Autumn Beginning - Buttonquail & Amur Paradise Flycatcher

I had an interesting encounter with a Barred Buttonquail in Kam Tin, this species is so seldomly recorded in Hong Kong it can almost be considered a rarity. Although, there is now confirmed breeding records in Hong Kong, meaning they may not all be autumn migrants as once thought, but actually a rare resident as well. Whether this was an early migrant or a resident bird is hard to know, either way I enjoyed this little encounter, and one that certainly made braving the hot weather worth the while.

Barred Buttonquail - quite a nice surprise!

There are still a few Hainan Blue Flycatchers around, including this juvenile male I saw at Tai Po Kau, although at this time of the year they are not as vocal and become harder to detect. I spotted a 'brown flycatcher' type bird hawking for insects high up in the tree, which I initially thought was an Asian Brown Flycatcher, but upon closer inspection, it had pale legs and the head and mantle colour was different, so no doubt a Brown-breasted Flycatcher, an odd place to see this usually riverine species. 

Hainan Blue Flycatcher - juvenile male

Brown-breasted Flycatcher

One of our first proper autumn migrants are usually Amur Paradise Flycatchers, and they seem to be coming in good numbers at the moment, I had 3 individuals at Tai Po Kau, all in one feeding flock. Another returning migrant that is usually one of the earliest is the Grey Wagtail.

Amur Paradise Flycatcher - good sign of autumn migration!

Grey Wagtail

Resident species such as Crested Serpent Eagles are seen all year round, although I find them to be not as vocal at this time of the year. Same goes with Great Barbets, while their presence can still sometimes be made known by their call, they are nowhere as vocal as in spring.

Crested Serpent Eagle

Great Barbet

Strangely enough, late summer and early autumn always seems to be quite a good time to see Pygmy Cupwings, perhaps post breeding many juveniles are dispersing? While I have no idea exactly why that is, here are three different individuals which showed very well to me in the past week along the same stretch of road at Tai Po Kau, just to prove my point.

Pygmy Cupwing

Except for a few waders, the fish ponds around San Tin and Tai Sang Wai is still relatively quiet, a drained pond had a few small waders on there, including 2 Red-necked Stints, a few Long-toed Stint earlier in the week, and a single Temminck's Stint. All were very far away. At San Tin, I noticed a few White-cheeked Starlings, some obviously looked like juveniles, while mostly a winter visitor, they do breed in Hong Kong in small numbers. Azure-winged Magpie is an introduced resident species in Hong Kong, the population is still going strong, and I saw plenty of juveniles in the flock around Tai Sang Wai, here a juvenile enjoying a papaya.

Temminck's Stint

White-cheeked Starling - juvenile

Azure-winged Magpie - juvneile

Black-winged Kites is mainly considered a passage migrant and winter visitor in Hong Kong, although a few do over summer in Hong Kong, mainly in Mai Po area, apparently a pair was seen building a nest. Whether their attempt was successful is not known, but one of the bird I saw during my recent visit was a juvenile, whether from nearby area I am not sure. Common Kingfishers are of course one of our 3 breeding kingfisher species in Hong Kong, and looks like they have had another successful year, as I saw quite a few juveniles while out birding.

Black-winged Kite - juvenile

Common Kingfisher - juvenile

I don't think there really is a bad time of the year to look at butterflies in Hong Kong, you get various species throughout the entire year, and late summer is quite a good time when we have a good abundance of species around. I am not a huge butterfly person, but I do take a few photos if I get the chance. I have rarely seen Chestnut Angle hold up their wings while resting, so this one was an interesting observation for me. The fabulous looking Fluffy Tit, once a rarity in Hong Kong, is now regularly sighted in many areas, it is usually considered to be a fairly tropical species, their increase therefore quite often believed to be linked to rising temperature in the region. Both Common Rose and Common Birdwings are now easy to see, both fabulous looking species as always.

Chestnut Angle - Odontoptilum angulata

Fluffy Tit - Zeltus amasa

Common Rose - Pachliopta aristolochiae

Common Birdwing - Troides helena

Other late summer observations of interest, including many Pale-spotted Emperors, this particular male flew in and hovered very close to me, which allowed for a good flight shot of this usually very quick species. Yellow Featherleg and Blue Forest Damsel are both fairly common forest stream species, but doesn't make them any less attractive.

Pale-spotted Emperor - Anax guttatus

Yellow Featherleg - Copera marginipes

Blue Forest Damsel - Coeliccia cyanomelas

Finally, one of our most interesting arthropods in Hong Kong, the Hong Kong Freshwater Crab, always fun to see this colourful crab walking through the forest floor on a damp day.

Hong Kong Freshwater Crab - Nanhaipotamon hongkongense