Spring is most definitely among us, with weather now becoming warmer and very humid. At the moment it is a bit early for spring migrants, and some of our wintering species are still lingering on. Over at Tai Po Kau, the White-spectacled Warbler is still present, but only very occasionally come close enough to the footpath to give good views. I was lucky to have encountered it twice recently, this year only this single individual of 'cognitus' morph seems to be present.
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| White-spectacled Warbler |
Other less common wintering warblers present are Eastern Crowned Warbler, Hartert's Leaf Warblers and Hume's Warbler, the latter two I managed to get a photo of recently. Hume's Warbler is by no means a common species in Hong Kong, but we do get a few wintering here annually, usually picked up by their distinctively different call from Yellow-browed Warbler.
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| Hartert's Leaf Warbler |
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| Hume's Warbler |
I feel that there haven't been as many Grey-headed Canary-Flycatchers around this winter, not that many are present in Tai Po Kau, the majority of records seems to come from Shek Kong Catchwater this winter, where up to three individuals seems to be present and still showing well most of the time. I finally caught up with a few Chestnut-flanked White-eyes at Tai Po Kau, which is a scarce winter visitor to Hong Kong, although a species which is likely under detected due to difficulty in finding them amongst big flocks of Swinhoe's White-eye.
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| Grey-headed Canary-Flycatcher |
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| Chestnut-flanked White-eye |
Rufous-tailed Robins are still around and you often hear their trilling song at this time of the year. A female Rufous-gorgeted Flycatcher have been seen at Tai Lam all winter, but lately have become a bit of a 'star' for photographers, as it regularly comes out the the stakeout along the forest trail.
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| Rufous-tailed Robin |
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| Rufous-gorgeted Flycatcher |
Black Bulbuls are also still present in many different forest sites around New Territories, although we do get small numbers breeding in Hong Kong, I think they are still predominantly a wintering species in Hong Kong. Chestnut Bulbul went through a similar process in Hong Kong, where they were formerly an eruptive wintering species, but slowly becoming a widespread and common resident species. Whereas the Mountain Bulbul, was actually the latest to arrive in Hong Kong, with first record only dating back to 2001, it is now a widespread and well establisehd forest species in Hong Kong.
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| Black Bulbul |
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| Chestnut Bulbul |
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| Mountain Bulbul |
A species which used to be more of an eruptive winter visitor, Indochinese Yuhina is now also a breeding species in Hong Kong, with small numbers breeding around Tai Mo Shan, here is one I saw at Kadorie Farm carrying likely nesting materials.
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| Indochinese Yuhina |
Mrs. Gould's Sunbird is now a regular wintering species in Hong Kong, although still scarce in most years, it is not unusual to have a few visiting their favourite flowering trees in various parts of Hong Kong, such as this stunning looking male visiting a Coral Tree at Kadorie Farm.
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| Mrs. Gould's Sunbird - male |
Other than the wintering species, I welcome what was likely my first spring migrant of the season, with a lovely looking male Hainan Blue Flycatcher! While we do get them breeding in Hong Kong, many of them do past through during spring migration as well.
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| Hainan Blue Flycatcher - male |
A visit to our forest sites may also give you a good range of fine forest species, one of the most sought after species is of course the Pygmy Cupwing, which is a tough bird to see as always, but with a bit of luck I do get good views on a regular basis.
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| Pygmy Cupwing |
Speckled Piculet was once a rare sight in Hong Kong, is now becoming very widespread. Other than the regular forest sites, I have also seen them around places like Mai Po and Lok Ma Chau, even some urban parks!
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| Speckled Piculet |
If you do manage to find a good feeding flock, the many resident forest species will likely keep you busy as well...Here are a selection of photos taken around various forest sites in New Territories.
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| Yellow-cheeked Tit - male |
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Grey-chinned Minivet -
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| White-bellied Erpornis |
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| Rufous-capped Babbler |
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| Blue-winged Minla |
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| Silver-eared Mesia - male |
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| Black-throated Laughingthrush |
Great Barbets have been extremely vocal lately, almost calling non-stop! The flowering Bombax Tree also seems to be attracting them to visit, allowing for some great viewings of this impressive looking species.
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| Great Barbet |
Both Scarlet-backed and Fire-breasted Flowerpeckers are fairly common species in our forest areas, it doesn't make them particularly easy to see though, given how they mostly stay high up near the canopy. You do get lucky sometimes and is rewarded by good views down at eye-levels. Here is a male Scarlet-backed and a female Fire-breasted Flowerpecker.
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| Scarlet-backed Flowerpecker - male |
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| Fire-breasted Flowerpecker - female |
I had a high count of at least 45 individuals of Common Rosefinch at Wu Kau Tang last week, which is likely to be one of the highest count for this species ever in Hong Kong. The majority of the birds were either females or juveniles, with only very few adult males.
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| Common Rosefinch - male |
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| Common Rosefinch - female |
The wintering Small Niltava was still present, although I only heard it calling and it never showed. The area around Wu Kau Tang is also well known for the Indochinese Green Magpies that are now regularly seen here, although still extremely difficult to get any good photos of as they are quick and usually quite shy. The other local specialty there are the Barred Cuckoo-Doves, which appears to now be a resident in the area, I counted up to five birds there at the same time, but only managed a record photos through all the dense vegetation.
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| Indochinese Green Magpie |
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| Barred Cuckoo-Dove - becoming residents? |
Nearby at Luk Keng, the wintering Great Crested Grebe is also a well known local specialty there. While the birds usually stay far out in the bay, they do occasionally come close enough for a decent look.
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| Great Crested Grebe |
The House Sparrows at one of my survey site are still present, which have me suspecting these ones have taken up residence in the area. It will be interesting to see if they ever colonize Hong Kong.
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| House Sparrow - male |
Along Kam Tin River, the wintering Grey-headed Lapwings are still present, although I only saw two individuals, their numbers seems to have dropped in the last few years, it will be a shame to lose this wintering population here if the trend continues this way.
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| Grey-headed Lapwing |
Things have been fairly quiet over at Long Valley, with nothing particularly interesting seen recently. It is still a great site to visit, given how it is the best site to look for Greater Painted Snipe, here is a female I saw the other day. The only notable wintering birds there are the six Garganeys that are still present, the male still looking fabulous.
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| Greater Painted Snipe - female |
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| Garganey - male |
The fishponds faired slightly better, with a few good birds seen at Tai Sang Wai, including a Golden-headed Cisticola, two stunning looking male Bluethroats and a Cinnamon Bittern which flew by.
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| Golden-headed Cisticola |
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| Bluethroat - male |
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| Cinnamon Bittern |
The long staying Rosy Starling is still present, although I still haven't been able to get a good photo, every time I see it close by, a car or someone will walk past before I can get into better position to get a better shot, and it would fly off into the distant trees.
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| Rosy Starling - juvenile |
Great Cormorants are now changing into their breeding plumage, a sign that they will soon be leaving us for for their breeding grounds up north.
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| Great Cormorant |
There are only a few large gulls when I went out to the mudflat, mostly Lesser Black-backed Gulls (heuglini) and possibly a 2nd year Mongolian Gull. The mudflat hide is probably still one of the best place to see Black-faced Spoonbills, as they often come up all the way to the front of the bird hide during the high tide.
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| Lesser Black-backed Gull (heuglini) & Mongolian Gull (?) |
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| Black-faced Spoonbill |
There were probably up to two Eurasian Wrynecks wintering in Mai Po, although they have been quite elusive and doesn't always show. I managed to catchup with one of them the other day.
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| Eurasian Wryneck |
I felt there's not been that many Eastern Marsh Harriers around, at least when compared to previous years. I wonder if that have anything to do with the decreased numbers of ducks in Deep Bay area. Still, nice to catchup with this female which flew by quite closely.
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| Eastern Marsh Harrier |
