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.