Day two Ulan Bator Sat 30th August

Our minibus takes is out of the city to the east and along one of the few stretches of paved road in the country. Our destination is the mountainous resort of Terelj a shaky two hour drive out of Ulan Bator. Along side the River Tuul we bird late morning the riverside trees are full of migrants including 3 Brown Flycatchers, 10 Taiga Flycatchers, 3 Yellow-browed Warblers. Nearby we find a flock of 80 Daurian Jackdaws and 200 Oriental Rooks.

Ulan Bator

We are met at the airport by our ground agents Nomadic Journeys. They whisk us to Sukhbaatar Square for an early morning sight see and in the tiny park at the south end of the square we find our first migrants. Brown Shrike, Brown Flycatcher, 8 Taiga Flycatchers several Dusky Warblers and an Arctic Warbler. Overhead we spot Black Vulture, several Black eared Kites, Chough and Common Tern.

Breakfast American style is served to us nearby in a cafe run by two Cuban brothers. Across the street. is the monastery of the Chojin Lama set against the backdrop of new skyscrapers. A Little Bunting is found in the adjacent gardens but the nearby city park is fenced off currently for development.

Mongolia 2008

It's Friday August 29th 2008 we depart from Heathrow on the late morning flight to Moscow. The transfer time was five hours and some Euro's would have been useful for the transit passenger here. Evening comes and its time to depart for Ulan Bator in an old and noisy Tupelev 154.

Wake up to sunrise over Northern Mongolia ..mountains, lakes emptiness the big country!