Slight Improvement - Late September Urban Migrants

Having stayed mainly in the 'countryside' for most of autumn migration and not having much luck, I finally decided to visit some of our urban birding hotspots. First being the now famous Telford Gardens, its became a bit of a regular birding spot to look for Grasshopper Warblers. I was not disappointed while I was there, on the two days I visited I had at least two Pallas's Grasshopper Warbler, a single Lanceolated Warbler plus a Black-browed Reed Warbler. All of which were extremely elusive and terribly photo shy, maybe another week before they get used to people. Here are two horrible record shots I took, that being said it is still a wonderful experience to see these migrants in action, I was lucky enough to actually see this Lanceolated Warbler coming down from above and landing right into the flowerbed.

Lanceolated Warbler

Black-browed Reed Warbler

I felt luck haven't been on my side lately, turning up very little interesting birds despite some effort. Luckily for me, I struck some luck on my first visit to Ho Man Tin this year with this Brown-chested Jungle Flycatcher. It was actively foraging in the dense thickets of what we call the 'Pitta spot', named after the two appearances of Fairy Pittas in the past. The Flycatcher 'performed' fairly well for me while I was there, although it wasn't particularly photogenic, it was still a very nice bird to see. This species is now listed as vulnerable due to ongoing habitat loss throughout its range.

Brown-chested Jungle Flycatcher

In the same area were two female Hainan Blue Flycatchers, which seemed to be getting along with the Jungle Flycatcher, these were evidently migrating through and decidedly to stop in this urban oasis. Another species that we regularly see at Ho Man Tin during passage is the Orange-headed Thrush, this one was not particularly photogenic but showed a few times while I was there.

Hainan Blue Flycatcher - female

Orange-headed Thrush - male

There were plenty of Arctic Warblers present, although none were photographable. A vocal Sakhalin Leaf Warbler was however a little more cooperative. This species and the closely related Pale-legged Leaf Warbler are almost unidentifiable in the field, the only way to confidently identify them is by their call, where Sakhalin's pitch is lower than that of Pale-legged Leaf Warblers.

Sakhalin Leaf Warbler

It's not quite the end of autumn migration yet, still plenty of room for improvement!