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| Shore (formerly "Horned") Lark - Eremophila alpestris |
There’s nothing like the swelter of August in HK to cause me to hark back to the cool few days in March we spent in Inner Mongolia, near the Chinese border with Russia.
It was well below freezing on most days near Hulun Lake, where Snowy Owls are usually present in winter, but this was a poor year and we dipped.
This ground has been covered by Terry Townshend in his Birding Beijing blog.
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| Corsac Fox |
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| Traditional lifestyle |
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| 21st-century lifestyle |
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| Stuck again ! |
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| Black-throated Snowfinch - Pyrgilauda davidiana |
Still, there were plenty of other things to look at….
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| Manzhouli - "Border Town" architecture |
We moved on after three days, east from Manzhouli to Yakeshi on the train, then were driven to the town of Wu’erqihan. This is an area of low snowy hills and willow-covered river valleys, with plenty of birds to look at too.
This ground has also been covered by Terry Townshend in his Birding Beijing blog.
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| Ural Owl - Strix uralensis |
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| Willow Tit - Poecile montanus |
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| Bohemian waxwing - Bombycilla garrulus |
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| Asian Rosy Finch - Leucosticta arctoa |
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| Wild Boar - Sus scrofa |
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| Eurasian Bullfinches - Pyrrhula pyrrhula (race:cineracea?) |
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| Eurasian Bullfinch - Pyrrhula pyrrhula (race:cineracea?) |
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| Great Grey Owl - Strix nebulosa |
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| Great Grey Owl - Strix nebulosa |
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| Little Owl - Athene noctua |
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| Black Woodpecker - Dryocopus martius |
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| Great Grey Owl - Strix nebulosa |
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| Black Grouse - Lyrurus tetrix |
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| Three-toed Woodpecker - Picoides tridactylus |
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| Black-billed Capercaillie - Tetrao parvirostris |
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| Black-billed Capercaillie - Tetrao parvirostris |
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| Siberian Jay - Perisoreus infaustus |
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| Long-tailed Tit - Aegithalos caudatus |
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| Hazel Grouse - Tetrastes bonasia |
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| Eurasian Nuthatch - Sitta europea |
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| Long-tailed Rosefinch - Uragus sibiricus |
The local driver/guides in the area have been running tours for five or six years now. They are very good at knowing where the birds are likely to be, and it would be easy to get lost on a self-driven tour.
It was great fun, but thermal undies were absolutely essential !
You saw an amazing range of species but dipped on Snowy Owl. The answer to this is quite simple, John, you have to come here in the winter when we will show you a half dozen!
ReplyDeleteSounds like a fine idea, David !
Deletegreat post, like usual. A lot of those photos look like home.
ReplyDeleteThanks, John - lots of snow where you are in Alaska, I know.
DeleteSome major overlap with Hokkaido avifauna.............and winter weather.
ReplyDeleteSimilar latitudes, and all that - but fewer roadsigns !
Delete