Birding Tour Mongolia: Steppes and Gobi Desert Birding

Mongolia is one of the most exciting and remote birding destinations in Asia and this small-group tour (without real camping like some operators) will allow you to see a wide variety of birds in spectacular natural landscapes. We will traverse the country, visiting the Siberian taiga forests, the vast seamless steppe grasslands, a range of fresh and brackish lakes, the Gobi Desert and impressive mountains. We will stay in local-style comfortable yurts (here called gers), offering an incredible and authentic Mongolian experience.

Henderson’s Ground Jay (photo by John Geeson).

The country has been made famous worldwide by Genghis Khan (Chinggis Khaan) and the Mongol hordes but the draw of some highly sought and poorly known bird species has also kept birders and wildlife enthusiasts enthralled. This is also one of the best destinations for Snow Leopard and other mammals, please see here for big cat and other Mongolia tours we may offer from time to time or contact us for a custom tour.

This Mongolian birdwatching tour offers the ultimate adventure to find an array of dream birds from the Eastern Palearctic. We will start (and end) our Mongolian birding adventure in Ulaanbaatar (also widely known as Ulan Bator). We will visit several different areas and key habitats in the region where we will look for a range of important target species. On arrival in the city some of our target birds should be waiting for us near our hotel, such as Azure Tit, Azure-winged Magpie, Amur Falcon and Long-tailed Rosefinch.

The beautiful Amur Falcon is an incredible long-distance migrant – this is a male.

We will then travel to Gun Galuut Nature Reserve in the steppe grassland habitats. In this park, we will search for Saker Falcon, Steppe Eagle, Greater Spotted Eagle, Golden Eagle, Bearded Vulture (Lammergeier), Cinereous Vulture, Pere David’s Snowfinch, Meadow Bunting and Pied Wheatear to name a few possibilities. We might also find White-naped Crane, Demoiselle Crane, Black Stork, Swan Goose, Bar-headed Goose, Stejneger’s Scoter, Asian Dowitcher, Pallas’s Reed Bunting, Lanceolated Warbler, Citrine Wagtail, and Red-throated Thrush. With luck we may even encounter the Critically Endangered (BirdLife International) Siberian Crane.

Our next stop on the tour will take us to some incredible Siberian taiga forest where we will look for Black-billed Capercaillie, Hazel Grouse, Ural Owl, Siberian Rubythroat, Red-flanked Bluetail, Chinese Bush Warbler, Black Woodpecker, White-backed Woodpecker, Spotted Nutcracker, and many more high-latitude forest birds along the way.

After the forests of the taiga we will do something totally different, birding the famed Gobi Desert! Here, yet more targets await us, with mouthwatering prospects of breeding-plumaged Oriental Plover and Greater Sand Plover, along with Pallas’s Sandgrouse, Henderson’s (Mongolian) Ground Jay, Desert Wheatear, Asian Desert Warbler, and Saxaul Sparrow to name a few.

The final stop of the tour (before returning to Ulaanbaatar) will be in the high mountains where we will look for Mongolia’s sole endemic, Kozlov’s Accentor, the monotypic Wallcreeper, and the secretive Altai Snowcock. Other specials here include Himalayan Beautiful Rosefinch, Mongolian Finch, and White-winged Snowfinch.

In addition to these exciting birds we might also see an assortment of interesting mammals such as Grey Wolf, Mongolian Gazelle, Siberian Ibex, and Argali (mountain sheep).