Tai Po Kau - Fledging Time

Although June is quiet, I still enjoy going out for walks, you are unlikely to spot anything rare, but there are plenty of resident species to go around, plus it's only this time of the year that you get to see some of the breeding behaviours of various species. At Tai Po Kau the other day, I encountered a family of Yellow-cheeked Tits, the two adults attending to two fledglings. The curious fledglings were obviously not very skilled at catching their own food yet.

It also seems that their parents were not providing them with bite size food items anymore, but big chunky caterpillars with a lot of prickly hairs...So, the young bird got to learn to flick all the hairs off before enjoying the juicy worm. After delivering a large caterpillar, the male seems to be too tired to bother and just perched there to preen for up to ten minutes...avian parenting is no easy task.

It was overall quiet, even most of the common species did not make it easy for photographs. I could not relocate the Brown-breasted Flycatchers, perhaps they decided to move somewhere else to nest? There were still a few Hainan Blue Flycatchers in song, a handsome male made an appearance. A small flock of Greater Necklaced Laughingthrushes showed briefly, while I encountered a few small bird waves including a lot of Velvet-fronted Nuthatches and plenty of Chestnut Bulbuls. I heard the Bay Woodpecker in the distance, but it was way too far away that I didn't even bother trying.

Although summer is quiet for birds, there are plenty of other wildlife around to see. Giant Golden Orb Weaver Spiders Nephila pilipes are fairly easy to find at this time of the year, females can grow as big as your hand. Their webs are so strong that I've actually seen them trapping Japanese White-eyes for lunch!

Insects numbers are also near it's peak in the summer months, there were also plenty of interesting looking beetles around of various sizes. I am not sure of some of the ID, but the Neolucanus sinicus; a stag beetle was probably my personal favourite of the day.

Melanotus sp.

Languriidae sp.

Idgia oculata

Cantao ocellatus - I didn't even know they are carnivorous!

Neolucanus sinicus - brilliant looking stag beetle

Finally, a nesting pair of Blue Whistling Thrush near where I live is rearing their second brood this season! They found a spot near roof top park that is out of reach from people or cats. I took a closer look the other day and saw three chicks in the nest. This is one of the 3 known nest sites of Blue Whistling Thrushes near where I live, and probably the newest nest of all.

The Easy Route - Shek Kong Catchment

One of the main reason why I love to visit Shek Kong Catchment (Also known as Pat Heung Catchwater on ebird) is it's accessibility, as well as how easy going the path is compare to other forest sites such as Tai Po Kau, the forest is also much more open which is good for photography. September through to May is a good time to visit, as the site is known to attracts all sorts of migrants. I decided to try my luck there this morning. Encountered a small feeding flock right where I parked my car, immediately locking onto a handsome Yellow-cheeked Tit and a few Velvet-fronted Nuthatches feeding along the tree trunks.

Yellow-cheeked Tit - as entertaining as always

Velvet-fronted Nuthatch

A good supply of Scarlet Minivets is always welcoming. Both males and females showed well, occasionally coming down low to feed. Grey-chinned Minivets were also present but seemed to prefer the higher branches this morning. While I saw a single female Orange-bellied Leafbird chasing away a flock of Blue-winged Minlas and Silver-eared Mesia near a fruiting tree aggressively.

Scarlet Minivet - one of the main staple of bird waves (male above & female below)

Orange-bellied Leafbird - female

A dark shadow swooped in from my left towards a flock of Silver-eared Mesias, the Mesias sounded the alarm quickly and seemed to dispersed quickly enough to avoid becoming lunch for a juvenile Crested Goshawk. The Goshawk flew back up to a perch close to me after it's failed attempt, as if to catch a breather, it's hunting skills better improve if it wants to grow bigger!

Crested Goshawk - juvenile

I wasn't doing very well with the migrants until I saw a pair of Arctic Warblers. A common autumn migrant, we are now getting a large influx of them, where they will literally turn up everywhere. I was expecting Flycatchers, and Flycatcher I got! First off a single male Blue-and-White Flycatcher that showed only briefly and not to be seen again. Then, I flushed a female Yellow-rumped Flycatcher from a water hole, I was just about to raise my camera up to photograph it when it was spooked by a jogger...it also did not reappear. The only Flycatcher that went slightly easy on me was a male Hainan Blue Flycatcher, which could be a remaining individual or a newly arrived migrant, either way they are nice birds to see in September.

Arctic Warbler

Hainan Blue Flycatcher

However, the species that really stood out today was Grey Treepie. I encountered a total of three flocks, a few individuals decided to let me take a good and close look. Interesting thing about this species is that outside Hong Kong they seem to be very common and not as difficult to see, but those in Hong Kong are certainly far shyer, making them a "heard only" species half the time. So, I consider myself very lucky to get a good look at them today.

Grey Treepie - a "good" look, note the uniform tail 
feather different from the Taiwan subspecies.

I walked all the way to Tsing Tam Reservoir and back, deciding to take in the scenery on this fine morning. It certainly weren't a bad morning considering I total 37 species just on a single stretch of concrete road. Taking it easy sometimes is not a bad thing at all.

Tsing Tam Reservoir in glorious morning sun

All Wishes Coming True

You know how there are days where you will set yourself a few targets, as in birds you will like to see while out birding, and then you won't find any of those target species on that day. Then there are days where you find birds that wasn't on your target list but turned up anyway. Finally, there are those days where you connect with pretty much all the birds you wished to see; today was one of those days.

Chestnut-flanked White-eye - one of my main mission of the day

I worked through the weekend last week, feeling like I want a short break I took a day off to look for a few birds I've been missing out lately. The first being the Chinese Blue Flycatcher that had been here for two weeks, but I simply haven't had the time to catch up with. Second bird being Chestnut-flanked White-eyes, which many people had been seeing but I never had the luck encountering any. Finally, Oriental Pratincoles which have just arrived back to Hong Kong lately (I actually saw them on Saturday while working but didn't have my camera with me). So, with these targets set I headed out to Shek Kong Catchment to try my luck.

My first interesting species came in form of two Besras, one adult that was flying way up high and the other a 1st year youngling that was flying a little closer to ground.

Besra

I soon hit a bird wave, the quality of the birds were not bad. Velvet-fronted Nuthatches were very noisy and active, seeing our local ones reminded of those at Mt Kinabalu, and they really looked very different! Yellow-cheeked Tits were very showy today, a male came particularly close, pecking away at a branch obviously infested with worms and bugs. Two Black-winged Cuckooshrikes were also present, although no good views were provided by the pair. Both species of Minivets were present, but it was a male Scarlet Minivet that stole the show, it came down to eye-level giving breath taking views! And you simply can't help to simply marvel at how beautiful they are every single time.

Velvet-fronted Nuthatch

Yellow-cheeked Tit

Black-winged Cuckooshrike

Scarlet Minivet

A more interesting bird was a Mountain Bulbul which came with the flock, very actively foraging. At one point the bird chased down a Glassy Tiger (a butterfly), I never knew they could eat these supposedly poisonous butterflies? As I've previously heard they should tastes quite bad and most birds avoid them...I wonder.

Mountain Bulbul - with a Glassy Tiger in it's beak, I saw it ate it in the end.

On I went to the supposed location of the Chinese Blue Flycatcher, a stretch of tall bamboos. I've heard from various sources that it was quite secretive and was quite difficult to see, so I didn't really have high hopes when I got there. I waited around for a little while and saw nothing, at this moment I tried playing a call of the flycatcher to see if the bird will reveal it's true location, sure enough I got a response in the bamboos! I walked closer and surely found a beautiful male sitting on a low branch. It didn't show for long though, as soon as I took a few photos it disappeared once again and never came back out! So, I must considered myself quite lucky that it actually showed.

Chinese Blue Flycatcher - top target of the day and a new tick for me

I met John Clough soon after, and he reminded me of the Chestnut-flanked White-eyes he found just a few days ago at a nearby location, which was in fact the next spot I planned to visit. On my way over I came across two more flycatchers in form of a Grey-headed Canary Flycatcher and a male Verditer Flycatcher, the latter didn't show too well and only allowed a record photo to be taken.

Grey-headed Canary Flycatcher

Verditer Flycatcher

I got to the two large coral trees that are in bloom, right in the village of Lui Kung Tin. Hundreds of Japanese White-eyes were feeding on the tree, they coming and going constantly. Chestnut-flanked White-eyes had always been a tough bird to find in Hong Kong, first of all they look superficially similar to the Japanese White-eyes, with very subtle differences other then the more conspicuous coloured flanks, which may not always be visible depending on what angle. Secondly, there are never that many, with someone suggesting one in every thousand Japanese...Not sure where this figure came from but I don't think it's far off.

Japanese White-eye - one of the hundreds that were there...

I waited and waited...just as I was about to give up, I noticed a slightly different looking bird. I looked through my binoculars and sure enough it had a chestnut flank! I quickly grabbed my camera and fired a few shots, luckily a few of them were in focus despite my clumsiness. You can see that other then the more obvious chestnut-flanks, their eye-rings are slightly larger, the lores are darker then that of Japanese, while they have a more clearly defined yellow throat. Other then that, they could be easily missed in a large flock of Japanese White-eyes!

Chestnut-flanked White-eye - they just won't stay still!

With both of my target birds at Shek Kong Catchment nicely ticked with time to spare before noon, I decided to head back to Tai Sang Wai to look for the Oriental Pratincoles I saw on Saturday while on an outing. I didn't have my camera with me that day, so I thought a photo record would be nice. Off I went towards Tai Sang Wai, and the first birds that greeted me was not Pratincoles, but a gang of at least six Black Kites harassing young Imperial Eagle! The poor eagle sure took a good beating, I bet it wasn't enjoying it's day one bit...

Imperial Eagle harassed by Black Kites

A few Large-billed Crows greeted me as I entered the fish ponds. I noticed a Great Egret had assumed breeding plumage, bill changing from yellow to black and face from yellowish green to bright green. I thought a photo of a Grey Heron at the middle of the road was quite nice. Eastern Yellow Wagtails were quite common.

Large-billed Crow

Great Egret

Grey Heron

Eastern Yellow Wagtail - taivana

Finally, I found the flock of eighteen Pratincoles right where I remembered them to be. They were slightly more alert today having been here a few days, but being Pratincoles they were still approachable by any standard, I got to just around 5m from one individual. These birds are always fun to watch and very attractive to look at.

Oriental Pratincole - approachable and beautiful

But to see them at their best, you need to see them in flight! They truly belong to the sky being graceful and elegant, agile mobility on the wing allows them to catch flying insects like a swallow. Plus, it is only during flight that you can pick out all the diagnostic features that separates them from the similar looking Collared and Black-winged Pratincoles. Black-winged Pratincoles have dark underwings, while Collared have brown underwing but a much longer tail then Oriental. Both Collared and Black-winged are yet to be on the HK list, although potentially they could be! Also good for me to exercise some muscles for these flight shots, all taken with my 500mm hand held.

Oriental Pratincole - good for target practice

I was out of Tai Sang Wai by 1pm, marking this one of my most efficient ever morning with all three of my target birds found and photographed. Spring is upon us, but busy time ahead for me...Maybe the birds will continue to be nice to me.