Leaders: Chris Townend with Tselmeg Tumendelger

6 Wise Birding Clients

HIGHLIGHTS OF TRIP

Snow Leopard: The undoubted highlight of the tour was watching a magnificent animal for over five hours at a distance of just 300M!

Pallas’s Cat: Two different encounters, both during the day with three cats seen. Two animals together on one morning and then a large male seen one evening.

Pallas’s Sandgrouse: A fantastic spectacle with thousands of birds seen and heard on a number of days and often flying overhead as we scanned for cats!

Wolf: Two different encounters with three animals seen. All sightings were recorded during the day and for a prolonged period of time.

Schrenck’s Bittern: Surprise find of the tour as we were birding a migrant area in Dalanzadgad. Only the 5th record for Mongolia!

Swan Goose: Great to see at least 40 of these beautiful Geese at Lun wetland. The species is now classed as vulnerable on a global scale.

TOUR SUMMARY

Mongolia is a country of vast open space and very few people with a population of only 3 million. Mongolia is fairly straight forward to visit with regular flights from London via Moscow and a flight time of just 6 hours from Moscow. The scenery is varied and mesmerising with vast steppe land, incredible mountains, golden sand dunes, stony desert and lush grassland and lakes. This tour was focused on trying to see Snow Leopard and Pallas’s Cat as well as other key mammals, but at the same time the itinerary covered a good variety of habitats to ensure as many of Mongolia’s iconic birds were also seen. Mongolia in late July and August is generally dry and has comfortable temperatures for camping and searching for wildlife. Though not the best time of year for birding, it is still possible to see the majority of specialities and often migrants too. All just a short walk from the comfort of our Toyota Land Cruisers. This tour recorded 162 species of bird, 31 mammals and 6 reptiles.

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