Proper Autumn Migration Commence!

While we get some early autumn migrants from late August onwards, the proper wave of migrants usually arrive between the first two weeks of September, with many birders reporting classic good autumn migrants such as Fairy Pittas at various locations around Hong Kong, Tiger Shrike at Ho Man Tin and more. I haven't really taken the time to chase after anything, I have mainly just been out a few times to do some birding on my own. I did visit Ho Man Tin once before all the crowd came in, and yielded a lovely Yellow-rumped Flycatcher, a truly classic autumn migrant in Hong Kong and one that I am always happy to catch-up with in. Asian Brown Flycatchers are also arriving in fairly good numbers, I was hoping for Dark-sided Flycatchers but I have yet to find any.

Yellow-rumped Flycatcher - a lovely sight to behold in autumn

Asian Brown Flycatcher

Long Valley's also been receiving a fair share of migrants, most notable being a few Yellow-breasted Buntings, I counted three at one point, no doubt more will return later in the month. Though a fairly common sight in Hong Kong, the Yellow-breasted Bunting is still a critically endangered species. The rice paddies also attracting a lot of Munias, including quite a lot of White-rumped Munias.

Yellow-breasted Bunting

White-rumped Munia

The paddies also have attracted a lot of doves, while they were mostly Spotted Doves, there were a few Red Collared Doves. The first of our wintering Amur Stonechats have returned, as always they have already started to take up territories.

Red Collared Dove

Amur Stonechat

Eastern Yellow Wagtails are passing through in good numbers, I counted upwards of 50 individuals on one field. It seems they were mostly tschutschensis, although most of them were juveniles or already in non-breeding plumage.

Eastern Yellow Wagtail

Another typical autumn migrant is the Pallas's Grasshopper Warblers, there were many around but none providing good views, I flushed no less than 8 individuals on my two visits. I just managed to get a record shot of this one before it disappeared into the thickets.

Pallas's Grasshopper Warbler

A good numbers of 'Swintail' Snipes have been seen around, but as we all know nailing the identification of Pin-tailed and Swinhoe's Snipe in the field is tough, you really need to get either a very good look at the tail spread out fully or get a good photo of it coming to land. Here are two which I think should be Pin-tailed, although the outer tail feathers weren't fully spread, you can just about make out those thin narrow feathers on the side of the tail. Common Snipes are also arriving now.

'Swintail' Snipe

Likely Pin-tailed Snipe

Common Snipe

Other waders arriving includes a few Pied Avocets, Long-toed Stints and a single Pacific Golden Plover, the plover still retains some of the black feathers on its belly from its glorious breeding plumage. While Greater Painted Snipes are not migrants, I am always happy to find them around.

Pied Avocet

Long-toed Stint

Pacific Golden Plover

Greater Painted Snipe

A Pheasant-tailed Jacana have also been seen actively feeding on the water chestnut pond, it is great to see the bird utilizing the plants planted specifically for them.

Pheasant-tailed Jacana

A few early ducks are arriving, Green-winged Teals and Eastern Spot-billed Ducks seems to be the first to arrive at Long Valley, while we usually get a lot of Green-winged Teals at Long Valley in the winter months, Eastern Spot-billed Duck is not really that common a species here at Long Valley, so it was nice to see this one around.

Green-winged Teal

Eastern Spot-billed Duck

I was hoping for other bitterns around, but only got a few Yellow Bitterns, here is one trying to look as much like a blade of grass as possible. I will definitely keep my eyes peeled for Black or Von Schrenck's Bitterns, which could turn up in Long Valley as well as other suitable habitats.

Yellow Bittern

Brown Shrikes are also a typical migrant in Hong Kong, they can turn up pretty much anywhere, here a juvenile showed nicely at Long Valley. The residence Long-tailed Shrikes are far more conspicuous, as they often call loudly from the top of their perch.

Brown Shrike

Long-tailed Shrike

I haven't been doing as much forest birding lately, but I did chance upon a friendly Streak-breasted Scimitar-Babbler and a very showy Mountain Tailorbird on my survey near the Peak. It is always interesting to see how these forest birds have colonized Hong Kong Island after many years, I am sure things like Speckled Piculet should begin to take up residence on Hong Kong Island soon, as there certainly are many suitable habitats for them.

Streak-breasted Scimitar-Babbler

Mountain Tailorbird

Japan : Tateyama and Kanazawa - Sept 2026

Tateyama - Birding around Murodo

A non-birding trip to Japan opened up an opportunity to visit a place I have wanted to visit for a very long time, the famous alpine route up Tateyama! Tateyama is famous among birders for the remnant population of Rock Ptarmigans, this is the most reliable place to see them in Japan and are known to be relatively easy to find. In fact, the people of Toyama somewhat view the Ptarmigan as some kind of mascot for their city, so you can find various products or murals of Ptarmigans around the city. Japanese call them Raichō, or Thunderbirds, as they are viewed as holy messengers of the mountain Gods.

Raichō art murals at Toyama Station

You don't actually have to hike all the way up the summit of Tateyama to see Rock Ptarmigans, rather you take three kind of transportation up to Murodo (a train ride, a tram ride and a bus ride), from there you walk out to the footpaths and bird around the general area. Tateyama is closed for half of the year due to heavy snowfall, so it is important to visit when it is opened from spring onwards to late autumn, September is a bit of a low season so it wasn't crowded at all. To reach Murodo, you have to take a train from Toyama, we caught an early train in the morning and it took roughly an hour to reach Tateyama station, from there you take a short tram ride up to Bijodaira station, where you change to a bus that takes you up the winding road towards Murodo at 2,450m asl. Weather wasn't that great when we arrived, but at least it wasn't raining much.

Train towards Tateyama

Tram to Bijodaira station

Main building at Murodo

It didn't take long to locate my first Japanese Accentor, which was a target of mine. This Dunnock like bird is a near endemic species to Japan, where they breed in alpine areas in the summer months but winters in forest at lower altitude. The one I saw was exceptionally friendly and came within a few feet of me.

Japanese Accentor

Locating the Rock Ptarmigans among the rocks can be challenging as I have found out on my last visit to Scotland, I adopted the same tactics by heading towards the large boulder fields and scan for any movements or birds perched out in the open. It didn't take long before we found our first ones right by the footpath! A mother with a few chicks!

Rock Ptarmigan - female

Rock Ptarmigan - chick

We later on found even more, up to ten individuals in one area. You can get ridiculously close to them here, as the Rock Ptarmigans at Murodo are used to having people around, and generally have no fear of humans whatsoever. They probably don't look their best at this time of the year, and males lack the large red eyelids which are more prominent during spring when they are breeding. If you want to see them in their white winter plumage, you will have to come here when they first reopen in spring around mid-April. Either way, it was still a lot of fun watching them at close range.

Rock Ptarmigan - star bird of Tateyama

My second lifer came in form of a few Japanese Leaf Warblers, I heard many singing along the way, it took me a little while to finally get two into view, although it was quite misty when they showed up, but more than good enough for some record photos.

Japanese Leaf Warbler

The only other main target I had up at Murodo was the Spotted Nutcracker, which took a while to track down. In the afternoon I finally found a few actively foraging around the edge of Mikuriga-ike Pond. I have only seen the Southern Nutcracker that was once conspecific with this species, but have since been split. So, I would say my trip up to Tateyama have worked out pretty well.

Spotted Nutcracker - cracker of a bird!

Other than birds, the area is extremely scenic, other than walking around Murodo and Mikuriga-ike Pond, you can also take another shuttle-bus through the long tunnel towards Daikanbo, where you can take a cablecar down to Kurobe and then another short cablecar ride down to Kurobe Dam; the tallest dam in Japan. All in all, a day filled with various means of transportation and great scenery that is well worth doing, and easily done as a day trip from the lovely city of Toyama.

Mikuriga-ike Pond

Scenery around Murodo

Kurobe Dam

Kurobe Lake

Kanazawa - Kanazawa Castle

The beautiful city of Kanazawa is popular among tourists, the many historic districts and old buildings make this a charming city to visit. 

If you find yourself with a few hours to spare in the morning, a visit to Kanazawa Castle can yield a few common but good birds. My main target was to hopefully get better photos of Japanese Wagtails, as my last encounter was certainly a little far away. I was not disappointed and found many feeding on the lawns just outside the castle. Funnily enough there seems to be more Japanese Wagtails than White Wagtails here.

Japanese Wagtail

White Wagtail - race lugens

You will likely find feeding flocks with Asian Tit, Long-tailed Tit, Japanese Pygmy Woodpecker, Warbling White-eye and Varied Tit all feeding together. I particularly wished to get some better photos of the Varied Tit, as photos I have taken years before doesn't do this species justice. I was delighted to get good views of a pair of these performing well.

Varied Tit

Brown-eared Bulbuls are of course everywhere as you would expect in Japan, there were also a good number of Blue Rock Thrush around the park, at one point I counted around 10 individuals all in one area. Carrion Crows were far more common here than in Tokyo.

Brown-eared Bulbul

Blue Rock Thrush - male

Carrion Crow

My other target here was to hopefully get better photos of Chestnut-cheeked Starlings. I noticed a large flock on my first day walking the castle, but they only flew by. I returned the next day, hoping to locate them in the park, I finally managed to track them down around a fruiting tree. I was able to climb up to the top of the walled view point and get a much better view of them. There were likely to be over 50 in that one single tree at one point. A real treat to see considering how difficult it is a species to see in Hong Kong!

Chestnut-cheeked Starling

Japanese Grosbeak is said to be regularly sighted in the park, although I didn't encounter any despite keeping my eyes and ears out for them. I did manage to catch up to a small flock when we stayed at Yamanakaonsen near Kaga, although they stayed very high up in the tree tops.

Japanese Grosbeak

This is why it is always worth bringing your binoculars and camera along with you on a non-birding trip!