Cooling Down - Late October Influx

The cold front definitely brought in more birds, although temperature only dropped below 20°C for one day, it was enough to push some more migrants down. There's definitely an increase in bunting numbers at Long Valley, with Yellow-breasted, Chestnut-eared and Little all seen in good numbers. I also had a Black-headed Bunting at Ma Tso Lung.

Yellow-breasted Bunting - male

Chestnut-eared Bunting

Black-headed Bunting

A single female Common Rosefinch have been seen at Long Valley, I almost didn't recognize it at first, as the front view was quite unusual, but a better look on the side did gave more of a Rosefinch impression. While a few Russet Sparrows have been seen recently with the Eurasian Tree Sparrows, a generally scarce species in Hong Kong, I only managed a record shot of a female.

Common Rosefinch - female

Eurasain Tree Sparrow with female Russet Sparrow

A female Cotton Pygmy Goose was found by James and Daphne at Long Valley, it was only seen on the 24th and not seen again since.

Cotton Pygmy Goose - female

Another rarer bird present at Long Valley were a few Siberian House Martins, at least a few of these came through, as I had photos of an adult one day and a juvenile on another day. This species is somewhat a regular passage migrant nowadays, which probably meant they were probably overlooked for many years.

Siberian House Martin

Siberian House Martin - juvenile

Pallas's Grasshopper Warblers were passing through Long Valley in good numbers earlier in the month, but have since slowed somewhat, I also saw a Lanceolated Warbler there but couldn't get a photo.

Pallas's Grasshopper Warbler

All the munias and buntings feeding on the paddies attracts raptors, with Besras, Japanese Sparrowhawks and an Eurasian Sparrowhawk all coming through, I only saw a Besra sitting on a tree with it's prey. Some wintering species are now up in numbers, such as Amur Stonechats and Common Snipes. 

Besra

Amur Stonechat

Common Snipe

Earlier in the month I bumped into the Von Schrenck's Bittern yet again, but it didn't show very well and stayed very hidden.

Von Schrenck's Bittern

Amur Falcons are now coming through, although I didn't really went out of my way to find them, I bumped into a few of them at Long Valley and Mai Po, although they were very high up.

Amur Falcon - male and female

Grey-headed Lapwings are now back, I saw one juvenile at Long Valley, a few more along Kam Tin River and at up to four at Mai Po as well. Those at Mai Po were joined by two Northern Lapwings.

Grey-headed Lapwing

Grey-headed and Northern Lapwing

One of my best bird at Mai Po was actually a Greenish Warbler, which I picked up by the call at first and later saw it well, despite briefly. Like the Luk Keng bird a few years ago, it was quite yellowish toned, with only one single wing-bar visible, the first wing-bar was almost non-existence. 

Greenish Warbler

Mai Po was generally quite birdy, there were a lot of reed warblers around, I scanned through for Manchurian but had no luck. There were a lot of Dusky Warblers around.

Black-browed Reed Warbler

Oriental Reed Warbler

Dusky Warbler

On the scrape Far Eastern Curlew showed well. A single Chinese Egret came as a slight surprise, as it was actually on the scrape and not found on the mudflat. Eastern Marsh Harriers are now coming in with good numbers, many were spotted around Mai Po.

Far Eastern Curlew with Eurasian Curlews

Chinese Egret

Eastern Marsh Harrier

Out on the mudflat, waders numbers were quite high. There were high numbers of Dunlins, as well as Siberian Sand Plovers. Other waders present were Whimbrels, Bar-tailed Godwit, Black-tailed Godwit, Great Knot, Terek Sandpiper, Red-necked Stint, Broad-billed Sandpiper and all the other regular species.

Waders out on mudflat

Dunlin

Siberian Sand Plover

Many Black-faced Spoonbills have returned once again to winter here, this once Endangered species have now been down listed as a Vulnerable species, thanks to the great efforts done by conservation groups in Asia. A few Eurasian Spoonbills are also present.

Black-faced Spoonbill

Eurasian Spoonbill

Fish ponds around San Tin and Tai Sang Wai can be quite productive at this time of the year, Pied Harriers and Eastern Marsh Harriers can both be seen, I saw a few distant Amur Falcons and this Eurasian Hobby which flew right by me at Tai Sang Wai as the light faded!

Pied Harrier - juvenile

Eurasian Hobby

Two peculiar crows were seen in form of a Daurian Jackdaw, which was obviously an ex-captive bird with some strange looking leg rings on it. A House Crow at San Tin was most surprising, as it is the first time I have ever seen one here. This invasive species have now almost been removed from most of its former haunts, and I seldomly see them nowadays.

Daurian Jackdaw - ex-captive bird

House Crow

Some more migrants in action were a few White-cheeked Starlings, some Oriental Turtle Doves feeding by the road, numerous Black Drongos everywhere at San Tin, and quite a few ocularis White Wagtails, which often joins in with our local White Wagtails.

White-cheeked Starling

Oriental Turtle Dove

Black Drongo

White Wagtail - ocularis

Finally, a long staying Slaty-legged Crake at Telford Gardens have been the star bird there entertaining birders. Otherwise it's been a rather slow autumn there with only Pallas's Grasshopper Warblers and Lanceolated Warblers seen there. This is the 3rd species of crake that have turned up at Telford Gardens, strange that this should be the most likely species to turn up there.

Slaty-legged Crake