More Summer Wildlife

Hot and stuffy summer months are not the easiest to get through for birders in Hong Kong, carrying around heavy gear in the intense heat is no fun. Although it does have its charm as the forest is truly alive at this time of the year, with many insects, reptiles and all sorts of other critters you may find if you look closely. A few rare breeding birds may also be present, one of them is the Malayan Night Heron, which have been regularly breeding in Hong Kong since last decade, they are now quite a widespread breeder but is by no means common. I was lucky to encounter this one in Western New Territories, strutting along a grassy lawn, feeding on earthworms.

Malayan Night Heron - rare breeding species in Hong Kong

Most cuckoos have seized calling by now, having found their victims to deal with their troublesome young...although I found a Chestnut-winged Cuckoo still calling near Lok Ma Chau, was able to get some good looks before it flew off into the distance. They are such an attractive species that I can hardly get bored of.

Chestnut-winged Cuckoo

Most birds are still busy rearing their young in June, forest birds in particular can become quite quiet during this time. By late June most birds have reared at least one clutch and some on their second, thats when you start seeing juvenile birds following their parents around. A walk around Tai Po Kau at this time of the year will often see familiar species engaging in breeding activities such as carrying food. Here a Chestnut Bulbul carrying an insect back to its nest, while two Mountain Bulbuls eyed me closely from above, likely having a nest nearby. You may also find juvenile Velvet-fronted Nuthatch with black bills, learning how to forage.

Chestnut Bulbul

Mountain Bulbul

Velvet-fronted Nuthatch - juvenile

We don't have any flying foxes in hong Kong, but we do have the Short-nosed Fruit Bat, a species that helps disperse the seeds of our local trees. You often find them resting under the leafs of Fan Palms during the day, which shelters them from the sunlight and rain.

Short-nosed Fruitbat

As birding is slow during summer months, it is a good time to put some effort in identifying all the damselflies and dragonflies around us. Here is a collection of some beautiful damsels and dragonflies I encountered recently. Nothing really rare but they are fascinating to look at.

Ceriagrion auranticum ryukyuanum

Agriocnemis pygmaea

Onychargia atrocyana

Agriocnemis femina oryzae

Neurothemis tullia tullia

Zygonyx iris insignis

Moth of the month no doubt goes to a Clelea sapphirina, a small but extremely beautiful little gem, as its name suggests, it looks as if someone embedded many sapphire on its wings.

Clelea sapphirina

Summer is also a great time to see some impressive looking Beetles, such as the very beautiful Euselates magna, Hong Kong is not known for having too many impressive looking stag beetles, but we do have a fair share of species, such as this Prosopocoilus oweni.

Euselates magna

Prosopocoilus oweni

Spiders are my newest obsession, and summer is a great time to look for these eight legged creatures. As little as they are studied in Hong Kong, we do have a good range of species. Like many Argiope species, the Argiope vietnamensis create a white 'X' on their web, supposedly to lure in insects. The Cyrtarachne inaequalis which is also known as 'Bird Dropping Spider' mimics a bird dropping on a leaf. The very colourful Thwaitesia glabicauda is not uncommon and often found hiding under leafs. Jumping Spiders are probably the most attractive of all spiders, here we have the Harmochirus brachiatus, Carrhotus sannio and Rhene flavigera.

Argiope vietnamensis

Cyrtarachne inaequalis

Thwaitesia glabicauda

Harmochirus brachiatus

Carrhotus sannio

Rhene flavigera

Finally, we just had a solar eclipse on 21st of June, it was only a partial eclipse, but with a coverage of 90%. It would be another 50 years before we see another eclipse of this coverage in Hong Kong.

Partial Solar Eclipse

Going Cuckoo : Common Cuckoo in Hong Kong

May is no doubt the season of cuckoos, with Lesser Cuckoo, Hodgson's Hawk Cuckoo, Indian Cuckoo, Large Hawk Cuckoo, Plaintive Cuckoo and Chestnut-winged Cuckoos often heard around various places, it was therefore a very nice surprise that the list of cuckoos just got longer, as someone reported a Common Cuckoo at Mai Po, a mega rarity much needed this May!

Common Cuckoo - a real treat for early summer!

Upon hearing the news I immediately rushed to the scene, where dozen of serious birders were already there looking for the bird. We soon all got brief views of the bird, as it hawked for insects high up in the tree, although it was not making life easy for us, always staying out of sight or within cover.

Common Cuckoo - always behind something...

It took me a few hours to finally get a half decent record photo. This bird was calling on and off, making the classic 'cuckoo, cuckoo' call that we hear more often from cuckoo clocks. The barring in the front doesn't really strike me as that different from Oriental Cuckoos, although its large size was perhaps the first noticeable difference, as it felt almost as big as a Large Hawk Cuckoo. There were some discussions on the race of this individual, and it is believed this is probably race bakeri from western China. This is only the 2nd confirmed record of a Common Cuckoo in Hong Kong, a very nice addition to the Hong Kong list for many happy birders.

Common Cuckoo - likely to be race bakeri

Other than the cuckoo I have not seen too many interesting birds of late, I spent a morning looking at Indochinese Green Magpies at Wu Kau Tang, where a small flock were actively feeding in the dense forest. This group wasn't particularly shy, but as is the case with this species in general, they were unwilling to perch out in the open for a clear view, usually obscured by layers of branches and leaves. After an hour of trying I got a few clear photos, half of the time they were so close that I couldn't fit the whole bird in frame...This species have established a stronghold around Pat Sin Leng and now apparently also recorded as far as Yuen Long. Rather they have an impact on local fauna is unknown, but they certainly fills an ecological niche of large forest birds that is largely absent from Hong Kong.

Indochinese Green Magpie - an active bunch

I also spent some time near home to look for other critters, one of the more interesting find this week was perhaps a Macromidia rapida, a scarce dragonfly that inhabits hill streams. We were fortunate enough to find this one perched at night.

Macromidia rapida

The top spider species for me was a Hamadruas hieroglyphica, a species I have looked for a while but never found, turns out we got some right near home! Other exciting spiders includes Paraplectana coccinella, also known as the Ladybird Spider, was lucky enough to see a male attempting to mate with a female! Their size difference was simply incredible to witness.

Hamadruas hieroglyphica

Paraplectana coccinella

Eriovixia laglaizei was also a nice addition to our local list, a species that I find to be uncommon. While on our rooftop I also found a Phintella vittata hunting on our citrus tree, a very colourful little jumper which is always a delight to see.

Eriovixia laglaizei

Phintella vittata

A Warm January

January is usually the coldest month of the year, but this year it had been relatively warm, temperature rarely dropped below 10°C. Due to health reasons my birding activities had been kept to a minimal, as I could not venture too far, I've been itching to get up to Tai Po Kau with extremely good birds reported up there on a regular basis, but unfortunately it is out of the question for the time being...There are a few birds around which requires minimal walking distance to get to, one of them being a White-tailed Robin on 'show' at Lung Fu Shan, it was spotted by birders late December, but had since been fed meal worms by photographers. Most of the photographers had already been and gone by the time I went to investigate. The young bird was perched on the designated perch created by the photographers when I arrived, these types of setups make it so easy to get 'good' photographs, but certainly take the fun out of it...I was only there for 5 minutes before I got completely bored and left. This species is still a fairly rare winter visitor in Hong Kong, so by all means it's worth a look.

White-tailed Robin - a very obliging subject...

Red-flanked Bluetails and Daurian Redstarts are fairly common in winter, although Red-flanked Bluetail numbers certainly had seen a major decrease in recent winters, I am not sure why that is but perhaps milder winter is changing their migratory patterns.

Red-flanked Bluetail - female

Daurian Redstart - female

The Tristram's Buntings at Wonderland Villas had returned yet again, this time there were only two, but they're still absolute joy to see especially at your local patch. They are not shy either, often allowing quite close views.

Tristram's Bunting - a great bird to see as always

A naturalist never let anything stop them from going outside...Although I could not walk long distance for the time being, I still regularly venture outside to look for birds and other critters, spiders being one of my new favourites. There are always some spiders around us if you look closely, and you will be surprise at the variety you get in a small area.

Carrhotus sp.

Chrysilla acerosa - female

Cyclosa confusa

Parasteatoda songi

Lycosidae sp.

Castianeira hongkong

Thanatus hongkong

Finally, the best bird of the month for me so far, an Ashy Minivet at Mt. Davis. I was there to look for the Yellow-streaked Warbler with my dad, as he haven't seen it. We somehow dipped on that, but got a very surprising Ashy Minivet mixed in with a few Scarlet Minivets. Although this is a fairly common spring migrant, there are very few winter records of this species as far as I know.

Ashy Minivet - a fairly decent surprise

Hopefully I will recover by next month for more birding, not exactly the best start of 2019...