Common Myna (Acridotheres tristis)
Early in the morning my dad got up (without waking me up!) to watch birds around the hotel we were staying at. And got some nice pictures of Common Mynahs and White Wagtails and others.
After breakfast we went to a well in the - or at the margin of Great Boguta Mountains. It was a dry, not too high mountainrange basically in the middle of a desert.
White Wagtail (Motacilla alba personata)
We sat down near the spring and waited for the birds from the nearby mountains to come drink and bath. We were lucky to see Grey-headed Buntings, Issabelline Wheatears, Dessert Finches and others.
We had several hours of free time here which we could spend walking into the mountains, climbing on the hills and watching birds. My dad stayed near the well, while I decided to spend my three hours or so looking for the birds in the mountains.
Mongolian Finches (Bucanetes mongolicus)
I went in, followed some other people from our group on the path, until I found a hill with a nice view of the hill just next to it, which seemed to hold some nice birds, like: Rock Thrushes etc.….
Grey-necked Bunting (Emberiza buchanani)
Unfortunately it didn't také long for other people to see it, but they, however, didn't just sit far enough in a good view on the mountain, but rather climbed that mountain itself, scaring all the birds from that place away :/ Well, I guess I didn't appreciate their strategy enough, so I got up form my spot, determined to find a place with less people around. But I was looking for something similar, a place with a good view on a mountain with birds. Shortly after, I indeed found such a good spot. I saw quite a few species hopping around or flying over the mountain. And the very top of it was a favourite perching place of another Rock Thrush. One that was feeding its young, as it was flying around with its beak full of some "tasty" insects.
Mongolian Finch (Bucanetes mongolicus)
From time to time, when it was approaching, I only heard it beatiful, flute-lite and somewhat etheric call, very fitting to this place. After the call was heard, a beautiful bluish and orange bird with a white spot just aove its tail flew, or rather glided with it strange flight at the top of the mountain, where it sat down and just looked for a while. Or from time to time took to flight and made such a nice display over the top of the mountain and a darkening sky. It looked like a storm was coming this time. I could spend many more hours just sitting here, listening and watching my surroundings, but it was already close to the time we were supposed to meet at the original well, so I said goodby to my friend Rock Thrush. This was really awesome.
Tawny Pipit (Anthus campestris) nest
On the way back someone showed me a nest of a Tawny Pipit someone found a while ago. The group that stayed at the well saw the same species as me, except I saw the Rock Thrush and they had the Horned Lark.The whole group then went to another path in the mountains, where we were looking for an Eastern Orphean Warbler. And successfully this time! Apart from it we saw another Rock Thrush and a nest of a Golden Eagle, unoccuppied at the moment.
Askar showing me a picture he took
We then moved for maybe one or half a kilometer into the desert-like place, with ruins of buildings looking something like an unfinished and destroyed village, no one of us understanding what it really was. However, this place was occupied by beautiful Dessert Wheatears.
Common Rock Thrush (Monticola saxatilis)
I took a seat on remains of one of the buildings and just waited it the Wheatear came close by itself. And it actually did. Together with a Tawny Pipit.
Dessert Wheatear (Oenanthe deserti)
Askar then had our cars stop near some valleys in the mountains, having known the places occupied by interesting species like White-capped Buntings and others. There was hardly any path there, but we made our own through the bushes and undergrowth. We played the Bunting's call and we actually saw it after a while. However, it was at this point when the storm finally arrived, which prompted most people to run back to the car - not that they couldn't stand a bit of rain, but all of them had expensive cameras. Those few of us who hadn't, and were only carrying our binoculars, stayed behind and watched for a while longer. Which payed off as we were then also able to see a beautiful Blue Rock Thrush.
White-capped Bunting (Emberiza stewarti)
Last destination of today was a bit further. It was a colony of normal Sand Martins and Pale Sand Martins. We could watch for a while from the road, which was actually quite close to the sand wall where the nesting burrows were. It was very hard to discern the two species - one common in Europe, one most of us have never seen before, and impossible in flight. The only good strategy was to look for the Martins still in the burrows, who slowly walked close to the entrance and watched us, before finally jumping out and taking flight. We saw both species, though, although more common here was probably the Pale Sand Martin.
Pale Sand Martin (Riparia diluta)
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