Mongolia Day 8

Well last night I lay awake listening to cranes calling, and a various assortment of calls from gulls, wildfowl and waders. Up at 5am and enjoying a coffee whilst scoping the lake before walking along the shoreline noting many of the same species as yesterday before having breakfast. 

Bar-headed Goose was pretty common here

Holbooj Lake

A Tibetan (Lesser) Sandplover and some Pallas’s Sandgrouse were found shortly before we left and headed out on the drive towards our next base at Böön Tsagaan Nuur.  

Pallas's Sandgrouse

Last night's Pacific Golden Plover was still present this morning....

We stopped for lunch beside a wetland but had to take shelter behind the vehicles due to the extremely high winds, but we still managed to scope some Garganey, Red-crested Pochards and other common wildfowl.

 

Once we reached Böön Tsagaan Nuur, a vast Ramsar Wetland, we decided to stay in some cabins rather than camp, a relief for us all as the wind was howling. We drove straight down onto the shoreline to the 2 storey viewing platform and what an incredible number of birds we encountered. All were distant and a scope was required but the spectacle was impressive with a conservative count of 1000+ Great Cormorants, 75 Eurasian Spoonbills, 100’s of White-winged Terns etc etc …. Highlights were a couple Slender-billed Gulls, 30+ Caspian Terns, 4 Falcated Ducks, and at least 9 superb Broad-billed Sandpipers. There were so many birds to scope through but alas no Relict Gull. But lots of great birds and big numbers of common species. Such fun!

Mongolia Day 7

We had a comfortable albeit cold night and were out and about at 5am scanning the opposite mountain where several Altai Snowcocks were picked up easily. We didn’t expect to get better views than yesterday evening but how wrong can you be? For those of us that didn’t walk higher up the valley, an unexpectedly aggressive and inquisitive male flew over our heads twice and gave gobsmackingly unbelievable views for over half an hour, calling away from the hillside opposite and behind us, sometimes at eye-level. Wow!  

Altai Snowcock

We also enjoyed close Common Rock Thrush, Brown Accentor, Pied Wheatear, more Rock Sparrows, Common Rosefinch and a Dusky Warbler.

The unmistakable Lammergeier

And it's joined by a Cinereous Vulture

After another delicious breakfast in camp, we packed up and walked down through the open forest seeing at least 3 Eurasian Wrynecks, Daurian Shrike, Pallas’s Warbler and Barred Warbler before getting picked up and heading off to our next camping site at Holboolj Lake. 

Pallas's Warbler

Along the way we stopped for a group of raptors that proved to be a Lammergeier, Steppe Eagle and Cinereous Vulture all circling low over the steppe. And what a cracking sighting this was.

 

A magnificent Steppe Eagle

We arrived at Holboolj Lake in the late afternoon and what another amazing site this proved to be. Walking south we scanned the vast throng of birds out on the water, picking up a few Pallas’s Gulls, Black-headed and a single Brown-hooded Gull, a flock of White-winged Terns, with a single Black and a Whiskered Tern amongst them. Our major finds were a superb drake Baikal Teal and a female White-headed Duck, with a fine supporting cast of Swan Goose, Bar-headed Goose, Garganey, Red-crested Pochards, 4 Asiatic Dowitchers and the icing on the cake being a female Yellow-breasted Bunting! Not bad eh? 

White-winged Terns showed well today

There were many regular wildfowl, Whooper Swans, shorebirds included a smart looking breeding-plumaged Ruff and Pacific Golden Plover, Citrine Wagtail, as well as Asian Brown Flycatcher and Red-throated Thrush looking out of place on the grassy marsh edge. With fabulous scenery all around, blue sky and a fabulous sunset, watching all of these birds took on an extra dimension and we particularly enjoyed the fine views of the White-winged Tern flock feeding inland of our camp in fabulous light. That night we managed to locate a xx in the thermal camera and subsequently spotlight one at close range.

Mongolia Day 6

After last night’s howling gale it was a relief to find the wind had somewhat subsided this morning as we drove around 10kms from camp towards the impressive sand dunes. A cracking Asian Desert Warbler gave prolonged views and a superb Saxaul Sparrow was scoped, along with other sightings such as Asian Short-toed Lark, Isabelline Shrike,Long-legged Buzzard and a few Desert Wheatears before we returned for breakfast. 

Asian Desert Warbler

We had already decided to leave here and head to our wild camping site at Baga Bogd, a drive that took us until 5pm. The scenery was magnificent as we crossed desert, steppe, canyons and made numerous birding stops.

Not the greatest pic of a Saxaul Sparrow

Our next stop was for a comfort stop and we saw another Saxaul Sparrow and a Cinereous Vulture. A few hours later on our journey we saw several Pallas’s Sandgrouse and enjoyed some fine views, along with more Mongolian Finches. 

Grey-necked Bunting

At lunch in a scenic valley we had amazing views of a Grey-necked Bunting that took some tracking down as we could here one singing but couldn’t locate it for ages, and our sighting of a pair of Lammergeiers at a nest was a tour highlight. Another wow! moment during this incredible tour. 

A bit distant but these phonescoped images aren't too bad...

Around lunchtime in this scenic valley we also found Pied Wheatear, Chukar, Golden Eagle and Common Rock Thrush. Approaching the valley where we were to camp gave us more sandgrouse close to the track and a really low flying Golden Eagle.

Pied Wheatear

Loved seeing this Golden Eagle so low overhead

Once we started into the valley and nearly at the camp we stopped and disturbed a Long-eared Owl from its day roost. We tracked it down to another tree less than 200 yards away and in doing so we also stumbled across a fine Eurasian Wryneck. 

Long-eared Owl

Unbelievably one of our ground crew managed to scope a distant Altai Snowcock, which was greatly appreciated by everyone.

Altai Snowcocks

Baga Bond Mountain - where we saw the snowcocks

Our campsite

The forest near the campsite

With the ground crew setting up camp not far ahead of us we had time to scan the surrounding area and came up with Upland Buzzard, many Rock Sparrows, a Northern Wheatear, and enjoyed some slightly closer scope views of 3 more Altai Snowcocks. Not too shabby huh?

Mongolia Day 5

We had a 7am breakfast before setting out on the drive to our next Ger Camp at Khongor Els. Our first comfort stop gave us a few Rock Sparrows around an abandoned building, but the next stop at Bayandalai Plantation was a bit better. Migrants weren’t in abundance but we did get a Thick-billed Warbler, Pallas’s Warbler, several Dusky Warblers, Richard’s Pipit, 3 Little Buntings, a Black-faced Bunting and a flyby Chinese Pond-Heron. 

 

Driving for a few more hours across some pretty dramatic scenery and a random roadside stop got us a pair of superb Mongolian Ground-Jays. Another key target species and we just happened to bump into a pair at our first attempt. 

Mongolian Ground Jays

And shortly after we stopped for lunch beside a small group of trees and a pool and stream. A few Mongolian Finches were found, with at least 25 counted a little later beside a tiny stream. On the pond was a Little Ringed Plover and 2 Isabelline Shrikes, with a fast disappearing Richard’s Pipit here as well. 

This small plantation was choc full of migrants

Here's the guys looking for migrants...

We checked the trees out several times, and on each visit added something different, so birds may well have been arriving all of the time. Our initial inspection produced 3 Common Rosefinches and nothing else, but further investigation either side of lunch produced a Thick-billed Warbler showing well, Brambling, a few Hawfinches, more Common Rosefinches, and along the stream at least 2 Citrine Wagtails and a White-cheeked Starling. 

This male Brambling found the shadiest spot to shelter from the midday heat

Despite being rather common in Mongolia, I never really took a good shot of a Hawfinch

A last stop before reaching the Ger camp was for a pair of Steppe Grey Shrikes. And what a spot this was with amazing views of the Khongor sand dunes below us...

Our palatial residence for the night

Here's our view of the Khongor Sand Dunes from the balcony of our Ger

However, we decided this afternoon to just stay one night here, instead of the two we had booked, as all we needed in the vicinity was Asian Desert Warbler, Saxaul Sparrow and some decent views of Pallas’s Sandgrouse…. But we enjoyed the ensuite gers that proved to be very spacious, and I think we enjoyed the cold beers in the restaurant even more!