcher or a second for the country like Eastern-crowned Warbler—was unfortunately not among them, or I just didn't find it. On my first walk I found several rare or kind of rare birds though ("teasers": see here): about the 5th record for Mongolia of Forest Wagtail (teaser 3), a female White-throated Rock Thrush (teaser 4) and a female Yellow-rumped Flycatcher (teaser 5). The light was very poor but luckily all three of them stayed for more than one day, enabling me to get better shots. Since this was already my second Forest Wagtail (see here for the other one, 2011), out of three visits to the Far East of Mongolia during spring, it seems that the species is not a real rarity and the singing bird suggests that they might even breed somewhere nearby. If not in Mongolia, which does not have the right habitat (?), then across the border.

Female White-throated Rock Thrush, Khalkhgol plantation

Eastern Mongolia, May 2016 © Andreas Buchheim

the same White-throated Rock Thrush, Khalkhgol plantation

Eastern Mongolia, May 2016 © Andreas Buchheim

The well-skulking White-throated Rock Thrush is likewise not often seen in the country but if, then it is mostly in the east. This female was not so approachable but as it couldn't hide away inside the degraded plantation that easily, I managed to get half-decent pictures.

And the Yellow-rumped Flycatcher? Since territorial males are recorded every now and then, it cannot be regarded as a rarity, at least in the east. There is a single record from UB even, but further west not a single individual has ever been seen. A few should be on show to those observers taking the effort traveling to eastern Mongolia during spring and summer. I photographed three individuals, all of which behaved a bit skittish, naturally!

2cy female Yellow-rumped Flycatcher, Khalkhgol plantation

Eastern Mongolia, May 2016 © Andreas Buchheim

2cy female Yellow-rumped Flycatcher, Khalkhgol plantation

Eastern Mongolia, May 2016 © Andreas Buchheim

2cy male Yellow-rumped Flycatcher, Khalkhgol plantation

Eastern Mongolia, May 2016 © Andreas Buchheim

2cy male Yellow-rumped Flycatcher, Khalkhgol plantation

Eastern Mongolia, May 2016 © Andreas Buchheim

ad male Yellow-rumped Flycatcher, Khalkhgol plantation

Eastern Mongolia, May 2016 © Andreas Buchheim

While I was on my walk through the plantation on 28 May I saw a bird in the air crossing a wide open space. It looked strange but fortunately it chose to land in the lonely dead tree (can a dead tree be lonely?) in front of me: it was a 2cy male Mugimaki Flycatcher. It decided to press on almost immediately so I got only a single shot (in much too harsh light). This species is recorded only very infrequently within Mongolia's boundaries although it might even breed in the taiga. It took me almost 30 visits over a period of 12 years to get it on my list. Surprising, indeed!

Two more species I got photographed that I would consider rare or more precisely: rarely seen follow. Eye-browed Thrush is one of them. Actually it is a regular migrant in small numbers but it also breeds in Gorkhi-Terelj National Park not far from UB. It is a rather shy thrush and thus quite often overlooked and, even more often, not photographed. During the storm a group of 8 foraged between the rows of bushes. They must have been quite exhausted to let me get that close.

2cy Mugimaki Flycatcher, Khalkhgol plantation

Eastern Mongolia, May 2016 © Andreas Buchheim

Eye-browed Thrush, Khalkhgol plantation

Eastern Mongolia, May 2016 © Andreas Buchheim

Eye-browed Thrush, Khalkhgol plantation

Eastern Mongolia, May 2016 © Andreas Buchheim

Eye-browed Thrush, Khalkhgol plantation

Eastern Mongolia, May 2016 © Andreas Buchheim

Eye-browed Thrush, Khalkhgol plantation

Eastern Mongolia, May 2016 © Andreas Buchheim

Eye-browed Thrush, Khalkhgol plantation

Eastern Mongolia, May 2016 © Andreas Buchheim

Eye-browed Thrush, Khalkhgol plantation

Eastern Mongolia, May 2016 © Andreas Buchheim

The other species was a common migrant and breeder in Asia but is now on the brink of extinction: Yellow-breasted Bunting. I saw 2 birds in the plantation and could take photos of a 2cy female. The other was an adult female. It is a pity that such a beautiful bird is still being caught in huge numbers in China, where it is called "rice bird" for a very obvious reason: they are eaten! Now it is really a rare sight in Mongolia, even on migration and you need a great deal of luck to find one during a spring trip. Only tiny "left-over" breeding population pockets are currently known. Wake up, neighbours, and stop eating them all up!

2cy Yellow-breasted Bunting, Khalkhgol plantation

Eastern Mongolia, May 2016 © Andreas Buchheim

2cy Yellow-breasted Bunting, Khalkhgol plantation

Eastern Mongolia, May 2016 © Andreas Buchheim

I saw only two other rarer birds, actually it was only one that I saw alive: on 26 May found a bunch of oriole feathers under a bush, but they were only those small bright yellow body feathers that gave no clue to which oriole species had been killed. Black-naped Oriole is the more likely species, though.

On 28 May an adult Striated Heron flew down river but disappeared too quickly. They breed in very low numbers in the Far East of Mongolia. This time I could not find more rarities and did not even see a single Chinese Grey Shrike, a species that has bred in the plantation, but not this year.

We headed back to the west on 29 May but this part of the journey will be covered in the next post.

Ashy Minivet

Pericrocotus divaricatus:

first record for Mongolia

text and photos by Ariunbaatar Barkhashbaatar

On 30 June 2016 Otgonsuren Avirmed and I were measuring Elm Ulmus pumilo trees at the Undai River in Khanbogd soum, Umnugobi province (42.6734ºN 106.9606ºE). This was part of an ongoing survey by the Wildlife Conservation Society of Mongolia.

When I looked up I saw a strange bird which was mainly white, grey and black. It was feeding slowly within the canopy of the trees and I quickly took two photographs. I could not identify it at the spot so pictures were sent to Gankhuyag Purev-Ochir, Purevsuren Tsolmonjav, Amarkhuu Gungaa and Batmunkh Davaasuren for checking. It turned out that we had found Mongolia's first Ashy Minivet! We could not check the site the next day so it remains a one-day wonder.

Male Ashy Minivet

Khanbogd, southern Mongolia, 30 June 2016

Male Ashy Minivet

Khanbogd, southern Mongolia, 30 June 2016

Comment by BirdingMongolia

Ashy Minivet has been on our "next for the country list" for long. It breeds from Amurland in Russia's Far East and NE China south to Korea and also in Japan. Its non-breeding range lies mainly in SE Asia, on the Greater Sundas and in the Philippines, and it occurs also regularly India. Given this range the species has been expected to visit Mongolia on migration for some time! Congrats guys! 

"Gulling" the East

part three

text and photos by ABu

(links to part 1, part 2)

Right then, now to the gulls. We drove up to the small lake called Bulangijn Tsagaan Nuur (nuur = lake), a little northeast of Buir Nuur and when we arrived on 22 May, it became clear that I probably would not be able to catch as many gulls as intended. Thanks to the previous disappointment at the first (former) colony, I had not expected much. Despite this it came quite as shock to see that this colony which we had also found in 2014, when about 250 pairs were breeding on three small islands, was almost completely gone. This lake was nearly dry and two of the islands did not exist anymore because the water level had dropped so much. Although the remaining island was still occupied by Mongolian Gulls, the number of nests was small. It turned out that there were only 30 nests containing eggs. Many of the gulls on the island were non-adults, strongly indicating that the more experienced gulls had left already. But not completely so: one adult Mongolian Gull that bred on the island was already wing-tagged. It had been individually marked as an adult by my team and me in 2004 some 250 km to the north west, hence it was at least 16 years old and hence not a at the beginning of its life as a breeding gull.

Upon arrival, an upcoming thunderstorm gave us the priority to pitching tents and I decided to catch and check the gulls during the next days. I had a lot of time to do the latter as the thunderstorm developed into straight rain that lasted for the next two days, preventing me from any ringing. I spent most of the days inside my tent and watched the gulls from the distance. Every evening between 400 and 500 gulls, mostly immatures, gathered near the island. So I checked them with the aid of my scope and paid particular attention to those not going conform to my idea of a mongolicus. After the rain had weakened and I tried to take record shots of some of the suspicious gulls I had found. It was still rather dark and windy so the long range (!) shots I achieved are of an awful quality and of course, I could not document all of them.

Luckily a gull that had immediately caught my eyes on our first day at the lake was still around: it was an adult large white-headed gull but it was obviously darker than any of the accompanying Mongolian Gulls. Further, it was not in primary moult and also showed very bright lemon yellow legs. This combination ticked my virtual boxes for Heuglin’s Gull. With the aid of my scope I found that it showed some smaller black markings on its 4 outer primary coverts (in the flight picture this black area looks bigger than it actually was because of blurring) but this does not necessarily mean that it wasn’t adult.

In the bag!

Adult Heuglin’s Gull (composite image)

Eastern Mongolia, May 2016, © Andreas Buchheim

Adult Heuglin’s Gull between mostly adult Mongolian Gulls

Eastern Mongolia, May 2016, © Andreas Buchheim

Adult Heuglin’s Gull between mostly immature Mongolian Gulls

Eastern Mongolia, May 2016, © Andreas Buchheim

There were other gulls which did not moult. They not only differed in this from the Mongolian Gulls of the same age. The odd birds fell into two groups: most of them (4 birds) showed rather white heads with a neck stola and many new feathers on the mantle and wing, giving them a rather fresh look. One bird of these four I considered to belong to heuglini not only because it was as dark (only adult like feathers compared, of course) as the adult (seen side by side once). It also showed a bright orangey pinkish bill with a black tip (like the bill of a young Glaucous Gull). Unfortunately I could not take any pictures of it. The others must have come from the breeding grounds along the arctic as well. For the summer time we are still beginning to get ideas about the ID of immature of those taxa breeding along the coasts of the Asian part of the Arctic Ocean (heuglini, taimyrensis, birulai and vegae; listened by the location of their respective breeding ranges from west to east) so I am not sure about their ID. It would be easiest to call all of them heuglini but probably much more honest to leave them unidentified.

Presumed 2cy Heuglin’s Gull landing behind Mongolian Gulls

Eastern Mongolia, May 2016, © Andreas Buchheim

Possible 2cy Heuglin’s Gull (different bird) between Mong.Gulls

Eastern Mongolia, May 2016, © Andreas Buchheim

The other “group” consisted actually of only a single individual. This one showed an almost evenly streaked head and its belly was also streaked just like those Herring Gulls I know from Europe. All newly replaced feathers of its mantle and wings weren’t plain just as I would expect from a vegae. Of this bird I also could not take any pictures so my observation cannot be recognized as a proper record (due to the previously mentioned uncertainties and no proof).

Gulls of these two kinds can be found in almost any larger gathering of immature gulls during spring and summer here and many of them have previously been attributed to heuglini. Based on our current non-knowledge on the variation of immature plumages of the aforementioned taxa (plus barabensis) only the most typical (what is typical in large white-headed gulls?), if any, might be identifiable.

For many years to come all future observers of such gulls are kindly requested to fully document them by means of photographs (preferably showing the bird also in flight from above and below), or ideally, DNA-sampling, as individuals which just have been photographed we might never be able to safely assign the documented gull to one of the taxa in question.

A Relict Gull entertained me and some Kentish Plovers for quite a while although the little plovers didn’t like that as much as I did. After the rain had stopped I could start ringing. In the end I caught 15 gulls which all got their set of wing-tags. Please watch out for them!

Mongolian Gull

Eastern Mongolia, May 2016, © Andreas Buchheim

Relict Gull

Eastern Mongolia, May 2016, © Andreas Buchheim

Relict Gull

Eastern Mongolia, May 2016, © Andreas Buchheim

Relict Gull and Kentish Plovers

Eastern Mongolia, May 2016, © Andreas Buchheim

Relict Gull and Kentish Plovers

Eastern Mongolia, May 2016, © Andreas Buchheim

Relict Gull and Kentish Plover

Eastern Mongolia, May 2016, © Andreas Buchheim

Relict Gull in flight

Eastern Mongolia, May 2016, © Andreas Buchheim

Because I got tired to sit and sit inside my tent I walked around each day just during the very few rain breaks, but mostly without my camera. Although migration was slow I found some more or less noteworthy birds:

On 23 May:
A flyby Eurasian Whimbrel (unclear which subspecies), c. 120 Spotted Redshanks, c. 300 Red-necked Stints, 9 Sanderlings, some of them sporting their sometimes very bright red breeding plumage.

On 24 May:
A nice flock of 6 taivana Yellow Wagtails (Green-crowned/Green-headed Yellow Wagtail), 3 Little Curlews, an Eurasian Bittern and 4 Caspian Terns.

On 25 May:
A male Amur Falcon dashing through the air towards the east, a dark morph Booted Eagle.

Then, on 26 May, we went on to the famous Khalkhgol plantation a little further up the river and shortly before we arrived a group of 7 Siberian Cranes was seen feeding on the banks of the Khalkh river. Here, many waders were busily foraging: among others I saw c. 1,600 Red-necked Stints, 13 Asian Dowitchers and 65 Curlew Sandpipers.

More about the birds that I saw in the plantation will be reported next!

2cy male Mongolian Reed Bunting
("ssp" lydiae of Pallas's Reed Bunting)

Eastern Mongolia, May 2016, © Andreas Buchheim

2cy male Mongolian Reed Bunting
("ssp" lydiae of Pallas's Reed Bunting)

Eastern Mongolia, May 2016, © Andreas Buchheim

Last light Pied Avocet

Eastern Mongolia, May 2016, © Andreas Buchheim

“tripod” Pied Avocet

Eastern Mongolia, May 2016, © Andreas Buchheim

4 of the 7 Siberian Cranes

Eastern Mongolia, May 2016, © Andreas Buchheim

Birding trip around the Khangai Mts

central Mongolia, summer 2013

A birding hotspot of the Gobi Desert: Boon Tsagaan Nuur

with the Gobi Altai Mts in the background, Aug 2013, © T. Hallfarth

part three:

Aquatic birds in the Gobi Desert –

birding around Boon Tsagaan Nuur

by Thomas Hallfarth

( links to previous posts: part one, part two )

On 31 July we left the nomadic family of our driver’s brother to go birding at Boon Tsagaan Nuur, the largest of the Gobi lakes. The change from mountain to desert birdlife already began at the southernmost hills of Khangai Mts. Here we saw the first birds of desert habitats. We found a group of Mongolian Finches in a dry river valley, probably the breeding ground of these birds and also a pair of Isabelline Shrikes. Not far from this place, a female Chukar with one chick crossed our way. Surprisingly we also discovered three Henderson's Ground Jays and a single juvenile Desert Wheatear, both species we expected not until we reached the proper Gobi Desert.

Mongolian Finch

South part of Khangai Mts, Jul 2013, © B. Möckel

Isabelline Shrike

South part of Khangai Mts, Jul 2013, © T. Hallfarth

Henderson’s Ground Jay

South part of Khangai Mts, Jul 2013, © T. Hallfarth

Desert Wheater, juv

South part of Khangai Mts, Jul 2013, © T. Hallfarth

During the short crossing of the Gobi Desert we saw good numbers of Pallas’s Sandgrouse, including a family with one chick and some flocks of several hundreds of birds.

Pallas’s Sandgrouse, pair

Gobi Desert, Jul 2013, © T. Hallfarth

Then, in the afternoon we arrived at one of the birding hotspots of our trip, the famous Boon Tsagaan Nuur. Here we stayed until 2 August. In this time we made some interesting observations. The greatest concentration of birds was at the estuary of Baydrag Gol in the north-eastern part of the lake.

Boon Tsagaan Nuur: Beautiful landscape surrounding
the lake, Aug 2013, © T. Hallfarth

A minimum of 15,000 Black-headed Gulls were here, furthermore 1,100 Spoonbills, 800 Cormorants, 800 Caspian Terns, and 500 Pallas’s Gulls. Mongolians fourth Slender-billed Gull was one of the top species we saw here. Also, 25 Relict Gulls, eleven Greater Sand Plovers, two Pallas’s Fish Eagles and singles of Grey-tailed Tattler, Terek Sandpiper and Little Tern provided further nice observations.

Caspian Tern

Boon Tsagaan Nuur, Aug 2013, © T. Hallfarth

Pallas’s Gull (flying in front of Black-headed Gulls)

Boon Tsagaan Nuur, Aug 2013, © T. Hallfarth

Slender-billed Gull

Boon Tsagaan Nuur, Aug 2013, © B. Möckel

Relict Gulls

Boon Tsagaan Nuur, Aug 2013, © T. Hallfarth

Relict Gulls

Boon Tsagaan Nuur, Aug 2013, © T. Hallfarth

Relict Gull

Boon Tsagaan Nuur, Aug 2013, © T. Hallfarth

Relict Gulls

Boon Tsagaan Nuur, Aug 2013, © T. Hallfarth

Grey-tailed Tattler

Boon Tsagaan Nuur, Aug 2013, © T. Hallfarth

Grey-tailed Tattler

Boon Tsagaan Nuur, Aug 2013, © B. Möckel

A short trip into the nearby very dry Gobi Altai Mts. provided a further Chukar and some beautiful views at Boon Tsagaan Nuur.

Gobi Altai Mts.: Dry valley in the south part
of the mountains , Aug 2013, © T. Hallfarth

Chukar

Gobi Altai Mts., Aug 2013, © T. Hallfarth

Gobi Altai Mts.

View at the lake Boon Tsagaan Nuur , Aug 2013, © T. Hallfarth

With these observations we finish our journey to Mongolia and also this little trip report. A German proverb says literally: “After the game is before the game”. And so we were already planning our next trip to Mongolia…

Gobi Altai Mts.

Good bye, Boon Tsagaan Nuur… Aug 2013, © T. Hallfarth