Finally...Migrants! Flycatchers and More Flycatchers.

Yellow-rumped Flycatcher

 The long awaited autumn migration has begun! My local patch started it off with a brilliant Yellow-rumped Flycatcher, a classic autumn migrant in Hong Kong. While we get most Narcissus Flycatchers during spring migration, more Yellow-rumped Flycatchers passes through in autumn. For some reason, we get more male Narcissus but less adult male Yellow-rumped. While this is clearly not an adult male, I highly suspect this as a juvenile male...Either way it was a nice bird to start the autumn with, the bird only stayed for one day and was not seen again.

Yellow-rumped Flycatcher - female or juvenile male?

Along the catch water I also saw a few Hainan Blue Flycatchers, including one male and a juvenile. The juvenile clearly indicates they were breeding in the area.

Hainan Blue Flycatcher - male

Hainan Blue Flycatcher - juvenile

Nearby at Wu Kau Tang I also found a Dark-sided Flycatcher, another species we often see in autumn. Other than that, Wu Kau Tang been awfully quiet of late.

Dark-sided Flycatcher

One of the more exciting migrant was this Brown-chested Jungle Flycatcher at Ho Man Tin, we usually only get a few recorded annually, this young bird stayed long enough for me to catch up on. Like other times I encountered this species, this individual preferred to stay lower down and occasionally catching prey on the ground. Due to habitat loss, this species is now listed as vulnerable.

Brown-chested Jungle Flycatcher

Other sightings back at my local patch, a few White and Grey Wagtails have been frequenting the catch water now that there is actually some water in there. Crested Goshawks were observed on two occasions, none stayed long enough for a photo. The local Indochinese Green Magpies had been very active, although none of them were willing to have a photo taken, they frequently gave inflight views over the road or catch water.

White Wagtail

The Streak-breasted Scimitar Babblers in the area were far more friendly, a few were seen foraging by the side of the road, no matter how many times I see them, they are as good looking as ever! I was also quite lucky to find a very vocal Common Emerald Dove singing one afternoon, I rarely get to see this shy dove well in Hong Kong, but this beautiful individual certainly was my best encounter with this species.

Streak-breasted Scimitar Babbler

Common Emerald Dove

Finally, a walk around Brides Pool yielded no migrants of any sort, I was however rewarded with good views of a pair of Speckled Piculet, found amongst a small feeding flock of Japanese Tits and White-bellied Erpornis. It is remarkable to think that the Piculet was not too long ago a rarity in Hong Kong, now we get to see them regularly, doesn't make them any less interesting though.

Speckled Piculet