Mongolian birds
Peter and I were both interested in birds, but Mike was a serious
birdwatcher. He'd bought a good pair of binoculars but no field guide,
however Chinzo luckily had a bird book that covered Mongolia (possibly
A
Field Guide to the Birds of China). We had good fun identifying
birds, though not that much success photographing them.
Many of the following photos are cropped (62.5%) as my 150mm (35mm equivalent 300mm) telephoto wasn't that long.
 Black Vulture (cropped) |
 Black Vulture (cropped) |
 Tern (cropped) |
 Black Kite |
 Ruddy Shelduck |
 Herbert the duckling |
 Snow Finch, Montifringilla nivalis |
Mike's final bird list
(With additions marked with a *.)Raptors
- Cinereous or Black Vulture, Aegypius monachus
- Black Kite, Milvus migrans
- Common or Steppe Buzzard, Buteo buteo
- Peregrine Falcon, Falco peregrinus
- Pallid Harrier, Circus macrourus
- Marsh Harrier, Circus aeruginosus
- Common Kestrel, Falco tinnunculus
- Lesser Kestrel, Falco naumanni
Waterbirds
- Common Crane
- Demoiselle Crane
- Common Tern
- Bar-headed Goose, Anser indicus
- Ruddy Shelduck
- Large Cormorant, Phalacrocorax carbo
- Whooper Swan, Cygnus cygnus
- Common Redshank
- Ruddy Turnstone
- Small Bittern
- Herring Gull
- Velvet Scoter
Large Birds
- Hoopoe
- Eurasian Cuckoo
- Willow Grouse or Ptarmigan (very similar - to be determined from photo)
- Daurian Partridge
- Northern Lapwing
- Raven
- Carrion Crow
- Red-billed Chough
- Daurian Jackdaw
- Greater Spotted Woodpecker
- 3 toed Woodpecker
Small Birds
- Red Thrush
- White Wagtail
- Grey Wagtail
- Yellow breasted Bunting
- Pine Bunting
- Northern Wheatear
- Brown Shrike
- Daurian Redstart
- Willow Tit
- Richard’s Pipit
- Northern Skylark
- Barn Swallow
- Northern House Martin
- Sand Martin
- House Sparrow, Passer domesticus
- *Snow Finch, Montifringilla nivalis
Other Sites
Alex Bräunlich has a useful site Birding Mongolia.