Exploring Lantau (1 Viewer)

[MKinHK]

Thanks Owen

Two Arctic Warblers calling loudly as I walked the dogs this morning was possibly sign of widespread passage today - as Discovery Bay is rarely productive for broad front migrants.

However the quality birding from last weekend was off-patch. The weather has been way too hot and polluted for a couple of weeks, and after a horrible visit to Tai O two weeks ago, where I managed nothing better than a single Grey Wagtail and a flock of semi-resident Cattle Egrets from a five hour round trip, I decided to slouch at home for a second weekend in a row.

There was some method to my sluggardly approach. This has, after very few being recorded in the last four or five years, been an excellent year for Tiger Shrikes. Up until last Friday four birds had been recorded from widespread localities (Mai Po, Ho Man Tin, and Tai Po Kai (twice), but all of them pitched up on weekdays and all were only seen very briefly - Tiger Shrike is a notorious one-day bird.

So . . . having stayed home on another baking and fetid Saturday morning I was delighted to see a fifth bird for the autumn pop up on the birders WhatsApp group around 11:00am . At last . . . a twitchable bird! To Carrie's disgust I announced I was off to Ho Man Tin and was out the door less than five minutes later.

Ho Man Tin is a seriously odd birding site. A rather steep and wooded hill covered in concrete slope works and interspersed with sports pitches, it rises from a tight ring of high rise buildings in the heart of downtown Kowloon. It has in the last couple of years proved to be a terrific focal point for migrants - some of them very rare. I slogged up, over and round the hill and all its various pathways for more than two hours without seeing a single migrant, despite hearing that an Oriental Cuckoo, and a Yellow-rumped Flycatcher were there as well as the shrike. A noisy Long-tailed Shrike and the hint of a tail of a Blue Magpie were the unimpressive best I managed. Long story short I eventually stumbled into the Tiger Shrike, getting brief views and poor pix in a small hilltop park. I was soon joined by three photographer mates, and after some initial coyness the bird performed superbly, hunting on a slope below us no more than 20-30 metres away. This was a long overdue Hong Kong tick so I was delighted to have finally connected after dipping badly on Po Toi several years earlier and never really having had a sniff since. The only other migrant in the full four hour session was a solitary Arctic Warbler.

Unusually the bird was seen again on both of the following two days, making itself the easiest Tiger Shrike ever in Hong Kong - and a sixth individual was trapped at Mai Po on Monday morning in a stellar ringing session that also produced a Baikal Bush Warbler, two Siberian Blue Robins, a Thick-billed Warbler and a Styan's Grasshopper Warbler!

We obviously need more hot, muggy and polluted days!

Cheers
Mike

 

[MKinHK]

Having carefully written up a decent visit yesterday to Pui O . . . and lost it all . . . I obviously had to go back today.

The October 1 long weekend often produces good birds and the cooler northeast monsoon has just started to blow in earnest. And thank goodness! I was delighted to nail my bogey bird - Tiger Shrike - last week, but the cost of birding in windless 30 centigrade with 80+% humidity and a fog of pollution is a heavy one!

The wind has blown for both of the last two days and following, overnight rain on both days Pui O was looking exceptionally lush - moist rich green interspersed with the lilac-coloured spearheads of the flowering water hyacinths. The Water Buffalo and their Cattle Egret attendants give the marsh a feeling of mellow completeness despite the raucous gaggles of 50-odd Crested Mynas and a dozen even noisier Black-necked Starlings.

On both days a flock of 25-odd Eastern Yellow Wagtails included both macronyx and simillima races, but none that were obviously the usually dominant taivana. I remain hopeful of finding a Pechora Pipit or a Citrine Wagtail among them, but had to be content with my first two Richard Pipits of the autumn today.

The only other migrants in any numbers were 18 White-shouldered Starlings (although I saw just a single male yesterday) including a dozen or so feeding close to me in a fruiting mulberry tree and a dozen ultra cool Black Drongos dashing about and proving once and for all that black is, and always will be, the new black.

The best of the migrants was a fine Oriental Honey Buzzard, complete with long neck, weak bill and unequally-banded tail that soared over the marsh offering good enough shots to capture the above-mentioned range of features. It was also my first on Lantau, making me very glad I had not rushed off to Long Valley after a Purple Swamphen that turned out be a captive release!

I also enjoyed a sweet patch on Saturday in a small partially hidden section on the left of the path to the sea. The first bird here was a typically elegant Black-winged Stilt, followed in quick succession by a Brown Shrike, an Oriental Reed Warbler, a Dusky Warbler and an Arctic Warbler, and shortly thereafter a Zitting Cisticola out on the main marsh. The Green Sandpiper that flew up from the mouth of the tiny tidal creek also appeared in here, and a Black-winged Cuckooshrike that popped up near the mulberry tree on Sunday also passed through the same area with the ever-mobile flock of White-shouldered Starlings.

The meadow behind the campsite was also waterlogged and productive, holding four Swintail Snipe and two beautifully showy Pacific Golden Plovers, while the estuary hosted three Common Sandpipers and a first year Striated Heron that may have bred or been a migrant.

Other birds of interest included a young and skinny-looking Crested Goshawk that kept the mynas and starlings on their toes, a wonderfully showy female Oriental Magpie Robin, and a Eurasian Magpie with a brown pigment aberration on its hood.

It was nice to be back!

Cheers
Mike

 

[MKinHK]

A few more shots from the last couple of days.

Cheers
Mike

 

[Owen Krout]

Nice report, Mike. You are getting some really nice shots with the camera! That aberrant Magpie is a stunner of a shot for showing an oddity. Never seen anything quite like that.

 

[MKinHK]

World's most urban Brown Fish Owls?

Many thanks Owen - I'm certainly enjoying the Sony RX10iii, which is really helping me to get better shots.

Congratulations on your Water Rail - they are famous skulkers in reedbeds.

A belated post from a carefully targeted date night with my wife to the nearby island of Cheung Chau a couple of weeks ago, where a pair of Brown Fish Owl have been watched fishing on the boats parked right next to the busiest seafood restaurant.

We went for the pizza, but the owl was just a short walk away along the promenade. It was too far out for pix (others have had it much closer), but I was pleased with the video, which can be found here.

Apart from my dodgy Chinese the background noise of the restaurants shows how tolerant this pair has become.

Cheers
Mike

 

[Owen Krout]

At least it makes me feel better that i am not the only one with dodgy Chinese! Actually, i think i would take dodgy as a compliment. 8-P

i haven't attempted very many vids, but have had family in the US wanting me to do so. Have to think about that.

Some nice birding videos on your site, Mike. :t:

 

[MKinHK]

Thanks Owen - I only use the video occasionally, but I do enjoy going back to them from time to time. Using a tripod more often would improve the quality, but I really prefer to bird without the extra weight.

Another morning at Pui O was again pretty hot, but made more pleasant by the fresh easterly wind. There were fewer migrants than last weekend, with less than half the number of Eastern Yellow Wagtails, although these did include a couple of taivanas. The best new birds were a rather early Little Bunting and a rather grey-headed Brown Shrike, which had me wondering about Grey-backed Shrike - another bogey shrike for me.

The two Pacific Golden Plovers were still present on the meadow behind the campsite, as were two Common Sandpipers and the juvenile Striated Heron, but the Black-winged Stilt and the Green Sandpiper appear to have moved on, as had the White-shouldered Starlings and the Richard's Pipits. A Chinese Pond Heron was another newly arrived migrant.

Other birds that added to the day included three bathing Oriental Magpie Robins, and a Large-billed Crow that perched up nicely to have its portrait taken.

Cheers
Mike

 

[MKinHK]

Now I'm back in the saddle there's no stopping me . . .

Another very hot day failed to stop me heading for Tai O to see if I could reverse the dismal showing of three weekends ago, when the best bird from a two hour visit was a solitary Grey Wagtail!

A gang of six Black Drongos perched on wires at the top of the pass above the valley behind Tai O suggested this might indeed be a day of passage and I headed into the Shaolin Valley with high expectations. These were strengthened by the discovery of an Asian Brown Flycatcher with a freshly caught dragonfly in the large banyan that stands in front of the Shaolin Centre. Another Asian Brown Flycatcher was in the large Chinese Hackberry, but the valley was otherwise quiet until a trilling above the canopy caught me attention and I headed hopefully up the valley to confirm my initial suspicion that it might be an Ashy, or even a Swinhoe's, Minivet.

Today was one of those days when everything just works. The minivet had landed on the top of a bush on the ridgeline some 50 metres above me, from where it called a couple of times to catch my attention, and then very helpfully stayed while I scrambled up between the rather overgrown graves and approached to within 20 yards. Despite this I was still not able to come to a firm conclusion about whether the bird was Ashy or Swinhoe's Minivet - even when looking at Dave Bakewell's very useful analysis of the differences.

Before dropping off the top of the hill, a solitary Barn Swallow drifted ove,ra couple of Black Drongos dropped into two of the higher pines and a typically handsome Hair-crested Drongos glittered in the sunshine as it flew across the valley below. Zitting Cisticolas were again noisily present for the second year running and a trio of Sooty-headed Bulbuls and a Blue Rock Thrush were other familiar friends.

A poke about the mature trees at the Christian Zeng Sheng Centre was immediately promising - fist a Yellow-browed Warbler called, then an Arctic Warbler bumped - typically clumsily - into view, then a Two-barred Warbler responded well to my pishing and reassuringly flashed a bright yellow lower mandible at me before an even brighter yellow flash of yellow and black revealed a cracking Sulphur-breasted Warbler, which gave terrific eye-level views. There have only been fifteen or so records of this attractive warbler in Hong Kong and this was my first on Lantau, making it my best bird on Lantau for a good long while.

I finished up an excellent visit with a third Asian Brown Flycatcher and a couple of Dusky Warblers in the mangroves, and a young and rangy-looking Crested Goshawk that I failed to string into anything more exciting.

Cheers
Mike

 

[thirudevaram]

Sulphur-breasted Warbler is a monumental bird. A very well deserved prize for a hot day. My first one in Shanghai was safely ID'd by Jocko to put a tick and the second was at Emeifeng after hours of digging through the undergrowth.

 

[McMadd]

Sulphur-breasted Warbler is a monumental bird. A very well deserved prize for a hot day. My first one in Shanghai was safely ID'd by Jocko ...

The Magic Holiday Inn Fish Monument Car park...happy days!

Sorry...site B3b2.1.i

 

[MKinHK]

And now for something completely different . . . a couple of pix of the birds in question, plus the trees that held the Sulphur-breasted Warbler.

Cheers
Mike

 

[Jeff Hopkins]

The Magic Holiday Inn Fish Monument Car park...happy days!

Sorry...site B3b2.1.i

Ahhh, the Magic Car Park. Happy days, indeed.

 

[MKinHK]

A few migrants on my morning dog walks this week included a Grey-streaked Flycatcher this morning, an Arctic Warbler at the bus stop yesterday morning, two Asian Brown Flycatchers on Wednesday and most days this week three to six Dusky Warblers.

While not in itself stunning numbers they are a good sign of broad front migrants passing through and I am very much looking forward to getting out tomorrow after a few days of listening to other birders reports of good numbers of decent birds.

Cheers
Mike

 

[MKinHK]

More migrants on my morning dog walks have included four Chinese Blackbirds on Sunday and one or two every day since, plus a very confiding male Japanese Thrush yesterday morning and a Black-winged Cuckooshrike on each of the last three days. Both are new for me in Discovery Bay.

I have also been something of a dirty stop out from Lantau - taking myself up to the fishponds at San Tin, where I had such good time last winter - and there are many more birds to be found - on three different days. The plan worked well in that there were indeed loads of birds - a single overgrown fishpond holding over 50 Dusky Warblers, Siberian Rubythroat, Oriental and Black-browed Reed Warblers, Yellow-breasted, Chestnut-eared, Black-faced and Little Buntings, Richard's, Olive-backed, Red-throated and Buff-bellied Pipits, 3 Northern Skylarks,Japanese Quail and, best of the lot, a fine male Bull-headed Shrike.

Other migrants seen in the area included my first Taiga Flycatcher and Daurian Redstarts of the autumn, Red Turtle Dove and Oriental Turtle Doves, Chinese, White-cheeked and Silky Starlings, Plaintive Cuckoo, Red-rumped Swallow, Eastern Buzzard, Peregrine, and Japanese Sparrowhawk, while the waterbirds include Grey-headed Lapwing, Fantail Snipe, Temminck's, Long-toed and Red-necked Stints, Avocet, Black-winged Stilt, Marsh Green, Wood and Common Sandpipers, Kentish and Little Ringed Plovers, Whiskered Tern Coot (rarer in HK now), Eurasian Teal, Tufted Duck and Yellow Bittern.

Last Saturday was even better. During the week before a bunch of mega rarities had shown up in Hong kong starting with four Tundra Bean Geese and three Greater White-fronted Geese at Mai Po, a tantalising Common Crane seen and iPhoned only by a birding neighbour in Discovery Bay, and Hong Kong's first Rook and third Black Redstart and Mai Po/Lut Chau and Long Valley respectively. The last two of these, when I connected on Saturday were two of my three Hong Kong ticks that day, with third being HK's third record of . . . House Sparrow!

There are some pix and a bit more (surprisingly interesting)info on the three HK ticks here:

http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php t=353201

Cheers
Mike

 

[thirudevaram]

Well, Well, Well. You always have the habit of Celebrating the holidays early. Good and gripping stuff, Mike.

 

[MKinHK]

After another foray to San Tin which was certainly quieter than the previous weekend, but did hold five Coot, five Eurasian Skylark,23 Red Turtle Doves and my first Imperial Eagle of the winter - a fine adult - I was home in time for a snooze on the sofa before walking the dogs at dusk. That turned out spectacularly well as a Brown Fish Owl was perched on the flamingoes in the lower pond! It was not all afraid and stares back at me for a good five minutes before flying up into a palm tree and pitying my pathetic efforts to grab a photo with my iPhone. The blob below is the best of these efforts, but I did come back later and did considerably better with the Sony RX10iii on a tripod.

The video clip is here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=waibpjXYGkg

The day before the same park delivered a new record of 30 Black-crowned Night Herons. Doubtless both species are attracted to the plentiful tilapia.

Cheers
Mike

 

[MKinHK]

Finally posting the original iPhone pic - which I actually love for so clearly setting the urban location for this terrific bird.

The other shot comes from playing with one of the failed shots. As usual I enjoy trying to turn them into interesting images. If you look closely you can just see the eyes.

Cheers
Mike

 

[MKinHK]

Finally back birding on Lantau after more tick tarting - this time a cracking first winter male Ultramarine Flycatcher found by John Alcock at Shek Kong Catchment a couple of weeks ago.

This time I was at Pui O, although a couple of weeks earlier the Brown Fish Owl did appear on one more evening dog walk and I was astonished to get the shot below shooting hand-held at just 1/20th of a second.

Pui O was significantly drier than my previous visit. The first birds to appear were a gang of five Eurasian Magpies in pristine plumage. Two of them had very large white scapulars and one posed superbly at short range allowing me to see the fine streaks on the throat feathers for the first time in more than thirty years of birding.

There were thirty or so Silky Starlings feeding on the marsh among the Crested Mynas, Black-collared Starlings and the Buffalo, but relatively fewer ardeids, most of which were Cattle Egrets, plus one or two each of Little Egret, Grey Heron, Black-crowned Night Heron and a Chinese Pond Heron. Four Fantail Snipe were the only waders.

There were a dozen leucopsis White Wagtails, three or four winter-plumaged taivana Eastern Yellow Wagtails, two Richard's Pipits, thee OBPs and a single Buff-bellied Pipit. This is the second winter I've had one here. I was surprised not to see a single Stejneger's Stonechat, but three Daurian Redstarts added some colour.

I had hoped for a feast of thrushes, but was disappointed - seeing just one Chinese Blackbird and a thrush sp. before a late Dusky Thrush behind the campsite, a juvenile Crested Goshawk and my first ever Scarlet Minivet on Lantau - a very vocal female added some much-need quality to the visit.

With a little more time left of the morning I also tried the forest trail down to Pui O from the Nam Shan campsite. Best birds were a fine male Grey-backed Thrush, a Mountain Tailorbird and an Asian Stubtail, which was typically scrambling around in the leaf litter.

Cheers
Mike

 

[Owen Krout]

Great pics, Mike. The E. Magpie is indeed the best detail shot that I have seen!

 

[MKinHK]

Many thanks Owen.

It seems from posts elsewhere that the 'beard' on this Magpie is not uncommon.

On Christmas Eve morning I followed a completely unfounded hunch that Sham Was - a little bit east from Tai O would be good for winter birds. This is a small area of farmland surrounded by very steep hills with a shallow tidal bay in front of it.

I never found the biggie I hoped for but did have great views of Brownish-flanked Bush Warbler, and heard both Russet Bush Warbler and Japanese Bush Warbler at very close range.

Best bird of the day was a cracking male Black-naped Monarch and other support came from a fine male Blue Rock Thrush, a couple of Chinese Blackbirds, a party of typically noisy Chestnut Bulbuls, five each of Little Buntings and Daurian Redstarts, and higher up the road a couple of Mountain Tailorbirds and three very approachable Pallas's Leaf Warblers.

also of interest was the tail of a small Copperhead Racer disappearing into a pile of leaves where i had caught it sunbathing.

Cheers
Mike