Pale Blue Flycatcher - May Hot Topic Bird and Other Forest Birds

Photos of a male Pale Blue Flycatcher photographed in Hong Kong emerged on social media and caught my attention, this is not a species we get in Hong Kong, and currently sits in the category III on the Hong Kong list, with one previous record in 1991 which was deemed an ex-captive. So, I thought it would be interesting to go see this bird for myself, the bird was found near Kap Lung, it was extremely vocal and showed very well, and feather condition was generally excellent. Some people mis-identify Pale Blue Flycatcher with female Verditer Flycatcher, but in reality they are very different, with a much longer bill, darker lores and blue eye-rings, they are completely different once you have seen both in the field. 

Pale Blue Flycatcher - male

So, there is little doubt in its identity, there is however one problem, which race is this bird? We can rule out cyanopolia due to the fact that this one was quite large, with no hint of rufous tinged vents. Separating unicolor and diaoluoensis seems not as straight forward, with unicolor being described as having pale-greyish underparts, and diaoluoensis with light blue underparts. I saw this same bird on two days, once in the afternoon and once in the morning, depending on the light conditions and angles, the bird does give quite different colours and shades to both the upper and underparts, although it does seem to have more of a light bluish underparts from belly to vent. While plumage alone is difficult to judge on its identity, the song could be a clue, although both subspecies have similar song, I have found the end phrase of this bird to have quite a high note which ends at around 3000Hz, this seems to be more similar to the recordings from Hainan, which favours diaoluoensis. With diaoluoensis being a resident endemic race to Hainan, it seems less likely it can turn up here in Hong Kong, however, I don't think we can jump straight to conclusion that a bird from Hainan can't end up in Hong Kong on its own. Birds like this is interesting to say the least, and will continue to intrigue us with what is possible and what is not, either way it is a brilliant looking bird that is certainly a joy to see out in the wilderness of Hong Kong.

Pale Blue Flycatcher - unicolor or diaoluoensis? 

Up to nearby Tai Mo Shan, it is again that time of the year to look for Chinese Grassbird, and on both occasions that I visited a bird showed quite well. They should now be breeding and quite possibly already nesting, even though I only saw one bird on each occasion, it is possible that the other bird is on the nest somewhere nearby.

Chinese Grassbird

Other regular birds up there includes many Brown-flanked Bush Warblers, a few Vinous-throated Parrotbills and a very vocal Red-billed Leiothrix. Russet Bush Warblers and Lesser Cuckoos were both heard only, but both fairly vocal at the moment.

Brown-flanked Bush Warbler

Vinous-throated Parrotbill

Red-billed Leiothrix

The lower slopes of Tai Mo Shan is also busy with vocal birds, Lesser Shortwings are singing more frequently and near Kap Lung one showed quite well. Hainan Blue Flycatchers are now back and in full song, their presence certainly attracts Hodgson's Hawk Cuckoo which is known to parasitise the flycatcher, I got lucky one day with one perched quite close! Black Bulbuls are also around and quite vocal, Tai Mo Shan massif is certainly a key breeding ground for them in Hong Kong.

Lesser Shortwing

Hainan Blue Flycatcher - male

Hodgson's Hawk Cuckoo

Black Bulbul

Although we don't get as many migrants and winter visitors right now, there are plenty of resident forest species that are still showing well at this time of the year, many of them now move in pairs or small family groups if the first brood of chicks have already fledged. So, personally I don't ever think there is a bad time to bird in the forest of New Territories. Here is an assortment of some of Hong Kong's most iconic forest species.

Velvet-fronted Nuthatch

Yellow-cheeked Tit - male

Yellow-cheeked Tit - female

Chestnut Bulbul

Scarlet Minivet - male

Speckled Piculet

Over at Tai Po Kau, Plain Flowerpeckers are now in full song, you can hear their song throughout the trail, although we rarely see them during winter months, I still reckon they are a resident species here, just staying very quiet and high up during the winter which makes them very difficult to observe. A possible pair of Slaty-backed Forktails have turned up along the stream at Tai Po Kau, which I think is a good sign that they may finally establish themselves here, which is long overdue if you ask me!

Plain Flowerpecker

Slaty-backed Forktail

Other than birds, early May is a great time to look for bioluminescent fungi along the trail. We found a few one evening, although they were already well past their prime, under dimmed light and long exposure from the camera they still glow up nicely.

Neonothopanus sp.

Finally, a couple more photos of the Little Curlew which stayed a whopping nine days before it moved on! It continued to be extremely friendly and showed very well while it was there, I went back again to see it on two different occasions, and the last time I saw it I was able to get incredibly close to it that I managed to get some lovely photos with a slightly wider angle to show its environment. Certainly not something that happen very often! Hopefully it is now on its way again to its breeding grounds up north.

Little Curlew - One of the top bird this May

Late Spring Migrants - Long Valley Hot Streak

Having been away for the entire April, I have effectively missed the best birding month in Hong Kong for spring migration, that being said, there's still been a few good birds I have been able to catchup with since I have came back. Long Valley have definitely been having a hot streak, one of the best bird so far is no doubt an extremely friendly Little Curlew which turned up on the 1st of May, and have stayed now for almost a week! Definitely one of the longest staying individual I can remember. It's been showing extremely well, being incredibly confiding and show no fear of people at all, an absolute joy of a bird to see! It seems to have been feeding well, so hopefully it will gather enough strength and continue on with its journey.

Little Curlew

Another rare bird that turned up is a Grey-headed Swamphen, which also have stayed around in Long Valley for awhile, usually a shy species, this one was more than happy to be feeding out in the open.

Grey-headed Swamphen

Other good birds at Long Valley includes a Pechora Pipit, as always it was quite a shy bird, but I was lucky to connect with it along with a visiting birder from the UK, I think I was just as excited as he was to have been able to find him this lifer.

Pechora Pipit

An Oriental Skylark turned up and it caused a bit of excitement, this species used to be regularly reported in Hong Kong in the past, but have mysteriously seen a sharp decline in recent years, I suppose some old records could have been mid-identified Eurasian Skylarks, but I doubt all of them were, so the reason for this decline is unknown. This individual however, have damaged primaries on both wings, which could be an indication that it was an ex-captive bird.

Oriental Skylark

It seems to be a really good spring for Yellow-breasted Buntings, many were reported at Long Valley and fishponds near Mai Po. A patch of unseasonal rice paddy attracted some to feed on it, I only managed to find some females and an immature male, not the male in full breeding plumage I was hoping for, but it was still nice to see this critically endangered species doing well here.

Yellow-breasted Bunting - female

Yellow-breasted Bunting - male

Around the reedbeds at Long Valley, a few Chinese Penduline Tits on passage have been seen as well, while mostly a wintering species in Hong Kong, we do get a few coming through on migration as well, but this will likely be the last we see of them until autumn. A long staying Oriental Pratincole is still present, which I find quite unusual for an individual to stay this long.

Chinese Penduline Tit

Oriental Pratincole

Other then the passage migrants, Long Valley is still the best place to see Greater Painted Snipes in Hong Kong, although at this time of the year the vegetation becomes denser, making it a little bit harder to see them well, occasionally you may still get lucky to have one running from one side of the pond to another, or more commonly see them flying around after being flushed by someone.

Greater Painted Snipe - female

Greater Painted Snipe - male

There's also been a lot of Black-winged Stilts breeding on site, and a lot of chicks all around different ponds, the adults have been extremely aggressive towards other birds as well as people, occasionally dive bombing birders if they ever get too close to their nests. Plaintive Cuckoos have been very vocal here, and it wasn't too difficult to get a good look at them.

Black-winged Stilt - with chick

Plaintive Cuckoo - female

Over at Mai Po, various spring waders have been turning up, but I felt numbers were not particularly high across the board, and they never really come very close to the bird hides anymore, so I didn't bother taking much photos. Notable migrants includes Grey-tailed Tattlers and a Chinese Egret that's actually been flying into the scrape during high tide.

Grey-tailed Tattler

Chinese Egret

Incredibly, the Japanese Quail have stayed on from March! I have never seen such a long staying individual before, but a wonderful species to see as always. That being said, it still wasn't easy to bump into, as it often just come out to forage for a short amount of time before skulking back into the thick bushes on the side of the track.

Japanese Quail

A few Oriental Plovers came through earlier in spring before I left for my trips, a species that is always delightful to see on passage. I also caught up with the Black-capped Kingfisher before they left for the summer, where I had a wonderfully close encounter of one perched right outside the mudflat hide!

Oriental Plover

Black-capped Kingfisher

I also bump into an Eurasian Wryneck at Mai Po, it came as a bit of a surprise, as I usually see them in autumn and winter, so it was nice to see this one before the summer begins. Some Eastern Red-rumped Swallows are still coming through, a few do stay over to breed although in much fewer numbers.

Eurasian Wryneck

Eastern Red-rumped Swallow