Breeding White-faced Plover, AGAIN!

Having found breeding White-faced Plovers at my survey site two years before, I have always kept my eyes peeled for this rare wader in the area. June to July seems to be a good time to look for this species, and this is the 3rd consecutive year I have found them here during the summer months, and the second time they have been found breeding. They seem to prefer sandy substrate with some pebbles and slightly wet ground, they almost always steer clear of areas that are too well vegetated. This year I found a female with two chicks, although they were quite alert and kept a safe distance from me. 

White-faced Plover - Note the extensive white on inner primaries and the white tail

White-faced Plover - juvenile

White-faced Plover looks very similar to Kentish Plovers, females are not always easy to tell apart, they do seem to have slightly richer colour on the crown and ear covert, a slightly larger bill, and legs are pinkish instead of a darker greenish grey. Having recorded them on 3 consecutive summers, I do wonder if this species is overlooked in other suitable sites around Hong Kong.

White-faced Plover - adult female

Kentish Plover - adult female

Also in the area were a few returning Greater Sand Plovers and lots of Oriental Pratincoles, many of which are juveniles.

Greater Sand Plover - juvenile

Oriental Pratincole - juvenile

I haven't been out at night that much, an evening out with Chester and his family at Tai Po Kau yielded two young Many-banded Kraits, I have found these young kraits to look the most attractive, as this is the life stage when their bandings have the most contrast.

Many-banded Krait - juvenile

A very cooperative adult Mock Viper was also wonderful to see, even though they are a common forest species, I've always been fond of them, each of them have so much character!

A friendly Mock Viper

Other than that, it was just the normal cast of Günther's Frog and Hong Kong Whipping Frogs (known locally as Brown Tree Frogs) to fill in the gaps in between the snakes.

Günther's Frog

Hong Kong Whipping Frog