MONGOLIA TOUR REPORT 2024

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 . 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.

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. Wow, what a day!

Left the Mongolica Hotel at 6.45am and headed out on the loooong drive to the Khanbogd Tourist Camp near Dalanzadgad. In fact we drove all day and arrived at the tourist camp at 7.10pm but we made plenty of birding stops along the way starting at a seasonal lake where Pete found our first Pallas’s Sandgrouse stood near the shoreline. The next stop to stretch our legs added a few Small Snowfinches in attendance at a Brandt’s Vole colony. Other species seen on our journey included Stejenger’s Scoter, 3 Citrine Wagtails, and some common wildfowl. Then we drove for a couple more hours until pulling off the road for lunch in the desert, where we were entertained by 5 Demoselle Cranesflying over, 2 Shore Larks, a Dusky Warbler, a Dusky/Naumann’s hybrid and an Isabelline Wheatear.

Once in Dalanzadgad we filled up with fuel at a gas station where a Lesser Kestrel and Desert Wheatear were spotted. At a small plantation we had a fine time with 2 Dusky Warblers, Isabelline Shrike, 2 Pallas’s Warblers, 2 Arctic Warblers, Naumann’s Thrush, Dusky thrush, Dark-sided Flycatcher, Taiga Flycatcher, 40+ Hawfinch, 3 Common Rosefinch and a female Beautiful Rosefinch.

The late afternoon was spent in search of Oriental Plover amongst the absolutely awe-inspiring wide-open steppe. We actually found a male plover quite easily after just a couple of ‘stop and scan’ sessions and then manoeuvred the vehicles to get reasonably close views of this stunning bird. And what a bird! It’s one of the world’s iconic species and we found it hard to drive away from, but we had to in order to get to the camp for dinner.

We had a 7am breakfast before setting out on the drive to our next Ger Camp at Khongor Els. Our first comfort stop gave us a few Rock Sparrows around an abandoned building, but the next stop at Bayandalai Plantation was a bit better. Migrants weren’t in abundance but we did get a Thick-billed Warbler, Pallas’s Warbler, several Dusky Warblers, Richard’s Pipit, 3 Little Buntings, a Black-faced Bunting and a flyby Chinese Pond-Heron.

Driving for a few more hours across some pretty dramatic scenery and a random roadside stop got us a pair of superb Mongolian Ground-Jays. And shortly after we stopped for lunch beside a small group of trees and a pool and stream. A few Mongolian Finches were found, with at least 25 counted a little later beside a tiny stream. On the pond was a Little Ringed Plover and 2 Isabelline Shrikes, with a fast disappearing Richard’s Pipit here as well. We checked the trees out several times, and on each visit added something different, so birds may well have been arriving all of the time. Our initial inspection produced 3 Common Rosefinches and nothing else, but further investigation either side of lunch produced a Thick-billed Warbler showing well, Brambling, a few Hawfinches, more Common Rosefinches, and along the stream at least 2 Citrine Wagtails and a White-cheeked Starling. A last stop before reaching the Ger camp was for a pair of Steppe Grey Shrikes.

We decided this afternoon to just stay one night here, instead of the two we had booked, as all we needed here was Asian Desert Warbler, Saxaul Sparrow and some decent views of Pallas’s Sandgrouse…. But we enjoyed the ensuite gers that proved to be very spacious, and I think we enjoyed the cold beers in the restaurant even more!

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!  We also enjoyed close Common Rock Thrush, Brown Accentor, Pied Wheatear, more Rock Sparrows, Common Rosefinch and a Dusky Warbler.

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. 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.

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? There were many regular wildfowl of x species, 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.

Enjoyed a full day around the lake heading out at 5.30am after coffee & cookies - and what a day this proved to be! Heading down just a few minutes to the lake shore, we spent a couple of hours sifting through the multitude of birds seeing all the same species as yesterday.

After breakfast we birded the river seeing many more Caspian Terns & Pallas’s Gulls before we spotted a very distant Pallas’s Fish Eagle, so drove around to get a better view, crossing the river twice in order to get decent scope views of what proved to be a pair.

After lunch we had a rest, although Keith and I walked down to the marsh where we added Little Tern, Ruddy Turnstone, Curlew Sandpiper and Eurasian Skylark to the list. Many shorebirds were passing through and we saw 25+ Greater Sandplovers, 20+ Broad-billed Sandpipers, numerous Kentish Plovers, 80+ Little Stints, with a huge flock of White-winged Terns, a couple Gull-billed Terns and Black Terns amongst many other species.

The late afternoon session saw us driving to a different marshy area of the lake where a Common Kingfisher was a surprise find. And after birding the lake area quite hard our reward was in the form of a superb rare drake Baer’s Pochard in company with 5 Ferruginous Ducks. This species hadn’t previously been seen here and by uploading the observation onto eBird, other birders and tour groups were able to twitch it. The sheer number of birds in this area is quite phenomenal and makes this one of the top sites for birding in Mongolia, although photographic opportunities are not great as most species are a little distant.

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. 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. 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.

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! 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.

Well this was certainly an interesting day and one I’d kind of like not do again as we visited three different lakes today on our journey towards Hustai NP. There were many miles to travel and to be honest we didn’t see anything to write home about but with vast distances to travel and driving ‘off road’ most of the way there’s probably not much that can be done about it. In essence today was just a ‘fill-in’ day. Our first site was Sangiin Dalai Lake and I don’t particularly remember much about it to be honest apart from a few Stejneger’s Scoters being present.

Our second main stop and where we had our field lunch was at Takhilt Lake and this was memorable for a summer-plumaged Black-throated Diver we spent some time scoping, although it spent more time underwater than on top! On the far side of the lake a carcass was encouraging 20+ Cinereous Vultures down into a feeding frenzy. So we journeyed on through some stunning countryside, eventually making a stop at a small shop to stock up on beer and ice-creams not to far from the last lake of the day.

Upon arrival at Bayan Lake the regular site to camp beside the lake was mosquito infested, so we relocated several hundred metres inland where it initially appeared to be ok. However, it wasn’t! And this led to various discussions about whether we should try and find a hotel somewhere or not. In a scene reminiscent of Mutiny on the Bounty half of the group definitely wanted to get the hell out of dodge, whilst the others were adamant about staying. After much discussion we eventually decided to stay and tough it out. I know another group took the hotel option a few days later but we were made of sterner stuff! Honest! Maybe! Anyway back to the birding, and as usually, the lake was teeming with many wildfowl (19 species), waterbirds (including 43 Eurasian Spoonbills), shorebirds and terns and the best we could come up with were 4 White-naped Cranes, 13 Common Cranes and 6 Demoiselle Cranes flew in later to roost. This is meant to be THE place for Brown-cheeked Rail and Baillon’s Crake but the few of us who braved the blood-thirsty mini vampires on a sunset excursion to the reedbed only heard both species, despite remaining until dark with the thermal camera and getting very close. We did enjoy close views of an Eastern Marsh Harrier quartering the reedbed, as well as a tytleri Barn Swallow. Damn! Maybe tomorrow..?

 

This morning we drove into Ulaan Baatar, stopping beside the Tuul River, where we quickly notched up a very close and inquisitive White-crowned Penduline Tit. Then it was on to Terelj National Park and our final campsite of this awesome tour. With our ground crew already setting up the tents as we arrived, a quick walk down to a marshy area choked with scrub was made to see if any Chinese Bush-Warblers had arrived – it’s a late arriving summer breeding species here and unfortunately they weren’t present until the day after we left!  A singing Siberian Rubythroat looked mighty fine in the scope so we spent a while admiring him, and we also had Willow Tit and Yellow-browed Warbler.

After lunch we drove up into the hills and walked through majestic forest in search of Grey-headed Chickadee (Siberian Tit), which I didn’t feel that optimistic about our chances. However, we found a pair who became exceedingly inquisitive to the speaker placed up in a conifer and gave us outstanding views. Wow! It was about now that our obsession with finding Hazel Grouse really took hold (for some more than others!!) and we spread out and walked back down the hill with the SUV’s following behind. We checked and walked, and checked & walked some more as we trekked down through what looked like very suitable habitat for them. But we never had a sniff. However, it was during this search that an Ural Owl began calling repeatedly back up the hill and so we set off in search. It was tricky going underfoot, walking across soft, boggy moss, through birch scrub and then up a steep mountainside, but we managed to locate it about 100 yards in front of us. On two separate occasions it flew close past us before settling in one position. It wasn’t a lifer for any of us that were present but it’s a really stunning species and we sat quietly and watched it for some time before leaving it alone and heading down to the vehicles.

Back at camp that evening we had an early dinner and then checked out the bushy area nearby where a pair of Pine Buntings and a singing Dusky Warbler were constantly on view. An Oriental Cuckoo called constantly from the opposite hillside, and as dusk settled we saw the distinctive silhouette of a Eurasian Woodcock flying over the marsh. But the day wasn’t done yet and once everyone was settled in their tents ready for a good night’s sleep we had another Ural Owl fly over the camp where it posed very nicely indeed on a nearby conifer. My shouts of “Ural Owl showing well” were greeted with mild derision, and followed by the unzipping of sleeping bags & tent flaps and even a few groans until everyone looked through my scope at the huge beast!