One Day Wonder - Grey-necked Bunting : 1st Lifer of 2025

A Grey-necked Bunting was reported on 4th of January at Long Valley, as soon as I finished up my work at Sai Kung Hoiling and I rushed to the scene, I only had my binoculars with me and no camera. We got on the bird pretty quickly as two dozens of birders were still there looking at the bird. This is only (I think) the 3rd record of this species in Hong Kong, and so far previous records have been deemed ex-captive. This individual looked pretty good and 'clean' with no obvious cage damage on the wing, so maybe a good candidate to consider putting this species officially on the Hong Kong list. James got here a bit later on, but by the time he got here with his camera the bird started to skulk more in the tall grass. Thanks to James, I was able to borrow his camera and grabbed a few record photos before it got dark. We were hopeful that the bird will stay on for at least another day, unfortunately when I got back to Long Valley early next morning, the bird was nowhere to be found, with over 80 birders trying to find it around the paddies...So, another one day wonder, of which I was glad I managed to see and didn't wait another day! Making this my first lifer of 2025.

Grey-necked Bunting - One day rarity

Another good bunting turned up at Long Valley in form of a female or juvenile Red-headed Bunting, we do occasionally get this species turning up nowadays, but still a fairly rare bird in Hong Kong. Other than Little and the long staying Black-headed Bunting, a female Crested Bunting is also present, although I have not had the luck to see it on my previous visits.

Red-headed Bunting - female / juvenile

Chestnut-eared Buntings regularly winters at Long Valley, and there were quite a few of them around. To my surprise a few Yellow-breasted Buntings seems to have stayed on, likely taking advantage of the increase numbers of rice paddies at Long Valley. So, all in all a pretty good winter for buntings!

Chestnut-eared Bunting

Yellow-breasted Bunting

With the numbers of buntings and munias around the paddies, the area become the hunting ground for various raptors, including Besra, Japanese Sparrowhawk, Eurasian Kestrel and Black-winged Kites. Zitting Cisticolas seems to be in good numbers this winter, with plenty around Long Valley and Tai Sang Wai. A very friendly White-throated Kingfisher have been around the paddies, even though a very common species I still love to see them up close.

Black-winged Kite

Zitting Cisticola

White-throated Kingfisher

Greater Painted Snipes can be found with relative ease, although getting any good photo is still rather challenging, same for the Brown-cheeked Rails that have been seen around Long Valley, I only managed a record shot of it behind cover.

Greater Painted Snipe - male

Brown-cheeked Rail - very well hidden

Over at San Tin, more Tufted Ducks have arrived for the winter, an odd duck was found amongst them, which is likely a hybrid between a Ferruginous Duck and Baer's Pochard, the latter I have not seen for many years. This particular duck have the greenish sheen on its head that reminds one of a Baer's Pochard, but the flank and crown is more similar to Ferruginous Duck. The long staying Black-necked Grebe is still present, although it now prefers to hunt for fish further away from the main road, meaning not as easy to get close views of it.

Tufted Duck

Ferruginous Duck x Baer's Pochard hybrid

Black-necked Grebe - long staying individual

San Tin is also a good area to look for Chinese Penduline-Tit outside of Mai Po, this male showed quite well while I was out with two guests, staying still for a few minutes for good views. San Tin can also be good to scan for raptors, such as this juvenile Imperial Eagle and this passing Osprey.

Chinese Penduline-Tit

Imperial Eagle

Osprey

Tai Po Kau have been rather mediocre all winter, the single White-spectacled Warbler don't always show and I only met this lovely bird once out of my many visits. A flock of Indochinese Yuhinas gave incredibly close views, a delighting species to see as always. Verditer Flycatcher is also a fairly common winter visitor in Hong Kong, one at Tai Po Kau Park occasionally shows well.

White-spectacled Warbler

Indochinese Yuhina

Verditer Flycatcher - male

The Rhodolea tree is now coming into bloom, and this is likely the best time of the year to look for sunbirds and leafbirds, I scanned for Gould's Sunbirds at various locations but only got Fork-tailed Sunbirds, although some will likely turn up at some point in the next month or two. Orange-bellied Leafbirds are never boring to look at, and flowering Rhodolea tree is the best place to look for them.

Fork-tailed Sunbird - male

Orange-bellied Leafbird - male

Otherwise, its business as usual around Tai Po Kau, on most visits you do get to see the majority of our local resident forest species such as Velvet-fronted Nuthatch and Scarlet Minivet, some species like Streak-breasted Scimitar-Babbler can be slightly trickier, although still regularly heard or seen around the reserve.

Velvet-fronted Nuthatch

Scarlet Minivet - male

Streak-breasted Scimitar-Babbler

Rufous-tailed Robins are common in winter months, although finding a friendly one requires some luck. Fire-breasted Flowerpeckers are also a common species at Tai Po Kau, although most of the time they prefer to stay high up in the canopy, I got lucky with this female which came down very low for a good look. Every time I go past the dead tree along the access road up to the reserve, I look for the Crested Serpent Eagle, it is not always present, but pretty unmissable when it is there.

Rufous-tailed Robin

Fire-breasted Flowerpecker - female

Crested Serpent Eagle

Finally, my first Porcupine seen in 2025, and surprisingly during the day at Tai Po Kau! This species is predominately a nocturnal species, only occasionally do we see them during the day.

East Asian Porcupine