Lunar New Year - Bird Tours

While Lunar New Year usually means rest and holiday for most, mine have been a busy one with several bird tours before and just after. Weather's been quite good lately, with a bit of much needed rain after the 3rd day of Lunar New Year. My most unusual bird lately was not really a rarity, but an Arctic Warbler that have decided to stay on and winter at San Tin, its been quite consistently showing at the same spot. The Rosy Starling I found is still present, however its been avoiding my camera, whenever I see it close and want to get a photo it will fly off, otherwise I just see it from afar, and I haven't bothered to take any photos of it.

Arctic Warbler

San Tin had been a fairly consistent spot to visit, despite the lack of any real rarities, you do get a good count of a wide variety of species. Black-faced Spoonbills have been showing well, with many taking up roost on the roads, making for some interesting composition between all the man-made structures and trucks. 

Black-faced Spoonbill

They can also be seen feeding in the ponds, although the one suitable pond is now too dry for them to feed in now. A few Eurasian Spoonbills can also be found, sometimes mixed in together with the Black-faced Spoonbills, other times just feeding on its own.

Black-faced Spoonbill

Eurasian Spoonbill

Otherwise, nothing out of the ordinary. Oriental Turtle Doves loves to go on the stinky wet bread by the pond, a price birders must be willing to pay if you want to bird here at San Tin. Several Eastern Cattle Egrets have been feeding around the rubbish dump, and they certainly look the part, as they seem to have refused to clean themselves. Pied Kingfishers and White-cheeked Starlings are all regular sights here at San Tin.

Oriental Turtle Dove

Eastern Cattle Egret

Pied Kingfisher

White-cheeked Starling

Mai Po have been somewhat disappointing, except for the regular wintering birds, nothing majorly exciting is turning up, even some previous regular birds are becoming very difficult to connect with, such as most of the raptors and ducks such as Northern Pintails! I did find a Manchurian Reed Warbler which only showed briefly but called constantly in the reeds, a good bird at this time of the year. Chinese Penduline Tits are fairly consistent around the reed beds, and a Plaintive Cuckoo was about the more 'unusual' record I have here. The most interesting thing thats been showing very well is perhaps the two very tame Burmese Pythons that have been sunning itself off the entrance boardwalk, no doubt very used to human presence and not at all bothered by our presence.

Chinese Penduline Tit

Plaintive Cuckoo

Burmese Python

Tai Sang Wai's been much of the same story as Mai Po, except for the regular birds there is nothing worthy of note. The most 'interesting' birds were probably a flock of Oriental Storks flying overhead, which is now becoming quite a normal sight around Deep Bay area. Azure-winged Magpies used to be a permanent fixture around the Mai Po Visitor Centre, but they seem to have moved off from that area in recent years, now much more consistent here at Tai Sang Wai. A friendly Common Kingfisher is perhaps the only photo worthy subject I found there.

Oriental Storks

Azure-winged Magpie

Common Kingfisher

Long Valley have been by far the better birding site this winter, the increased number of paddy fields definitely allowed more buntings to over winter here. While Little Buntings and Chestnut-eared Buntings traditionally do over winter here, Yellow-breasted Bunting is not a regular wintering species in Hong Kong, and a few have chosen to stay on this winter and showing occasionally. Same goes with the single Black-headed, Red-headed and Crested Bunting, all of which have stayed on, although only seem to be revealing itself to a lucky few occasionally.

Little Bunting

Chestnut-eared Bunting

Yellow-breasted Bunting

The flocks of Scaly-breasted Munias have attracted Black-winged Kites and Besras to hunt in the area regularly, both can be occasionally seen. The Black-winged Kite hovering above the paddy fields, while the Besras may swoop in at great speed to snatch a munia off the field, you may also sometimes see the odd Besra resting on the wire.

Scaly-breasted Munia

Black-winged Kite

Besra

Other birds of interest includes a female Bluethroat that occasionally jumps out from the tall grass, although it remain quite skittish and will fly off if you try to approach it. Formerly known as Buff-bellied Pipit or American Pipit, the two have now been split and those found in East Asia is now known as Siberian Pipit, a few have been showing well with the Red-throated Pipits.

Bluethroat - female

Siberian Pipit

Other than the buntings and the uncommon species, Long Valley is also an excellent area to get good photos of many common species with relative ease, many birds here seems to be accustomed to people walking around, therefore allow fairly close approach without flushing them.

Amur Stonechat - female

Zitting Cisticola

Asian Tit

White-shouldered Starling - male

Good number of ducks now winters here at Long Valley, mainly Northern Shovelers and Eurasian Teals, a few Garganeys have also been seen, although the angle at the pond they resided doesn't really give good photo opportunities, this Shoveler however landed on one of the Arrowhead field, which gives a much better angle.

Northern Shoveler - male

Another interesting observation was this Red-billed Blue Magpie coming down to snatch an Apple Snail out of the water, a behaviour I have not seen with this species before.

Red-billed Blue Magpie

The Black-winged Stilts already seem to be pairing up, despite the fact that its still only early February, I have already seen a few pairs in courtship and mating.

Black-winged Stilt - mating

Greater Painted Snipe is of course one of the key species of Long Valley, and the flooded paddy fields seems to have been their favourite hiding spot lately, you can occasionally catch a glimpse of them as they run from one clump of rice to another.

Greater Painted Snipe - male

Finally, its that time of the year again to look for Grey-capped Greenfinches feeding on the Crepe Myrtles, it is always fun to watch them crack open the seeds right above your heads! While a fairly common bird further north, Grey-capped Greenfinch is a fairly scarce and localised resident and winter visitor in Hong Kong.

Grey-capped Greenfinch