September - Still HOT!

I swear if anyone tells me global warming doesn't exist I will be most tempted to throw them off a cliff. Mid-autumn festival just passed by, and we just had our hottest one ever since record began. You would expect the temperature to be dropping slightly now that it is officially autumn, but unfortunately it is still very hot during the day, with temperature exceeding 34°C on some days! That being said, more autumn migrants are coming through, even some winter visitors are now returning. Amur Stonechat is one of those winter visitors that always arrives quite early, Green Sandpipers as well are now returning. Red Collared Dove is also a migrant or winter visitor in Hong Kong, some are now returning to the fish ponds, this lovely looking male seen at San Tin.

Amur Stonechat - female

Green Sandpiper

Red Collared Dove - male

I haven't been out birding much myself other than when I am working, but there are signs of migrants around, such as various Arctic Warblers out and about, and a very pretty male Black-naped Oriole which only decided to show up briefly. 

Arctic Warbler

Black-naped Oriole - male

Whiskered Terns are now arriving in their hundreds at the fish ponds, although they are a common species I always enjoy seeing these marsh terns around. Here are some shots of them in the rain.

Whiskered Tern

Tai Po Kau's been slightly disappointing on my last visit, with no visible migrants around, I am sure there were some there I just didn't chance upon them. I did however got very lucky with an extremely bold male Bay Woodpecker, which stayed there for 10 minutes in full view! I have never experienced that in Hong Kong, and likely not going to have another like this for a long while. A single Speckled Piculet showed briefly, but never came close. Also present was a Lesser Shortwing which showed well, by the looks of it I am guessing its a female without the white eyebrows.

Bay Woodpecker - male

Speckled Piculet

Lesser Shortwing - female

Scarlet-backed Flowerpecker and Fork-tailed Sunbirds are both tiny but colourful birds, at this time of the year they are not always easy to photograph, as there aren't many flowering trees, or fruiting mistletoes (at least not low down), luckily got two chances to photograph both species with guests, first a Scarlet-backed Flowerpecker that came down low, and a Fork-tailed Sunbird taking a bath on a small hole filled with water on a tree branch.

Scarlet-backed Flowerpecker - male

Fork-tailed Sunbird - male

I have mentioned many times that the Streak-breasted Scimitar-Babbler is my favourite babbler species in Hong Kong, I just think they have so much character. While a common species, they are never easy to photograph well, so when opportunity arrises, I rarely say no.

Streak-breasted Scimiter-Babbler

I have been out herping a few times this month, there were plenty of instances I did not take any photographs (a Checkered Keelback, Mountain Water Snake, Anderson's Stream Snake...), here are a few that I did. The ever so fabulous looking Marbled Pygmy Frog, the Fujian Large-headed Frog, a Bamboo Pit-Viper posing nicely, and the ever so impressive looking Reeve's Tokay Gecko, with the door of an abandoned house.

Marbled Pygmy Frog

Fujian Large-headed Frog

Bamboo Pit Viper

Reeve's Tokay Gecko

And a few good butterflies, the Rounded Palm-redeye, locally more commonly known as the 'Banana Skipper', which is a banana specialist as their caterpillars feeds on banana leaves. The Fluffy Tit, with far more frequent records in recent years, I would not really consider it as a hugely rare butterfly anymore. And, the Malayan, another formerly very rare species, is now recorded regularly in recent years, but this was still a first sighting for me.

Rounded Palm-redeye

Fluffy Tit

Malayan

Hopefully, we will get some cooler weather next week...

Silver Oriole - Another Early Autumn Rarity

Three species of Orioles have been recorded in Hong Kong before, Black-naped Oriole being a fairly common and regular passage migrant, the other two are Maroon Oriole and Silver Oriole, both having just been recorded in Hong Kong once. The Maroon Oriole record was a single bird from Po Toi, however it was later deemed as an ex-captive individual due to the race being the largely sedentory Taiwanese subspecies. The only Silver Oriole record also came from Po Toi, on November 2018, this species is globally very rare, and are known to breed in central and southern China, while wintering down in South East Asia, most records outside of China comes from Thailand, where it is a rare winter visitor. Therefore, when Tom Li posted he found a Silver Oriole up on Ngong Ping, you can imagine the excitement! 

When I arrived, it was just over 2 hours after Tom sent out the news, a few birders were already there but had no luck. We walked around the supposed GPS spot without seeing much, by 12:30pm I think most of us there thought the bird might have moved on. I decided to take a walk closer to the main road, just to see if I can bump some bird activity, an Amur Paradise Flycatcher came in hawking for insects, as I was looking at the flycatcher, a much larger bird flew in briefly and out to hide behind the tree. At that moment I suspected it could be the oriole, but I did not see any details on the bird and therefore could not confirm. I waited for a few minutes when the bird finally moved and came into view, sure enough it was the Silver Oriole! I took a few photos and immediately called the other guys over. For the next hour or so the bird showed fairly well on and off. By the looks of its dark iris it should be a young bird, and likely a female.

Silver Oriole - Incredible Rarity!

Other birds nearby along the trail includes 2 Amur Paradise Flycatchers, as well as a Yellow-rumped Flycatcher and a single male Hainan Blue Flycatcher, making for quite a nice supporting cast along that short stretch of trail behind the Big Buddha.

Amur Paradise Flycatcher

Yellow-rumped Flycatcher - juvenile

Hainan Blue Flycatcher - male

I haven't birded anywhere near home for a while, Wu Kau Tang is one of my favourite place locally to check, however last winter was quiet disappointing that have resulted in me largely neglecting the site for a while. And, quietness seems to have continued onto this autumn, I failed to locate any Barred Cuckoo Dove in the valley, although I am sure they will be around somewhere...I found a fairly interesting looking immature male Fork-tailed Sunbird with some adult feathers coming through. Indochinese Green Magpie is of course a staple here in north east New Territories, however it doesn't make them any easier to get photos of. Streak-breasted Scimitar-Babblers are fairly common here, and not unusual to see a few of them during a walk here.

Fork-tailed Sunbird - juvenile male

Indochinese Green Magpie

Streak-breasted Scimitar-Babbler

A female Hainan Blue Flycatcher as well as 2 juvenile Yellow-rumped Flycatchers were about the best birds I could manage on a morning walk. Pale-legged Leaf Warblers are now returning, I heard up to 2 birds but didn't want to show.

Hainan Blue Flycatcher - female

Yellow-rumped Flycatcher - juvenile

Wu Kau Tang is also quite well known for its dragonflies, with several usually rare or uncommon species regularly found here. The Blue-spotted Duskhawker is one of those more unusual species, I saw 3 individuals just along the stream here. Before I left I found an adult Taiwan Kukri Snake hiding behind some plants next to the footpath, I didn't want anyone killing it so I ushered it back into the bush.

Blue-spotted Duskhawker

Taiwan Kukri Snake

We just had our first typhoon of the season, a very strong typhoon Yagi that luckily mostly missed Hong Kong, as it landed further west towards Hainan Island, we got mostly strong east winds in Hong Kong, which in my experience pushes in various terns into Plover Cove, so in the morning of the typhoon I decided to head out to the dam to scan the sea, sure enough there were hundreds of terns. Mostly Common Terns, over hundreds of them! I scanned for Aleutian Terns but had no luck.

Typhoon bringin in a lot of terns

 Common Tern

Whiskered Terns were also in fairly good numbers, many of them flew up the dam and onto the reservoir, making for quite an interesting sight.

Whiskered Tern

A few Great Crested Terns were amongst the best of the terns, I also saw a few distant Little Terns and a single Gull-billed Tern. I keep hoping for some true pelagic birds, but given how far in I am, the probability of that happening is not high.

Great Crested Tern