Solid First Week of 2021

The first week of 2021 started quite well with good birding near home, personal favourite being over twenty Common Rosefinches at Wu Kau Tang! I usually see them at Shek Kong Airfield, to see them somewhere quite close to home was extra special, especially when it was such a decent sized flock! There were far fewer males in the group, but those that were present were quite good looking.

Common Rosefinch - male & female

A pair of Eurasian Jays were reported at Wu Kau Tang on the 1st, but I failed to relocate them on two visits, I was however rewarded with both a young male and an adult male Mugimaki Flycatcher. Although the adult male didn't show well, it was still a very good looking bird to encounter.

Mugimaki Flycatcher - juvenile male & adult male

Along the footpath were a few fruiting trees, which attracted decent numbers of thrushes, mainly Eyebrowed and Japanese Thrushes, but a few Grey-backed Thrushes were also seen.

Eyebrowed Thrush

Japanese Thrush

At Bride's Pool a single Indochinese Green Magpie showed exceptionally well, I have gotten so used to seeing these stunning birds in the area, where I daresay I actually see them more often now than Red-billed Blue Magpies! They are still incredibly beautiful to look at and I still marvel at their out of worldly plumage every single time.

Indochinese Green Magpie

As flowering trees are about to bloom, Orange-bellied Leafbirds become much more active, a pair showed well at Bride's Pool, mimicking a wide range of bird calls including Besra, Blue Whistling Thrush, Grey-chinned Minivet, Japanese Tit, Fork-tailed Sunbird, Ashy Drongo...the list goes on and on! The best bird at Bride's Pool was however a single Chestnut-flanked White-eye within a large flock of Swinhoe's White-eyes, it showed briefly before disappearing for rest of the morning.

Orange-bellied Leafbird - male

Chestnut-flanked White-eye

At Tai Mei Tuk Catchwater, the pair of Grey Bushchats stuck around through the new year and were still present at the exact same spot. While the pair of White-bellied Sea Eagles finally paired up, now seen at their nest daily. I am also observing pairing of Black Kites in the area. The best bird at this site was no doubt an Alstrom's Warbler found by Roman on the 4th, but I was not able to relocate the bird.

Grey Bushchat

Black Kite

Tai Po Kau continues to be very productive, with a good cast of more common woodland species showing extremely well in the large bird wave. Here is a collection of some of the most photogenic species on my visit. Grey-headed Canary Flycatchers continues to be very prominent within the bird wave.

Grey-chinned Minivet - female

Indochinese Yuhina

Red-billed Leiothrix

Huet's Fulvetta

Chestnut Bulbul

Mountain Bulbul

Grey-headed Canary Flycatcher

We have unusually high numbers of Hartert's Leaf Warblers this winter, and they were in no short supply within the bird wave, and many of which showed very well. Usually I will be lucky to get just one good photo of this species on any given day, but I got plenty of good looks and good photos on just one morning! Individuals of race fokiensis were present but in fewer numbers than before.

Hartert's Leaf Warbler - goodsoni

Hartert's Leaf Warbler - fokiensis

There were at least two Sulphur-breasted Warblers still present, none of them came close for a photo, but their dark lateral crown stripes and yellow underside were always very eye-catching amongst the other warblers.

Sulphur-breasted Warbler

I saw at least two Kloss's within the bird wave, although there could have been more. Having seen them quite a few times now I have gotten a lot better at picking them out within the flock, they are much shorter than Hartert's with overall shorter tail, giving them an almost Pallas's Leaf Warbler jizz, they are very pale on the underside with faint yellowish tint on the vent. They are often vocal and you can hear their calls within the bird wave quite easily. I have found the undertail pattern to be tricky to nail, and it doesn't always show up on every angle, but if you get a good look it can be a good indicator in helping with the identification of this species.

Kloss's Leaf Warbler

The star bird at Tai Po Kau remains to be the long staying Alstrom's Warbler, it proves to be very elusive and after a few visits I have only seen the bird twice, but it is always very rewarding to see them well. I got much better photos this time round.

Alstrom's Warbler

Double Rarities - Chinese Grey Shrike & Water Pipit

After a really busy week, I was finally able to catchup on a few rarities that had appeared last week. Including a very handsome Chinese Grey Shrike at Tam Kon Chau Road, if accepted this will be the 1st record for Hong Kong. This species had been recorded in the past, however all of them had been treated as escaped caged birds. This individual was in very good condition and overall behaved very naturally, keeping a good distance away from people.

Chinese Grey Shrike - possibly 1st record for Hong Kong

The main diagnostic feature of Chinese Grey Shrike with Great Grey is more white on the wing and having no white rump. Both features can be seen when the bird is in flight.

Chinese Grey Shrike - showing large white wing patch in flight

A female Ferruginous Duck was also present in a fish pond nearby, it stayed with a female Tufted Duck. I caught only a glimpse of the male Ferruginous Duck last month, so it was nice to be able to get good views of this one early morning. While at the drained pond next to Tam Kon Chau Road I spotted a few Temmink's Stints.

Ferruginous Duck (right) with Tufted Duck (left)

Temmink's Stint

Rice fields at Long Valley have ripened, attracting dozens of Buntings. The most numerous were Yellow-breasted Buntings, which in one day I counted over 15 individuals! A brilliant count for this critically endangered species.

Yellow-breasted Bunting - male

Yellow-breasted Bunting - female

Another bunting species we used to get as a rarity and now regularly visiting Long Valley is the Black-headed Bunting, it's large size usually give it away in amongst the smaller Yellow-breasted Buntings. I managed to photograph it while it rested on the banana trees nearby.

Black-headed Bunting

Other buntings includes the common Black-faced Bunting, which prefers low scrubs to the paddy fields. There were plenty of Little Buntings feeding around the fields. I also found a single Chestnut-eared Bunting which showed briefly.

Black-faced Bunting

Little Bunting

Chestnut-eared Bunting

Common Snipe numbers had increased steadily, here is one preening, showing off the diagnostic tail. A fly-over Grey-headed Lapwing is a good record for Long Valley. Dusky Warblers are now everywhere, it's impossible not to hear one calling nearby. There are also more ocularis White Wagtails around at this time of the year. Other than the eye-stripe, I also find them to be slightly larger than our local leucopsis White Wagtails.

Common Snipe

Grey-headed Lapwing

Dusky Warbler

White Wagtail - ocularis

I received news of a Water Pipit at Long Valley on Sunday morning (the weird angle of the photos on the whatsapp group nearly had me thinking it was a Richard's Pipit, oops!). I didn't have time on Sunday so I waited till Monday and visited with Hoiling, the bird showed exceedingly well at the same location, in the field there was little question of it's identity, a long-billed, quite small, faintly marked breast and faint eye-brows were all good features, dark legs is also a good feature to look for when identifying Water Pipit. The call was also very different from all the other pipit we usually get in Hong Kong, a very sharp and short flight call that even resembles that of a Bunting!

Water Pipit - second rarity within one week!

Other than the Water Pipit, there were plenty of other pipits in the area for comparison. The most similar looking pipit was the Buff-bellied Pipit, it was overall slightly darker with more heavily marked breast and darker malar stripe. I couldn't manage a better photo before it flew off.

Buff-bellied Pipit

Red-throated Pipits were everywhere, a few retained some red on the throat. While the largest of the pipits are Richard's Pipit, a very long-legged species that usually prefers drier fields.

Red-throated Pipit

Richard's Pipit

Birding elsewhere, having now moved to Tai Po area, it opens up a good selection of sites near home for exploring. We visited Robin's Nest at night in hope to see Oriental Scops Owl, unfortunately the owl was not found, but we did have a single Eurasian Woodcock on the road. While Brides Pool area is likely to get better in the upcoming winter months, I only managed a few birds late in the afternoon, but a beautiful male Fire-breasted Flowerpecker at close range can brighten up any birders day no matter how many years you have been birding!

Eurasian Woodcock

Fire-breasted Flowerpecker - brilliant looking male