Its coming to the middle of December and weather is still incredibly warm, with temperature reaching 29°C on 12th of December! This is unseasonably warm, and certainly affected the number of wintering birds reaching Hong Kong. That being said, it is still a great time to be out birding, and lots of interesting birds around to keep the average birder happy. In the beginning of the month I guided Kaeden Sim and his mother from Singapore for two days of birding around New Territories, despite his young age Kaeden was one of the most serious and determined birder I've met, and have extremely good ears! It was a lot of fun birding with him and we got a good haul of birds in the end. On the first day we started at Tai Po Kau, other than the usual suspects such as Silver-eared Mesias, we had a Besra at Tai Po Kau Park (I usually see Crested Goshawk there) and a pair of Great Barbets. Inside the reserve we got most of the common species, the best bird was a single Kloss's Leaf Warbler, which showed relatively well despite being a bit far, but most importantly gave its diagnostic call.
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Silver-eared Mesia
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| Besra |
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| Great Barbet |
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| Kloss's Leaf Warbler |
Over at Lok Ma Chau the Citrine Wagtail stayed on, together with a good number of Red-throated Pipits. While over at Ma Tso Lung a large flock of hirundines yielded lots of Red-rumped Swallows and two Sand Martins inside.
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| Citrine Wagtail |
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| Red-throated Pipit - female |
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| Barn Swallow, Red-rumped Swallow and Sand Martin flock |
On the second day we visited Shek Kong Catchwater first, with an extremely confiding Crested Goshawk to start our day. Out of the many Rufous-tailed Robins we managed to find a photogenic one, which showed extremely well out in the open! Despite dipping Yellow-cheeked Tit in the end, I found a pair of Streak-breasted Scimitar-Babblers that showed quite well.
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| Crested Goshawk |
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| Rufous-tailed Robin |
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| Streak-breasted Scimitar-Babbler |
Down at Shek Kong Airfield things were quiet in general, likely too warm for many of our wintering birds...Not a single Grosbeak in sight and no Rosefinches either! A good looking Hair-crested Drongo was all we managed there.
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| Hair-crested Drongo |
Mai Po was slightly better, where we connected with many targets. A few confiding Black-faced Buntings and Olive-backed Pipits showed well on the side of the footpath. Great Mynas were added near the entrance. A pair of Northern Lapwings on the buffalo field was a nice addition.
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| Black-faced Bunting - male |
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| Olive-backed Pipit |
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| Great Myna |
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| Northern Lapwing |
Daurian Redstarts numbers are not as high as previous years, there were still a few around the reserve that are cooperative enough for a photo. Small flock of White-cheeked Starlings were seen along the footpath, occasionally even coming to the ground.
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| Daurian Redstart - male |
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| White-cheeked Starling |
At the paddyfield, no buntings were observed, but the field attracted many ducks, including an Eastern Spot-billed Duck, a confiding Black-faced Spoonbill and a Purple Heron attempting to hide amongst the paddy. Above, we added Eastern Imperial Eagles and Eastern Buzzards.
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| Eastern Spot-billed Duck with Eurasian Teals |
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| Black-faced Spoonbill |
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| Purple Heron |
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| Eastern Imperial Eagle |
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| Eastern Buzzard |
At Tai Sang Wai, we connected with a juvenile Pied Harrier and a Black-winged Kite. A Golden-headed Cisticola finally revealed itself after a bit of waiting and showed quite well, giving its diagnostic nasal 'zeeee'.
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| Pied Harrier - juvneile |
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| Black-winged Kite |
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| Golden-headed Cisticola |
The cherry on top was no doubt an Oriental Greenfinch just outside Long Valley, it was found along the Crepe Myrtles and gave outstanding views! We ended up with over 150 species in two days, we were not particularly rushing through things either, and had excellent views of many species.
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| Oriental Greenfinch |
Earlier in the month I also guided a school tour along Tseung Kwan O Promenade, we had a nice walk there with some excellent birds, including the local Pacific Reef Egret, many Black-crowned Night Herons at their roost, two Common Kingfishers and a lovely looking male Blue Rock Thrush.
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| Pacific Reef Egret |
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| Black-crowned Night Heron |
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| Common Kingfisher |
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| Blue Rock Thrush - male race philippensis |
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