Mongolia Day 11

After a freezing cold night we walked up to the base of the mountains where we tracked down at least 4 pairs of White-throated Bushchat on the steep, rocky mountainside above the camp that was sparsely dotted with small bushes. The terrain underfoot was a little damp but it was the ruts and tussocky grass that made our trek upwards more difficult – let alone the altitude. 

Our camp is waaaaay down there somewhere

There's the camp...

Splendid scenery to look for bushchats

But the effort was very worthwhile to see this extremely localised species and Mongolia is just about the only place to see it these days. I saw a wintering bird in Corbett NP in northern India many, many years ago when it was semi-reliable but they don’t turn up there anymore. 

White-throated Bushchat

I was hoping for Asian Rosyfinch but didn’t get a sniff – seems above the traditional Kukh Lake campsite is THE spot for this species. Damn! However, we did get nice views of a few Altai Accentors and Water Pipits, along with yet another Lammergeier. We also scoped several Cinereous and Himalayan Griffons feeding on a carcass on a distant hillside. As we birded the mountainside the hairs on the back of my neck literally stood up as the distinctive call of several howling Wolves reached us. A magical experience indeed and made more so when the pack made their was closer towards us and seemed to be chasing another wolf off their territory and not too bothered about us.

Altai Accentor

With all our targets except the rosyfinch seen we decided not to camp here at just under 3000m another night so packed up and headed to the warmer lowlands. During our drive we found a Terek Sandpiper at a random lake in company with 2 Temminck’s and 11 Little Stints, 6 Avocets and an Eurasian Spoonbill in middle of nowhere! 

Lunchtime....

And finally, at the end of the day we picked a camping spot near a small town to spend the night where we managed to pick up a Corsac Foxin the thermal imaging camera to tend the day.