First Week of the Year - 3 Owls & a Cormorant

I had 3 birding tours on the first week of 2023, a good start and hopefully things are finally picking back up! throughout the week I ended up with 145 species, which is not a bad start to the year. Highlights included a Brown Wood Owl and a Collared Scops Owl on the first evening! Both seen well, with the Brown Wood Owl sitting there for as long as I could've wish for, this is a fine species to see in any circumstance, and what a bird to get on the first day of the year! I managed to find an Asian Barred Owlet and Shek Kong on my 7th day, its been a while since I last saw one in HK, so I am quite pleased with this find.

Brown Wood Owl

Collared Scops Owl

Asian Barred Owlet

Our first rarity came in form of a Japanese Cormorant, a fine looking bird was spotted off Lantau from Cheung Chau, we chartered a boat to see it, and luckily it was sitting on its usual rock. The Japanese Cormorant is a rare wanderer to Hong Kong waters, my last encounter were two at Shek O in December 2015, but those were seen through the scope at great distance, so I was quite happy to see this one up close!

Japanese Cormorant - 1st rarity of 2023

After the Cormorant, our friend who lives on Cheung Chau took us to his usual spot for White-browed Laughingthrush, a species that is rather scarce in Hong Kong, Cheung Chau had always been the 'easiest' location to find them, given you know where to look! I haven't seen one in Hong Kong since 2014!

White-browed Laughingthrush

The first tour I did was a half day tour at Tai Po Kau, we had lots of regular residents on the day which showed well, the Rhodoleia championii is starting to bloom, and that always attracts lots of Mountain Bulbuls and Greyish-crowned Leafbirds (now split from Orange-bellied Leafbird). 

Mountain Bulbul

Greyish-crowned Leafbird - male

We had really close views of a Red-billed Leiothrix, also known as a Pekin Robin though its not a real robin. Later, we got great views of a real robin; the Japanese Robin, after a few tries on 3 individuals. While this species is now considered too rare this winter, views of this beauty never gets old!

Red-billed Leiothrix

Japanese Robin - male

The best bird of the morning came in form of a Chestnut-crowned Warbler, although views were brief, we were rewarded with good views of a pair of Bay Woodpeckers as well, although I didn't manage a photo. Other common species such as this Huet's Fulvetta were seen well.

Huet's Fulvetta

A Crested Serpent Eagle perched on the same tree all morning, always a wonderful bird to see perched. Blue Whistling Thrush while common, is worth stopping for a look if conditions are right, their colours are best shown under the sun, as seen here!

Crested Serpent Eagle

Blue Whistling Thrush

My second tour is a full day tour around south Lantau, as guest had a car to access the restricted area for the day. We tried Shui Hau first, with great success, as we connected with our main target; the Brown-headed Thrush almost instantly. We saw three in total, two of them allowed us to get some decent photos. I've never been able to get any good photos for this species, so I was extra please we got cracking views of this lovely species.

Brown-headed Thrush - female

Other than the hundreds of Light-vented Bulbuls, two warblers dominated the scenes at Shui Hau, first the Dusky Warblers, which seems to be flitting about in every bush, many were simply feeding out in the open! Pallas's Leaf Warblers were everywhere, you can see at least one every 10 seconds or so. A few came super close, so close in fact that my lens nearly couldn't keep up with the focusing.

Dusky Warbler

Pallas's Leaf Warbler

The trees next to the buffalo fields hosted lots of 'flycatchers', other than the regular Daurian Redstarts and Amur Stonechats, a male Grey Bushchat was around. At least two Taiga Flycatchers took up territory in the area. A pair of Red-flanked Bluetails were also seen in the area, the male was extremely handsome and showed extremely well.

Grey Bushchat - male

Taiga Flycatcher

Red-flanked Bluetail - male

We moved on to Pui O afterwards, where we saw a lot of pipits and wagtails. Olive-backed Pipits were abundant, where as a few confiding Eastern Yellow Wagtails provided plenty of good photo opportunities. Best find there were up to 14 Buff-bellied Pipits, they were a bit shy, but I've never seen so many in one field before! We also picked up Red-throated and Richard's Pipits along the way.

Olive-backed Pipit

Eastern Yellow Wagtail

Buff-bellied Pipit

Near the mangroves we picked up a female Siberian Rubythroat, it was extremely confiding and provided excellent views. A pair of Pacific Reef Egrets made an appearance near the mudflat, where we later saw a Black-capped Kingfisher flew past and later perched on the opposite mangroves.

Siberian Rubythroat - female

Pacific Reef Egret

Black-capped Kingfisher

There were a lot of Oriental Turtle Doves, a lot of them were just casually foraging on the ground, a sight that reminded me of the urban parks in Japan! A few Red Collared Doves were also mixed i with them, providing excellent views.

Oriental Turtle Dove

Red-collared Dove - female & male

We headed towards Mui Wo after lunch, it was slightly disappointing there with very few birds seen. We did find a pair of White's Thrush, one of which was very confiding. The only other bird we added was a Black-faced Bunting.

White's Thrush

Black-faced Bunting - female

My third full day tour was a 'New Territories run around', where we ended up visiting 7 locations and ended up with 105 species of birds. Along Shek Kong Catchment, we managed to find most of the common forest species, including the forever fabulous looking Grey-chinned Minivets and White-bellied Erpornis. White-rumped Munias gave really nice closeup views near the eco garden. A female White-rumped Shama showed well, a species that seems to have become a lot more common in the last few years.

Grey-chinned Minivet - male

White-bellied Erpornis

White-rumped Munia

White-rumped Shama - female

Other than the Asian Barred Owlet, there were a few interesting birds at Shek Kong Airfield, first was not a bird we usually see in Hong Kong, a Common Waxbill, which obviously was ex-captive. Yellow-billed Grosbeaks never fail to impress, while a confiding Red-flanked Bluetail was a nice addition to our day's list. We also had three White's Thrush and a Siberian Rubythroat.

Common Waxbill

Yellow-billed Grosbeak - female

Red-flanked Bluetail - male

The afternoon was spent looking for waterbirds, we connected with Black-faced Spoonbills and many waders around various fishponds. We also looked for other birds such as Grey-headed Lapwings on Ko Po Road. Near Ma Tso Lung a few White-cheeked Starlings showed well and allowed me to get a few good photos. Several very confiding Scaly-breasted Munias near Ho Sheung Heung. One of the better bird at San Tin was a Eurasian Wryneck, which we saw well, but I was too slow to my camera. The Bluethroat at Tai Sang Wai is certainly a nice end point for our day.

Grey-headed Lapwing

White-cheeked Starling

Scaly-breasted Munia

Bluethroat - male

All in all, a very decent start to 2023. Wishing everyone happy birding in the coming year!