CAnMove Field blog: A long travel into the unknown – with swifts to interior Mongolia

Leaving from Kastrup!

In late June we departed to Mongolia for field work with the mission to capture two species of swift - common and pacific swifts. Common swifts are migrating to Africa, while the Pacific swifts migrate to Australia. The goal is to track the migration of the two species. We met with our great fieldwork team members Batmunkh Davaasuren and Jugdernamjil Nergui (aka Juugee) at the Wildlife Science and Conservation Center of Mongolia in Ulaanbaatar. Upon arriving in Ulaanbaatar, after a long flight, we started immediately to prepare for the field trip. Our Land Cruiser was filled with camping gear, food, a kitchen, binoculars, loggers and ringing equipment as we set out for the expedition.

The Land Cruiser we travelled in. C. Rengefors

It was a true adventure to leave the hectic capitol Ulaanbaatar and later the tarmac road to enter one of the many dirt roads that cross the interior of Mongolia.

We mostly travelled on this kind of tracks - roads.
Close to Khustai Mountains. C. Rengefors

Mongolia impressed us very much, and especially the genuine flavor as well as the kindness of the very competent Mongolian people. We both immediately felt at home and spent a great time with our exceptionally skilled team members.

One of the missions was to capture Pacific swifts at a natural breeding site, which we found in a rocky environment near Binder. The place was magnificent, peaceful and exotic. It was great to see all the swifts swarming around the colony and occasionally gathering in dense chattering flocks just above the rocks where the nests were located. They had placed their nests in crevices of the rocks, and some birds were still incubating when we arrived.

Binder Rock landscape at sunrise. S. Åkesson

Our camping site at Binder Rock. S. Åkesson

Binder Rock, looking for swifts’ nests. C. Rengefors

View from Binder Rock. C. Rengefors

Nets up at Binder Rock. S. Åkesson.

The rocks were indeed spectacular, located above a vast open pasture with wetlands mixed into it. Distributed all across the grassland were Gers where the nomadic people spent their summer months with their cattle and families.

Typical ger door. A ger is mongolian 'jurta'. C. Rengefors

Dinnertime inside the ger. Fresh lamb-meat. C. Rengefors

Each way we placed our eyes along the horizon we saw cows, horses, camels, yaks, sheep and goats, and they sum up to impressive total number of ca 80 million in Mongolia.

Friendly encounters along the road! C. Rengefors

Typical wetlands in northeastern Mongolia. C. Rengefors

Group of grazing local horses just west of Ulaanbaatar. C Rengefors

The plant, insect, and bird community of the grazed land was rich. Grasshoppers with spectacular flight displays. Edelweiss everywhere and a top area in the world for cranes, with five species represented, including both European and Siberian cranes, as well as Demoiselle and Hooded cranes. The most numerous species were White-naped cranes.

On some of the rocks we found petroglyphs possibly dating back to over 10-15 000 years ago, showing signs, rhinoceros and other animals.

Petroglyphs at Binder Rock. S. Åkesson

The rocks contained a sacred area and when we arrived to the field site a Shaman was sitting with his drum at the base of the rocks, drumming along and meeting with local farmers. Not long after, heavy rains and a thunder storm passed and the dry grass finally got some precipitation, so it could start to grow and provide new nutritious grass to the livestock in need. The rocks also held a large colony of bats, probably of several species, but unknown to us. We had to get them out of our nets at night though, and in one evening we captured more than 25 bats!

Bats captured by mistake at Binder Rock,
we actually wanted to catch swifts! S. Åkesson

The Pacific swifts were captured at the colony with mistnets, and we attached loggers to track their migration by GLS as well as to record their flight behaviors during migration by our own CAnMove loggers. It means, as for our other swift studies, that we have to return and recapture the birds next year, which we very much look forward to do.

Nets at sunset at Binder Rock. C. Rengefors

We are most grateful to the Wildlife Science and Conservation Center of Mongolia, including Director Nyambayar Batbayar, and our swift field team members Batmunkh Davaasuren and Juugee Nergui, as well as the rest of the field team at the Center for their excellent support and warm friendship. See you again next year!