Wood Warbler - the star bird on Po Toi Island this week
On Tuesday, a few photos of a phylloscopus warbler at Po Toi Island surfaced and was immediately identified as a Wood Warbler. This species's natural range is Europe and parts of Central Asia, with a few breeding in extreme north west of China, most overwinter in Africa, therefore an occurrence to east China is extremely rare, and even more so in south China! This will be the 1st record in Hong Kong if accepted. I had other business to attend to on Wednesday, therefore I had to wait till the ferry on Thursday to give it a go. Naturally I was not alone, and was joined by many birders who also wish to catch a glimpse of this mega rarity
The warbler was last reported on the tree behind the toilet block, however the bird was not in view for over an hour. There were plenty of other migrants to keep everyone busy, including Ashy Minivets, Red-breasted Flycatcher as well as a Ferruginous Flycatcher all on one tree!
Ashy Minivet - male
Red-breasted Flycatcher
Ferruginous Flycatcher
One of the better species of the day were up to three Bramblings, busily feeding on ants along the tree trunks, a behaviour I have never seen before! I guess migrating birds are not fussy about what they eat, anything that can build up their fat reserves are good to go! Although Bramblings are quite widespread globally they are fairly uncommon in Hong Kong, where we often get them as passage migrants.
Brambling
Kenneth and I ventured elsewhere to look for other birds, but had very little luck. Just as we were wandering aimlessly, we heard Peter Wong had relocated the bird on the same tree behind the toilet! We rushed back but the warbler already disappeared. It took another twenty minutes before the Wood Warbler finally showed itself! It was fairly large and long winged, with pale greenish back, yellow supercilium and throat, overall unmistakable! It was feeding on caterpillars in the ficus tree. Everyone enjoyed brilliant views of this rare vagrant, a happy ending for happy twitchers!
Wood Warbler - mega rarity at it's finest!
A few raptors were seen passing through Po Toi before we boarded the ferry, including a Eurasian Sparrowhawk which is a rare migrant. A Japanese Sparrowhawk also made an appearance and chased the Eurasian Sparrowhawk away before I could get a better photo...Finally, up to six migrating Grey-faced Buzzards was certainly the icing on the cake!
Eurasian Sparrowhawk
Japanese Sparrowhawk
Grey-faced Buzzard
Other than Po Toi Island, Ho Man Tin is also a migrant hotspot. I paid a quick visit on Friday and was not disappointed, yielding at least three male Narcissus Flycatchers! As usual, these beautiful flycatchers attracted the attention of few dozens of photographers...who as usual were trying to entice the birds to get to their preferred branches with meal worms. The flycatchers did not seem too interested, instead hawked for insects above their heads on the tree above constantly. A few photographers behaved badly and even went so far as threw branches at a Red-billed Blue Magpie which came past, as they fear the magpies may chase the flycatchers away...This is not exactly ethical and certainly not what bird photography is about! But, talking about respect to nature to them is like casting pearls before swine...
Narcissus Flycatcher - photographer's magnet!
Red-billed Blue Magpie
Other than the flycatchers, a long staying Radde's Warbler was still present, it is now moulting and look extremely scruffy. Radde's Warblers are mainly a scarce autumn migrant in Hong Kong, where winter and spring records is fairly unusual, so this individual had basically broken all the rules! Either way, it seems to be doing very well, here enjoying a small cockroach.
Radde's Warbler - with cockroach!
With spring migration well underway, anything can turn up these days! Watch out birders, as unexpected rarities may be just around the corner!
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