Late Spring Pelagic & Wildlife

Just before the end of spring I got invited to be the guide for a pelagic trip to southern Hong Kong waters by the HKBWS, hard to say no to this wonderful opportunity to look for some pelagic species! We first started with a brief visit to one of the breeding tern colony, this island is just off Po Toi and a stronghold for Bridled Terns. It is now illegal to land on the island during the summer months when these terns return to breed, although occasionally we still see some people landing on the island and causing huge disturbance to the terns...We saw numerous Bridled Terns in courtship and a few resting on floating rubbish out at sea.

Bridled Tern colony

Bridled Tern

White-bellied Sea Eagles were back at their usual spot, Hong Kong is one of the stronghold for this species on the southern coast of China, as their eggs are collected elsewhere, apparently brings good luck or something? Still, we don't have that many breeding pairs in Hong Kong, therefore each pair that breeds here is essential to the population of the region.

White-bellied Sea Eagle

It was already well past the peak tern migration season, still we managed to find a few other species of migrating terns, including a few White-winged Terns, a few Common Terns and at least one Aleutian Tern in the distance. Flying Fish are often seen out at sea, and we saw plenty during our outing, although they are always a challenging subject to photograph!

White-winged Tern

Common and Aleutian Tern

Flying Fish

Fortunately, we had a few true pelagic birds during the trip, including two Short-tailed Shearwaters, they were quite far away but we enjoyed the brief encounter as it glides low over the surface. The best bird of the day was saved for last, on our return journey towards Aberdeen I noticed a large bird flying towards us from the distance, it had very long wings. I immediately called out "Friatebird!", and everyone scrambled for views, in the end this majestic juvenile Lesser Frigatebird simply flew straight towards our boat and right over our heads! 

Short-tailed Shearwater

Lesser Frigatebird -  juvenile

I haven't been out birding much, the hot weather really puts off any thoughts of going out during the day. While night time is still hot and humid, it is at least manageable without the sun constantly beating down on you. A short walk close to home produced a nice Collared Scops Owl, incidentally I didn't bring my telephoto lens with me, as i only had my 100mm macro with me, this was the best I managed of this rather confiding owl. I also had a brief view of a Brown Fish Owl flying over.

Collared Scops Owl

Catchwaters are known to be death traps for many smaller animals, snakes included. I found two snakes in the catchwater the other night, first a Many-banded Krait, which ended up slithering into a hole in the wall before I could get it out. The other a young Common Wolf Snake which had no chance climbing up those smooth concrete walls, I 'fished' it out and took a few photos before it slither off into the undergrowth.

Many-banded Krait

Common Wolf Snake

The wet weather lately means the frogs are happy, Asian Painted Frogs are of course calling away each night after the rain. Here a juvenile and an adult snuggled in a drain.

Asian Painted Frog

Other smaller Microhyla or Pygmy Frogs are also most active after the rain, these tiny frogs can be easily missed as many are smaller than large crickets. Here are a couple of Ornate Pygmy Frogs, their back patterns can vary greatly between different individuals.

Ornate Pygmy Frog

Brown Tree Frogs can be found in a wide range of habitat, from forest to farmland, they utilizes any stagnant pool of water for breeding, for example this water filled bucket, you can see the many tadpoles swimming around next to this adult.

Brown Tree Frog

Pleny of moths while out walking, such as this Common Hunter Moth, there were a lot of Asota around, including Asota heliconia and Asota theratra. Of course, you can never miss the huge Lyssa zampa, which often end up flying towards your torch.

Common Hunter Moth - Theretra clotho

Asota heliconia

Asota theratra

Lyssa zampa

Autumn Rarities - Emei Leaf Warbler & Chinese Grey Shrike

Weather is finally cooling down somewhat, it was a very pleasant 25°C a few days ago. The cooler weather definitely brought in more birds, one of the most notable rarity being an Emei Leaf Warbler at Tai Lam. Kenneth and I went there the next morning, we saw the warbler soon after we got to the 'magic valley', its appearance was definitely 'Blyth's-type', with double wing bars, crown stripe and a completely orange lower mandible. Luckily for us the warbler was very vocal, making it easier for us to ID. Its song is a resonant trill that is very different from all the other similar looking warblers. The bird came down briefly to feed, allowing us to take some half decent photos, before going higher up again to feed with other warblers in the bird wave.

Emei Leaf Warbler - Only my second lifer for 2022

There were plenty of warblers around, other than the most common species such as Yellow-browed and Two-barred, plenty of Hartert's were around, including both race fukiensis and goodsoni. We counted at least four Sulphur-breasted Warblers throughout the trail, this species is definitely becoming much easier to find in Hong Kong. Eastern Crowned Warbler were in very good numbers, seems like we are getting an influx of them this year.

Hartert's Leaf Warbler - goodsoni

Sulphur-breasted Warbler

Eastern Crowned Warbler

Other than warblers, a Japanese Paradise Flycatcher was seen within the bird wave, feeding frantically within the flock of birds. Many Grey-chinned Minivets and other common forest species also made their rounds along magic valley.

Japanese Paradise Flycatcher

Grey-chinned Minivet - female

One of the most exciting find for me was a male White-throated Rock Thrush first spotted by Peter Wong within the bird wave! It's been many years since I last seen one of these handsome birds! It showed briefly and soon flew down the valley and out of sight. As if that wasn't brilliant enough, Kenneth and I later found TWO more females along the trail! Truly an incredible experience to see three of these rare migrants in one day!

White-throated Rock Thrush - male

White-throated Rock Thrush - female

The cherry on top was the Green-backed Flycatcher which decided to return to where I initially found it, its not been seen by any other birders since my last encounter until the day I returned to Tai Lam (relocated in the morning by John Clough)! While views were slightly more distant, I was happy to get a photo of its 'green-backed' this time round.

Green-backed Flycatcher

My local patch is also turning up some good birds, including this rather confiding Yellow-browed Warbler feeding on the lawn. This is a new species for me at Ting Kok, in the same area I also found a Yellow-breasted Bunting.

Yellow-browed Bunting

Other more common migrants in the area includes a Black-winged Cuckooshrike and a Asian Brown Flycatcher both feeding near the mangroves. Up to two Brown Shrikes were found near the BBQ sites. A Japanese Sparrowhawk also been seen terrorising the birds in the area, but it always swooped in quick and low, making it almost impossible to photograph.

Black-winged Cuckooshrike

Asian Brown Flycatcher

Brown Shrike

The most incredible bird though was no doubt a Chinese Grey Shrike! Found by Eric and Marco, I immediately rushed over after I got the news, and sure enough found this incredible looking shrike feeding on the lawns at close range! There's only ever been two accepted Chinese Grey Shrike record in Hong Kong that I know of, so this is only the 3rd record for Hong Kong (I think).

Chinese Grey Shrike

It successfully caught a few grasshoppers, often using the little hut by the mangroves as a vantage point. it was an incredibly confiding bird, often flying straight towards me and land just a few feet from me to catch insects before flying back up to the trees or the little hut to feed. After 20 minutes of it showing really well, the bird suddenly decided to fly straight out to sea and towards Yeung Chau, landing on a small yacht just off the island. 

Chinese Grey Shrike

I presume the bird left...but I decided to check again the next morning anyway. Sadly, the shrike was found dead by the road. It did not have any visible injuries, therefore it seems highly unlikely it was attacked by a cat. There were also no windows near the area it was found at, making it an unlikely victim of window strike. Therefore, I presume it could have just died of exhaustion from flying all the way down to Hong Kong. An incredibly sad end for this rarity, but I guess this is just the harsh reality that these migratory birds have to face, I just feel incredibly lucky to be able to see this beautiful bird at its best.

Chinese Grey Shrike - deceased...

It is almost the end of snake season, despite that night walks can still be productive. A walk at Lung Fu Shan provided us stellar views of a group of Malayan Porcupines feeding by the road, also two different Masked Palm Civets from two different locations, one feeding on; you guess it, Ficus variegata! Hoiling spotted a male Bamboo Pit Viper, this one photographed in-situ. 

Malayan Porcupine

Masked Palm Civet

Bamboo Pit Viper