フブスグル湖とタイガの森
モンゴル北部のハイライトは、有名なフブスグル湖とタイガの森です。「母なる海」とも呼ばれるフブスグル湖は、雪を冠した山々の間にプレートが分裂してできた、拡大し続ける湖です。標高が高く永久凍土が存在するため、ヤク、トナカイ、ヘラジカ、ジャコウジカなど、限られた種類の動物しか生息していません。
クブスグル湖
「母なる海」とも呼ばれるフブスグル湖は、雪を冠した山々の間のプレートの分裂によって形成された成長中の湖で、現在も拡大を続けています。フブスグル湖は南北に136km（84マイル）、幅は比較的狭く36.5km（22.6マイル）です。湖面の色は、水深267m（875フィート）に達する深さによって、青や緑など様々な色合いを見せます。水量ではアジアで2番目に大きい淡水湖であり、モンゴルの表層淡水の70%を占めています。
11月下旬になると、フブスグル湖の水面が凍り始め、2月末までには氷の厚さは3メートルにも達します。この時期になると、モンゴルの人々は氷祭りのために北へと旅立ちます。雪を冠した山々に囲まれた湖の素晴らしい景色、無数の氷の結晶が織りなす芸術的な造形、人工の氷の彫刻、華やかな衣装をまとった地元の遊牧民、そしてトナカイのそりなど、見どころ満載のこの祭りは、まさに絶好の機会です。
タイガとツァータン
モンゴル最北端に位置するフブスグルは、地元の人々にも外国人にも人気の観光地です。その名は、モンゴル最大の淡水湖であり、面積でも2番目に大きいフブスグル湖に由来しています。ゴビ砂漠を訪れたことがある方なら、フブスグル地方はまさにその対極にある場所だと感じるでしょう。広大な緑の森、ターコイズブルーの湖、点在するヤク、そして花畑が広がっています。
モンゴルでは、クリスマスツリーはどこから来ると思いますか？そうです…クリスマスのモミの木のほとんどはタイガの森から来ています。ツリーのないクリスマスや松の実のないほうれん草サラダを想像してみてください！私たちの楽しみの源であるタイガの森は、スカンジナビア諸国、ロシア、カザフスタン、モンゴル、日本の一部を覆う世界最大の陸上バイオームです。タイガは、ツンドラと永久氷冠に次いで年間平均気温が最も低い陸上バイオームです。そのため、寒さを好むトナカイにとってはワンダーランドとなっています。これらのトナカイを放牧しているのはサンタクロースやその妖精ではなく、ドゥハ族またはツァータン族です。彼らはシベリアのウイグル族の先住民で、現在モンゴルで唯一の遊牧トナカイ飼育者です。
公式統計によると、フブスグル・タイガのダルハド地方には、トナカイを飼育する家族が約100世帯しか残っていない。トナカイは、乳製品や酪農、輸送、狩猟など、様々な用途に利用されている。これらのトナカイは近親交配と絶滅の危機に瀕していたが、シベリア最西端のトゥヴァから導入された新たな群れの導入が成功したことで、現在では2400頭にまで回復している。
モンゴルの淡水魚種
内陸の乾燥国モンゴルには、北極海流域、太平洋流域、中央モンゴル内陸水系という3つの異なる流域の河川や湖に生息する36種類の魚類がいる。
タイメンまたはトゥル - フチョタイメン
絶滅危惧種
タイメン（学名：Hucho taimen）は、サケ科に属する魚類です。成魚は通常、体長70～120cm、体重15～30kgに成長します。頭部はオリーブグリーンで、尾部に向かって赤褐色に変化します。淡水域、特に流れの速い河川や小川に生息していますが、沿岸河川や標高1500m以上の高地でも発見されています。
この種はカザフスタン、ロシア、モンゴル、中国に生息しています。IUCNレッドリストによると、タイメンは2012年以降、全体的には絶滅危惧種に指定されていますが、モンゴルでは1980年代以降個体数が50%減少したため、絶滅危惧種に指定されています。この種は、汚染、違法漁業、気候変動、レクリエーション漁業、道路建設、河川のダム建設、鉱業、堆積物、浸食など、多くの大きな脅威に直面しています。
アムールパイク - ESOX REICHERTII
脆弱
アムールカワカマス（学名：Esox reichertii）は、淡水魚であるカワカマス科に属する魚類の一種です。成魚は体長115cm、体重12kgに達することもあります。体色は銀色で、小さな黒い斑点があります。この種は中国、ロシア、モンゴルを流れるアムール川水系にのみ生息しています。
アムールカワカマスは、国際自然保護連合（IUCN）のレッドリストによる評価をまだ受けていないため、現在の生息状況、重大な脅威に直面しているかどうか、個体数の推移などは不明である。
鋭鼻レノク - Brachymystax Leno
脆弱
トゲナガレノック（学名：Brachymystax leno）は、サケ科に属する条鰭類の魚です。成魚は体長約70センチメートル（28インチ）に成長します。体色は淡い赤みを帯び、背側は黒色で、体側には黒い縞模様があります。川の深い冷たい水域に生息し、冬季には氷の下で見られます。
この種は、ロシアの中央部と東部、カザフスタンの北東部、モンゴルの北部、そして中国の北東部に生息しています。トゲオオハナガザルはIUCNレッドリストによる評価を受けていないため、現在の生息状況や個体数の推移は不明です。汚染や乱獲により、一部の地域で個体数が減少していることは知られています。
フブスグル湖は、バードウォッチングの定番スポットではありません。しかし、フブスグル湖の中間地点にはエルヘル湖があります。北緯50度から100度に位置するこの塩水湖は、標高が低く風の影響を受けにくいため、モンゴルの多くの渡り鳥にとって絶好の生息地となっています。
BIRDS OF THE NORTH
デモワゼル・クレーン（GRUS VIRGO）
準絶滅危惧種
When the Demoiselle crane was first taken to France from the steppes of Russia, Queen Marie Antoinette gave the delicate and maiden-like bird its name. Demoiselle means a young lady with grace and symmetry of form and movement.
As the smallest member of the crane family, demoiselle cranes are easily identified by their graceful features, slim build, striking red eyes, and ear tufts. This shortest of cranes has a wingspan of 155–180 cm (5 – 6 ft). Male and female demoiselles do not vary in external appearance, but males do tend to be slightly larger than females.
A white line extends from the corner of their red-eye to the back of their head and there is striking black on the neck, extending down over the chest and ending in a plume. During display, the demoiselle can elongate feathers (tufts) on the sides of the head. Two additional key distinguishing characteristics are short toes and a short bill. The shorter bill adaptation proves a useful trait for more efficient hunting/foraging. Shorter toes mean these cranes can run in grassland habitat.
Demoiselle cranes sleep standing on one leg. Demoiselle cranes are both solitary and social behavior. They are solitary when preening, bathing, shaking, scratching, stretching, ruffling, and feather painting.
They are a diurnal bird, active during the day when they forage, preen, nest, and look after their young during the breeding season. During the night, they rest securely on one leg while their head and neck are tucked under or on a shoulder. In the non-breeding season, they socialize within flocks.
Demoiselle cranes are spotted all around Mongolia, even in Gobi. This species frequents open shrubby plains, steppes, savannahs, and various grasslands, often near water: streams, lakes or wetlands.
The cranes are considered generalists and opportunists. They are omnivores, mainly eating seeds of grasses and cereal grains. They will also eat insects (Coleoptera), lizards, worms, snakes, and rodents and small vertebrates. So, with head down, their shortened bills peck at the ground, hunting for prey.
High flying birds with special lungs on a hazardous path.
These cranes are migratory birds. From August to September, they gather in flocks of as many as 400 individuals and begin their treacherous journey south. To reach wintering grounds in India they risk sub-zero conditions flying across the Himalayan mountains. During this leg of the journey, they can reach altitudes of 16,000-26,000 feet, making them one of the highest-flying birds on the planet. They achieve great heights by having specially adapted lungs that help them breathe oxygen more efficiently. During March and April, they fly back north to the nesting grounds. The flocks on the return migration number only 4 to 10 birds.
Could the cranes take a lower elevation, less hazardous route like crossing the range via the Khyber Pass? Yes, but the preferred route appears to have been hard-wired by countless cycles of migration.
Demoiselle cranes breed in Central Eurasia, from the Black Sea to North East China and Mongolia. The breeding season for these birds is from April-May, extending to late June in the north part of the range. Cranes are monogamous. A pair generally stays together for their whole lives but only if reproduction is SUCCESSFUL. They perform beautiful ritual displays in courtship as well as in social behavior. The courtship dance involves a long, intricate series of coordinated bows, runs, jumps, and tossing of plant material in the air. Other cranes will join in - circle the pair and dance and fly up. Demoiselle’s dances are more energetic compared to other cranes. They are described as “more ballet-like” with less leaping.
Nesting sites are on dry ground, gravel, cultivated areas, or in open ranges where any higher grass may be used as concealment. The female lays two eggs directly on the ground. Sometimes they will attempt to camouflage the eggs by using vegetation or little stones, but the construction is at best, minimalist. Incubation lasts about 27-29 days and involves both adults. The downy chicks are grayish-white with a light brownish head. Both parents feed the chicks and very soon after hatching, they will be following adults to foraging areas. At about 55-65 days they fledge; at 10 months they become independent.
A pair becomes territorial and aggressive, and will seriously defend their nesting area, sometimes luring a predator away from the nest through a type of “broken-wing” distraction display.
The Dancing Cranes – and the curse. Mongolians call them Dancing Cranes and believe that the person who hurts crane chicks are cursed for life.
Threats: Currently, populations of these cranes are not endangered. The IUCN Red List states that the total number of Demoiselle cranes is about 230,000-261,000 individuals. Currently, this species is classified as Least Concern (LC) and its numbers today are increasing. However, their migration is treacherous. Many birds die from fatigue, weather, and hunger and are hunted by golden eagles.
ベニハシガラス（学名：Pyrrhocorax pyrrocorax）
最も懸念していない
"Chough" was originally an alternative onomatopoeic name for the gray-headed inquisitive crow, the jackdaw, Corvus monedula. (Onomatopoeic meaning a name given based on its call.) The similar red-billed chough, formerly very common in Cornwall, became known initially as "Cornish chough" and then just assumed the name "chough".
Clearly this passerine has glossy dark plumage, a long curved red bill, and red legs. The adult red-billed chough is 39–40 cm (15–16 in) in length, has a 73–90 cm (29–35 in) wingspan, and weighs an average 310 g (10.9 oz).
It is unlikely to be confused with any other species of bird. Although the body is crow-like, the voice crow-like “chaw”- “chaw”, the bill and legs are distinguishing features.
What may not be so apparent is that it has a “buoyant” acrobatic flight with the primaries widely spread. What may also be not so apparent is its propensity for mountainous areas. Primary habitat is high rocky crags. In fact, the corvid has been spotted at 7,950 meters (26,080 ft) on Mount Everest – a high mountain crag indeed!
The red-billed chough is a non-migratory resident throughout its range. Breeding grounds extend from Ireland through southern Europe and North Africa to Central Asia, India and China.
Choughs play hide and seek with food. This chough often feeds in flocks, in short, grazed grassland, mainly consuming invertebrate prey. Prey includes insects, spiders, and beetles, with ants and larvae of craneflies (Tipulidae) probably being most significant. A close relative - the Central Asian chough - will handily perch on the backs of wild or domesticated mammals to feed on parasites.
It not only uses its long-curved bill to up pick ants, dung beetles and emerging flies but it also digs for underground grubs and invertebrates. A typical excavation goes as deep as 2–3 cm (~1 in) which reflects a thin soil and probably the depths at which many invertebrates occur. However, it will probe as deep as 10–20 cm (4–8 in). Hop, walk, run then probe, or maybe dig so vigorously, dirt is flying over its back – all the while wing-flicking and tail-flicking.
Choughs have been known to hide food in cracks and fissures, at least in captivity, concealing the cache with a few pebbles. The question becomes, does it remember where those caches are.
The red-billed chough pairs for life. The red-billed chough begins breeding at the age of three and normally raises a single brood each year. Once the bond has been established, the pair exhibits strong mate and site fidelity.
Look for the chough nest in Khatgal! The nest is composed of roots and stems of various plants, may be considered “bulky” and is lined with wool or hair. The nest may be constructed in a cave or a fissure in a cliff face.
A nanny might even help with feeding young. The chough lays three to five eggs 3.9 by 2.8 cm (1.5 x 1.1 inches) in size and weighing 15.7 g (1/2 oz). Six percent of the egg weight is shell. They are spotted in various shades of brown and grey on a creamy or slightly tinted ground. Egg size is independent of the clutch size and the nest site but may vary between different females.
For 3 weeks, the male will feed the female while she incubates eggs. After the eggs hatch, she “broods” the helpless downy chicks for about ten days. Both parents share feeding during this time and on occasion, a nanny will even help feed the young. Chicks fledge after a month but remain in a family group for another 1½ months. In late autumn, families gather into flocks to prepare for winter foraging or communal roosting.
Temperature and rainfall have a huge impact on the survival of the young. Juveniles have a 43% chance of surviving their first year, and the annual survival rate of adults is about 80%.
These birds have a lifespan of about seven years, although the age of 17 years old has been recorded.
Kestrels assist in defense. Peregrine falcons, golden eagles and the Eurasian eagle-owl are all predators of the adult red-billed chough. The raven will prey on hatchlings.