This blog finishes our Mongolian trip. I was with Marc Brew,
Duncan Brooks, Simon Colenutt (see http://thedeskboundbirder.blogspot.co.uk/ for a better illustrated account of the trip),
Jon Hornbuckle, Rod Martins, Lori Szucs and Barry Wright. We were being taken
around by Tumen and Oyunna Humbaa of TUM-ECO Tour (Tumendelger Humbaa <tumen106@yahoo.com>) in
three Landcruisers with a UAZ support vehicle. We were now on the final leg of
our trip and were heading to Ulaanbaatar and a return visit to the conifer forests to the
northeast.
20 May. I was awake at 05:00 with Marc, who I
was sharing a room with, saying it had snowed overnight and was still doing so.
Looking out of the window everything was white! I had slept really solidly and
this came as something of a surprise. I put on several layers including
waterproof over trousers and went out at 05:30, walking up above the toilet
block to the nearest small patch of bushes. Viewing conditions were difficult
with a strong wind and light snow but from the sheltered side I saw an
Olive-backed Pipit, Black-throated Thrush, Pallas’s Leaf Warbler and Little
Bunting. I was soon joined by Barry and we headed up the valley towards some
larger patches of bushes and trees. Out of the first we flushed a White’s
Thrush and were soon seeing more thrushes, Pallas’s Leaf, Yellow--browed and
Dusky Warblers, 3 Cuckoos, Hobby and Taiga Flycatcher. We returned for
breakfast at 07:00, seeing the White’s Thrush again as we past its clump,
although in hindsight I wished I’d stayed out. Simon had seen 16 Siberian
Rubythroats in the side valley opposite while Marc had seen two White’s
Thrushes, one up another side valley and ours. After a quick breakfast I went
up Simon’s valley seeing 12 Siberian Rubythroats, Pallas’s Leaf and Two-barred
Greenish Warblers, the latter causing some identification uncertainties. The
weather was improving with snow flurries rather than a fledgling blizzard. More
grounded migrants were found with the pick of the bunch being a smart male
Yellow-breasted Bunting Barry and Simon saw further up the valley. We returned to
camp at 09:00 and left soon after, a male Common Redstart under the huts being
the first of the trip. The vehicles flushed lots of Wheatears from the track as
we drove out of the valley and soon dropped below the snowline, although it was
still sleeting. We made a few roadside stops by bushes seeing a selection of
migrants at each – 6 Eyebrowed Thrushes here, 5 Common Rosefinches there, Taiga
Flycatchers and Brown Shrikes everywhere.
We drove to a more rocky area where Marc and Lori saw the only Daurian
Partridge of the trip, fortunately I’d seen them previously. On the way out of
the park we saw Prezwalski’s Horses, something we had been looking out for.
They became extinct in the wild in the 1950s but in 1992 sixteen were released from
captivity into what was to become Hustai National Park. We saw 21 and I have to
admit I was pleased to do so - they were quite nice. Back at the Park HQ there
was a Brown Flycatcher in a gully near the car park. We had a quick look in
the shop for souvenirs to take home but nothing caught my eye – no carved
wooden horses for example and the cashmere scarves were expensive and an
uninspiring brown colour. We drove back into Ulaanbaatar and stopped for lunch
at a Korean place by the Tol River. The main bird I was still hoping to see was
Azure Tit and I knew we would be looking for them in willows by the Tol River.
Always keen to try for birds at the first opportunity I skipped lunch and
scrambled down a steep bank to the willows. At this point they backed onto the
river 50-100m away, extended 300m to the road in one direction and much further
in the other. I spent an hour of so along a 800-1000m section of the river and
it was brilliant. Pishing almost immediately brought in a Great Tit but it was some
time later before a superb Azure Tit came in to investigate. All the time Taiga
Flycatchers were calling, I counted 32, there were also Siberian Rubythroats,
Brown Shrikes, Two-barred Greenish Warblers and on the gravel river bank 12
Little Buntings. A few White Wagtails around the car park were mostly Baikal
but included one Swinhoe’s (ocularis).
We left Ulaanbaatar, called in again at our favourite supermarket – I ventured
in this time, it was much like any other although appeared a good bit cheaper,
not that I bought anything. We drove to Teralj National Park along a wooded
valley seeing Pine Bunting and Hawfinch at one stop. At Teralj we checked into
the rather lavish Ulaanbaatar Hotel 2, seeing Siberian Rubythroat and Dusky
Thrush by its garbage hut overflow, no doubt attracted by the smell. We birded the nearby
open forest to 20:30 seeing another 10 Siberian Rubythroats and a superb male
Siberian Blue Robin in a small damp area and Two-barred Greenish Warbler, Coal
Tit, Nuthatch and more Little Buntings. A good meal in the hotel capped off
another great day.
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| Dusky Thrush at Teralj |
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| Eurasian Nuthatch of the white breasted race asiatica |
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| at its nest hole |
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| presumed Common Snipe |
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| another male Siberian Rubythroat |
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| and another, this patch held several and took my day total to 27 |
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| male Siberian Blue Robin at Teralj |
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| brilliantly long legs |
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| just squeezed in ahead of the rubythroats as my favourite migrant |
21 May. We
were out by 05:15 to find a very cold morning with ice having formed on
puddles. A quick check of the hotel’s rubbish tip for rubythroats failed to
produce any although a male Common Redstart on the fence was some compensation.
We wandered back into the open forest and Barry and Simon soon found an Azure
Tit. After seeing it I headed for the damp area where most rubythroats and the
Siberian Blue Robin had been the previous evening but it was frozen and they
all appeared to have moved on. I headed back and not finding the others ended
up birding along a woodland trail seeing Dusky, Naumann’s and Eyebrowed
Thrushes, Daurian Redstart and several Taiga Flycatchers. We returned for
breakfast at 08:00 and checked out, stopping for two hours in birch forest 5km
down the road. We drove back towards the outskirts of Ulaanbaatar where we
turned off to Gachuurt, driving up the valley we had previously visited. We saw
several Brown Shrikes beside the track and stopped for a pair of Stejneger’s
Stonechats. The support vehicle was already at what was to be our final
campsite, a nice clearing at the head of the valley. The tents were already set
up and lunch was soon prepared. We had previously had dinner here before returning
to Ulaanbaatar after our first attempt to see Siberian Jay. I was hoping for
better luck this time but the optimism I had the previous day on learning that
Tumen had been sent GPS co-ordinated for a nest site were somewhat deflated on
learning it was from last year. It was also pretty much in the area we had
already looked. Before and after lunch we looked around the clearing and a
wetter scrubby area by a stream seeing Eastern Buzzard, Red-flanked Bluetail,
Brown and Taiga Flycatchers, Lesser Whitethroat, Dusky, Yellow-browed and
Two-barred Greenish Warblers and a calling Ural Owl. The latter only in flight
for me. We drove back up into the conifer forest to the same saddle we had
visited previously, taking the same wrong turning half-way up too. It was then
a stiff climb skirting the top of one hill before dropping down to climb to the
top of the next, where an Olive-backed Pipit was singing. The terrain flattened
out and after about 10 minutes we reached the GPS co-ordinates that Duncan had
fed into his device but no jays. We continued to the furthest edge of a plateau
but other than Willow Tits, Siberian Chipmunks and Pallas's Pikas it was very quiet. There was much evidence of pine
nut harvesters having been on the area, we’d earlier encountered some women
selling pine nuts by the road although eating them seemed more trouble than it
was worth. I wondered if the harvesters had disturbed the jays causing them to
move elsewhere, or even depleted their food supply with the same result?
Whatever the reason we could find no jays and headed back. A jay-like call on
the way back caused some excitement but was followed up and turned out to be a
Nutcracker. Nice but not what we were hoping for. We returned to camp at 18:30.
The Ural Owl was still calling and after a brief playback flew in to investigate - superb. It turned distinctly colder as the sun went down and we turned in
early.
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| Common Redstart at Teralj |
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| Magpie and Daurian Jackdaws |
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| Daurian Jackdaws |
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| Goosander on the river at Teralj |
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| Naumann's Thrush |
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| Two-barred Greenish Warbler |
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| our hotel at Teralj |
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| another newer hotel. The area, like Ulaanbaatar, was being rapidly developed |
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| Azaleas |
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| 'Oriental' Rook |
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| Stejneger's Stonechat on the way to Gachuurt |
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| our campsite at Gachuurt |
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| my 'Altai Snowcock' tent |
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| in the event we only saw one ... |
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| our brilliant crew |
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| Lesser Whitethroat near the campsite |
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| looking back down towards the campsite |
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| Siberian Chipmunk on 'No Jay Hill' |
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| Pallas's Pika |
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| Nutcracker |
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| Nice but not the corvid we were hoping for |
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| Ural Owl in the campsite clearing |
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| by now the light was very poor |
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which added to its ghostly presence
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22 May. I was up at 05:00 to find frost on the
tent, although it had been nice and warm inside. I birded around the camp from
05:15 seeing singing immature male Red-flanked Bluetail and Olive-backed Pipit
but little else before returning for breakfast at 06:30. We drove back up to
the saddle in the conifer forest and headed back to the same area as before. A
flock of 10 Crossbills flew over but otherwise birds were much as before –
several Nutcrackers, Olive-backed Pipit and Coal and Willow Tits. It was
definitely No Jay Hill. We returned to the vehicles where Rod, who was doing his
own thing, had seen Siberian Tit but it had moved on. We headed back towards camp with a couple of
stops on the way hoping to find Chinese Bush Warbler but realising we were
almost certainly too early. We were back at camp at 12:45 for lunch and had an
hour birding the area seeing Taiga Flycatcher, Lesser Whitethroat and Dusky, Yellow-browed,
Two-barred Greenish Warblers. We left for Ulaanbaatar stopping almost
immediately for a showy male Pine Bunting by the track. We continued to the eastern
outskirts of Ulaanbaatar where we had a lengthy stop at a particularly braided
and willowy section of the Tol River and quickly found several White-crowned
Penduline Tits – my eighth and final new bird of the trip. We also had
good but brief views of Azure Tit and a pair of Long-tailed Rosefinches, the
latter male flushing just as I was about to photograph it. We skirted around the
southern edge of Ulaanbaatar towards our final destination, the Mongolica Hotel
to the west of the city. It was not far from the airport although we were going
in the back way. We soon left the Tol River and cut in towards the city centre and
before seeing anything of it headed west. We then turned south on what soon became
a rough track to cross an area of what looked like wasteland that was in the
process of being developed. A very brief stop at a small man-made lake/spoil
pit produced a final Demoiselle Crane, Ruddy Shelduck, 2 Goldeneye and 2 White-winged
Black Terns. As we approached the Mongolica Hotel we rejoined the Tol River
seeing a flock of at least 12 Azure-winged Magpies on the opposite side. We
arrived at the Mongolica at 18:30, a modern hotel block in a fine setting with
extensive gardens of grass, scattered trees and bushes. I dumped my bag in the
room I was sharing with Barry and went birding around the garden and over to
the Tol River under a kilometre away. Another Azure Tit was the highlight but I
also saw Mandarin, Goosander, Taiga Flycatcher, Two-barred Greenish Warbler, Brown
Shrike and White-cheeked Starling. Returning to the Mongolica just before 20:00
I was delighted to see Roger and Liz Charlwood sitting on the steps. I knew
Tumen was taking them and Frank Lambert around after us but hadn’t realised we
would overlap although sadly Frank wasn’t arriving until the following
afternoon. We had a good chat although it was cut short as they were suffering
from jet lag and I was late for dinner. Roger wasn’t too jet lagged to pick up a
male Amur Falcon flying over, the first we had seen. Dinner was a rather posh
do in a private dining room. All the crew were there which was nice but there
was no sign of Jon. I’d been the last to see him not far from the hotel
entrance but we checked his room and he was nowhere to be found. The drivers
left to search for him and returned soon after having found him walking back
down the road. He’d taken a wrong turn and not found anyone who could
understand him. The food was slow coming, particularly mine, so I left to have
a shower first. Marc then made a nice speech thanking everyone for putting on
such an enjoyable trip, a sentiment we all agreed with.
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| Gachuurt campsite early morning |
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| Lori and Simon watching Olive-backed Pipit |
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| this one |
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| Gachuurt |
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| Nutcracker, this one looked like a clockwork model complete with winding key |
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| mean looking Siberian Chipmunk ready for a punch-up, I did a runner ... |
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| Simon and Duncan |
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| Tufty, a Red Squirrel colour variant |
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| Willow Tit excavating a nest hole |
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| a very tatty Camberwell Beauty |
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| male Pine Bunting |
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| Tol River willows and Ulaanbaatar |
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| White-crowned Penduline Tit by the Tol River |
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| Penduline Tit nest |
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| I was disappointed not to obtain photos of Long-tailed Rosefinch but these pages from Alan Kitson's 1977 notebook are a good substitute of this very smart bird |
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| Tol River and Ulaanbaatar tower blocks |
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| lots more being built |
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| Ulaanbaatar old and new |
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| Brown Shrike in the grounds of the Mongolica Hotel |
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| black colour-ringed Azure-winged Magpie near the Mongolica |
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| Azure Tit near the Mongolica |
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| responding to pishing |
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| final meal, me either asleep or finishing the day's notes |
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| the rest of the table |
23 May. I was out at 05:15 and walked by the
river for a couple of hours before breakfast. Birds were similar to the
previous evening with 2 Amur Falcons, 3 Dusky and 4 Two-barred Greenish Warblers,
17 Azure-winged Magpies, and an Azure Tit. I also saw Naumann’s Thrush and
Black-faced Bunting but failed to see a male Long-tailed Rosefinch Barry had in
a nearby hedge before it flew out. We said goodbye to Lori who was flying back
to Australia later and left the Mongolica at 08:10 in a hotel bus. Tumen and
Oyunna came with us to the airport. It had been a very enjoyable trip which they
had organised well and run very smoothly and we were sad to leave. At check-in we
were told all batteries had to go into hand luggage and fortunately mine were
easy to extract. Not everyone complied but hold bags were x-rayed and an official
came round checking baggage labels and taking recalcitrant passengers to one
side to do so. Our flight was an hour late departing giving me ample time to
buy a couple of small model Gers, tiny dolls in traditional dress and a cashmere
scarf. We flew to Bishkek which was nice to see in daylight although we were
confined to a fairly grim departure lounge. A Roller flying across the runway
as we were taxiing before take-off was a surprise. We hadn’t made up any time
and arrived in Istanbul just after our London flight had departed – we were all
flying back to Heathrow. The Turkish Airlines staff were very efficient, once
we knew where to go, and put us on a flight two hours later. Some passengers
travelling to their destinations were not so fortunate and faced the prospect
of an overnight stay. We arrived at Heathrow at 22:35.
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| early morning at the modern Mongolica Hotel |
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| Hoopoe on the roof |
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| Naumann's Thrush in the garden |
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| male Mandarin by the river |
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| this Azure-winged Magpie had a yellow colour-ring |
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| White-cheeked Starling |
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| Daurian Jackdaw |
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| Dusky Warbler |
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| Azure Tit, a fitting bird to finish with |
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| Oyunna, Jon and Tumen outside the airport |
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| over the Tol River west of Ulaanbaatar |
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| the Mongolica Hotel is the grey block marginally below and to the right of centre, its close proximity to the Tol River evident |
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| interesting looking place, just west of Ulaanbaatar |
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| over southern Kazakhstan |
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| coming into Bishkek |
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| Manas International Airport, Bishkek. Despite being late and missing our connection in Istanbul I was not sorry we'd flown Turkish rather than Aeroflot |
24 May. I sat around the Coach Station until
03:20 when I caught a Brighton bus, the earliest one which I could then connect
on to Shoreham. I was home just before 07:00.
It had been a
very enjoyable trip. A combination of an interesting destination quite unlike
most other places I have been, some really classy birds I had wanted to see for
years (Oriental Plover, Black-billed Capercaillie, Azure Tit), others it was great to see again (Pallas's Sandgrouse, Henderson's Ground Jay, Demoiselle Crane), exciting Siberian migrants and excellent
companions. Thanks to them all and particularly Jon for organising the trip and
inviting me along.
