Ng Tung Chai, Hong Kong (4 Viewers)

[MKinHK]

A walk up to Ng Tung Chai started well with an Arctic Warbler right at the beginning of the trail, but I then had no migrants at all until coming back to the same spot, where a Pale-legged/Sakhalin Leaf Warbler was calling.

However I did see a Mountain Bulbul near the lower falls.

As I passed through the village I was astonished that my first flycatcher of the autumn was a juvenile Red-throated Flycatcher, with a fine buff wing bar. It was perched on a cane in the top corner of the flower field to the left of the village hall. One minute later it had gone, but was replaced - at exactly the same spot - with a Grey-streaked Flycatcher!

As I walked back down to Ping Long I flushed a female Blue Rock Thrush off the path and had another Arctic Warbler crossing the stream a little lower down.

Almost forgot - first thing this morning I heard a single call from a Grey Treepie fro the fung shui wood opposite my place.

The day before there was a single Dollarbird on the power lines, and a rather white-bellied Black Drongo hawking insects from the tallest tree in front of my place.

I also had a good afternoon walk at Long Valley

Cheers
Mike

 

[MKinHK]

A few minutes on my roof just before 7am produced a Brown Shrike and a flock of 6 Cattle Egrets.

I forgot to add from Sunday that there was a young Checkered Keelback in the stream about 200m below the spot I saw the Arctic Warbler. Wat reminded me was another unidentified snake which I saw as I was coming home this evening.

Cheers
Mike

 

[MKinHK]

A very quiet day today, despite a couple of days of easterlies - with only a Siberian Stonechat to show for a couple of hours' walk.

However on the way home I saw first a Javan Mongoose and then a juvenile King Cobra within 60 seconds. Unlike my previous encounter, when an adult stood up to say hello from about 6 feet way, this one posed no danger and I was able to get a couple of shots.

The cobra was in a ditch next to Dylan's house and he was delighted that this was the first snake he got to use his newly acquired snake tongs on - a HK tick for him.

Dylan also had a flyover Oriental Honey Buzzard which I didn't see.

Cheers
Mike

 

[Gretchen]

Hmmm, a mongoose and a cobra near each other? (Does that correctly bring a story to mind?) I had no idea you had mongoose there. Nice pair to see... birds are sure to pick up too.

 

[MKinHK]

A moment straight out of Rudyard Kipling!

There's more on the Cobra here.

You may have to scroll up a little, but the pix are well worth while - they certainly put mine in the shade!

Birdwise a Dollarbird on the wire was my only bird on Sunday.

Cheers
Mike

 

[norm farrell]

Name of flower pictured in 21 May posting

Hi Mike,

Have been enjoying the forum from afar, and think I can tell you what the flower pictured among your photographs is. My guess is michelia alba, a hybrid between michelia champak and a species of magnolia. Michelia are a group of trees in the magnolia family. Actually, I pass one on my way to the station here in Tokyo, and there is an unseasonal bloom on it right now. Fragrant if you get your nose close.

Best from here. Enjoy your cobras.

Norm Farrell
Tokyo

 

[MKinHK]

Many thanks for the tree identification Norm.

At least nine Black Drongos dropped onto the grassland in front of my house this morning, following one that pitched up with the Crested Mynahs that start their day in the scaffolding of a newly constructed house couple of days. I also had my first Siberian Stonechats seen from my home this winter on the same morning. No sign since, so they've probably moved through.

Off patch there's some good stuff about - HK's first European Roller showed for an afternoon before being chased off by photographers a couple of days ago, while Rosy Starling, and Blyth's Reed Warbler head a very good supporting cast - not that I've seen any of it, but its time that we picked up a good one in the valley . . .


Cheers
Mike

 

[MKinHK]

Classic fall conditions this morning - heavily overcast with drizzle on and off and moderate NE winds, and it turned out to be pretty good.

I was on my roof from 0630 to 0730, and during that time I had a Dollarbird making a couple of languid circuits, including one right overhead, five Black Drongos, three Hair-crested Drongos and my first Ashy Drongo of the winter.

Even better were the first Yellow-breasted Bunting (a flyover) and a female Black-winged Cuckooshrike, which had a swift dogfight with the Ashy Drongo.

After breakfast I thoroughly covered the She Shan area and had good numbers of regular migrants, including the following:

Green Sandpiper - 2
Dollarbird - 1
Common Kingfisher - 1
Richard's Pipit - 9
Olive-backed Pipit - 2
Yellow Wagtail - 1
Grey Wagtail - 8
Siberian Stonechat 10
Dusky Warbler 19
Asian Brown Flycatcher - 4
Taiga Flycatcher - 2 first winters
Black Drongo - 5

The Taigas were great - chasing each other and one of the Brown Flycatchers round the tree nursery that has been newly established on the filled land.

Has anyone else seen such a strong brown breast band on this species?

However the biggest news was that yesterday Dylan pished out the valley's first Pallas' Grasshopper Warbler.

Any help on the identity of the yellow flowers would be welcomed - you've started something here Norm!

Cheers
Mike

PS I also had a decent afternoon at Long Valley. I'd be interested in any comments on the Citrine Wagtail pix.

 

[norm farrell]

yellow flower ???

Hi Mike,

I should have quit when I was ahead (michelia). The one one the left with the maroon throat looks like some sort of mallow (malvia) species. My first thought was okra, but the flowers for that are white, and the leaves are different.

Cute flycatcher pic, though. They look so innocent.

Your roof sounds productive ( and fun ).

Norm

 

[MKinHK]

Many thanks Norm - the pods are reminiscent of okra, which was being grown nearby.

A few more roof birds this week:

This morning a Black-winged Cuckooshrike dropped out of the sky and looped into a distant bush, and two days earlier my first Black-naped Oriole of the autumn and a Black Drongo were in the grassland bushes.

Other birder have had Dark-sided Flycatcher and Dollarbird, and the Brown Wood Owl has also been heard again.

Tomorrow's the weekend and a front has just gone through, so hoping for more!

PS the dragonfly was a Forest Chaser.

Cheers
Mike

 

[MKinHK]

A Wryneck which zipped straight in to a tree as I pished and a couple of Dollarbirds showing very well on the wires at Pak Tin Kong were the highlights of a swift hour this morning. Other birds included a Hair-creseted Drongo, an Ashy Drongo, a couple of Stonechats and a Dusky Warbler.

A hill fire around lunchtime will ensure that Tai Om Shan stays grassy for another year or two. These hill fires burn hot and fast but do not threaten the forest.

Cheers
Mike

 

[norm farrell]

Okra-like yellow flower

Hi Mike,

I was straightening up a heap of books yesterday, naturally dawdling by looking into them as I did so, and happened to open one on gardening to a page with a photograph of the very flower we were wondering about several weeks ago. I then checked on the internet and you can, too. The flower is a close relative of okra, is also used for food ( apparently here in Japan, too ) and the scientific name is abelmoschus manihot ( if you will! ).

I wonder what effect the typhoon approaching Hong Kong had on your birding in that period. Any frigate birds over the house? )

Best from Tokyo,
Norm

 

[MKinHK]

Many thanks Norm!

A good weekend in the valley with a real sense of winter's arrival. In just 40 minutes yesterday I had a couple of Chinese Blackbirds from the house as I was having breakfast, then down at She Shan a fine Crested Serpent Eagle (a resident, rather than a winter visitor, but too photogenic to leave out!), a Common Buzzard, a Black-faced Bunting, four Silky Starlings and what as been identified as a baicalensis White Wagtail, plus the now well-established Olive-backed and Richard's Pipits, Dusky Warbler, Siberian Stonechat and an Ashy Drongo. A couple of Green Sandpipers were also on the drainage channel that evening.

The scarecrows look to me like what would happen if Calvin (of Calvin and Hobbes) and Edvard Munch were to set up a market gardening business together.

The butterfly was a freshly dead Common Bluebottle - they fly way too fast to ever have a chance at a shot like this otherwise!

Cheers
Mike

 

[MKinHK]

Following on from Saturday I decided that Tai Om Shan deserved another go after being ignored for a few weeks because the path was overgrown.

On the way up I immediately struck gold with an Asian Paradise Flycatcher which had one slightly elongated central tail feather, which struck me as bizarre for the time of year.

The other good birds were a Greenish Warbler which had the good manners to call and then gave all the necessary views including a fine grey-blue wash to the cap, and a Radde's Warbler - my first at Tai Om.

I also had good enough views of an Ashy Drongo and a Scarlet-backed Flowerpecker for some pix.

The baicalensis White Wagtail was also there again, but my pix were no better than the day before, so I've included a back view from yesterday. Another opinion is that this could be leucopsis x alboides.

Finally there was a fine male Daurian Redstart in the tree nursery as I went past - another first for the autumn.

Cheers
Mike

 

[Gretchen]

Cool eagle shot, and I'm jealous of the handsome silky starlings there. Your flowerpecker looks cold! perhaps headed south soon? Sounds like some pretty happy birding!

 

[china guy]

Hey Mike those scarecrows are surely a avant-garde cultural happening - we've recently had some jet-setter clients for the Panda/Big Buddha run - they were buying that kind of stuff as an art investment!!!!!

 

[Larry Sweetland]

The scarecrow thumb nail at a glance looks like a well spaced flock of Galahs Mike!

 

[MKinHK]

Glad the scarecrows have attracted such diverse views

The highlights today were newly arrived winter visitors. These included three Rufous-tailed Robins, a couple of rather noisy bradypterus bush warblers, a Grey-headed Flycatcher, four Chinese Blackbirds and a female Silky Starling.

However my major birding of the weekend has been off-patch - some great birding, including three Hong Kong ticks - here

Cheers
Mike

 

[MKinHK]

On Monday morning I noticed a small passerine perched on a sapling just the other side of the veggie patch. Since it didn't look lke a munia, a stonecht or a Tree Sparrow I got the scope onto it . . . and nailed my first Chestnut-eared Bunting in the valley. It sat in view for no more than half a minute, giving the odd flash of of colour on the cheek above a broad creamy moustachial stripe and a gorget of black streaks.

Just two minutes later, cereal finished, I looked out again and saw another promising looking blob, with a lash of white on the shoulder. I grabbed the bins and was delighted to find a dashing male Yellow-breasted Bunting.

As I left for work a female Daurian Redstart was calling persistently from a phone line, a Chinese Blackbird called as at rocketed up from the stream-bed, and the cherry tree orchard seemed to be filled with Olive-backed Pipits and Dusky Warblers.

There are many worse ways to start the week!

 

[MKinHK]

Today just felt like it was going to be good.

A few hours off patch turned up a few bits and pieces without delivering a major bird, but on the way home I thought the promise was still there, so I got off the bus a few stops before the village and started birding again at 1045, when the midday doldrums are usually settling in nicely.

However the baicalensis White Wagtail was on the same small patch of farmland and a pair of Black-winged Cuckooshrikes flooped over (yes a made-up word, but it seems fair enough for birds with rather broad rounded wings on a disproportionatey slender body). I then spend ages trying to turn my first Yellow-browed Warbler of the autumn (which did have a very grey crown and mucky coverts) into a Hume's, but after 20 minutes it called and spoiled the party.

I then took the best part of 30 minutes chasing a bunting that looked wrong for Black-faced Bunting(of which I saw at least 5) but only gave the most fleeting of views to allow me to believe I'd dipped on a Yellow-browed. However I did find a Wryneck - my fifth of the autumn in successive weekends perched on a distant telephone wire.

The last throw of the dice were a group of buntings close to Dylan's place that disappeared into a patch of weeds before I could get onto them. One eventually flew out into a tree, and when it dropped down to feed gave me a one second view, followed by a five second view of a female Yellow-browed Bunting my second bunting patch tick in five days!

I then had a couple of flight views which allowed me to be clear that the call is harder and louder than Black-faced and that the bird is noticeably bigger in flight, especially in the body. In between these views I also had good views of a terrific male Siberian Rubythroat which popped out to see what my pishing was about, and a male Daurian Redstart, which did just enough to stay out of range of the camera.

Just before arriving home another Black-winged Cuckooshrike showed briefly in a tree filled with a raucous crowd of Crested Mynahs.

Cheers
Mike