The Deskbound Birder: Pallas's Sandgrouse

Showing posts with label Pallas's Sandgrouse. Show all posts

Wednesday, 17 May 2017

Mongolia - 17th May (Day 10) - Kholboolj Lakes and Barig Mountain

We had a very peaceful nights sleep in our tents beside Kholboolj Lake (45°20'12" N 100°49'36" E) and awoke to the sounds of Pallas’s Sandgrouse commuting to the lake for their morning watering. After breakfast beside the lake watching Pallas's Sandgrouse come and go plus two Pallas’s Gull fly-by we packed the Land Cruiser’s and headed northwards toward the town of Bayankhongor. En-route we made occasional stops for Small Snowfinch, more views of Pallas’s Sandgrouse and two Henderson’s Ground-jay. Richard was busy counting Pallas's Sandgrouse and eventually made it to 99 while I counted Steppe Eagle and eventually got to 32 many of the latter sitting in the desert along a 5km stretch of the Arvaikheer to Bayankhongor Road, in pairs, and presumably migrants. This was our first tarmac for many days.

Female (left) and male Pallas's Sandgrouse - Kholboolj Lake

Male (left) and female Pallas's Sandgrouse - Kholboolj Lake

Two male and two female Pallas's Sandgrouse - Kholboolj Lake

Male (left) and female Pallas's Sandgrouse - Kholboolj Lake

Male Pallas's Sandgrouse - Near Kholboolj Lake

Female Pallas's Sandgrouse - Near Kholboolj Lake

Steppe Eagle along the Arvaikheer to Bayankhongor Road

Cuckoo outside of Bayankhongor

After a stop for Small Snowfinch we lost contact with the lead vehicle but our driver seemed confident enough in heading for Bayankhongor. After some time with no sighting our driver stopped and Barry, Richard and I took the opportunity to bird a roadside area of willow just outside of town and quickly recorded Taiga Flycatcher, Pallas's Warbler and Taiga Flycatcher - I was convinced I was going to see my longed for Thick-billed Warbler but it was not to be and we were summoned back to the vehicle, made a u-turn and headed back to town where the other vehicles were now waiting. We faffed around in the town for around an hour looking at prayer wheels and Chough and I questioned why we weren't birding while the support crew did the shopping - this was costing me Thick-billed Warbler! Eventually the supplies had been gathered and we headed back south-east along the road before turning north off the tarmac and headed up the very dusty valley to our campsite at the foot of Barig Mountain. It was fairly windy when we arrived and while the support team set up tents we birding the grass and rock slopes surrounding the campsite. We saw relatively little but for Northern Wheatear, Citrine Wagtail, Steppe Eagle, Black Vulture and Brown Accentor.

Bayankhongor

Temple in Bayankhongor

Prayer wheels Bayankhongor

Chough - Bayankhongor

Steppe Eagle - Barig Mountain

Red-cheeked Ground-squirrel - Barig Mountain

Barry birding the slopes of Barig Mountain

After lunch we drove up Barig Mountain to around 2700m, there was no road we simply drove up the mountain side and through a boulder field. It was even more windy at the top than at our campsite, hardly surprise really! We spent the rest of the afternoon driving and walking the barren rocky plateau of Barig Mountain (46°4'52" N 101°19'2" E), it was very windy and the birding was tough going. We saw relatively little but for Horned Lark, Water Pipit, Brown Accentor, Lammergeier, Steppe Eagle and others had White’s Thrush, Red-throated Thrush and Red-throated Pipit. There was no sign of the hopped for Hodgson's Bush-chat or Asian Rosy-finch and not a sniff of Altai Snowcock. After a very steep descent in the vehicles from the mountain we had the opportunity for the first hot shower for four days and planned the itinerary for the next five days in Mongolia. It was back up Barig Mountain tomorrow but I don't think any of us were optimistic about seeing any of the target birds.

Habitat on Barig Mountain - Hodgson's Bush-chat should be here somewhere

Stunning scenery Barig Mountain

Barig Mountain

Herding Yak - Barig Mountain

Tumen's vehicle descending the mountain

This was our route back to our campsite at the foot of Barig Mountain, I just hoped the breaks were good or else we would flatten the tents

View across to Lumen's car descending to campsite

Checking the vehicles

The water for our shower was warmed on this stove by burning Yak shit,

the shower tent is sheltered from the wind behind the vehicle

Links to Other Days of the Trip (Click to View)
Day 1 and 2 – International flight then Ulaanbaatar to Mungum Sum
Day 3 - Mungunmorit and Gachuurt area
Day 4 - Drive to Dalanzadgad
Day 5 – Gurvan Saikhan National Park
Day 6 - Gurvan Saikhan National Park
Day 7 - Gobi Desert and Khongor Sand Dunes
Day 8 – Gobi Desert to Bogd
Day 9 - Baga Bogd Mountain and Kholboolj Lake
Day 11 - Barig Mountain and Sangiin Lake
Day 12 (Part 1) - Sangiin Lake and Bayan Lake
Day 12 (Part 2) - Sangiin Lake and Bayan Lake
Day 13 - Hustai National Park and Terelj National Park
Day 14 - Terelj National Park and Gachuurt Area
Day 15 and 16 - Gachuurt Area, Tuul River and International flight

Monday, 15 May 2017

Mongolia - 15th May (Day 8) - Khongor Sand Dunes to Orognwr Lake

After a fairly sleepless night of camping at the Khongor Sand Dunes I was woken by chatter about Saxaul Sparrow being seen so after quickly getting dressed we were down in the vegetated dunes watching a small group of Saxaul Sparrow. I had fairly poor views as the need for a caffeine fix was over riding, the birds were hanging around so it was back to camp for breakfast. After omelette and three coffees we wandered back down to the Saxaul Sparrow area and obtained good views – it was 07:30. After loading the cars we spent a short while driving at the foot of the spectacular Khongor Sand Dunes. We saw a few birds, Richard’s Pipit, Pallas’s Sandgrouse, Desert Wheatear and Northern Lapwing. Then it was time to drive. We spent the entire day driving north-west across the Gobi Desert. The scenery was spectacular and stark, we crossed gravel plains and sandy desert and passed into multi-coloured mountains. The scenery outdid the birds and the only species of note was a male Chinese Grey Shrike other than the now familiar Horned Lark, Asian Short-toed Lark, Black Vulture and Lammergeier.

Male Saxaul Sparrow - Khongor Sand Dunes

Female Saxaul Sparrow - Khongor Sand Dunes

Male Saxaul Sparrow - Khongor Sand Dunes

Habitat beside the Khongor Sand Dunes where we saw Saxaulk Sparrow

Pallas's Sandgrouse - Khongor Sand Dunes

Richard's Pipit - Khongor Sand Dunes

Khongor Sand Dunes

Leaving the Khongor Sand Dunes

Leaving the Khongor Sand Dunes area and looking west

Looking south back towards the Khongor Sand Dunes

Me and the Khongor Sand Dunes

The beginning of the long desert drive

Desert Broomrape Cistanche deserticola

Me and Desert Broomrape

Sand Dunes

Beetle on the Sand Dunes

Rumex species (basically a Dock), remarkably flat leaves presumably

adapted to the windy desert habitat

The desert was remarkably stark in places......

.......but just a short distance away was the beautiful Black Mountain and

snow capped peaks in the distance

It was surprising to see this shrub flowering in the starkness of the desert

Lunch stop was at a small ravine with a cave, the latter known as Bayanlig Soum (White Cave), it was mysteriously crowded with Mongolians but we have no idea where they had come from as there does not appear to be a settlement for miles. In the ravine Richard miraculously located an Eagle Owl at its daytime rock crevice roost and we watched around eight Lesser Kestrel as they called and displayed around the ravine. The cave was spectacular with a large hole in the roof. The cave was allegedly occupied by humans 750,000 years ago. After more desert driving we arrived at the small town of Bogd where we raided the shop for ice-cream and sugary drinks and refuelled the Land Cruisers.

Lesser Kestrel - Bayanlig Soum

Eagle Owl - Bayanlig Soum

Prayer Flags

A short way to the south of Bogd is the spectacular Orognwr Lake and we began scanning for waterbirds, we recorded Red-crested Pochard (30), Whiskered Tern (20), Caspian Tern (2), Mute Swan (2), Brown-headed Gull (2), Kentish Plover, Temminck’s Stint and a selection of familiar duck including Shoveler, Tufted Duck, Pochard and Wigeon. However, the highlight was a fine adult summer Relict Gull feeding on the grass on the near shore. It was awalking around on the damp grass catching mosquito of which there had evidently been a recent large emergence of males.

Driving round to the south side of the lake we scanned an island created by weed growth, on this island were around 350 Spoonbill which had constructed their nests on the floating vegetation mat. It was quite a surprise seeing these birds nesting on the ‘ground’. Also here were many nesting Grey Heron and Coot along with Eurasian Bittern (2), Moorhen, Red-crested Pochard, Garganey, nesting Black-headed Gull. An Eastern Marsh Harrier quartered the adjacent rush grassland.

Camp was set-up adjacent to the lake but not so close that we were eaten alive by mosquito. After a welcome beer we went to sleep to the sound of booming Bittern.