October Heat - 30°C Autumn

Despite heading into second week of October, weather remained hot and humid for quite a while. Only until today that temperature started to drop somewhat. Still, despite the less than ideal weather, birds continue to move through, with a few good birds found the past week or so. I went out birding with Richard Patient once more before he flew back to the UK, we decided upon a morning walk at Tai Lam as his main targets remains to be any migrant flycatchers. We struck luck on the day, and we chanced upon a Green-backed Flycatcher right at the magic valley! This individual was very yellow underneath that I initially thought it was a Yellow-rumped Flycatcher, upon closer inspection it was clear it was definitely not. This is supposedly the 8th record for Hong Kong if accepted, and one of our rarer migrant flycatchers! This bird was only seen briefly and not seen by any other birders afterwards as far as I know.

Green-backed Flycatcher - one of my better find this Autumn

We got a good range of common forest birds at Tai Lam, as well as numerous warblers including Two-barred, Arctic, Pallas's, Yellow-browed, Eastern Crowned, Pale-legged and Hartert's Leaf Warblers. A nice looking female Verditer Flycatcher as well as another Dark-sided Flycatcher added some excitement to the morning's list.

Verditer Flycatcher - female

Dark-sided Flycatcher

We connected with no less than two Japanese Paradise Flycatchers amongst two separate bird waves, this was one of the top target species of Richard, and we got some phenomenon views of one of them, even stopped and preened its wings for a while at relatively close range!

Japanese Paradise Flycatcher

Other highlights were a few Dollarbirds, as well as a Crested Goshawk perched on an open branch. We ended up with quite a nice list of birds for the morning. While birding at Tai Lam is never easy, it is always an enjoyable walk and quite often pack a few nice surprises.

Dollarbird

Crested Goshawk

I finally gotten around to my local patch at Tai Mei Tuk Catchment one morning. It started relatively slowly, with very few migrants of note. Grey Treepies are always nice to see, and I think this is one of the easier place to see this species well in Hong Kong. A high flying raptor raised my hopes slightly, although turns out only to be a Besra. An Ashy Drongo was a nice addition, as well as a pair of Black-winged Cuckooshrikes that I didn't manage to photograph. White-bellied Erpornis is also a species I quite often find along the catchment.

Grey Treepie

Besra

Ashy Drongo

White-bellied Erpornis

A very distant Black-naped Oriole was one of the better migrant of the morning. There were numerous Two-barred Warblers along the catchment, only this one showed relatively well for a half decent photo.

Black-naped Oriole

Two-barred Warbler

The best bird was found while I was walking back out to the entrance, when I flushed a wagtail from the road. I initially thought it was a Grey Wagtail, a species I find here often, although I immediately knew it wasn't the case when it started calling mid-flight, surely it was a Forest Wagtail instead. I located the bird a little further on, it was slightly skittish to begin with but once it got used to my presence started feeding along the slope on the other side of the catchwater. Despite it not being the closest view I've had of this species, I enjoyed this encounter, after around ten minutes it took flight and was not seen again.

Forest Wagtail

I also gave Fung Lok Wai a try lately, hoping to find a Manchurian Reed Warbler somewhere, I was a little disappointed that I didn't find any, but there were a lot of Black-browed Reed Warblers around, almost one every 15-20 metres apart! Oriental Reed Warblers were also in good numbers.

Black-browed Reed Warbler

Oriental Reed Warbler

Other notable birds was a single Black-winged Kite as well as a very shy Pheasant-tailed Jacana. Both seen at a distant, but were nice birds to see nonetheless.

Black-winged Kite

Pheasant-tailed Jacana

Over at San Tin, some Whiskered Terns were there, despite being a relatively common sight here I do enjoy seeing these elegant terns skimming the water for small shrimps.

Whiskered Tern

Although I didn't find anything super interesting at San Tin, I did find a rather skittish Eurasian Wryneck. I also flushed a Pallas's Grasshopper Warbler along the tall grass, a much more 'naturalistic' and traditional setting to see such skulking birds before Telford Garden. I scanned for some of the roosting swallows but saw nothing out of the ordinary, a few juvenile Barn Swallows did perched nicely for a photo though. There were not that many interesting waders on a drained pond, I only found a single Sharp-tailed Sandpiper thats worth mentioning.

Eurasian Wryneck

Barn Swallow

Sharp-tailed Sandpiper

Since Long Valley is still closed off to the public, I've been feeling like a kid locked out of the sweet shop. The only way to 'legally' look at the birds is to stand on the biking path along the north end and scan the fields for any birds. I did see a Yellow-breasted Bunting flying into the paddies, but it was way too far for a photo. A 'Swintail' Snipe gave good views a little closer, although it never fanned its tail out for me to confirm the ID. A pair of Dunlins were feeding on one of the shallow ponds, this one still retaining some dark feathers on its belly.

'Swintail' Snipe

Dunlin

Barred Cuckoo-dove continued...

Wu Kau Tang continues to be very birdy of late, with the now confirmed three Barred Cuckoo-dove staying on. It took me many more tries, but finally I had the shot that I wanted. I was walking down hill when I saw a large bird flew into a tree up ahead, I walked very slowly towards that tree and was soon greeted by one of the Cuckoo-dove perched out on a horizontal branch under the morning sun! I scrambled for my camera and was very fortunate that it stayed long enough for me to get some good photographs before the three of them flew off. It was only when I checked the photos back home that I realized I actually had two birds in view all along! But, I was so focused on the one out in the open that I completely ignored the one behind a few branches on its right hand side! The hard work definitely paid off and I was over the moon with these photos.

Barred Cuckoo-dove - one dove...

Barred Cuckoo-dove - two doves!

While the Fujian Niltava seems to have moved on somewhere, the male Small Niltava however stayed on, and showed well on one of my visit, as its now becoming more vocal as spring is closing in on us. A male Mugimaki Flycatcher was also seen in the area, but remained very shy.

Small Niltava - male

Though Red-flanked Bluetail numbers are on the lower side of the spectrum this year, there were at least one male and one female in the area, although both were not particularly bold.

Red-flanked Bluetail - female

Red-flanked Bluetail - male

There were quite a few warblers in the bird waves, most obvious of which were the Hartert's Leaf Warblers. I also seen Kloss's and Two-barred Warblers in the area, although none of them allowed any photos to be taken. The best one of all was a Chestnut-crowned Warbler, which quietly followed the flock of Swinhoe's White-eyes and other small birds, another very nice addition to the great list of birds at Wu Kau Tang.

Hartert's Leaf Warbler

Chestnut-crowned Warbler

Closer to the village, the numerous Little Buntings continued to show well, feeding on the side of the footpath. I also found a few Eyebrowed Thrush feeding next to the road, although as always they were quite shy. The area also host a good selection of resident species, and is now a stronghold for Speckled Piculet, which I almost see or hear everytime I visit.

Little Bunting

Eyebrowed Thrush

Speckled Piculet

I don't visit Tai Po Kau as often as I wish, but that is also partly because I've had so little luck there this winter, the bird waves been very scattered and difficult to locate. That being said, it can still provide some good birds on any visit, such as a very showy male Bay Woodpecker. With the coral tree now in bloom, a female Mrs. Gould's Sunbird took up position there, although it doesn't always go onto the flower as those were mainly dominated by the Fork-tailed Sunbirds.

Bay Woodpecker - male

Mrs. Gould's Sunbird - female

Fork-tailed Sunbird - male

Closer to home, the Cinnamon Bittern continue to occasionally show for lucky birders, the area also welcomed another guest in form of a lovely male Verditer Flycatcher, not shy at all in showing off its brilliant colours. It's been a very good year for Verditer Flycatcher, with reports of them from everywhere!

Verditer Flycatcher - male

I paid a visit to North District Park, a nice urban park in Sheung Shui area that I've never been to before. The most prominent bird there was a very bold Asian Brown Flycatcher, one of the most confiding individual I have ever seen.

Asian Brown Flycatcher

The park offered lots of more common birds that I so often neglect, but we should feel very fortunate to have such a good variety of common species in Hong Kong. Both Light-vented and Red-whiskered Bulbuls are hard to miss on any birding day.

Light-vented Bulbul

Red-whiskered Bulbul

Japanese Tits and Oriental Magpie Robins are a staple for urban birders, and provide endless entertainment. There were quite a few Giant Crepe-Myrtles planted in the park, and that attracted a few Oriental Greenfinches, although views were hard to compare to the Long Valley birds, they are nice birds to see nonetheless.

Japanese Tit

Oriental Magpie Robin - male

Oriental Greenfinch

But, the main reason for my visit to this very park was a long staying Pale Thrush. I found it residing in a quiet corner in the park, away from the crowd. Some years we can find them easily, but this winter's been particularly difficult to locate this species, so I was very glad to get this on my annual list.

Pale Thrush