This was the last official day of the tour and our Hazel Grouse obsession saw some of the group heading back up into the hills in one of the vehicles, where they spent the first couple of hours after sunrise searching in vain. Keith and I headed off in search of a singing White’s Thrush that also failed to show. So not a great start, but after breakfast we walked from camp up through the valley, still with thoughts of a certain grouse in the minds of some…. It was a particularly ‘birdy’ walk with a singing Siberian Rubythroat showing well as it settled on several of its favourite song posts around the edge of a marsh.
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| Can never get enough of Siberian Rubythroat |
We also saw a singing Pine Bunting, an Arctic Warbler calling away from high up in a tall conifer, a few singing Yellow-browed Warblers, and we scoped a calling Oriental Cuckoo as well….
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| I managed to phonescope the Oriental Cuckoo |
Oh and there was still no sign of any Chinese Bush-Warblers.
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| Our group photo after packing up our last camp |
So we packed up camp after lunch and drove back towards Ulaan Baatar, diverting to another forest to make one last search for grouse, which was a surprising decision for some of us! And yes, it ended with the same result, but I did see an impressive flock of 50+ Pacific Swifts overhead! A torturous drive to the Mongolica Hotel followed and one final dinner with everyone together before Mike had to leave the next morning on his journey back to the UK.
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