


Top 20 Most Common Bird in Mongolia
Surrounded by vast steppes, deserts, and forests, Mongolia offers a rich avian biodiversity. Among the 20 most commonly spotted birds, some boast distinctive plumage or unique migratory patterns, while others have adapted remarkably to Mongolia's harsh climate. Each presents a fascinating example of nature's resilience and beauty.

Most Common Bird

1. Eurasian Tree Sparrow
The eurasian Tree Sparrow (Passer montanus) is a widespread sparrow of the European mainland that has been introduced to some parts of North America. Eurasian Tree Sparrow is very similar to the House sparrow (Passer domesticus) but it's smaller and neater. It prefers more natural habitats, at the edges of human activity, and inhabits farmlands, parklands, and open woods.

2. Carrion Crow
The loud cry from the carrion Crow lets everyone know the bird is in the area. It is often seen in semi and open habitats that include rural and suburban areas. The black-colored bird only gathers in large flocks when it is time to roost. Otherwise, it flies in pairs or small groups scavenging for insects, seeds, and even small animals.

3. Eurasian Magpie
The eurasian Magpie is a striking and intelligent bird known for its black and white plumage and long tail. It is highly adaptable, found in a variety of habitats, and known for its intelligence, similar to that of great apes. It is omnivorous, eating both insects and fruits, and it has a reputation for being mischievous and thieving.


4. Common Raven
The common Raven is one of the most ubiquitous species of birds and is revered for its high intelligence. These birds prefer open habitats, but can be found in nearly all environmental conditions besides rainforests. As a social species, some subspecies of common Raven have been known to have 15 to 33 different categories of calls!

5. Rock Pigeon
The rock Pigeon is a wild ancestor of all domestic and feral pigeons, inhabiting coasts, cliffs, and caves. Pairs nest in rock crevices, often mating for life. They are known for their ability to fly very long distances to return to their homes, navigating using the sun's position and the earth's magnetic fields. Thanks to this ability, pigeons were used as messengers, particularly during World Wars I and II.

6. Great Tit
Great Tit is a small and plump bird, with a thick black line running through its bright yellow face. It is a common sight in gardens, woodlands, and parks. It is often seen foraging for food in an acrobatic way. Well known for its intelligence, it has been observed using tools, solving problems, and even counting up to five.


7. Red-billed Chough
The adult of the "nominate" subspecies of the red-billed chough, P. p. pyrrhocorax, is 39–40 centimetres (15–16 inches) in length, has a 73–90 centimetres (29–35 inches) wingspan, and weighs an average 310 grammes (10.9 oz). Its plumage is velvet-black, green-glossed on the body, and it has a long curved red bill and red legs. The sexes are similar (although adults can be sexed in the hand using a formula involving tarsus length and bill width) but the juvenile has an orange bill and pink legs until its first autumn, and less glossy plumage. The red-billed chough is unlikely to be confused with any other species of bird. Although the jackdaw and Alpine chough share its range, the jackdaw is smaller and has unglossed grey plumage, and the Alpine chough has a short yellow bill. Even in flight, the two choughs can be distinguished by Alpine's less rectangular wings, and longer, less square-ended tail. The red-billed chough's loud, ringing chee-ow call is clearer and louder than the similar vocalisation of the jackdaw, and always very different from that of its yellow-billed congener, which has rippling preep and whistled sweeeooo calls. Small subspecies of the red-billed chough have higher frequency calls than larger races, as predicted by the inverse relationship between body size and frequency.


8. House Sparrow
Just as its name implies, the little house Sparrow socializes with humans more than any other bird species. Able to adapt and thrive in almost any habitat, excluding the extremes such as deserts and mountain peaks, this species was once restricted only to North Africa and Eurasia but now is found across the globe. Unfortunately, this opportunistic eater is not completely harmless—it can cause considerable damage to crops.

9. White Wagtail
The white Wagtail is the national bird of Latvia and is featured in traditional folk songs and placed on some postage stamps. These birds can be found in most habitat types besides deserts. As their name suggests, they exhibit a characteristic tail-wagging behavior as they search along the ground and nearby waterways for insects to eat.

10. Ruddy Shelduck
The ruddy shelduck grows to a length of 58 to 70 cm (23 to 28 in) and has a 110–135 cm (43–53 in) wingspan. The male has orange-brown body plumage and a paler, orange-brown head and neck, separated from the body by a narrow black collar. The rump, flight feathers, tail-coverts and tail feathers are black and there are iridescent green speculum feathers on the inner surfaces of the wings. Both upper and lower wing-coverts are white, this feature being particularly noticeable in flight but hardly visible when the bird is at rest. The bill is black and the legs are dark grey. The female is similar but has a rather pale, whitish head and neck and lacks the black collar, and in both sexes, the colouring is variable and fades as the feathers age. The birds moult at the end of the breeding season and the male loses the black collar, but a further partial moult between December and April restores it. Juveniles are similar to the female but are a darker shade of brown. The call is a series of loud, nasal honking notes, it being possible to discern the difference between those produced by the male and the female. The calls are made both on the ground and in the air, and the sounds are variable according to the circumstances in which they are uttered.


11. Black Kite
Black Kite is a bird of prey known for its aerial skills and hunting ability. Its striking appearance makes it a fascinating species to observe, and it can often be seen soaring through the skies. Black Kite is highly adaptable and can be found in a variety of habitats, making it a common sight in many areas.


12. Daurian Redstart
The daurian Redstart is an active songbird seen in a variety of habitats. It breeds in open forests and prefers spending the winter in fields and gardens. It is a widespread species of bird across most of Asia, extending into Russia, with a curious personality that often allows humans to get close to the bird before it takes flight.

13. Common Kestrel
The common Kestrel is a small falcon found throughout much of Europe, Asia, and Africa. It feeds on small mammals, birds, and insects and is known for its ability to hover in the air to spot prey. It can be found in a variety of habitats. Some populations have declined due to habitat loss.


14. Little Bunting
This is a small bunting, measuring only 12–14 cm (4.7–5.5 in) in length. It has a heavily streaked brown back and white underparts with fine dark streaking. With its chestnut face and white malar stripe, it resembles a small female reed bunting, but has black crown stripes, a white eye-ring, and a fine dark border to the rear of its chestnut cheeks. The sexes are similar. The call is a distinctive zik, and the song is a rolling siroo-sir-sir-siroo.


15. Taiga Flycatcher
The taiga flycatcher or red-throated flycatcher (Ficedula albicilla) is a migratory bird in the family Muscicapidae. The species was first described by Peter Simon Pallas in 1811. The female has brown upper parts with a blackish tail flanked by white. The breast is buffish with underparts mostly white. The male has ear coverts and sides of the neck blue-tinged grey with breeding males having orange-red coloration on the throats. Unlike the taiga flycatcher, the female of the similar red-breasted flycatcher has brown tail while the red colour in breeding males extend up to the breast in red-breasted flycatcher. It breeds in northern Eurasia from eastern Russia to Siberia and Mongolia. It is a winter visitor to South and South-east Asia in Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Nepal, Malaysia, Thailand, China, Vietnam, and Japan. Its natural habitat is taiga forest. It is a rare vagrant to western Europe. It was formerly considered a subspecies of the red-breasted flycatcher. The genus name is from Latin and refers to a small fig-eating bird (ficus, fig) supposed to change into the blackcap in winter. The specific name albicilla is from Latin albus, white, and New Latin cilla tail; this meaning of cilla arose from a misunderstanding of motacilla, the name for the wagtail.


16. Long-tailed Rosefinch
The long-tailed rosefinch (Carpodacus sibiricus) is a species of finch of the family Fringillidae. It is found in China, Japan, Kazakhstan, North Korea, South Korea, and Russia. Its natural habitats are temperate forests, subtropical or tropical moist shrubland, and temperate grassland. It is a very rare vagrant to Europe, but like several related Asiatic rosefinches, is reasonably frequent in the cage bird trade, so many records have been considered to relate to escapes.


17. Azure Tit
The azure tit (Cyanistes cyanus) is a passerine bird in the tit family Paridae. It is a widespread and common resident breeder throughout Russia and Central Asia and northwest China, Manchuria and Pakistan. It is found in temperate and subarctic deciduous or mixed woodlands, scrub and marshes. It is resident, and most birds do not migrate. It nests in a tree hole, laying about 10 eggs. The bird is a close sitter, hissing and biting when disturbed. Its food is insects, seeds, small invertebrates, larvae of bugs, and eggs. This 12–13 cm bird is unmistakable. The head, tail corners, wing bars and underparts are white. There is a dark line through the eye, and the upperparts are blue. This is the eastern counterpart of the common Eurasian blue tit. It will hybridise with that species, but the offspring usually show a blue crown, rather than the white of azure tit. The calls are similar to blue tit, calling dee, dee, dee or a scolding churr. The song is a tsi-tsi-tshurr-tsi-tsi-tshurr, which has been described as intermediate between blue tit and crested tit.


18. Red-throated Thrush
The red-throated thrush (Turdus ruficollis) is a passerine bird in the thrush family. It is sometimes regarded as one subspecies of a polytypic species, "dark-throated thrush", black-throated thrush then being the other subspecies. More recent treatments regard the two as separate species. The scientific name comes from Latin. Turdus is "thrush" and the specific ruficollis is derived from rufus', "red", and collum, "neck". The red-throated thrush is a migratory Palearctic species. It breeds in East Siberia to North Manchuria wintering to West China, Myanmar, and Northeast India. Its range overlaps with the more westerly-breeding black-throated thrush. It is a large thrush with a plain grey back and reddish underwings. The adult male has a red throat. Females and young birds lack the bib, but have black-streaked underparts. This bird species is a very rare vagrant to western Europe.


19. Lesser Whitethroat
The lesser whitethroat (Curruca curruca) is a common and widespread typical warbler which breeds in temperate Europe, except the southwest, and in the western and central Palearctic. This small passerine bird is strongly migratory, wintering in Africa just south of the Sahara, Arabia and India. Unlike many typical warblers, the sexes are almost identical. This is a small species with a grey back, whitish underparts, a grey head with a darker "bandit mask" through the eyes and a white throat. It is slightly smaller than the whitethroat, and lacks the chestnut wings and uniform head-face color of that species. The lesser whitethroat's song is a fast and rattling sequence of tet or che calls, quite different from the whitethroat's scolding song. Like most "warblers", it is insectivorous, but will also take berries and other soft fruit. This is a bird of fairly open country and cultivation, with large bushes for nesting and some trees. The nest is built in low shrub or brambles, and 3 to 7 eggs are laid.


20. Grey Wagtail
A longtail songbird, the grey Wagtail can be vocal whether it is on the ground or in flight. The bird is often seen near running water with a rocky habitat close by. It shares a common characteristic with other birds in the genus. It frequently wags its tail feathers and flies low to the ground.