Seeing new bird is one of the main reasons for birders to travel to new countries and that was certainly the main aim when leading a recent Mongolia birding tour but it is also fun to see species in breeding plumage that one has previously seen during autumn and winter months. This was the case for most of us on our first day of the trip in the form of Long-tailed Rosefinch, Carpodacus sibiricus, with some of us seeing it in either Japan or South Korea during the winter when it is not as flashy as it is in the breeding season.
Long-tailed Rosefinch occurs in a wide swathe of Eurasia but with a rather patchy distribution throoughout. In Mongolia we found it in early summer in lightly-wooded river valleys containing willow scrub, pools, tufty bushes and villages and it was common around the hotel we stayed in just outside of Ulan Bataar, the capital city.
There, Long-tailed Rosefinch was easily found by listening for their soft contact calls and also their trilling song which they utter from the tops of bushes (you can hear their call and song here - https://xeno-canto.org/species/Carpodacus-sibiricus) and small trees and when seen they are a delight. Their bright pink plumage with black and white wing markings really pops out against the bright green foliage of early summer and the white frosting around their head and face makes them a really stunning little bird. Long-tailed Rosefinch was a really great bird to start our trip with and in the same area other highlights included Amur Falcon, Azure Tit and White-crowned Penduline Tit before we moved on from our hotel and began our adventure around Mongolia's wilderness.
I have written a full trip report here - Mongolia Birding Trip Report, June 2026.