Anybody voluntarily touring to the northern components of Interior Mongolia in winter is both mentally unstable or a birder, although the traces between these two teams might not at all times be as clear as folks assume. However right here I used to be touchdown in Hailar in mid-December for a bit extra of every week of owling and on the lookout for another birds, utilizing the 8 hours of daylight out there right now of the 12 months. In summer time, the times are for much longer however apparently shared with massive numbers of mosquitos.
If you happen to assume that Interior Mongolia is just too chilly right now of the 12 months, you’re proper – it goes to minus 30 levels Celsius at night time and solely reaches about minus 15 levels throughout daytime. Nevertheless, if you happen to assume that Interior Mongolia is just too sizzling throughout this time of the 12 months, you’re additionally proper – I skilled among the warmest lodge rooms ever, as much as 28 levels Celsius. I assume that is much like over-airconditioned rooms within the tropics – a symbolic “sure we are able to” demonstration of wealth and standing.
As you possibly can think about, the chilly means comparatively few birds and hen species (they’re usually not allowed to winter in overheated lodge rooms). Whereas Pete Dunne would most likely name these remaining species brave, I’m considering extra alongside the traces of “silly” (the identical time period I might use for bungee jumpers), however after all, these have been precisely the birds I got here for.
These birds largely have been owls, and I noticed the 4 species that have been my important targets, in addition to some focused passerines. Nevertheless, being of a frugal mindset, these highlights are featured in separate posts – this one right here is for the opposite species. Principally passerines, but in addition a number of others, so let’s begin with these.
A pair of Mallards occupied the roughly 20 sq. meters of the river working via Hailar which was not frozen. Appeared a bit precarious to me, watching them from the frozen river. A passer-by who obtained very near them on the riverbank walkway tried to throw a snowball on the male Mallard. So I yelled at him in unhealthy Chinese language.
Two Eurasian Collared Doves had stationed themselves at a farm. Considerably much like Eurasian Tree Sparrows, this species is extra prone to be discovered close to human-made areas – remoted buildings, water sources, massive cultivated areas – than in pure habitat (supply).
Whereas it’s an invasive species (supply), India and China are a part of its historic distribution.
After getting a fairly unhealthy photograph of a Hazel Grouse throughout my first winter go to to Interior Mongolia in 2015, I obtained a touch higher – although nonetheless removed from good – one this time.
A Chinese language birder buddy of mine said that when he talked about the Hazel Grouse to locals in Interior Mongolia, they remarked on its good style. No marvel the species is shy. And much like inhabitants of locations similar to Mallorca or Barcelona, Hazel Grouse will not be keen on vacationers. A examine discovered that websites occupied by the species have been largely situated farther from mountain climbing trails and in locations with low vacationer numbers.
The authors of a paper on the nestling food plan and success of Lesser Noticed Woodpeckers couldn’t resist a somewhat unhealthy pun, stating “The early hen will get the caterpillar” within the title of the paper.
Apparently, pairs breeding early get to feed their nestlings extra caterpillars somewhat than wood-dwelling larvae as caterpillar populations attain their peak earlier within the season. And as caterpillars make higher chick meals than the larvae, the nestling success of the early breeders is greater.
It’s a small hen roughly the scale of a sparrow – a Swiss web site calls it “the dwarf among the many European woodpeckers” (which coming from a smallish nation like Switzerland might be a praise).
The species takes the ethical excessive floor, at the least by human requirements – in a single examine, the divorce price amongst pairs was 3.4%, and in monogamous pairs, the male supplied extra parental care than the feminine. Sounds just like the sort of woke hen some folks will fortunately detest.
Paradoxically, most analysis papers on the Lesser Noticed Woodpecker appear to cowl UK birds, the place the species is uncommon and declining whereas within the late Nineties, the Lesser Noticed Woodpecker was nonetheless the commoner species (supply).
Nevertheless, in Interior Mongolia, at the least my impression was that it’s fairly widespread.
In distinction to the Lesser, the Nice Noticed Woodpecker is prospering within the UK (supply).
I might not have wanted to journey to Interior Mongolia to see a Nice Noticed Woodpecker – it is not uncommon in Germany, and I’ve certainly seen it in my dad and mom’ backyard. It is also the villain in a weblog put up by a fellow author.
Among the many passerines, some have been very acquainted to me as they’re additionally current in Shanghai in winter (presumably the much less brave/extra intelligent people). These included Azure-winged Magpie …
… Cinereous Tit (TSFNAJT, The Species Previously Recognized As Japanese Tit) …
… and naturally Eurasian Tree Sparrow.
These components of Interior Mongolia will not be densely populated and thus presumably not very polluted – excellent news for these sparrows, as analysis evaluating the well being of the species in severely polluted and fewer polluted Chinese language cities discovered a weaker immune system within the “polluted” hen.
Another species are loads tougher to search out in Shanghai than in Interior Mongolia, although not impossibly so:
Hawfinch …
… Bohemian Waxwing …
… Purple-throated Thrush …
… and Massive-billed Crow, proven right here as extras in an episode of Recreation of Thrones (the nightwatch).
The Asian Rosy Finch tackles a somewhat tough vogue query – how you can mix the colours brown and pink with out wanting like some Sixties vogue sufferer.
I’m not positive the hen succeeds. The feminine largely avoids the difficulty by skipping the pink altogether.
The subspecies right here is probably Leucosticte arctoa brunneonucha, which signifies that this hen is white-speckled, northern, and has a brown nape. No data on the invoice dimension within the identify by any means.
Given the time of the 12 months of my journey, the male Eurasian Bullfinches appeared like decorations on Christmas timber.
It has two German names, each not likely optimistic. “Gimpel” is a reputation that can be a logo of stupidity whereas “Dompfaff” combines a phrase for a cathedral (“Dom”) with a derogatory time period for a priest (“Pfaffe”). Presumably, the colour of the male hen and its spherical form reminded folks of chubby monks of their purple clothes. The English identify Bullfinch after all additionally highlights the compact form of the hen.
People being people, they’ve additionally made the Eurasian Bullfinch a logo for a lot of issues, together with concord in marriage, constancy, loyalty, and longevity, relying on the nation you see the hen (supply). In Albania, seeing a male Eurasian Bullfinch apparently signifies that you’re about to max out your bank card, although I’ll have simply made this bit of data up.
Eurasian Jays appear to be fairly widespread in Interior Mongolia, typically feeding straight on the icy roads – sadly, that doesn’t imply it’s significantly straightforward to get a great photograph of them.
Willow Tits are simpler, at the least if you happen to can find a spot the place someone feeds them sunflower seeds. The images proven right here have been taken at a railroad crossing someplace in a forest fairly removed from the closest village – however nonetheless manned by a human tasked with closing the highway every time a prepare approached. I assume feeding the tits at the least gave him some firm – he should have been bored stiff with this job.
And be happy to put up a remark in case these will not be Willow Tits however Marsh Tits – I’m afraid I’m not capable of inform the distinction.
On condition that the locals normally requested me whether or not I used to be Russian (somewhat than German), it will most likely have been pretty secure to make one in every of my normal Willow Tit Hitler jokes – however I refrained however.
The feeding station was additionally utilized by one or two Eurasian Nuthatches – just like the tits, apparently widespread birds on this a part of Interior Mongolia.
eBird makes the Pallas’s Rosefinch sound a bit like an aged girl working a butcher store: “Sturdy, stout-billed finch”.
Within the areas I visited, it appears to co-exist with the Siberian Lengthy-tailed Rosefinch. However no worries – eBird has the useful assertion “One of many solely rosefinches in its vary for probably the most half” (?).
As for gown fashion, the females favor a extra refined method (brownish) than the male (pink).
Apparently, the unique fourteenth-century that means of ballot was “hair on the top” or simply “head” (supply). So, the unique that means of the species identify Redpoll is “Redhead”. Much more attention-grabbing (effectively, for people who find themselves desirous about such issues, which might be a somewhat small group, although it contains me), the phrase ballot later took on the that means of “individual”. It then developed additional, and these days a ballot is an election or a survey of individuals’s opinions (supply).
The phrase ballot in its considerably extra authentic that means additionally survived within the phrase “Ballot tax”, although Margaret Thatcher’s political profession didn’t survive the latter (supply). To clarify: “The Neighborhood Cost, generally referred to as the ballot tax, was a system of native taxation launched by Margaret Thatcher’s authorities whereby every taxpayer was taxed the identical mounted sum (a ‘ballot tax’ or ‘head tax), with the exact quantity being set by every native authority” (supply).
Do Swiss Pines like Noticed Nutcrackers? At first look, it appears so: “The seeds of Swiss pine are the only most essential meals supply for the noticed nutcrackers of the Alpine area. These, in flip, are an important technique of seed dispersal for the Swiss pine” (supply).
And it’s most likely true – however one other paper finds that the Noticed Nutcracker normally hides the pine nuts in locations that aren’t very appropriate for the germination of the seeds. Might this be the top of a protracted friendship?
Bear in mind the time when folks nonetheless wrote letters by hand? A time when such a letter needed to have an precise ending, a final sentence explaining why the letter ended? At the least for these letters you wrote to a grandmother, thanking her for a Christmas current?
I’ve to finish this put up now, have to feed my cats.
