REMARKABLE SAKER FALCON (FALCO-CHERRUG) BREEDING RECORDS FOR MONGOLIA

During 1994-95 surveys, we located over 80 Saker Falcon (Falco cherrug ) breeding sites in Mongolia. Over half of the sites had features that were in some way remarkable or previously undescribed in the scientif ic literature. Ten were on utility poles, two on bridges, three on aba ndoned buildings and one was on a truck tire on a pole. Seven sites we re very near buzzard nests and two more were in buzzard nests that wer e used the same season. Five sites were on cliff tops accessible by wa lking. Four were on very short cliffs, two were on broken/sloping clif fs and one was at the base of a cliff. Five were on the tops of stone pillars. Six were in very short elm trees. Nest composition was also s ometimes remarkable: one was a suspended uric acid (excrement) platfor m without underlying support, three were trash nests and two were comp osed largely of bones.