Speckled Piculet and A Failed Twitch

Speckled Piculet - another slowly increasing Hong Kong resident

Kenneth, Bee and I went to Tai Po Kau again on Monday, as they hope to find the Bay Woodpecker which I saw a few days prior. The Bay Woodpeckers never showed that day but plenty of other quality birds did. Including a Grey-headed Canary-Flycatcher which showed well again near the same area I saw before. While Mountain and Chestnut Bulbuls were both found in a fruiting tree and showed well.

Grey-headed Canary-Flycatcher

Mountain Bulbul

Chestnut Bulbul

The bird wave at picnic area 3 yielded a Speckled Piculet, it showed very well and allowed close views. This tiny woodpecker is now fairly regularly sighted at various sites but it's by no means common, so obtaining such good views is still considered a novelty.

Speckled Piculet

A fokiensis type Goodson's Leaf Warbler was present within the bird wave, it was very pale underneath, although the status of these type of birds are still uncertain, we often just leave them as Goodson's Leaf Warbler for the time being.

Goodson's Leaf Warbler - possibly race fokiensis

Along the red walk we spotted a White's Thrush, first for me this winter. There were also a lot of Rufous-tailed Robins, mostly hiding in the undergrowth but one decided to come out for us to get a good look.

White's Thrush

Rufous-tailed Robin

A rather late Dark-sided Flycatcher was quite nice, although it was out shined by two good looking Verditer Flycatchers, they are such pretty birds that I can't help but to marvel at their beautiful plumage every single time.

Dark-sided Flycatcher

Verditer Flycatcher - male

A late bird wave contained a few dark faced Black-throated Laughingthrushes. Scarlet Minivets were feeding low down, while Silver-eared Mesias were plentiful. A few Streak-breasted Scimitar Babblers also made an appearance.

Black-throated Laughingthrush - dark faced morph

Scarlet Minivet - male

Scarlet Minivet - female

Silver-eared Mesia

Streak-breasted Scimitar Babbler

While on Friday, I boarded a boat with a few 'twitchers' to Po Toi Island, where Peter Wong had found a Silver Oriole! A first for Hong Kong! All of us hope to catch a glimpse at this mega rarity...The day started off with an interesting encounter, we spotted a Pigeon being chased by a Peregrine Falcon, the Pigeon narrowly escaped and flew into our boat! It turned out to be a racing Dove, likely of Taiwan origin. The Peregrine on the other hand followed our boat for a little while...it knew the Pigeon was hiding inside, but soon gave up when the Pigeon stayed on the boat until we landed on Po Toi.

This pigeon pulled off a narrow escape...

Peregrine Falcon - this young bird will have no breakfast...

We stationed ourself at where Peter last saw the Silver Oriole, but there was no sign...There were however plenty of Bulbuls, including a few Chinese Bulbuls with darker heads, we wondered whether they could be the hainan race hainanus, although my guess is that they are probably just young Chinese Bulbuls which have yet to get 'white hair'...

Chinese Bulbul - a dark headed individual that resembles race hainanus

An unusually late Chestnut-winged Cuckoo brought some excitement, whether this individual will remain on Po Toi for the rest of the winter remains to be seen.

Chestnut-winged Cuckoo - a November rarity

There were a few warblers around, John Holmes found a White-spectacled Warbler towards the end of the day which I missed, although I saw a few Manchurian Bush Warblers and a Radde's Warbler.

Manchurian Bush Warbler

Radde's Warbler

Daurian Redstarts were active but not particularly cooperative, it took me a while to get a photo of this male. Pacific Reef Egret is a regular sight on Po Toi, a few often can be seen feeding near the pier.

Daurian Redstart - male

Pacific Reef Egret

We had an Oriole on the very same tree Peter Wong saw the Silver Oriole, although it was the 'Wrong' Oriole...Black-naped Oriole is not common at this time of the year, but it's simply not the bird we were hoping for. It's most unfortunate that I've missed most of the major rarities this season, but that's just how birding is sometimes. Besides, it's not always about the rarities in birding.

Black-naped Oriole - the 'wrong' oriole of the day...