After a stupidly early arrival time of 02:30am we were on the road with our excellent guide Puje after having coffee and snacks at the airport. Our route took us towards Terelj NP and we stopped along the way to check out a huge statue of Genghis Khan, seeing our first Daurian Jackdaws and Shore Larks before continuing our journey east to a picturesque campsite at the edge of the Larch forest. The drive was enlivened by a pair of Cinereous Vultures feeding on a carcass. Once at the campsite we walked a couple of hundred metres into the forest where we were privileged to witness several male Black-billed Capercaillies displaying close by .
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| Our camp... |
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| The one and only... Black-billed Capercaillie |
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| Terrelj National Park |
Even though it was after 8am they were still in full disply, producing a cacophony of weird clicks that echoed around the forest. We also had several singing Red-flanked Bluetails, a Taiga Flycatcher and a few Olive-backed Pipits on territory. After lunch back at camp we drove a short distance to another valley where we searched in vain for Hazel Grouse but did see some cracking Pine Buntings, a brief Arctic Warbler, Daurian Redstart, Isabelline Wheatear, and more OBP’s, with a Marmot spotted on the drive back to camp.
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| Pine Bunting |
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| Red-flanked Bluetail |
After lunch and a siesta we walked further into the forest from camp and found a surprising number of thrushes. There were many Red-throated Thrushes, a few Naumann’s, a couple of Eye-browed and a few Dusky Thrushes. Red-flanked Bluetails and OBP’s displayed and sang everywhere, a male Daurian Redstart appeared, at least 4 Little Buntings showed, and there were more Pine Buntings, a Willow Tit was excavating its nest hole in a tree stump, and Steppe Eagle and Great Spotted Woodpecker were also found.
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| Red-throated Thrush |
Wow, what a day!
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