Leaf
The riparian forest along the Tuul Gol is displaying the wonderful autumn colours of mixed brown, yellow and green. It is great to escape the traffic and noise of UB by walking along the river – and yesterday I had the opportunity to do so for two hours.
Autumn Colours
Temperatures have been down to about zero during the night, and this has obviously influenced migration. Just a week or so ago I could count up to 50 Dusky Warblers mixed with Yellow-browed, Arctic, Siberian Lesser Whitethroats and Taiga Flycatchers. Today I only found two Yellow-browed Warblers.
Yellow-browed Warbler
I am still a bit perplexed by the ratio of YBW vs Hume’s Warbler. Here in UB my limited experiences give a ration of 50:1 or less. In western Mongolia Hume’s Warbler seems to outnumber YBW by the same ration.
Hume’s Warbler
Corvids were also present in good numbers including Raven, Oriental Crow, Eastern Rook, Daurian Jackdow 3 – and lots of Magpies, 3 Azure-winged Magpies and Red-billed Cough.
Oriental Crow
Azure-winged Magpie
Along the river hundreds of Olive-backed Pipits mixed with a few Richard’s Pipits were migrating. They were kinda hard to photograph, but I got lucky on a few occasions. At one point a flock of 75+ White-crowned Penduline-tits moved through. It was quite a spectacle.
Olive-backed Pipit
Olive-backed Pipit
Richard’s Pipit
White-crowned Penduline-tit
Other sightings included a very cooperative Red Squirrel (which comes in a very dark morph here).
Red Squirrel
A few hobbies have also been present during the last week and a fine Isabelline Shrike was a delight to observe.
Hobby
Isabelline Shrike
There is a flock of about 15 Mandarin Ducks and my spot along the river. Now the males are finally moulting the eclipse plumage.
Mandarin Duck
Buntings are often difficult to observe. Yesterday I had 10+ buntings flying by, but I was only able to nail 3 Little Buntings, that were foraging on the ground.
Little Bunting
Little Bunting
Silas
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