Crested Bunting - a Long Awaited Hong Kong Tick

With the peak season for buntings now past, numbers of buntings present at Long Valley decreased significantly. Although, this doesn't mean nothing exciting is on show, the best bunting of late is a pair of Crested Bunting that stayed on for a while. The pair had been slightly elusive, but often hard to miss if they do show up. 

Crested Bunting

 Oddly enough, Crested Bunting had always eluded me in Hong Kong, while I have seen them during ventures elsewhere, it was not on my Hong Kong list! I was delighted to connect with this pair and finally ticking this off my Hong Kong list. They really are such a beautiful species with their unique appearance, unfortunately this species is not as common as they used to in Hong Kong, this is probably due to the lack of rice paddies, so the more rice we plant the better!

Crested Bunting

Other interesting observations at Long Valley includes a single Golden-headed Cisticola, it was a typical bird in non-breeding plumage with well marked head and long tail. I also spotted a few moulting juvenile Chestnut Munias, before moulting they looked just like juvenile Scaly-breasted Munias!

Golden-headed Cisticola

Chestnut Munia

I observed a Long-tailed Shrike feeding on a shrew in a very shrike-like fashion, I have never personally observed Long-tailed Shrikes impale their preys on plants, I don't think it is common practice within this species, but this shows they are more than capable of doing so! Finally, I found a pair of Citrine Wagtail within the flock of Eastern Yellow Wagtails present, we don't seem to get as many as we used to, so I am glad to find these at Long Valley.

Long-tailed Shrike - with shrew

Citrine Wagtail

At Lam Tsuen while working I had a very low flying Crested Serpent Eagle and disturbed a juvenile Besra feeding on something, it flew up and perched up in the tree and stared at me for a while, with feathers still stuck to its talons.

Crested Serpent Eagle

Besra

At Mui Shue Hang Park, birding is fairly good with a nice selection of winter visitors, including Ashy Drongos and Black-winged Cuckooshrikes. I also had a single Taiga Flycatcher and a male Verditer Flycatcher there on separate days.

Taiga Flycatcher

Verditer Flycatcher

While along the river a pair of Common Kingfisher were constantly diving for fish, this beautiful male came in particularly close for a nice photo. While a juvenile male Plumbeous Redstart had taken up the usual spot this year, you can just see one red tail feather when it fans out its tail, otherwise I would have mistaken it as a female. I had a lot of fun watching it wrestle with a large caterpillar, unfortunately it was snatched away by a much larger Oriental Magpie Robin later, leaving the poor Restart without a big meal.

Common Kingfisher

Plumbeous Redstart

During a tour for HKBWS in Wan Chai, we had a fairly pleasant morning along Dutch Lane near Wan Chai Gap Road. A nice selection of common birds includes Scarlet Minivets, Streak-breasted Scimitar Babblers and Black-throated Laughingthrush. The best bird that morning was a Sulphur-breasted Warbler which dropped in from nowhere! I am glad to see this after missing the one in Tai Lam.

Black-throated Laughingthrush

Sulphur-breasted Warbler

At San Tin, where I kept missing the Rosy Starling found by Captain, there were quite a few Common Starlings present, I had great views of one perched high up singing. Being a not so common bird in Hong Kong, we always stop to appreciate how beautiful they really are, with their iridescent plumage.

Common Starling

Out of Luck - a series of failed twitches

Since the finding of the Rosy Pipit, plenty of other rarities have been found by other birders, unfortunately, due to work, I missed most of them. My unlucky streak started when I tried my luck with Captain at Robin's Nest for Oriental Scops Owl, but yet again failed to produce any results, a Collared Scops Owl was my only consolation prize for the evening's hard work.

Collared Scops Owl

One of the better bird I connected with was the Bramling at Long Valley, not a common bird in Hong Kong but not exactly a rarity. The real rarity that turned up was a Japanese Reed Bunting, which unfortunately only stayed for a day and was not found again the next day when I tried...

Brambling

The day I visited was great for Buntings, the best being Crested Bunting and Yellow-browed Bunting, which I both missed...A pair of good old Rustic Buntings and a single Black-headed Bunting was not quite enough to make up for this upsetting dip.

Rustic Bunting

Black-headed Bunting

There were plenty of Yellow-breasted Buntings around, they were finally settling in and much for photogenic than before. Little Buntings were also in good numbers, while a few Black-faced Buntings played hide and seek with me for a while before finally revealing itself for a photo.

Yellow-breasted Bunting

Little Bunting

Black-faced Bunting - female

Chinese Penduline Tit is always a crowd favourite, a small flock have returned to the reeds at Long Valley and gathered a small following. While the numerous White-headed Munias continue to mix in with the local Scaly-breasted Munias. A single female Russet Sparrow was also seen.

Chinese Penduline Tit

White-headed Munia & Scaly-breasted Munia

Russet Sparrow - female

I am still missing photos of Slaty-breasted Rail, and one had been frequenting a pond at Long Valley...most of my friends have seen it, so it shouldn't be too hard, right? While I was there the numerous Greater Painted Snipe provided great views...while the Eastern Water Rail was more than happy to feed at close range...However, the Slaty-breasted Rail refuse to show itself to me as always.

Greater Painted Snipe - male

Greater Painted Snipe - female

Eastern Water Rail

A few Alexandrine Parakeet made an appearance at Long Valley, I usually see them fly through without stopping, this time they were perched on a wire. A single Kestrel drifted past had my hopes up for Amur, but was again disappointed.

Alexandrine Parakeet

Common Kestrel

I visited Mai Po hoping to glimpse a pair of Greater White-fronted Geese that turned up earlier this week, which apparently been showing well at pond 16/17, I arrived thinking they will be hard to miss, turns out they flew off to a different scrape before I arrived...The idea of chasing after the geese were not particularly pleasant, so I just sat at the hide enjoying some of the more 'common' species, such as numerous waders. Of course, the Black-faced Spoonbills which are now returning once again, one of which even had a satellite tracker on its back. A flock of Pacific Golden Plovers were a pleasant sight as well...

'Assorted Waders'

Black-faced Spoonbill

Black-faced Spoonbill with satellite racker & Common Redshanks

Pacific Golden Plover

All in all I would say birding is not too bad, just bad luck on twitching all the rarities, while missing out on a few lifers...But, as is life, you can't always get what you wish for.

Something to be cheerful about - Bull-headed Shrike

Took half a day off, main reason being I really want to try my luck with the Amur Falcon. I first started the afternoon at Ma Tso Lung area, but nothing much were there except for a fly-by Japanese Quail, it never showed itself from the tall grass once landed. With nothing else interesting I headed over to Long Valley.

It started slow, birds didn't quite want to show themselves, the Buntings were all hiding somewhere. A Richard's Pipit gave fairly good views, there were quite a few of them on the fields. A few Red-throated Pipits were also present, you don't really see the "red throats" at this time of the year.

Richard's Pipit

Red-throated Pipit

Siberian Stonechats numbers have increased drastically, you see them everywhere now.

Siberian Stonechat

Things picked up slightly when I got to a field with tall grass, where a Black-browed Reed Warbler made an appearance, it showed fairly well though photographing them is still a huge challenge. I managed these two half decent shots.

Black-browed Reed Warbler

Things got interesting when I suddenly saw a bird perched on top of a tall grass at a distance. I looked through my bins and saw a shrike, initially I thought it could be a Brown Shrike, but once the bird turned around it was clear what it was; a male Bull-headed Shrike. This is only my second male seen in Hong Kong, I usually see females or juveniles. A very handsome bird indeed! Though it remained quite skittish and was flushed very easily, never allowing you to get close. This was the only half decent shot I managed.

Bull-headed Shrike - A scarce migrant and winter visitor in Hong Kong

Things got a little quiet after the Shrike, a few Chestnut-eared Buntings showed briefly but views weren't great. I also found a Painted Snipe amongst some tall grass. A few Sooty-headed Bulbuls kept me entertained at one point.

Sooty-headed Bulbul

The most photogenic bird appeared all of a sudden, a male Yellow-breasted Bunting in non-breeding plumage! These are usually skittish birds but sometimes you get an odd bird that's not shy at all. This was one of those, and what a beauty it was! A truly privileged view of this now endangered species. The day ended with a Japanese Sparrowhawk that flew past, a Peregrine Falcon hunting for bats at dusk, finally two Cinnamon Bitterns before it went dark.

Yellow-breasted Bunting