Late Spring Vagrant : Mongolian Short-toed Lark, AGAIN!

While out guiding on 18th May, on our last stop at Long Valley, I was scanning through a flock of Eastern Yellow Wagtails when I saw a small lark amongst them, and what else can it be but another Mongolian Short-toed Lark! I couldn't quite believe it having only seen one back in March! Incredibly, this bird did not stay around and disappeared almost immediately, as far as I know no other birders saw it again despite arriving only minutes later.

Mongolian Short-toed Lark

Another good species I have seen lately were two Barred Cuckoo-doves literally right on my doorstep, this was when John visited and the day before our trip to Sabah, we just went out for a casual stroll around my place, and to my surprise I found an adult with a juvenile perched in the tree opposite my house! With increased records of this species throughout much of New Territories, I do believe they are now breeding in Hong Kong, although still a rare bird nonetheless.

Barred Cuckoo-dove - juvenile

Barred Cuckoo-dove - adult

Another good bird near home lately were several Chestnut-winged Cuckoos, I always enjoy seeing this large and colourful species, and May is often the best time to observe them, as they are most vocal during this time of the year.

Chestnut-winged Cuckoo

Other good birds at Long Valley includes a Himalayan Swiftlet earlier in the month, as well as the long staying Watercock which have now slowly moulted into sub-adult male plumage. Indian Cuckoos have been very vocal there lately and it is not difficult to see them flying around or occasionally perched on a tree somewhere. Pied Kingfishers do come through occasionally, feeding on the shallow ponds.

Himalayan Swiftlet

Watercock - male

Indian Cuckoo

Pied Kingfisher

Typical migrants at this time of the year includes Grey-streaked Flycatchers, Whiskered and White-winged Terns. All of which comes through in decent numbers.

Grey-streaked Flycatcher

White-winged Tern

Whiskered Tern

Around Mai Po, some good migrants can still be seen on the scrape, Chinese Egret are often seen at the mudflat hide, but occasionally will come into the scrape. Asian Dowitchers and Nordmann's Greenshanks can still be seen in May, although wader numbers should start to drop very soon by end of the month. Many Little Herons have now arrived for the breeding season, they can be seen flying around or perched on the mangroves in the reserve.

Chinese Egret

Asian Dowtichers

Little Heron

On a drained fishpond at Tai Sang Wai there were a good selection of waders, including Tibetan Sand Plovers, Pacific Golden Plovers, good numbers of Red-necked Stints, Curlew Sandpipers, Broad-billed Sandpipers and Sharp-tailed Sandpipers.

Tibetan Sand Plover

Pacific Golden Plover

Assorted waders: Red-necked Stint, Curlew Sandpiper, Broad-billed Sandpiper and Sharp-tailed Sandpiper

Finally, some local residents that we will be left with in the next few months...Special mention for Lesser Coucals and Sooty-headed Bulbuls, both scrubland specialists with decreasing population in Hong Kong due to habitat succession, you can still find them fairly easily in suitable habitats.

Velvet-fronted Nuthatch

Asian Emerald Dove

Greater Coucal

Lesser Coucal

Sooty-headed Bulbul

Mid-Summer Birds

Mid summer, Hong Kong birders often will tell you this is the quietest time of the year, with barely anything happening, there are barely any migrants, often no vagrants and weather is just too hot for anyone to be outside for any extended period of time. There are still some breeding birds around, but often nothing too exciting. A Chestnut-winged Cuckoo I got at home last month was probably the best I could manage, it did showed exceptionally well though, considering I didn't even need to leave my front door!

Chestnut-winged Cuckoo

If you care to look, all our resident species are still present. Yellow-bellied Prinias and Plain Prinias both breeds in Hong Kong, if you are lucky you sometimes can find their nests in the tall grass.

Yellow-bellied Prinia

Plain Prinia - nest

Many forest species are still active during the hottest month of the year, although getting to them often takes a lot more effort...So, all my recent sightings have been incidental. I got a pair of lovely Silver-eared Mesia posing nicely for me near Chuen Lung one morning, and a relatively cooperative Speckled Piculet near Sheung Shui.

Silver-eared Mesia

Speckled Piculet

Hainan Blue Flycatchers are one of our most prominent breeders in the forest of Hong Kong, while males are not really vocal anymore, around this time of the year it is not uncommon to see adults with their recently fledged youngs.

Hainan Blue Flycatcher - female

Hainan Blue Flycatcher - male with juvenile

We don't have that many waterbirds or waders breeding in Hong Kong, Little Ringed Plover is one of the few, if you ever get too close to their nesting site, you will see the adult fake an injury, such as this one that was deliberately dropped its wings to act as if it was injured, so to lure me away from the actual nest site. I had no chance finding the actual nest anyway, as the egg was just so well camouflaged!

Little Ringed Plover

I paid a visit to the Black Baza breeding site near Sheung Shui, its been quite the focal point among photographers. I was quite surprised the pair have not abandoned the site given how much of the habitat have been destroyed by the construction right next to it, but they seems very loyal to this site. This is the last remaining breeding pair of Black Baza that I know in Hong Kong, who knows how many more years they will still breed here, my hope is that they will perhaps use other suitable habitats nearby if this patch of forest becomes too disturbed. I only got photo of one of the two birds, the other was seemingly busy hawking for insects in the dense foliage. It will be a shame if we lose this charismatic raptor as a breeding species.

Black Baza - one of our rarest local breeder

Breeding Birds & Migrants

May usually signify the end of spring migration, we still get a few migrants but numbers are definitely past the peak. At Nam Chung, the Chestnut-winged Cuckoos are back, but they are nowhere as friendly as they were last two years, I managed a record shot of one of them as it landed on a distant tree. Grey-streaked Flycatchers are passing through at the moment and you will most often find them perched somewhere conspicuous. Brown Shrikes are also passing through in good numbers.

Chestnut-winged Cuckoo

Grey-streaked Flycatcher

Brown Shrike

Over at Mai Po, there are still some migrating waders around, but most were too far on the scrape for me to photograph. Greater Painted Snipes are now paring up and often seen skulking around the grass together, though a pair were found bathing together right out in the open.

Greater Painted Snipe

Nothing exceptional at Tai Po Kau, I was hoping that slight drizzle last week would bring in some migrants but I was disappointed to find very few migrants around. A Crested Goshawk was found drying itself after the rain. 

Crested Goshawk

Many local residents are now breeding, this Blue-winged Minla was found gathering nesting materials, while numerous Red-billed Leiothrix were found in song higher up near Brown Walk.

Blue-winged Minla

Red-billed Leiothrix

A very vocal Orange-headed Thrush took me a while to locate, turns out it was perched quite high up in a tree, their beautiful song is not too often heard, I think it sounds like a mixture of Oriental Magpie Robin with Chinese Hwamei. Hainan Blue Flycatchers are in no short supply everywhere, occasionally you find a friendly one like this one.

Orange-headed Thrush - male

Hainan Blue Flycatcher - male

A pair of Great Barbets near the AFCD warden buildings been frequenting a dead tree nearby. Being a usually shy bird, this naturally attracted a lot of photographers. While a fairly common species in mature forests in Hong Kong, they are not always easy to see well.

Great Barbet

Despite not seeing the Chinese Grassbird on a visit to Tai Mo Shan, good appearances of our common resident species were welcoming. A friendly Brown-flanked Bush Warbler came right out in the open, though a common species I don't always see them this well! Our local Vinous-throated Parrotbills are notoriously difficult to photograph well, I was quite happy to find a few of them hopping out into the open briefly, they are restless birds and very rarely perch for more than a few seconds.

Brown-flanked Bush Warbler

Vinous-throated Parrotbill

The craze about the Spot-breasted Parrotbill is now passed, and this peculiar bird is now left in peace. Although with a quick burst of playback it still jump right out into the open, hoping to look for its non-existence mate...

Spot-breasted Parrotbill

A friendly Mountain Bulbul was found lower down, not quite sure what it was doing on its own but it came within 1m to me on a few occasion, I ended up with a good photo of this much underated species, only in the right light and angle can you truly appreciate the lovely olive green wings and tail.

Mountain Bulbul