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Dawn Chorus: The Traveling Birder in Mongolia

by laniusX for Birds and Birdwatching

Community

(This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Sunday, Aug. 11, 2024 Sunday, Aug. 11, 2024 at 6:00:03am PDT

Mongolia is not really on the radar for most birders or even many travelers. To be honest, it was barely on my radar until it became “Plan C” for my spring birding holiday this year. But it turns out to be a wonderful place to visit and go birding with friendly people. And there’s some incredible scenery, too. So I’d like to share some of my experiences there along with information on the birds (and other wildlife).

Some background first:

Most people know Mongolia as the land of Chinggis Khaan (Genghis Khan in the west). He remains a national hero. He’s on the money. There are statues of him everywhere. This one is on the Parliament building in the capital Ulaanbaatar:

He and his descendants conquered much of the Old World from the Pacific to the Adriatic in the 12^th and 13^th Centuries. They conquered central China where they were known as the Yuan Dynasty. But eventually, the Mongol Empire collapsed with the heart of the empire in Asia being absorbed into China.

Modern Mongolia has been an independent country since 1921. When the Qing Dynasty fell in China, Mongolia declared its independence from China. With the help of the USSR, Mongolia was able to fight back the Chinese and stay independent, but this came at a price: Stalinist Communism, complete with purges, destruction of religious institutions, and similar damaging governance. The capital was renamed Ulan Bator which means “Red Hero.” The written Mongolian language was changed from a traditional script to a version of Cyrillic. But eventually, when the Soviet Union dissolved, Russian influence stopped. After a period of economic difficulties Mongolia was able to become a modern Asian country.

This history shows in today’s Ulaanbaatar. Much of the residential areas are large Soviet era apartment blocks, but the central area of UB (as the capital is commonly known to visitors) is modern:

There are Buddhist temples (only one of which is still in use), side by side with modern office buildings and hotels, Korean mini-market chains, and American fast-food restaurants. The former “State Department Store” is now a multi-story shopping mall containing high-end stores:

People spend their time staring into their mobile phones. The first day I was there was the day of the annual Ulaanbaatar Marathon. In other words, it’s a modern city like many others in the world.

On the other hand, outside of UB, Mongolia is a big empty place. It’s the 18^th largest country in the world. If you superimposed Mongolia on the US with the center of the country on St. Louis, it would extend east-to-west from Washington DC to Denver and north-to-south from Chicago to Jackson, Mississippi. But the population is only 3.4 million people - and half of those people live in Ulaanbaatar. The remaining people live in a country the size of Alaska, so the population density is extremely low.

Small towns in the countryside are mostly undeveloped. The streets are mainly dirt.

There’s a gas station, a small supermarket, a school, possibly a government building or two, and not much else. The smaller cities are grown up versions of the towns, with multiple gas stations, a supermarket or two, and multiple government buildings. But in the towns, people live in small fenced in compounds, where they can keep livestock. In fact, many people don’t live in fixed structures. They live in gers.

What’s a ger, you may ask? These are gers:

Most westerners know a ger as a yurt (Yurt is a Russian word and has fallen out of favor. Ger is the Mongolian word). It’s a portable tent that can be packed up and transported from pasture to pasture. They’re made of heavy wool or felt and will definitely protect you from the elements.

Which brings us to the Mongolian countryside. As I said, it’s a big empty place. The south of the country is the Gobi Desert. Central Mongolia is dry grassland steppe and isn’t really good for agriculture, not to mention a growing season wouldn’t be very long. The northern part of the country is the southern extension of the Siberian taiga. Therefore, most people in the countryside still lead a nomadic existence, raising goats, sheep, cows, horses, yaks (in the mountains), and even camels (in the Gobi). However, the modern nomad doesn’t usually use a horse for herding:

With such a low population density, it also means there aren’t a lot of paved roads. There are some two-lane paved roads between UB and some larger cities, but there’s less than 2,000 miles of pavement in the entire country, and most of that is in UB. In the countryside, most of the roads are dirt or just twin tracks through the grassy steppe:

Putting it simply, you aren’t traveling outside of UB by yourself.

And the last thing that makes travel in Mongolia tricky is the language. Mongolian is in its own language family. It is related to a few “minority” languages in Siberia and China, but not related to any widely spoken languages of Asia or Europe. It has a lot of guttural Ch/Kh sounds (like Hebrew or Scottish) and hissed L sounds (like the “ll” in Welsh). To my ear it sounds like Klingon. I learned a few words, the most important of which was баярлалаа (bayarlala - thank you), which sounds like this:

YouTube Video

Enough background. On to the tour…

We started and ended in Ulaanbaatar - since that’s where the only international airport in the country is located. From there we went into the taiga east of UB for a few nights to find some forest and riverine specialties. That was followed by a long drive to the Gobi Desert near Dalanzadgad. We continued on to visit some saline lakes in the central west part of the country, and further on to Khukh lake in the Khangai Mountains west of UB. We finished at a couple fresh water lakes before heading back to UB via Hustai National Park, the home of Przewalski’s Horse.

And now…the birds!

We started the tour with a stop in the larch forests east of UB:

Our target was Black-billed Capercaillie, a kind of very large grouse. We were told it could take an hour of hiking to find them, but we spotted one in about 10 minutes. Then we heard another bird displaying:

Black-billed Capercaillie — Zamt Pass, Mongolia

The Black-billed capercaillie is found in southern Siberia, Mongolia, and parts of northern China. The display is a rapid clicking sound like castanets: Xeno-Canto.

We then moved on to a small forest patch along the Tuul River. One of the prettiest birds we saw on the tour was Long-tailed Rosefinch:

Long-tailed Rosefinch — Along the Tuul River, Mongolia

Rosefinches are related to the North American House Finch and Purple Finch. This Long-tailed Rosefinch is of the “Siberian” group of subspecies. There’s also a “Chinese” group found in Sichuan and other areas of the Tibetan Plateau in China.

A fairly common bird of the taiga and steppes is Daurian Jackdaw:

Daurian Jackdaw — Along the Tuul River, Mongolia

Jackdaws are small crows. There are two species of Jackdaws. The all black Eurasian Jackdaw, which is found throughout Europe all the way to the ‘Stans in Central Asia, and the black-and-white Daurian Jackdaw which is found in Siberia, Mongolia, and China. They’re usually found in large flocks.

We then got our introduction to ger camps:

For orientation, in the picture above, the ger with the blue pattern on the top was the dining hall. The one just beyond that was the “library” and the one past that was the shower tent. And while they weren’t luxurious, they were quite comfortable. This is the inside of my ger:

Yes, that’s a wood fired stove in the foreground. It made the ger quite toasty on cold mornings. Of course, wood only works in the taiga. In the drier areas, the stoves burned dried dung.

The camp overlooked this valley of the Tuul River:

Tuul River Valley — Jalman Meadows, Mongolia

Fun fact: The forests in this part of the taiga are only found on north-facing slopes. All other areas are grassland steppe.

In that valley we found lots of good birds, such as Citrine Wagtail:

Citrine Wagtail — Jalman Meadows, Mongolia

Citrine Wagtails are found from Eastern Europe to Mongolia and Western China. They breed in wet meadows and tundra. I’d only seen them once before – on a trip to Central Asia.

Brown Shrike:

As everyone knows, I like shrikes. Brown Shrike is found in Far East Asia. In fact, Mongolia is on the western part of their range.

Pine Bunting:

Pine Bunting breeds in the taiga from the Urals to Far Eastern Russia. It’s another bird I’d only seen once before – in northern Kazakhstan.

And one of the best birds of all, Siberian Rubythroat:

Siberian Rubythroat — Jalman Meadows, Mongolia

As might be expected, it’s also a breeder in the Siberian taiga. I’d seen them before, mostly on the wintering grounds where they can be real skulkers, but we saw them singing on several days on this trip. That ruby throat puffs out when they sing.

Heading slightly southward, we also visited nearby Gun Galuut Nature Reserve, where we stopped at some lakes for our first taste of water birds. Ruddy Shelduck was common:

Ruddy Shelduck — Gun Galuut Nature Reserve, Mongolia

We saw our first flock of over 130 Demoiselle Cranes:

Demoiselle Crane on the Mongolian Steppe

They were just arriving from their wintering grounds in India. They actually migrate over the Himalayas.

There were also White-winged Terns:

White-winged Terns — Gun Galuut Nature Reserve, Mongolia

We saw large flocks of this fresh-water tern on most lakes.

We even had shorebirds like Pied Avocets:

Pied Avocet — Gun Galuut Nature Reserve, Mongolia

Nearby we also got our first introduction to some of the birds of the dry steppe, such as Mongolian Lark:

Mongolian Lark — Gun Galuut Nature Reserve, Mongolia

For a lark, these guys are huge. They have large white wing patches, so once you learn that, you’ll see hundreds of them flying away from your vehicle as you drive through the steppes. They’re not limited to Mongolia, but their range is centered on Mongolia. They’re found in the dry treeless grassy steppe, but not in the Gobi Desert.

And Blyth’s Pipit:

Blyth’s Pipit — Gun Galuut Nature Reserve, Mongolia

Like Mongolian Lark, their breeding range centers on Mongolia. They are found in the Gobi, though. Frankly, all pipits look alike to me, but fortunately this was the only pipit we saw in that habitat. The other more “common” pipits, like Tree Pipit and Olive-backed Pipit prefer the forests.

There were plenty of raptors, but one of the most common was Steppe Eagle:

Steppe Eagle — Gun Galuut Nature Reserve, Mongolia

Steppe Eagle used to be considered the same species as the Tawny Eagle of Africa, but is now its own species. They’re found from the Caucasus to Far Eastern Russia.

Probably the most common species we saw on the entire trip was “Brandt’s” Horned Lark:

“Brandt’s” Horned Lark — Gun Galuut Nature Reserve, Mongolia

We saw them almost daily in all sorts of habitats, from the dry steppes to the Gobi and even on the mountain tundra over 9,000 feet. They’re also known as the Steppe Horned Lark. Right now, they’re a subspecies of Horned Lark, but that may change. As you can see, they’re white where most Horned Larks are yellow.

Then it was off on the long drive to the Gobi. Trivia: Gobi means “waterless place” in Mongolia, so to some extent “Gobi Desert” is redundant.

We stayed near the small city of Dalanzadgad in southern Mongolia. The population is only about 25,000. Nearby are the Flaming Cliffs, where many of the Asian dinosaur fossils have been found. Because of this, the city park in Dalanzadgad has cute little dinosaurs on the gates:

Our ger camp outside Dalanzadgad was of a more typical design, with gers laid out in a grid pattern:

It’s like a campsite in the USA, with a shared toilet block, shower block, and dining hall/bar (often with karaoke, although we didn’t partake).

The Gobi is where we found this Oriental Plover:

It breeds in Mongolia and northern China, but most international birders I know see this species during migration through China or maybe on its wintering grounds in Australia. I’d missed them several times in those places, so it was a major target of the tour and a lifer for me.

This is where we found him:

Yes, he was somewhere in this barren desert. In fact, there were two of them there.

More common in the desert were Pallas’ Sandgrouse:

Pallas’ Sandgrouse — Gobi Desert, Mongolia

It’s found from the Caspian to the Amur River basin in Eastern Russia. According to Wikipedia, Marco Polo even reported seeing them on his travels. Usually we saw them in small flocks… but generally flying away from us.

The main place we were visiting in that part of the Gobi was a place called Yolyn Am (The Canyon of the Vulture):

A common bird there was White-winged Snowfinch:

White-winged Snowfinch — Yolyn Am, Mongolia

I saw this species before in Armenia, but it wasn’t a satisfying view, just a bunch of birds flying away from our car. OTOH, our guide in Mongolia said they’d be walking around at our feet in Yolym Am. They were.

A main target of the visit to Yolyn Am was Kozlov’s Accentor:

This is a bird only found in Mongolia and Gansu Province in China. Which means if you want any chance to see it, you go to Mongolia. This was pretty much the only day we could have seen it, and fortunately we saw this single bird. It’s also called Mongolian Accentor by the people that don’t like eponyms, but I like the original name. It’s named after Piotr Kozlov, a Russian explorer.

Another rosefinch we saw was Chinese Beautiful Rosefinch:

Chinese Beautiful Rosefinch — Yolyn Am, Mongolia

When I saw it before (in Sichuan) there was only one species – called simply “Beautiful Rosefinch,” but a few years ago that was split into Himalayan Beautiful Rosefinch and Chinese Beautiful Rosefinch. The one in Sichuan is actually Himalayan, not Chinese – go figure. There’s some debate as to which species is found in Yolyn Am, but our guide actually contacted the author of the paper which justified the split and confirmed that they’re Chinese. So this was now a lifer.

We also had Crag Martins collecting mud for nesting:

They’re found through the entire Palearctic from Iberia to Manchuria.

And of course we saw several of the vulture that the canyon is named for, Lammergeier:

I’d only seen Lammergeier a few times before – one bird each in Kazakhstan, Armenia, and Sichuan, but on this trip we saw it on several different days, including flocks of 3-4 birds and immatures.

And here’s a familiar bird:

Rock Pigeon — Mukhar Shibert Canyon, Mongolia

Yes, it’s a Rock Pigeon, but not just any Rock Pigeon. This is a real, wild, Rock Pigeon; the kind that nests on cliffs, not on bridges! We actually found it at a canyon called Mukhar Shibertiin Am (Siberian Dead End Canyon).

Also in Mukhar Shibertiin Am was this Chukar:

Chukar — Mukhar Shibert Canyon, Mongolia

Chukar are a kind of partridge that are found all the way from Spain to Manchuria. They’ve also been released into the western US for hunting. They’re found from western Colorado to eastern California, and northward into Idaho and Washington.

Another special location in the Gobi is Khongoryn Els (Khongor Sands):

Khongoryn Els are the tallest sand dunes in the word. They can reach from 90-300m (300-1000 ft.) tall and they extend for about 80 miles. People actually climb them, but we decided to play it safe. They’re also called the Singing Sands for the sounds the sand makes when blown by the wind.

In that area there’s large patches of a bush called saxaul (Haloxylon ammodendron). There are some species that are specialties of that habitat. The most obvious was Saxaul Sparrow:

Saxaul Sparrow — Khongoriin Els, Mongolia

We found this bird going back and forth to a nest at the base of Khongorin Els. This was another bird I’d only seen before in Kazakhstan.

It took a couple tries, but we also found Henderson’s Ground-jay:

Henderson’s Ground-jay — Gobi Desert, Mongolia

There are four species of ground-jays. They’re related to crows and are found exclusively in the high deserts of Asia – one species each in Iran, Mongolia, Xinjiang (China), and Turkestan. Henderson’s is also called Mongolian Ground-jay by eponym-haters. Lt. Col. George Henderson was a British Army “explorer” who did surveys of Central Asia during the “Great Game” period of the late 19th century.

And being in the desert, we saw Desert Wheatear:

Desert Wheatear — Khongoriin Els, Mongolia

Desert Wheatear is found in two populations – one in North Africa and one that extends from the Caspian to Mongolia. This guy was bringing food to a nest in an old stone corral.

We now pause for a word from our sponsor:

This is the world’s tallest equestrian statue, located about 54km east of Ulaan Baatar. It’s about 40m (130 ft) tall. If you look closely, you can see people standing on the horse’s head.

Now back to our tour!

From the Gobi, we headed to the saline steppe lakes of central-east Mongolia, where we started tent-camping.

The first stop was Örög Nuur (“Deep Lake”) at the base of the Gobi Altai Mountains. Ironically Örög Nuur wasn’t deep. It was dry – it’s on the edge of the desert after all – but for some strange reason, the “shore” where we camped had plenty of water, to the extent that we had shorebirds (godwits, redshanks, and phalaropes) around the camp and terns feeding nearby:

We also spent a day climbing into the Gobi Altai Mountains near a peak called Ikh Bogd (“great saint”) where we saw our first snow fields:

Ikh Bogd is the highest peak in the Gobi Altai Mountains. It has an elevation of 3,957m (12,982 ft).

This used to be a good place for Altai Snowcock, but it no longer is reliable there. However, we did find nesting Saker Falcon:

Saker Falcon — Gobi Altai Mountains, Mongolia

Saker Falcons are popular in falconry in Arabia, and are endangered because of the black market trade by rich Emiratis and Kuwaitis.

We also found another wheatear, this time a Pied Wheatear:

Pied Wheatear — Gobi Altai Mountains, Mongolia

This is the white-throated morph. It used to be a separate subspecies (ssp. vitatta), but is now just considered to be just a color morph. It’s the uncommon morph – only about 5% of the population. Most Pied Wheatears have a black throat – we saw those, too.

From Örög Nuur we moved on to the much larger Böön Tsagaan Nuur (“Clump of White Lake”). And here’s a twist...our guide wanted to stop at a smaller lake between Örög Nuur and Böön Tsagaan Nuur. Why? because there was a vagrant Canada Goose there and the guides would have liked to add it to their Mongolia lists! Unfortunately for them, we didn’t have them time.

Böön Tsagaan Nuur was teeming with water birds, like Swan Geese:

Swan Geese — Böön Tsagaan Nuur, Mongolia

Swan Geese are the wild ancestors of the “Chinese” farm goose. They breed in Mongolia and Manchuria and are considered endangered. I’d seen them before in China and Korea, but not in big numbers like in Mongolia.

A lifer for me was Bar-headed Goose:

Bar-headed Geese — Near Böön Tsagaan Nuur, Mongolia

Bar-headed Geese breed in Central Asia and Mongolia, and winter in the Himalayas in India, Nepal, and Bhutan.

There were plenty of gulls, including Mongolian Gulls:

Mongolian Gull — Arkhangai Province, Mongolia

Some authorities, including Cornell/Clements, consider the Mongolian Gull a subspecies of Herring Gull, although there appears to be a possibility of that changing soon. Stay tuned, and keep track of your large white-headed gulls!

There were also more common species like Great Cormorants:

Great Cormorants — Böön Tsagaan Nuur, Mongolia

Grey Herons and Great Egrets:

Grey Herons and Great Egret — Böön Tsagaan Nuur, Mongolia

along with lots of ducks, terns, and gulls. A Baer’s Pochard – an extremely rare and endangered duck - had been reported there a few days before we arrived, so we spent a lot of time looking for that, but couldn’t find it.

The next lake we headed to was Khukh Nuur (“Blue Lake”), further north in the Khangai Mountains:

This is our campsite at Khukh Nuur:

Camp on the Shore of Khukh Nuur — Mongolia

While the tents were comfortable, since we were at 2,600m (8,500 ft) they were COLD. We had one morning where the temperature got down to about -2^oC (29^oF). There was a small bucket of water set up as a hand washing station…it froze overnight.

But the reason you go to Khukh Nuur is that this is the new location to find Altai Snowcock:

This guy was on the ridge line 250m (800 ft) above our campsite. This was as close as we got to him – it’s a typical snowcock view. There are 5 species of Snowcock: Tibetan, Caspian, Caucasian, Himalayan, and Altai. Altai is the hardest because the only place to see them is remote Mongolia (or the Altai Republic in Siberian Russia). I’ve seen 4 of the 5 now. The only one I’m missing is Caspian…gotta go to central Türkiye, Georgia, or Azerbaijan.

Another specialty of Khukh Nuur is Hodgson’s Bushchat:

Hodgson’s Bushchat — Khukh Nuur, Mongolia

The eponym-haters call it White-throated Bushchat…a rather dull name, IMHO. This guy was up in the boulder fields above our camp at about 2850m (9,350 ft). It’s another bird that’s only found in that same restricted region. Brian H. Hodgson was a British Ethnologist and Naturalist who was stationed in India and Nepal in the 1800’s.

Also common were Mongolian Marmots:

They were common everywhere in the grasslands and canyons, but not in the Gobi flatlands.

After our sojourn at Khukh Lake we headed further north through the Khangai Mountains:

Those are our support vehicles – old Russian minivans. We rode in modern Toyota and Lexus SUV’s.

On our way through the mountains we found a nesting Common Rock Thrush:

Common Rock Thrush — Khangai Mountains, Mongolia

It may be called a thrush, but it’s actually a chat or flycatcher. They’re widespread – from Spain to Siberia.

Another beautiful lake called Terkhiin Tsagaan Nuur (Blue Lake of the Terkh River) awaited us:

This is a freshwater lake which was a wonderful place to camp – no bugs! But we did have a gorgeous Black Kite hunting near our dining tent:

Black Kite — Terkhiin Tsagaan Nuur, Mongolia

Some authorities consider this to be a separate species from the Black Kites found in Europe. They call it Black-eared Kite, but of course Cornell/Clements does not.

Since we were back in the larch forests we saw a good number of forest birds, starting with Common Rosefinch:

Common Rosefinch — Terkhiin Tsagaan Nuur, Mongolia

While most rosefinches are restricted to Asia, this one is found all the way from Scandinavia and the Alps into Siberia.

Up in the forests we had many Hume’s Leaf-warblers:

Hume’s Leaf-warbler — Terkhiin Tsagaan Nuur, Mongolia

Leaf-warblers are the bane of any Asian birder’s existence, like empidonax flycatchers in North America. They all look alike with subtle differences. They’re all olive green with eye-lines. Some have wing-bars, some have yellow rump patches, some have crown stripes…and some don’t. And taxonomists seem to be crazy about splitting them into more and more species. In fact, Hume’s Leaf-warbler used to be a subspecies of Yellow-browed Warbler, but was split because of differences in their calls and songs. Fortunately, these guys were singing.

Here's an Amur Stonechat:

Amur Stonechat — Terkhiin Tsagaan Nuur, Mongolia

Some people call it Stejneger’s Stonechat, but not the you-know-whos. It’s found in Southeastern Siberia, Mongolia and Manchuria. Ironically, there is a species called Siberian Stonechat. It’s found in the Caucasus through southwestern Siberia, Central Asia and into Mongolia. So neither name is really good. Leonhard Hess Stejneger was a Norwegian-American Ornithologist and Biologist who was a curator at the Smithsonian.

We also had several Red-throated Thrushes:

Red-throated Thrush — Terkhiin Tsagaan Nuur, Mongolia

This species is a “real” thrush, like a Eurasian Blackbird or American Robin. It’s another bird whose range centers on Mongolia, but extends into southern Siberia and Manchuria.

Our final lake was another freshwater lake called Ögii Nuur. This is a major site for migrating and breeding waterfowl:

It’s not the greatest picture, but there are at least 8 species of ducks in the picture (Mallard, Green-winged Teal, Pintail, Shoveler, Eurasian Wigeon, Common Shelduck, Ruddy Shelduck, Common Pochard) and maybe more. We also had Tufted Ducks, Smew, Common Mergansers, Falcated Ducks, Common Goldeneye, and Garganey. Duck heaven!

Northern Lapwings were common:

As were Black-winged Stilts:

Black-winged Stilt — Ögii Nuur, Mongolia

Whooper Swans were breeding:

Whooper Swan Family — Ögii Nuur, Mongolia

But the best was yet to come. Mixed in with a few Ferruginous Ducks were three Baer’s Pochards:

Baer’s Pochards and Ferruginous Ducks — Ögii Nuur, Mongolia

Baer’s Pochards are highly endangered due to pollution and overdevelopment in China. They are one of the rarest ducks in the world. It’s believed there are only a few hundred left in the wild. Not only were they a lifer for me, but they were a lifer for both the local and foreign guides on the tour. The picture shows two Ferrugies and two Baer’s. The ones with the white on the flanks are the Baer’s.

And while everyone was getting more videos and pictures of the Baer’s, I managed a picture of Pere David’s Snowfinch:

Pere David’s Snowfinch — Ögii Nuur, Mongolia

Pere David was a French priest who was also a zoologist. He discovered many species in China, and has several species of birds, mammals, and plants named after him. Of course, some people have re-named this species as Small Snowfinch. Considering all snowfinches are small and this one is about the same size as all the others, it’s yet another lousy name.

There was also a Rock Sparrow:

This species is found throughout Eurasia. It was formerly known as Rock Petronia, but for some reason they wanted a duller English name. But it’s not often you see the yellow spot on the throat.

And a bird which may or may not have been a lifer, Asian Short-toed Lark:

Asian Short-toed Lark — Ögii Nuur, Mongolia

Once upon a time, there were two species called the Greater Short-toed Lark and the Lesser Short-toed Lark. Then in 2020, DNA studies were done and the Lesser Short-toed Lark was split three ways into Mediterranean, Turkestan, and Asian Short-toed Larks. I saw them in Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan in 2011 in the zone where Turkestan and Asian overlap. So when they were split, which one had I seen? Hell if I know. I called it Asian since that’s what it was called at the time, but quite honestly, it probably was Turkestan. Fortunately, I’ve since seen definite Turkestans in the UAE last year and now definite Asians in Mongolia, so problem solved.

Added complication, some people think that the Asian Short-toed Larks in the Gobi, i.e. the ones we saw at Khongoriin Els, might actually be Turkestans, not Asians…more DNA studies to follow. Ugh.

Oh yeah…there’s also a Mongolian Short-toed Lark which was split from Greater Short-toed Lark in 2016. Smarter people - if you know what I mean - call it the Sykes’ Short-toed Lark, not Mongolian Short-toed Lark. We saw that, too. Most tours don’t see it because it’s more common further east near Manchuria, which is not on the usual tour route. But our guide knew a spot on our route where they occur. No pics. It’s a skulker.

And that’s not to be confused with Mongolian Lark (pictured earlier in the diary) which is not closely related to any of the short-toed larks. IMHO, larks are a pain in the butt. Leaf-warblers are tricky, but at least they’re cute little birds. Larks are just LBJs with fancy songs.

But I digress…

Our last stop on the tour was Hustai National Park outside Ulaanbaatar. This is the home of the largest herd of Przewalski’s Horses:

Przewalski’s Horses — Hustai NP, Mongolia

In Mongolian, they are called takhi, which means “spirit” which I think is a fantastic name for a wild horse. They aren’t related to domestic horses or even the wild versions of those. Their genetic lineages diverged at least 100,000 years ago, that is before the domestication of horses. In fact, Przewalski’s Horse has one more pair of chromosomes than a domestic horse, although they can interbreed. It’s the only species of wild horse left, although there are 6 other species of wild equines – 3 zebras and 3 wild asses.

Przewalski’s Horse was driven extinct in the wild in the early 1900’s, but was restored from captive zoo populations in the 1990’s. There are now over 3,000 in the wild in several locations although most are in Hustai. Their populations are carefully monitored to maintain genetic diversity.

There were two bird targets in Hustai, Daurian Partridge and Meadow Bunting. We missed the former and saw the latter:

It was known as Siberian Meadow Bunting – although there are no other kinds of Meadow Buntings, which is why they dropped the “Siberian”. This wasn’t a new bird for me. The first one I saw was 13 years ago in Kazakhstan, but they winter in Korea and Japan, so I’ve seen plenty of non-breeding birds.

The partridge would have been a lifer though.

After that, it was back to UB for some museums including the Chinggis Khaan Museum (Yep, he’s got a museum). So before wrapping up, one more word from our sponsor:

Told you he was on the money. That’s a 20,000 Tugrik note, the largest bill in circulation. It’s worth about $6 US.

And that’s it from Mongolia. I hope you enjoyed our little foray into the grasslands and desert. For those interested, there are more pictures of the birds from me and other tour patrons, as well as a complete list of every species I saw here in eBird: https://ebird.org/tripreport/252840.

And if you’re into history and want to learn more about the Great Game, check out the book “The Great Game: The Struggle for Empire in Central Asia” by Peter Hopkirk. It’s a fascinating read.

Now as we go riding off into the steppes:

It’s time to ask, what’s going on in your neighborhood?