Hello! I’m Erin Vostal, and I am a rising junior studying Wildlife Bio at the University of Vermont. I am very excited to be working on my research project here in the Darhad Valley, which looks at the recent decline of Daurian Pika through traditional ecological knowledge. Mongolia has been an amazing learning and cultural experience thus far, and I hope you enjoy reading about our many Pika days in the field!
On the morning of Friday, June 30th, our crew headed out from basecamp at the foot of the Horidol-Saridag mountains to begin a 10 day streak of collecting data for pika plots. Spirits were high, the furgon bumpy, and the views amazing. It was our first time venturing into the valley, away from the mountains. The steppe would be a new environment for us, and we were all excited.
We headed to Renchinlhumbe, where we collected data at the first few plots, then stayed at Amka’s house in the town of Renchinlhumbe for two nights. On our second day, we learned numbers in Mongolian, 1 (neg) through 30 (goch), from rangers Batzaya and Dawaadalai and collected data with them at the plots with this newfound knowledge.
On July 2nd, we left Amka’s and continued north. On our drive, we stopped at more pika plots. At one plot outside of the town center of Renchinlhumbe, we got to interview Dawaanyam, an 80-year-old man with a lot of knowledge about the land. Many of these interviews occurred over the course of the following week in order to gain local ecological knowledge regarding the decrease in pika that Darhad has been experiencing since 2020. Noelle also got to start the Cormorant project this same day, with her and Chris swimming out to the island to set up camera traps and count nests while the rest of us continued checking off pika plots. Between plots, we saw a red fox and Saker Falcon. We ended up at Tenghis Shishged River Basin National Park where we camped for the night, bathed in the river, did some more pika plots (how many pika plots are we going to do, you ask? Spoiler, it’s 87), and enjoyed looking at the views, cows, and sheep during dinner.
The fourth day was one of many jam-packed days we had on this trip. I would argue Nutella-packed, if you will, considering we completed five jars on the trip. We left camp to survey plots in the morning and stopped to observe a White-tailed Sea Eagle nest with a nearly fully grown juvenile. There were Daurian Jackdaws mobbing the nest and House Finches living in the bottom of it – like a cozy townhouse. Standing in the rain, I wanted to be a Finch at that moment. But we did not climb the tree to curl up in a nest, we continued on to more plots. At one of the plots, a very friendly horse got in the way of Sophia and Suree completing their transect, but they proved victorious after Zaya chased him off. Badmaa was not happy with this lurking presence at the edge of our plot; he stuck around, though, and was determined to get attention from us after we completed our plot. We watched him out the back window of the furgon as we drove away. Our first local friend was gone too soon. Maybe we’ll see him one day in the future (from his left side, of course . Mongolian horses are dangerous to approach from the right). After the morning plots, we packed up our camp by the river and embarked on our drive to Badmaa’s place in Tsagaannuur. We completed a few plots along the way, of course, then set up camp and were treated, as always, to a delicious dinner cooked by Amka. We shared stories around the campfire and Tyler introduced Noelle and me to a game where you link two movies together through actors and other movies (a long chain of movies and actors). This has become a main staple that helps Noelle and I pass the time, and it is extremely satisfying once you complete the link and can get from movie to movie.
On July 4th, there were no fireworks or hotdogs, but there were a ton of pika plots with fresh poop! It was the first time we found active burrows at a plot during our surveys, so it was a big deal (and a big relief) to find active burrows at our plots in Tsagaannuur. Before we headed out for the day, Noelle taught us the best hacky-sack game to play: 3-hit-kill. The rules: the hacky is hit in a circle, and on the third touch someone can catch it and chuck it at whoever they want to, usually at full force. It was a great way to pass the time waiting for Badmaa to return from the border patrol office.
We also celebrated with a Mongolian staple, huushuur. For lunch, the crew went to Magsar’s house, where there were bowls and bowls of fish and yak huushuur to be eaten. He is a retired ranger turned herder, and we interviewed him about the trend of pika recently and historically. He was a very interesting person to talk to and had a lot to contribute from his lifetime of watching Pika in the steppe. Tyler took the trophy of eating 12 huushuur, while I took second place with 10. I just couldn’t quite push three more for the sake of a victory. Nonetheless, we left Magsar’s happy, mostly full, and continued on our way to more pika plots. After many plots, we returned to camp, ate, hunted for pretty rocks, and retired to our tents. We were halfway through the trip, and everyone needed a good night’s rest.
Day 6 proved that the good night’s rest was worth it. We cranked out ten plots in the morning and were treated to a surprise in the afternoon; Chris, Badmaa, and Grace brought us to a Tsaatan winter camp. Tsaatan are people who live in the far north of the Darhad Valley and herd reindeer through all four seasons. They exist throughout Siberia, but after the communist regime ended in 1990, the Tsaatan groups in Mongolia were cut off from their counterparts still in Russia. They move camp with the seasons so that their reindeer don’t overheat and have lichen to eat year-round. Unfortunately, they had already moved on to their summer camp when we reached them, despite being there just a day earlier. The area was beautiful though and we enjoyed romping around for a little bit before returning to Fergie (the name we have given the furgon) and heading back to camp. After dinner, Bob shared a hunting story, and I went to sleep shortly after, but not before catching the soft sunset over the hills.
July 6th was another travel day. We broke down camp in Tsagaannuur and headed back towards Renchinlhumbe to Battogtoh’s cabin. Battogtoh is a ranger who has been hosting students at his place for years now. After lunch, the group split into two. Noelle, Sophia, Isolina, and Chris headed to the cormorant island for round two. Tyler, Suree, Grace, Badmaa, Zaya, and I stayed in the area doing some pika plots nearer to Battogtoh’s. When we finished, the six of us headed to a river to clean up and cool off. When we returned to camp, the cormorant crew had returned and so had a bag full of regurgitated fish; their mission had been accomplished. We ate dinner and interviewed Renchindawaa, a retired ranger. He offered more information about pika, then helped Noelle and Chris identify the regurgitated fish for Noelle’s project. While they identified fish, the rest of us watched Zaya and Bayanmunh wrestle in preparation for Naadam. I challenged Grace to a match-up, and she took me down after some leg kicking and attempted throwing. We all slowly went to bed, each going one after the other. The Horidol-Saridag mountains that rose from the steppe were dyed pink from the 9:45 PM sunset, and the air was cool. A perfectly beautiful night.
On day 8, several of us woke up to snapped, chewed, or torn guy lines on our tents. Apparently (or hypothetically), a dog came into the fence late into the night, was sniffing around, got hungry, and chomped some cord. It didn’t diminish our spirits, though, and Battogtoh helped fix the lines during breakfast. Tyler had found an active pika colony very close to our camp, and we spent a little time watching them through binoculars after breakfast. We then headed out for a pika plot at Battogtoh’s winter camp – a one-hour hike – we were told – into a valley of rolling hills and mountainsides covered in meadows and a luscious creek with beautiful flowers. We walked. And walked. And walked. An hour hike had turned into two and a half hours on a hot summer day. Passing Mongolians and other tourists on horses, we wondered when we would get to our one pika plot and why there were so many more people here than anywhere else we’d gone for backpacking or plot surveys before. Then the curtain was pulled back, and as we descended from the hills into the valley, a patch of ice spread out ahead of us. There were horses, a dog or two, a camp, and… reindeer! The instructors had successfully surprised us with a visit to a Tsaatan camp. We had the opportunity to talk to some of the Tsaatan families about their lives and how this year, and years recently, have been for them because of seasonal changes due to climate change. The second family that hosted us also let each of us go for a short ride on their reindeer! It was the giddiest we’d all been all trip. Isolina was most excited, though because she’d been itching to ride a horse the whole time we’d been in Mongolia. Lucky for her, we got a more unique experience. Tyler and I, being the tallest ones, looked absolutely ridiculous on reindeer, who are much smaller than horses – “like an adult on a toddler’s bike” apparently. We had our fun on the reindeer, bid farewell to the Tsaatan families that had welcomed us, and headed back out of the valley. After some motorbike rides from Battogtoh and a much quicker hike back, we returned to camp for the evening. People who didn’t get the chance to go to the river the night before went to bathe when we got back. After dinner, a couple came to sell items to us: hand carved knives, necklaces, hair pins, bags, and other gadgets. We were gifted a necklace for our purchases, then they packed up their items and headed off, and the rest of us headed to bed.
July 8th was yet another day of plots. We’d extended the trip one day so that we could finish more plots around Battogtoh’s in a timelier manner. Before heading onto our plots, Chris and Tyler surveyed their experiment where they covered pika burrows to see how active the colony was. Most had been pushed out. While burrows were being surveyed, Noelle and I sat quietly at the openings of burrows and watched pika run in and out of them – they’re quite active early in the morning. We did a few pika plots in the morning, then returned to camp for some relaxed time. After a couple hours, we were called to a meeting of the elders – a gathering where elders of the area come together to discuss community issues. This time, they were gathered for us; for us to ask questions of the herders and elders of the area about the pika. It was very insightful and interesting to listen to the elders talk about their experiences with climate change in their everyday life. It was also cool to see how interested they were in our other research projects! After a few hours, we headed home, ate dinner, drew with Battogtoh, looked through his drawings and carvings, played with some goats, then went to bed.
July 9th presented our 10th and final day. We broke down camp, got grades back from Battogtoh on our drawings, and packed into the van – Fergie had returned to Ulaan-Uul with Chinbold in our time at Battogtohs. We finished 4 plots on the way back home to basecamp leaving us with 85 completed in 10 days. The final 2 plots are close to basecamp and will be completed later in the summer. We showered, did laundry, set up camp again, had a delicious pesto pasta dinner cooked by Grace, and finished the first Harry Potter movie. Suree’s never seen them, so we’re determined to get through them before we leave Mongolia. With the completion of the movie, our pika trip was officially over, our efforts rewarded, and our bodies ready for sleep. We retired to our tents once again before our next bout of activities started.