We were up 05:45 and birded the habitat around the guest house. There had evidently been a small fall of migrants and we recorded six
Eye-browed Thrush, three
Pallas’s Bunting, 12
Red-throated Thrush,
Dusky Warbler,
Reed Warbler and, best of all, two
Siberian Rubythroat which showed well in a newly planted line of scrub opposite the guest house and attracted to the irrigation system in place.
Siberian Rubythroat - Dalanzadgad
Daurian Redstart - Dalanzadgad
White-cheeked Starling and Red-throated Thrush - Dalanzadgad
After breakfast we packed our bags and headed to an area of sparsely vegetated gravel plain just outside of Dalanzagad, here after driving across the plain for around 30 minutes we came across a pair of Oriental Plover. We watched the male for around 30 minutes in his fantastic display flight over the desert banking and flapping on long stiff wings while emitting a strange clicking call. A female was also present here and, a little like Lapwing, the male seemed to display as a result of our presence as well as to impress the female. The display was reminiscent of the flight of a Leach’s Petrel or perhaps a Manx Shearwater.
Oriental Plover
Female Oriental Plover
Oriental Plover, male in display flight
Oriental Plover, male over is desert habitat
We continued our drive eventually leaving the asphalt, a road surface we would not see for the next three days. We headed out through the Gobi Desert the landscape gradually becoming drier, flatter and stonier. Stops along the way produced
Steppe Eagle and
Greater Sand-plover while
Pallas's Sandgrouse were regularly seen flying at speed along the roadside. We stopped at a small plantation consisting of a planted shelter belt and irrigated agricultural fields. Here we recorded
Pallas’s Warbler (3).
Pallas’s Bunting (5),
Little Bunting (2)
Dusky Warbler (2),
Pin-tailed/Swinhoe’s Snipe (1) and
Wryneck (3).
Steppe Eagle
Steppe Eagle
Greater Sand-plover, male on territory
Dusky Warbler
Tolai Hare Lepus tolai
Pallas's Bunting
Pallas's Warbler
Daurian Redstart
Ger with all mod-cons
Driving onwards across gravel plains we came to a large wetland area, the water level was low and birds were very distant and in the heat haze not identifiable, we recorded
Little Owl in a small barn,
Taiga Flycatcher (1),
Siberian Stonechat (1) and Barry slipping on his arse and getting covered in mud and goat shit! Heading further west, we had great views of a pair of
Mongolian Ground-jay adjacent to the road and found the birds nest.
Tussocky habitat close to a lake in the desert
Lake side vegetation and scenery
Lake and goats
Little Owl of race plumipes
Mongolian Ground-jay
Mongolian Ground-jay
The Mongolian Ground-jay nest was located on the top of this bush which was
no more than 1.5m high
Mongolian Ground-jay nest and eggs
Mongolian Ground-jay nest
It was time for lunch and we headed up a ravine in the mountainside and found our lunch laid out for us in a spectacular ravine. While we ate we had great views of an adult
Lammergeir plus
Pied Wheatear (6),
Chukar (3) and
Rufous-tailed Rockthrush.
Our lunchtime ravine
Lunch
Chukar
Rufous-tailed Rock Thrush
Female Pied Wheatear
Male Pied Wheatear
Male Pied Wheatear
Lammergeier
Following a dirt road west we drove parallel to the magnificent Khongor Sand Dunes the dunes progressively becoming larger and larger while backed by contrasting black and red rock mountains. A short stop in an area of gravel desert with scattered scrub soon produced
Asian Desert Warbler and we eventually obtained good views of these birds as they ran between scrub patches and occasionally sat-up to survey the surrounding land.
Greater Sand-plover
Asian Desert Warbler habitat
Asian Desert Warbler
Asian Desert Warbler
Asian Desert Warbler
Horned Lark nest and eggs
Desert habitat
The lower areas of the Khongor Sand Dunes
Desert Scenery
Our Russian support vehicle racing through the desert
Arriving at our camping area we birded an area of dunes and Saxaul Scrub where we had good views of
Desert Wheatear (4) and
Hill Pigeon (5) but Saxual Sparrow eluded us. Our campsite over looked the Khongor Sand Dunes and we enjoyed a couple of beers overlooking the dunes watching a beautiful sunset and studying the moons of Jupiter.
Male Desert Wheatear
Female Desert Wheatear
The magnificent Khongor Sand Dunes
The magnificent Khongor Sand Dunes
Hill Pigeon
Hill Pigeon - Quite a distinctive bird when in flight
Hoopoe - Khongor Sand Dunes
Hoopoe - Khongor Sand Dunes
Red-cheeked Ground-squirrel Spermophilus erythrogenys - Khongor Sand Dunes
Khongor Sand Dunes
Desert Thumb Cynomorium coccineum, said to cure erectile dysfunction and
relished by our driver.........
Our campsite at the foot of the Khongor Sand Dunes
My tent and the sunset
Sunset over the Khongor Sand Dunes
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 8 – Gobi Desert to Bogd
Day 9 - Baga Bogd Mountain and Kholboolj Lake
Day 10 - Kholboolj Lake and Barig Mountain
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
