Day 8 of my “12 Days of Drawings” Sale!
“Lucky” graphite on paper 8×11″
I first met “Lucky”, a eurasian black/cinereous vulture, when he was in an enclosure near the research camp at Ikh Nartiin Chuluu Nature Reserve. I was allowed in with him and got some great photos. He was curious and cautious, not scared at all. He’d crashed on his first attempt to fly and had broken one wing in three places. The researchers brought him back to camp and there he stayed for over a year while they got all the permissions and permits needed to bring him to the Denver Zoo. And that’s where he lives today. 20% of the sales price will be donated to support research at Ikh Nart.
This will be a occasional, on-going series of images of my favorite places in Mongolia. Baga Gazriin Chuluu means “Small Earth/Land Rocks”. There is also an Ikh Gazriin Chuluu (Great Earth Rocks), but I haven’t gotten there yet.
In July of 2009, my driver/guide and I pulled into the ger camp, which is located in the reserve and got settled in. I came out of my ger and was greeted with this amazing light and a woman riding down the valley. I had a feeling I was going to like this place.It was my good luck to be there on the day of a local mountain blessing ceremony or local naadam. There was a horse race, wrestling, anklebone shooting and lots of people just riding around on their horses.Seeing argali was my purpose for going there and within a couple of hours the first morning, my driver spotted this group of rams within sight of the car.The following year, 2010, I got to go back as the first stop on a two-week camping trip. Here's the spot my driver/guide (same one as in 2009) picked.Driving around, we came upon a short valley which had a number of cinereous vulture nests, including this one with a juvenile who was almost ready to fly. We climbed up on the rocks to get above him and I got some great photos.
There are more photos of Baga Gazriin Chuluu, including the story of my first trip there in 2009 here.
Weight, length: Cinereous vultures are the largest eurasian bird of prey and one of the largest flying birds. They are 98–120 cm (39–47 in) long with a 2.5–3.1 m (8.2–10 ft) wingspan and weigh 7–14 kg (15–31 lb)
Adult and juvenile on nest, near Baga Hairhan Uul, July 2010
Best places to see cinereous vultures: Ikh Nartiin Chuluu Nature Reserve, Baga Gazriin Chuluu Nature Reserve, but common in many parts of the country.
Vulture at Baga Gazriin Chuluu, July 2009
Interesting facts:
-They are also known as the European black vulture due to the very dark color of the juveniles. The adult’s head plumage gets lighter as the bird ages.
– It has recently been established through the identification of wing-tagged birds, that a number of juvenile birds from Ikh Nart are migrating to South Korea during the winter. They are showing up at feeding stations.
– It is more common for the species to nest in trees in western parts of its range, but in Mongolia nests on cliffs are more often seen. At Ikh Nart the birds nest in some of the elm trees and a bird was recently photographed on a nest built in a larch tree in the northern mountains.
I’m going to start a short series for the holidays of “albums” with images I’ve shot of various types of animals and species that I’ve seen on my travels to Mongolia.
First up are the birds I saw on this latest trip in August 2011. If you see a mis-identified bird, please let me know. The field guide situation for Mongolian birds is still not what it needs to be.
Finally, we didn’t go hunting for any of these birds. They are what I saw as we drove around or walked in the reserves and parks. Mongolia is an extraordinary birding destination that deserves to be better known.
Daurian partridges, Hustai National ParkCrested lark, Ikh Nartiin Chuluu Nature ReserveHoubara bustard, just outside the northern boundary of Ikh Nartiin Chuluu Nature Reserve (this may have been a rare sighting)Whooper swan, Gun-Galuut Nature ReserveDemoiselle cranes, coming into Erdenet soum; part of a large flockEurasian (or Common) cranes, somewhere near Hayrhan, Arkhangai AimagWhite-napped cranes, Gun-Galuut Nature Reserve (endangered)Grey wagtail, Tuul Gol, Jalman Meadows, Khan Khentii MountainsJapanese quail chick (?), Gun-Galuut Nature ReserveCommon magpie, east of Horgo Terhiyn Tsagaan Nuur National ParkDaurian jackdaw, Amarbayasgalant KhiidCinereous vultures, Ikh Nartiin Chuluu Nature ReserveSteppe eagle, Jalman Meadows, Khan Khentii MountainsGolden eagle, Ikh Nartiin Chuluu Nature Reserve
I’ve been having a lot of fun with the Sketchbook Pro app for my iPad. It works well for fast location sketching, but I’ve been wanting to see how I could use it for more finished work.
I keep the iPad with me in the living room and I have a lot of photos from my latest Mongolia trip on my MacBook Pro. So it’s easy to sit and work while a football game is on.
I’ve settled on just a couple of the drawing tools to keep it simple for now as I learn how to use other features like the size of the line and how opaque or transparent it is.
The one thing I have found is that it is difficult to do animal heads that are small because the size of the stylus end makes it hard to do small strokes for features like eyes. But I managed. I’ll definitely be taking the iPad to Mongolia again next year for location work.
Juvenile cinereous vulture, Ikh Nartiin Chuluu, August 2011Cashmere goat, Khan Khentii Mountains, August 2011Yak, Burget Uul, August 2011Argali ram, Ikh Nartiin Chuluu Nature Reserve, August 2010
The next ten or so posts will cover all the places I visited on this past trip, some familiar and well-loved and some new.
The two-week trip with Pokey emphasized the best wildlife viewing places that I’ve found. We headed west out of Ulaanbaatar on a sunny August morning….
and spent two productive days at Hustai, seeing lots of takhi and other wildlife. The wildflowers were still in bloom, too, which was lovely.
These horses were part of a group approaching a water hole right by the road; you'll have to wait for the painting to see the rest...At first this harem was a long way offBut as we watched from behind a line of rocks, they drifted closer and closerFinally, they grazed their way right past us in the fading light; it was quite wonderful to have them come so closeMarmots generally run straight for their holes when spooked, but for some reason we will never fathom, this one ran for a long way right down the middle of the roadThese darian partridges were a new species for meBlack kite in a birch tree; "Hustai" means "birch" in MongolianCinereous vulture, the largest Eurasian vulture which can weigh up to 30 lbs.This grasshopper suddenly appeared on our windshieldSaw more spiders on the trip this year than ever before, including this one on a member of the phlomis familyDeep purple globe thistlesEdelweis
It’s clear that one lesson we, as a species MUST learn, is to share. All of these animals have just as much right to be here as we do. As they go, in the end, so shall we.
I’ve never made a point, for the most part, of specifically seeking out endangered or threatened species to photograph for my paintings. But, as it’s happened, in less than ten years I’ve seen two dozen, plus one, all in the wild. Quite a surprise, really.
Sometimes they’ve been pretty far away, but that in no way diminished the thrill of seeing them. Close-ups in a zoo or other captive animal facility can be useful, within certain limits, but seeing a wild animal in its own habitat, even at a distance, is much more satisfying and gives me ideas and information for my work that I couldn’t get any other way.
In no particular order, because they are all trying to survive on this planet:
Takhi, Hustai National Park, MongoliaMonk Seal, Kauai, Hawaii, United StatesWolf, Lamar Valley, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, United StatesWhite-napped crane, Gun-Galuut Nature Reserve, MongoliaWhite Rhino, Lewa Downs Conservancy, KenyaLaysan Albatross, Kauai, Hawaii, United StatesTule Elk, Point Reyes National Seashore, California, United StatesRothschild's Giraffe, Soysambu Conservancy, KenyaNene, Hawaii Big Island, Hawaii, United StatesDesert Bighorn, Anza-Borrego State Park, California, United StatesGrizzly Bear, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, United States (Bear 264)Saker Falcon, near Hangai Mountains, MongoliaGreen Sea Turtle, Hawaii Big Island, Hawaii, United StatesGrevy's Zebra, Lewa Downs Conservancy, KenyaLammergeier, Gobi Gurvansaikhan National Park, MongoliaCalifornia Condor, Central Coast, California, United StatesAfrican Lion, Masai Mara, KenyaHawaiian Hawk (Juvenile), Volcano National Park, Hawaii Big Island, Hawaii, United StatesSiberian Marmot, Hustai National Park, MongoliaWhooper Swans, Gun-Galuut Nature Reserve, MongoliaCheetahs, Masai Mara, KenyaApapane, Hawaii Big Island, Hawaii, United StatesTrumpeter Swans, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, United StatesCinereous Vulture (Juvenile), Baga Gazriin Chuluu Nature Reserve, MongoliaArgali, Ikh Nartiin Chuluu Nature Reserve, Mongolia
Cinereous Vulture, Ikh Nartiin Chuluu, Mongolia 16x20" oil on canvasboard
I happen to love vultures, who form a big part of nature’s clean-up crew. Cinereous vultures are the largest raptors in Eurasia. They can weigh up to 30 lbs and have a 10′ wingspan. As it turns out, Ikh Nartiin Chuluu is a “hotspot” for them, with almost 250 known nests, a quarter of which are used each year. One of the interesting things about this species, as you can see from my painting is that, unlike other vultures, the adult’s heads are not bare of feathers.
It has recently been learned that that a large number of juvenile vultures, many of which are born and fledge during the spring and summer at Ikh Nart, winter in South Korea, thanks to a combination of GPS radio collars, wing tags and dedicated observers.
So far, the species seems to be doing well in Mongolia. I sincerely hope that continues because they are always an impressive sight as they soar overhead in the beautiful blue skies.
Even though I only spent two days there last year, Baga Gazriin Chuluu was a place that I really looked forward to visiting again.
A harem of local horses near our camp
One of the best experiences was visiting the ger of Yanjmaa, who had made boortz soup from scratch for us and served me a bowl of the best yogurt I’d ever had. Would she still be around? Although she had relocated her ger, the answer was “yes” and we had another lovely visit, but also learned something disturbing about the wildlife of the reserve.
There was a zud in Mongolia this past winter, which is a combination of a dry summer and a very severe winter. It was a national disaster that was occurring the same time as the quake in Haiti, so there was very little media coverage until early in 2010. The last estimate I read said that around 10 million head of livestock died.
Yanjmaa told us that no argali or ibex had been seen in Baga Gazriin Chuluu since February. Before then, she had gone out one morning, and to her surprise, found a large ibex billy in with her domestic goats. He was very weak, so she managed to get him into her ger and onto her bed, hobbling him when he started to thrash around.
Having been a vet before she retired, she tried to treat him by offering him cold water and a medicinal plant, shavag, which contains lots of vitamins. Finally, she moved him back out to the goat enclosure, where he died.
Our first thought was that the argali and ibex had all died, like the ibex, but later on that day, it occurred to me that wild animals sense what is going on in their world and that it was more likely they had all simply left as the weather became extremely severe. In some parts of Mongolia, the temperatures dropped to -50F.
Talking with the reserve ranger, Batsaikhan, the next day, we confirmed that the ibex and argali were gone, around 160 animals total. Khatnaa had told me that he had seen 10+ argali about 20 km east of Arburd Sands, which is about a four hour drive north of Baga Gazriin Chuluu, on July 5, a week earlier. This was outside their normal, known range and preferred habitat.
That evening, Batsaikhan came by our camp to give us really good news. A group of visitors had reported seeing a group of argali just within the reserve! Perhaps they and the ibex will all, or mostly, come back to Baga Gazriin Chuluu now that the weather is good. I hope so.
On our way to find Yanjmaa, we had passed through an area that had a number of vulture nests, one of which was on a cliff near the road with a fledgling cinereous vulture in it. I got some good photos from down below, but Khatnaa climbed up behind the nest and came back with some amazing images. We went back the next day and this time I climbed up with him and found myself just slightly above the nest, about 8 meters away. What a photo op!
Cinereous vulture nest from below
He/she knew we were there, but never showed any stress. The adult had taken off as soon as we got out of the car, so I felt comfortable staying for awhile and taking almost 100 photos.
The young occupant
Later that afternoon, we took a side trip out of the reserve to visit a local monastery, Delgeriin Choiriin Khiid. It was one of the many, many monasteries destroyed in the late 1930s, but is now being rebuilt. There are 15 lamas in residence. I was allowed to take photos in the interior of one temple, which is in a large ger.
Day 8 of my “12 Days of Drawings” Sale!
Susan Fox, American Artist 