There is no better place to find wintering eagles in Hong Kong than Mai Po, almost all the recorded wintering eagle species comes from Deep Bay area, this is not surprising as the increase in wintering birds obviously attracts these large raptors. Imperial Eagles are almost unmissable if you ever visit Mai Po in the winter, although not always do we get close views, I had two individuals which gave excellent views the other day. Both were adult, but one was moulting and looked rather scruffy.
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| Imperial Eagle |
The other relatively common species is the Greater Spotted Eagle, a slightly smaller species but still quite majestic looking. They have slightly shorter tail and usually lack the bright cap of the Imperial Eagle.
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| Greater Spotted Eagle |
Other than these two regulars, a third species decided to drop into Mai Po lately, that is a juvenile Steppe Eagle. I have seen the last one in Hong Kong back in 2009, but I am still glad to catch up with this rarity. Juveniles are easily recognisable by their rather pale and plain upper parts, that is less streaked compared with juvenile Imperial Eagles. Thanks to Captain and Abdel who found this guy perched on the top of a tree next to a Greater Spotted Eagle.
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| Steppe Eagle - juvenile |
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| Steppe Eagle with Greater Spotted Eagle |
Mai Po's been excellent for raptors in general of late, I have been quite a few times looking for that elusive Northern Goshawk thats been terrorising the birds in the area, unfortunately its eluded me so far. An interesting looking Peregrine Falcon was spotted recently and after some discussion it is likely of race pealei, a race that breeds in Alaska and far eastern Russia. This species occasionally turn up in Japan but never been seen in Hong Kong before. This juvenile is very distinctive looking, with very dark underparts. Here is a photo for comparison of our 'usual' wintering Peregrine below, taken on the same day.
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| Peregrine Falcon - race pealei |
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| Peregrine Falcon - race calidus |
Other than the more interesting raptors, Mai Po is also home to more common species, Eastern Marsh Harrier, Western Osprey and Eastern Buzzards are some of the raptors that you are unlikely going to miss at Mai Po.
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| Eastern Marsh Harrier |
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| Western Osprey |
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| Eastern Buzzard |
Raptors are not the only birds that prey upon other birds, an injured Black-headed Gull on the scrape the other day attracted numerous Black Kites as well as Collared Crows...The poor bird probably don't stand a chance and no doubt would be easy pickings for these fierce predators and opportunistic feeders.
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| Black Kite & Black-headed Gull |
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| Collared Crow & Black-headed Gull |
Other than the raptors, there are plenty of other interesting birds around the reserve, the Common Shelduck stayed on and now quite often seen feeding on the scrape, I was lucky to have it coming quite close to the hide one day.
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| Common Shelduck |
The scrape briefly hosted over 30 Northern Lapwings, while this species is not rare in Hong Kong, I rarely see flocks this big! This reminded me of the large flocks of Lapwings I used to see in the UK, I could have well been back on the Somerset levels!
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| Northern Lapwing |
We have plenty of ducks around at the moment, but many interesting species such as Falcated Ducks decided to stay near the middle of the scrape. I found this lone Eastern Spot-billed Duck relatively close. Eurasian Bitterns are a regular sight in Mai Po during winter, although they are notoriously difficult to photograph, I grabbed this record shot of one flying across the other day.
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| Eastern Spot-billed Duck |
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| Great Bittern |
Other than the water birds, Mai Po also host a bunch of quality passerines during winter, such as this very confiding Red-breasted Flycatcher. Not a species I see that often, they can be separated with the more common Taiga Flycatcher by their paler lower mandible bill base, brownish upper tail coverts, slightly browner tail feathers, and overall warmer tone plumage. Their calls are also distinctive different from the Taiga Flycatcher, often much softer.
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| Red-breasted Flycatcher |
Yellow-billed Grosbeaks are also quite common in Mai Po around this time of the year, I had a few flocks throughout the reserve the other day. You quite often find them on their favourite trees, the Chinese Hackberry, if you see one of these trees it is worth checking for feeding Grosbeaks.
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| Yellow-billed Grosbeak - male |
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| Yellow-billed Grosbeak - female |
Dried fish ponds can attract many species, a pair of Oriental Magpies were seen feeding on the ground, this species is now a lot less common than they used to be, for reasons we don't quite understand, I truly hope they won't disappear completely! These ponds often host Buff-bellied Pipits, of which I found quite a few. Nearby, large flocks of starlings congregate, mainly White-cheeked Starlings and Red-billed Starlings.
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| Oriental Magpie |
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| Buff-bellied Pipit |
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| White-cheeked Starling |
Just across the river at Tai Sang Wai, best bird of late was an Eurasian Hoopoe found during an outing with Russel Yeh, who spotted this beautiful bird for us. Great Mynas are now very regular around this part of Hong Kong, often mixed in with the Crested Mynas. Along the main track, a male Bluethroat showing well, along with numerous Black-faced and Little Buntings.
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| Eurasian Hoopoe |
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| Great Myna |
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| Bluethroat & Black-faced Bunting |
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| Little Bunting |
Finally, the two Plumbeous Redstarts at Chun Shin Road are now attracting dozens of photographers on a daily basis. The best find for me there was probably a Citrine Wagtail, now that Long Valley is out of bounds this species becomes quite tricky!
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| Plumbeous Redstart - male |
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| Citrine Wagtail |
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