Breeding Hobbies

Thursday, 26 July 2018

Breeding Hobbies

Eurasian Hobby

Eurasian Hobbies are usually considered a passage migrant in Hong Kong, but in recent years someone found a nesting pair in northern New Territories. The pair successfully bred two years ago and they have since returned to the same spot to breed. The metal pillar is quite sturdy and obviously a safe place to nest. The adults patrol the area for prey, I saw them bringing in prey items on two occasions, once a Tree Sparrow and the other a White-rumped Munia.

Eurasian Hobby - the two adults, top bird is likely to be female as it was larger

By the time I paid them a visit the juveniles had already fledged, but they were hanging around the area. They are not particularly good fliers yet, but they do "exercise" their wings by flying around or simply just flapping their wings while perched. The adults eyed them nearby, making sure they are not in trouble...

Eurasian Hobby - the two juveniles

One of the juvenile was a bit more adventurous and took to the wing, trying to catch flying dragonflies and cicadas, although with little success. It was however entertaining to watch. It is very nice that we now have Eurasian Hobbies breeding, hopefully they will continue to do so for many years to come!

Eurasian Hobby - the juvenile practicing it's flying

It is National Moth Week, and we have been busy mothing! Hoiling and I found a few new species for our local patch this week, including an impressive looking Ischyja ferrifracta, it was in fact our first moth of the night on Monday! We also later added a Eucyclodes albisparsa which is also new for Wonderland Villas. While Wednesday night we added a Thyas coronata which we mistaken as a common Guava Moth to begin with, we also added a Pseudodavara haemaphoralis with beautiful side markings. A tiny Tortricidae species was also seen, not quite sure what species it is exactly but certainly new for Wonderland Villas.

Ischyja ferrifracta

Eucyclodes albisparsa (photo credit to Hoiling)

Thyas coronata

Pseudodavara haemaphoralis

Tortricidae sp.

Other than the exciting new findings, there were plenty of other good looking moths to look at. At this moment, our moth list in Wonderland Villas is close to 450 species, I am sure this will continue to grow in years to come!