Returning Buntings & Ferruginous Duck

Yellow-breasted Bunting - feeding in the rice paddies

It's that time of the year again when the paddies at Long Valley are ripening, and Buntings return to these fields to feed on the grains. On the day I visited, I counted around twenty Yellow-breasted Buntings feeding around the paddies, males were especially eye-catching with their bright yellow bellies and white shoulder patch. This critically endangered species is fortunately still an annual visitor to this part of the world, hopefully this will still be the case in years to come. There were reports of mass trapping still happening in mainland China, and the Yellow-breasted Bunting is somewhat of a main target for these poachers, as they can be sold for very good money...

Yellow-breasted Bunting - male

Yellow-breasted Bunting - female

I also saw two Chestnut-eared Buntings, this species used to be scarcer, but since the planting of rice they have became much more regular at long Valley. Both birds showed quite well and I managed some fairly decent shots.

Chestnut-eared Bunting

Other than the Buntings, I was also very pleased with a Citrine Wagtail I found in amongst a flock of Eastern Yellow Wagtails. They were somewhat difficult last year, hopefully we will see more of them this year. Little Ringed Plovers were in good numbers, and a few good looking males were especially photogenic.

Eastern Yellow Wagtail

Citrine Wagtail

Little Ringed Plover - male

Over at San Tin, there were reports of a Ferruginous Duck and Mandarin Duck. Since I've not seen the Ferruginous Duck for quite some time, I thought it was a good idea to go take a look. An Eastern Marsh Harrier greeted me when I first got there.

Eastern Marsh Harrier

The Ferruginous Duck was located without too much trouble, although it was quite shy, always swimming as far away from me as possible! It was accompanied by a local Eurasian Coot half of the time, perhaps this made it felt safer.

Ferruginous Duck - along with the Eurasian Coot

On the next pond was the long staying Common Pochard, which was far more friendly than it's newly arrived relative. It was far more generous, swimming out in the open and at a fairly close range, preening itself under the glorious weather. It was accompanied by a Little Grebe, which seems to be it's favourite go-to birds during it's stay here in Hong Kong, perhaps their reddish heads reminds it of it's own kind?

Common Pochard - friendly long staying duck

Black Drongos were everywhere at the moment, it was nice to spare a minute observing this friendly juvenile perched at eye-levels. I've always found photographing them slightly tricky, as they often perch higher up, and their colours never show up nicely with the white sky as background, only when they perch at eye-levels can you appreciate their subtle beauty.

Black Drongo - juvenile

Other than birds, this autumn had been quite good for wildlife in general. An Orleander Hawk Moth found at the carpark near home was certainly one of the highlight. My last encounter with this species was also at the same carpark years ago!

Orleander Hawk Moth - an absolute stunner

Also near home, I got a call from my neighbour about a snake in their garden, I was delighted to find that the snake in question was a small Mock Viper. I removed it from the garden but took some photos before I let it go. Mock Vipers are usually quite well tempered, and one this small rarely bite.

Mock Viper

Bee Yu and I also visited Shing Mun the other night, hoping for various reptiles. It was however a mammal that we saw first, in form of a Masked Palm Civet. They are always a joy to see in the wild!

Masked Palm Civet

The stream at Shing Mun hosts a range of species at night, Green Cascade Frogs were quite numerous. While many native fish species were seen, including this very impressive looking Channa asiatica, a snakehead species that inhabits mountain streams.

Green Cascade Frog

Channa asiatica

We also managed a Diamond-backed Water Snake, a species I've never seen before, it's got some of the most beautiful markings I've seen on any snake in Hong Kong. It was however quite shy and slithered away fairly quickly after we found it.

Diamond-backed Water Snake

And of course, you can't go walking along the stream without finding a Stream Snake! Here's the ever so friendly Anderson's Stream Snake, an extremely docile species that never attempts to bite, probably the perfect snake to get anyone off ophidiophobia!

Anderson's Stream Snake