Scarce & rarely
photographed Mongolian birds #2
Solitary Snipe
Gallinago solitaria
by Axel Bräunlich
Solitary Snipe,
Naiman nuur, Sept 2011. © Els Harinck
Recently I received a very good
photograph of a Solitary Snipe, taken in the Khangai Mountains
of Mongolia. The photographer, Els Harinck, wrote:
Naiman Nuur lies in the Hangayn
(Hangai) mountains. The snipe was photographed Sept 16th, 2011 in the
valley, out of the Naiman Nuur, between Shiireet Davaa and Uyanga.
The early snow of the days before started smelting, little streams
started to flow between icy banks. And there it was, secretly flown
from somewhere and landed behind my back. Due to a miracle I noticed
and was close enough to photograph it.
The snipe’s habitat
at Naiman nuur,
Sept 2011. © Els
Harinck
During my three-year stay in western
Mongolia I recorded Solitary Snipe three times only:
1) One at an open stretch of water at
Mankhan village, c. 75 km SE of Khovd town on 14 January 2006;
2) One resting behind the stadium in
Khovd on 14 September 2006. About this second bird: I was on a late
afternoon walk through one of the plantations at the edge of Khovd
town when I noticed some movement in the high grass. I saw a bird
walking away from me and managed to take one photo before it
disappeared in the dense vegetation. I was only able to tell that it
was a snipe, but which one? Then came the owner of the plantation
(who had generously granted me permission to enter his land), and I
was distracted. After a chat it was becoming too dark to continue
birding. When I checked the (very poor) photo at home I was very
surprised to find out that the bird in the plantation was a Solitary
Snipe, the third species of snipe I had seen at this site (Common
and Swinhoe’s Snipe seen before; and later Pintail
Snipe and Eurasian Woodcock found there, too).
Solitary Snipe
(poor record shot),
Khovd, Sept 2006. ©
Axel Bräunlich
3) One flushed from a vegetation-free
gravel spit (quite unusual habitat for the species) at Airag nuur on13 May 2007.
from Ernst, S. 2003. Gallinago
solitaria Hodgson, 1831 - Einsiedlerbekassine. In: Martens, J.,
Eck, S. & Sun Yue-Hua, eds: Atlas der Verbreitung
palaearktischer Vögel, 20. Berlin:
Erwin-Stresemann-Gesellsch. für palaearktische Avifaunistik:
“The breeding
distribution of Solitary Snipe is still insufficiently known. The
core area is situated in the high-altitude mountains [breeding sites
at 1350–2600 m] of southern Siberia and runs from the Russian
Altai to the Sayan chains, to Lake Baikal and to Sochondo Mt. in the
Chita area of Buryatia. ... In Mongolia, where breeding of the
Solitary Snipe was recorded only once on Munku-Sardyk in the eastern
Sayans [N of Lake Khövsgöl], further breeding localities
are to be supposed in the Tarbagatai, Khangai and Khentei Mts. ...
most of the birds are believed to migrate to distant winter quarters.
Individuals from the western populations (G. s. solitaria) fly ...
southwards into Mongolia and to W China ... The birds roost and
hibernate singly (thus the name) or in small groups of two to three
individuals at small, not freezing water courses (often these are hot
springs) in the foothills as well as in protected high-altitude
valleys...”
The Russian
ornithologist Kozlova (1932–1933. The Birds of South-West
Transbaikalia, Northern Mongolia and Central Gobi. Ibis 13) wrote “In
winter (from September up to the middle of May) it is very common in
the Tola [Tuul] River valley, keeping to places with open water.”
This is today
probably not the case any more, since the species hasn’t been
seen on several winter trips (see for example here) to open areas of
the Tuul gol in recent winters.
