An unexpected Rook

Rook - a most unexpected drop in at Long Valley

Normal birding resumes for me, and just in time for some winter visitors. I gave Shek Kong Catchment a try, a spot i've not been to during the day for quite some time. Things started off fairly decent, with two Black-winged Cuckooshrikes, they are a common winter visitor in Hong Kong. Hair-crested Drongos we get mainly as migrants and winter visitors, but I think there are some resident birds now.

Black-winged Cuckooshrike

Hair-crested Drongo

Large flocks of Silver-eared Mesias is a common sight in Hong Kong, they often gather with Velvet-fronted Nuthatches. Scarlet Minivets were also seen, along with Grey-chinned Minivets.

Silver-eared Mesia

Velvet-fronted Nuthatch

Scarlet Minivet - female

Grey-chinned Minivet - male

Birds of the undergrowth are not often easy to detect, Rufous-capped Babblers often move with large feeding flocks, you will see these quick moving birds moving near your feet. They become extremely bold within these feeding flocks that you can observe them within a meter or so. A few Chinese Hwameis were seen, they are very common in Hong Kong, inhabiting almost any hills with scrubs and trees, but not often easy to see. The best skulker I found was no doubt a Lesser Shortwing, an uncommon resident that is tough to see, it didn't pose for a nice photo but at least it gave me a decent view.

Rufous-capped Babbler

Chinese Hwamei

Lesser Shortwing

Grey Treepies are somewhat of a Shek Kong Catchment speciality, they are noisy and hard to miss, they were quite active that morning and allowed great views. While two flycatchers were seen during my walk, first a male Verditer Flycatcher which showed briefly, second an Asian Brown Flycatcher saw within the Eco Garden.

Grey Treepie

Verditer Flycatcher

Asian Brown Flycatcher

I later took at trip to Long Valley in the afternoon, weather was fairly decent if not on the warm side. Yellow-breasted Buntings were still in good numbers, many of them feeding in the harvested paddy field, they often flew back to a reed bed when they were flushed from the field, I guess the tall reed bed made them feel safe, therefore allowed quite close views.

Yellow-breasted Bunting - still in good numbers at Long Valley

Chinese Penduline Tits were also present, a few of them stayed near the reed bed as well, occasionally flying out to feed. This species is most easily detected by their piercing calls, once you are familiar with it you will find them to be pretty common during winter months.

Chinese Penduline Tit

Daurian Redstarts and Red-throated Pipits were both in good numbers, both typical wintering species in Long Valley. While a very pretty Eastern Yellow Wagtail stood out from the rest, it was of race tschutschensis, with longer supercilium.

Daurian Redstart - female

Red-throated Pipit

Eastern Yellow Wagtail - race tschutschensis

Everything was quite ordinary, in fact things got a little boring when I noticed a large black bird perched on the overhead cable. Large-billed Crows aren't that common at Long Valley, so I took a closer look through my binoculars. It was quite clear something wasn't quite right the moment I looked at the bird and very soon I figured out what it was, it's was a Rook! Unlike the bird from last year, it was an adult, which showed it's most prominent feature of it's 'naked' nose. It looked healthy if not a little tired, coughed up a pellet before flying off into the distance.

This was quite a remarkable encounter, as last year's bird was only Hong Kong's first confirmed record, this if accepted will be the second. Now all we need is a Black Redstart and November feels like Deja Vu...

Rook - coughing up a pellet

Rook - all features showed well, straight thin beak with pale base, purplish sheen