Hot and humid are two perfect words to describe summer in Hong Kong, it is not for the faint hearted, as the heat can be intense at times. It is also not a great season for birds, as most migrants have gone north to their breeding grounds, very few birds stay behind to breed. One of the more exciting breeding species in Hong Kong is the Chestnut-winged Cuckoo, they are pretty widespread throughout Hong Kong, found in a wide range of habitats, but they are almost never easy to see or photograph. A few individuals near Nam Chung have been pretty showy of late, I decided to try for it early morning, sure enough I saw a pair almost immediately after I arrived. They are impressive looking birds, being quite large and colourful, even got a crazy looking crest to go with that ever repeating call that sounds almost exactly like a reversing truck.
Chestnut-winged Cuckoo
Another local species with chestnut wings is the Greater Coucal, which is very common throughout, they are usually shy but occasionally can give good views, like this individual at Tai Mei Tuk Catchment, which was evidently looking for something to eat along the dried up catchment, my thought was that it was trying to pick up some tadpoles in the gutter.
Greater Coucal
Tai Mei Tuk Catchment is a great place for raptors, I saw a juvenile Crested Goshawk the other day, it was probably hunting for a Spotted Dove but obviously not quite quick enough...it perched there for a few minutes after losing the meal and flew off into the forest.
Crested Goshawk
Tai Po Kau is also fairly quiet, the only interesting birds I recorded were Lesser Cuckoo calling in the distance, I also caught a glimpse of a Bay Woodpecker but some hikers came through and likely scared it off. The only photogenic bird there was a Crested Serpent Eagle, back on its favrourite tree. It is a species I always enjoy seeing up close, and always ends up with me taking tons of photos...It perched there for over 10 minutes, where I left it to look for snakes in peace.
Crested Serpent Eagle
It is no surprise that the Crested Serpent Eagle is out and about, as a night walk at Lung Fu Shan yielded three snakes, including two Taiwan Kukri Snakes, a very pretty species that specialize in eating eggs, they are non-venomous and usually pretty docile. The other snake being a Bamboo Pit Viper. Near Wu Kau Tang while out for night birds survey, we encountered my first ever Banded Krait! Like its cousin the Many-banded Krait they are highly venomous, although the Banded Krait is usually docile. This individual was pretty gentle and only wanted to escape when we got closer, protecting its head under leaf litter or its body.
Taiwan Kukri Snake
Bamboo Pit Viper
Banded Krait
Its been too dry for most frogs, the forecast of rain throughout the week maybe good news for our local amphibians! We often find Spotted Narrow-mouthed Frogs out and about at this time of the year, they are surely one of Hong Kong's cutest frog species. The Hong Kong Whipping Frog which is also known as the Brown Tree Frog is also a very common species throughout.
Spotted Narrow-mouthed Frog
Hong Kong Whipping Frog
It is also a good time of the year to see the Nanhaipotamon hongkongense, also known as the Hong Kong Stream Crab, they can be easily found along mountain streams, being bright red they are hard to miss. This is an endemic species to Hong kong, and recently they discovered yet another species of this genus on Lamma Island, which is also endemic.
Nanhaipotamon hongkongense
It is also a great time of the year to look for butterflies, I am not a particularly active butterfly person, but given the chance I do look at the odd one. Like this Glassy Bluebottle which stopped briefly for a drink, this is an uncommon species in Hong Kong, and I rarely get to see one so well. Another uncommon butterfly is the Indian Awlking, one of the prettier member of the Skippers.
Glassy Bluebottle
Indian Awlking
We've also had some success in rearing a few larvae, including two Tailed Jays which we collected from the Magnolia figo on our rooftop. We also reared two Cephonodes hylas larvae, both of them successfully emerged, it is a beautiful species of hawk moth, they actually have a few scales on their wings when they first emerge, but seems to wear off pretty quickly.
Tailed Jay
Cephonodes hylas
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