The Lapland Longspur's presence on the Hong Kong list is a peculiar story. A few years back, a local television station was on site reporting a fire at Nam Sang Wai, the camera man saw a small bird feeding on the burnt ground and started filming, little did he realized he was the filming an incredibly rare vagrant! Birders saw the footage and a few went looking for the bird, unfortunately the bird was never relocated. We all know this species is capable of reaching Hong Kong, it was just a matter of when.
Luckily for us, research group trapped one at Long Valley and the bird was later relocated in nearby fields. When I arrived, a few of my friends just saw the bird flew off, we searched frantically around the fields, to my relief the bird came back and we were soon enjoying brilliant views of this bird at close range!
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| Lapland Longspur - 2nd ever record in Hong Kong! |
Its been a while since I last got a lifer! Making this one of the best bird of 2021 for me. Lapland Longspur is a very rare vagrant to this part of the world, as most winter very far north, with very few reaching this far south, Hong Kong is likely as far south as they have been reported. The bird showed off all its cool features while it was in view, including the extra long hind claw and the way they walk like a lark.
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| Lapland Longspur - very friendly, showing off all its features |
Late October had been quite a good time for birds, with plenty of birds moving through, although I have been too busy to bird elsewhere, birding around my local patch seemed a good way to fit some birding in my busy schedule. Other than the Grey-backed Shrike I found earlier, some other good birds were found along Tai Mei Tuk Catchment, including a single Swinhoe's Minivet in amongst a flock of Scarlet, Grey-chinned and single Black-winged Cuckoo-shrike.
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| How many species can you find here? |
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| Swinhoe's Minivet |
A Dark-sided Flycatcher was also found along the catchment, a fairly regular autumn migrant in Hong Kong, they are always fun to watch. Asian Brown Flycatchers are far more common and I regularly find them around where I live.
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| Dark-sided Flycatcher |
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| Asian Brown Flycatcher |
I have been enjoying productive raptor watching sessions on my rooftop, with likes of Peregrine Falcons, Ospreys, Crested Honey Buzzard, Japanese Sparrowhawk, numerous Eurasian Hobby and finally a healthy count of Amur Falcons. Autumn is always a good time to look for these long distance migrants, and this year we have been getting incredible counts of these graceful raptors.
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| Peregrine Falcon |
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| Western Osprey |
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| Crested Honey Buzzard |
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| Eurasian Hobby |
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| Amur Falcon |
Now is also a good time for Eurasian Woodcocks, got lucky one night and found this particularly confiding individual feeding by the side of the road, this is by far the closest I've ever been to one, instead of just flushing them out during the day.
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| Eurasian Woodcock |
The best bird around my local patch this week got to be a Manchurian Reed Warbler found along the Ting Kok East Coast, I usually find Oriental Reed Warblers here therefore it was nice to have something different for a change! This is a rare autumn migrant which I don't see every year. Along there I also had Yellow-breasted Bunting and Little Buntings, although most just flew past without stopping.
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| Manchurian Reed Warbler - quality local patch tick! |
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