Cooling Effects

Northern House Martin

A drop in temperature certainly made a difference, both to comfort and also for the birds. Strong northerly winds had certainly been bringing in more interesting birds and many of our wintering species are also starting to pop up here and there.

Was leading a wildlife photography workshop on Saturday for a group of students from Poly U, outing to Tai Sang Wai was extremely pleasant and I think everyone enjoyed the cool weather and beautiful sunset. I was especially pleased to find two Northern House Martins circling an area which certainly made the trip that little bit more interesting for me. A Common Awl (Hasora badra) that is not so common in Hong Kong was also seen just before the sun went down.

Leading the group from Poly U (photo courtesy to Katy from HKBWS)

Northern House Martin

Common Awl (Hasora badra)

Sunset at Tai Sang Wai

I once again missed the Brown-chested Jungle Flycatcher at Ho Man Tin (no surprise there), so for Sunday afternoon I decided to head to Kowloon Park for a short stroll, hoping to find some unexpected migrants. Things were pretty ordinary to start off with, Cinerous Tits were pecking away at a termite infested branch, Masked Laughingthrush foraged on the lawn nearby, a few Asian Koels perched silently on a bare tree and the resident Black-crowned Night Herons were by the Flamingo pond as usual.

Cinerous Tit

Masked Laughingthrush

Asian Koel

Black-crowned Night Heron

I managed two species of Flycatchers, first an Asian Brown Flycatcher at the Chinese Garden, then two Taiga Flycatchers which were definitely new arrivals just outside the Heritage Discovery Centre. I waited around for the Orange-headed Thrush Captain saw in the morning but no luck.

Asian Brown Flycatcher

Taiga Flycatcher

Finally, a flock of Alexandrine Parakeets by the park entrance were entertaining to watch as always. This species is one of our three introduced parrot species that had established themselves in Hong Kong, although Alexandrine Parakeets seems to have took over at Kowloon Park and became the dominant species, no surprise as they are much larger and likely more able to get good nesting spots. Either way, they do provide a splash of colours and a unique birding experience in urban parks of Hong Kong.

Alexandrine Parakeet

I have also been on a few night outings lately, one of which had us entering a rock cave in New Territories (disclosed location), this was a very interesting experience for me and certainly opened up a whole new world. Bats make up a large proportion of mammal species in Hong Kong, there are 26 recorded bat species, which is plenty to keep you busy. We saw up to three species in the cave, although I am sure us not having the "eye" for bats we definitely missed a few more.

Chinese Horseshoe Bat

Himalayan Leaf-nosed Bat

Chinese Myotis

There were also plenty of amphibians and reptiles around, notably a lot of Hong Kong Cascade Frog froglets, a few still have their tails! Brown Wood Frogs were also noted, a species I don't see as much as other frogs. I also spotted a very young White-spotted Slug Snake, certainly one of the cutest and most docile snake species around, they feed mainly on snails and slugs, which does reflect on their behaviour, as they are extremely slow for a snake.

Hong Kong Cascade Frog - froglet

Brown Wood Frog

White-spotted Slug Snake

We also headed to Lung Fu Shan the other night, I was hoping to repeat my luck last year with the Palm Civets but it proved to be harder then I thought, though we still found some interesting creatures. Tadpoles of the Short-legged Horned Toad were everywhere, their funnel shaped mouth piece make them instantly recognisable, the adults were however nowhere to be found.  the endemic Nanhaipotamon hongkongense can often be found along fresh water streams, we found quite a few that night.

Short-legged Horned Toad - tadpoles

Nanhaipotamon hongkongense

A Brown Tree Frog perched by the footpath provided great photography opportunities. All these were however no comparison to the four Bamboo Pit Vipers we found that night, this is a fairly common snake, but for some reason I never had much luck with them during night walks, so getting four in one night was sure exciting. Finally, one of the few East Asian Porcupine we encountered that night, this one was really close and clearly demonstrated how amazing encounters with wildlife can be achieved by just a 15 minutes walk from the MTR station.

Brown Tree Frog

Bamboo Pit Viper

East Asian Porcupine