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<\/a><\/p>\nChukar – Ikht Bogd<\/p>\n
The road to Ikht Bogd<\/p>\n The road to Ikht Bogd<\/p>\n Altai Snowcock – Ikht Bogd<\/p>\n Altai Snowcock – Ikht Bogd<\/p>\n Himalayan Griffon – Ikht Bogd<\/p>\n Isabelline Wheatear – Ikht Bogd<\/p>\n Brown Accentor – Ikht Bogd<\/p>\n Lammergeier – Ikht Bogd<\/p>\n Chukar – Ikht Bogd<\/p>\n View back to Orog Lake from Ikht Bogd<\/p>\n Ikht Bogd with Baga Bogd in the distance<\/p>\n Ikht Bogd<\/p>\n View from Ikht Bogd<\/p>\n Meeting the locals<\/p>\n Scanning for Snowcock<\/p>\n We skirted around the flanks of Orog Lake and back to the small town of Bogd where a short stop produced the treat of ice creams! It was then that we hear that the plans had once again changed and we were back to the original itinerary and I wished we had given Ikht\/Baga Bogd a little more time.<\/p>\n Driving a short way north through the desert we came to Kholboolj Lake, a large and well vegetated lake where we spent the next three hours birding. Highlights were Long-toed Stint, Common Tern of the subspecieslongipennis, Gull-billed Tern, Bar-headed Goose, Swan Goose, Red-crested Pochard and Demoiselle Crane.<\/p>\n Barry picked up two distant Asian Dowitcher in summer plumage \u2013 our main target here. But they were a little too distant, so off came the trousers, boots and socks and some of us waded across the lagoon to get better views, the going was good but occasionally one would sink to waist height. At around 50m from the birds they looked alert and flew, our views were still not as good as I had hoped as summer plumaged Asian Dowitcher was one of the main targets for me.<\/p>\n Swan Goose – Kholboolj Lake<\/p>\n Wading out to the Asian Dowitcher<\/p>\n Wading out to the Asian Dowitcher<\/p>\n Censored! From left, Rod, Barry and Richard<\/p>\n Bit deeper here!<\/p>\n Gull-billed Tern – Kholboolj Lake<\/p>\n Gull-billed Tern – Kholboolj Lake<\/p>\n Common Tern of subspecies longipennis – Kholboolj Lake<\/p>\n Asian Dowitcher, they look remarkably like Bar-tailed Godwit – Kholboolj Lake<\/p>\n Black-winged Stilt – Kholboolj Lake<\/p>\n Bar-headed Goose – Kholboolj Lake<\/p>\n Bar-headed Goose – Kholboolj Lake<\/p>\n We headed to our campsite alongside the lake at 18:30 and had dinner overlooking the lake and the surrounding desert. A short walk before sunset produced Pallas\u2019s Bunting, Little Bunting, more Common Tern of the race longipennis, 50+ Pallas\u2019s Sandgrouse, Slavonian Grebe, Demoiselle Crane and many breeding Avocet.<\/p>\n Asian Short-toed Lark – Kholboolj Lake<\/p>\n <\/p>\n