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!