The Alarmist

Bird of the Day Series, Social Media Content

Photo: Craig Brelsford

This is the Mongolian Ground Jay, who lives mainly in the Gobi Desert, at 3,000-12,000 feet. It is one of the world’s least-studied species. And this photo is a luck-shot, because these birds don’t like to fly. They will fly into trees so they can swoop down on lizards, but they prefer to walk, moving with both a strut and a swagger. They’re 12”, with long strong legs. When alarmed, they run like the wind; locals call them ‘desert racehorses’.  

You can find them in the sand and scrub, poking around for little lizards, beetles, crickets and grasshoppers. It is the male who builds the nest, out of twigs and camel excrement, and it is the male who incubates the eggs, while the female collects food. When the eggs hatch, they switch places.

In summer, no one knows where they get their water. In the winter, they live with herds of animals and eat their dung. When someone, or something, approaches the herd, the jay will loudly chirp an alarm. Tourist camps will use their elm, tamarisk and almond trees to provide them with water and keep them at their campsites.

These jays are considered to be intelligent and sensible. But they love roads; it is believed that their propensity to hang out on roads goes back to the days of the Silk Road, when Mongolian Jays would follow caravans, eating spilled grain and horse dung. Today, they are often seen eating roadkill—and becoming roadkill. With the boom in Mongolia of tourism and mining, and a huge increase in vehicle traffic, people are now this bird’s #1 predator and populations are declining. So mind how you go.