Quality Autumn Birding

Birding had been nothing short of excellent in the last week or so, with interesting birds coming in on a daily basis. There was a clear influx of Blue-tailed Bee-eaters last week, and I was very fortunate to be caught right in the middle of it. Early morning I found six very confiding individuals at Tai Sang Wai, allowing very close views which is not often in Hong Kong. At one point two birds even perched at eye-levels, allowing an epic photo opportunity! Although they are a fairly common species throughout most of South East Asia, they remain a scarce passage migrant in Hong Kong. I later saw a larger flock at Mai Po on the same day, but at a much greater distance.

Blue-tailed Bee-eater - absolute stunners...

Also at Tai Sang Wai were a few Great Mynas, a species which is most certainly of ex-captive origin, they have been around Deep Bay area for a few years now, whether they will successfully breed and colonise Hong Kong remains to be seen, but at the moment they are still relatively scarce.

Great Myna

Kingfishers are always a joy to look at, no matter how many times you have seen them, I got some fairly decent photos of White-throated Kingfisher and Common Kingfisher recently, always pleasing to the eyes...

White-throated Kingfisher

Common Kingfisher

While over at Mai Po, a species which topped the Manchurian Reed Warbler turned up earlier this week in form of a European Golden Plover. This is the 2nd Hong Kong record and my personal new Hong Kong tick, the last record in Hong Kong was in 2015, so I am glad I caught up with this rarity. It remained very far the whole time, but it's clear diagnostic feature was clearly visible during flight.

European Golden Plover - first mega rarity for me this autumn..

Other great birds at Mai Po includes the three Yellow-browed Buntings which I found earlier last week, they had remained and I got a second chance for a better photo. A few Sakhalin Leaf Warblers had been seen around Mai Po, they were all confirmed by their lower pitched calls, if my recent observations are correct, it seems that we get more Sakhalins from early October onwards, while before that we get more Pale-legged Leafs, whether this is true remains to be tested in the coming years...

Yellow-browed Bunting - female

Sakhalin Leaf Warbler - confirmed by call!

A skulking warbler which gave me a second chance for a better photo were a pair of Lanceolated Warblers, found in the tall grass along the footpath. There could have been more birds, but there were at least two individuals which showed fairly well by Lancy standard...It took almost three hours to get just a few clear photos of this world-class skulker.

1st individual

2nd individual, just ten meters from the other...

Lanceolated Warbler - world-class skulker at it's finest!

Wintering Harriers had arrived at Mai Po, I caught up with one of the juvenile Pied Harrier, despite it being quite distant, it's white rumps were clearly visible, they also have quite a distinct face markings which differs from the more common Eastern Marsh Harriers. It was also considerably smaller in size, especially when you can get a side by side comparison of the two species.

Pied Harrier - juvenile

There's been quite a few different Eastern Marsh Harriers around, most of which were juveniles. They will no doubt be in charge of harassment of thousands of waterbirds this winter, and truly a pain in the backside when you're scanning for a rarity in massive flocks...

Eastern Marsh Harrier

While others are getting plenty of Amur Falcons, I've only been able to connect with Eurasian Hobbies, I have seen up to three individuals now and still no sign of any Amur Falcons! They are still nice birds to see however.

Eurasian Hobby - adult above, juvenile below

Out at Deep Bay there were not too much on the mudflats, mainly Greater Sand Plovers and Kentish Plovers. On a drained pond there were plenty of Temminck's Stints. Autumn is a slightly more 'boring' time for waders, as they are all in their plain looking non-breeding plumage.

Greater Sand Plover

Kentish Plover

Temminck's Stint

Over at San Tin, the long staying Common Pochard was still around, I wonder whether it will decide to over winter in Hong Kong! Black-browed Reed Warblers are plentiful at the moment, and San Tin is a good place to find them. Although common they are by no means easy to photograph, so I was glad when this one decided to pop out of cover for a good look before disappearing into the thick bushes again.

Common Pochard - it's third month in HK I believe...

Black-browed Reed Warbler

Yellow-breasted Bunting numbers had decreased so dramatically in recent years, it is now listed as critically endangered. A few seen at San Tin were encouraging, a very beautiful male was particularly exciting to look at. While a Bluethroat was found along the fishpond tracks, it was quite shy and stayed at a very safe distance from me.

Yellow-breasted Bunting - good looking male

Bluethroat

Finally, another falcon which raised my hopes up for a split second...turned out to be a Peregrine Falcon, not a bad sighting, but I would very much prefer to get my first Amur Falcon this year!

Peregrine Falcon - not quite the one I was hoping for...