Tai Po Kau - Ending & Beginning

White-spectacled Warbler - last addition of the many quality birds of 2019

2019 had finally ended, what a year it had been, with all the ups and downs and all the madness in our city. Tai Lam Country Park had been remarkable in 2019, and I am hoping this trend will continue through to 2020! On my last visit, it was still delivering plenty of surprises. One of my most remarkable find there were no doubt the pair of Brown Wood Owls along the trail, which had became a bit of a star there for local birders. Although they are not showing as well as before, they are still relatively easy to see there compare to everywhere else in Hong Kong.

Brown Wood Owl - still a special bird to see after seeing it so many times

I found this Grey Nightjar in broad daylight by complete chance, where a few Swinhoe's White-eyes surrounded it. I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me at first, but a second look revealed my suspicion to be correct!

Grey Nightjar - incredible camouflage!

My other contribution to the many incredible birds at Tai Lam Country Park were the Japanese Robins, no one had ever seen so many of these usually rare winter visitors in one place! One male showed well again on my last visit.

Japanese Robin - male

I spent an hour at Yuen Long Park after I heard there were a few confiding thrushes inside the park. I missed the White's Thrush and the male Japanese Thrush, but there were many Chinese Blackbirds around, feeding on the ground.

Chinese Blackbird

I only saw a female Japanese Thrush along with a male Grey-backed Thrush. The Japanese Thrush was particularly photogenic and foraged on the ground at close range.

Japanese Thrush - female

Grey-backed Thrush - male

Other than the thrushes the park also seemed to be a good spot for Red-billed Blue Magpies, where a small flock of them showed exceptionally well.

Red-billed Blue Magpie

I didn't spend too much time birding during the last week of the year, although a White-spectacled Warbler reported at Tai Po Kau was quite tempting for me to try get a better photo. The day started off slowly, with very few birds seen, a few small bird waves containing common species like Velvet-fronted Nuthatch kept me entertained.

Velvet-fronted Nuthatch

The Rhodoleia is coming into flower, and once again Orange-bellied Leafbirds were first there to mark their territory. A male was constantly chasing away other birds and mimicking the call of a Besra, trying to fend off the many Swinhoe's White-eyes that were also trying to feed on the nectar.

Orange-bellied Leafbird - male

The Red-billed Leiothrix at picnic area 3 had became quite accustomed to bird photographers feeding them that they remain in the area almost all the time, other than a steady supply of mealworms, I also saw them picking up leftovers and crumbs of bread left by hikers.

Red-billed Leiothrix

I met Kwan and he generously pointed me towards the direction of the White-spectacled Warbler he saw earlier, I walked to the supposed location and waited, while I was looking out for the warbler I heard a loud wood pecking noise and thought there was a piculet feeding nearby, I followed the sound to it's source and found out it was a Streak-breasted Scimitar Babbler feeding on termites!

Streak-breasted Scimitar Babbler

I waited a short while and finally struck gold when a small bird wave came through and within the numerous Pallas's Leaf Warbler was this single green crowned White-spectacled Warbler. I was able to take a few photos I was happy with before it moved away again. This is the best encounter I've had with this species so far, with the birds often being quite far away on previous encounters.

White-spectacled Warbler

I was also delighted to find the Forest Wagtail was still around when I returned to the car park. It was again casually walking around on the ground and later flew to the other side of the road and fed along the slope there.

Forest Wagtail

I spent the first morning of 2020 guiding a half day tour around Tai Po Kau and Tai Sang Wai. The morning started off with some common birds around the gardens, including a confiding Fork-tailed Sunbird, stable cast of Velvet-fronted Nuthatch, Blue-winged Minla, Hair-crested Drongo, Scarlet Minivet, Grey-chinned Minivet etc.

Fork-tailed Sunbird - male

Things were slightly quieter in the reserve at first, a confiding Asian Brown Flycatcher showed well, we got very few birds other than Orange-bellied Leafbirds and Streak-breasted Scimitar Babblers.

Asian Brown Flycatcher

On our way back down we finally struck gold with a large bird wave, where we got good views of the White-spectacled Warbler, a Grey-headed Canary Flycatcher at close range, plus a good selection of forest birds such as Rufous-capped Babbler, Huet's Fulvetta, Yellow-cheeked Tit, Black-winged Cuckooshrike and so on...

Grey-headed Canary Flycatcher

Rufous-capped Babbler

The best bird of the morning were up to two Rufous-faced Warblers! A species which had exploded in Hong Kong this winter, but somehow I've completely missed in 2019. Good thing I finally caught up with them and started 2020 with a pair of these very pretty warblers.

Rufous-faced Warbler - first quality bird of 2020!

Tai Sang Wai was pleasant but nothing particularly interesting to note, except for a pair of Chinese Penduline Tits, which showed well feeding on the top of the reed grass. A Black-faced Spoonbill feeding in one of the fish pond was perhaps the best end to our pleasant morning.

Chinese Penduline Tit - female (left) & male (right)

An unexpected Rook

Rook - a most unexpected drop in at Long Valley

Normal birding resumes for me, and just in time for some winter visitors. I gave Shek Kong Catchment a try, a spot i've not been to during the day for quite some time. Things started off fairly decent, with two Black-winged Cuckooshrikes, they are a common winter visitor in Hong Kong. Hair-crested Drongos we get mainly as migrants and winter visitors, but I think there are some resident birds now.

Black-winged Cuckooshrike

Hair-crested Drongo

Large flocks of Silver-eared Mesias is a common sight in Hong Kong, they often gather with Velvet-fronted Nuthatches. Scarlet Minivets were also seen, along with Grey-chinned Minivets.

Silver-eared Mesia

Velvet-fronted Nuthatch

Scarlet Minivet - female

Grey-chinned Minivet - male

Birds of the undergrowth are not often easy to detect, Rufous-capped Babblers often move with large feeding flocks, you will see these quick moving birds moving near your feet. They become extremely bold within these feeding flocks that you can observe them within a meter or so. A few Chinese Hwameis were seen, they are very common in Hong Kong, inhabiting almost any hills with scrubs and trees, but not often easy to see. The best skulker I found was no doubt a Lesser Shortwing, an uncommon resident that is tough to see, it didn't pose for a nice photo but at least it gave me a decent view.

Rufous-capped Babbler

Chinese Hwamei

Lesser Shortwing

Grey Treepies are somewhat of a Shek Kong Catchment speciality, they are noisy and hard to miss, they were quite active that morning and allowed great views. While two flycatchers were seen during my walk, first a male Verditer Flycatcher which showed briefly, second an Asian Brown Flycatcher saw within the Eco Garden.

Grey Treepie

Verditer Flycatcher

Asian Brown Flycatcher

I later took at trip to Long Valley in the afternoon, weather was fairly decent if not on the warm side. Yellow-breasted Buntings were still in good numbers, many of them feeding in the harvested paddy field, they often flew back to a reed bed when they were flushed from the field, I guess the tall reed bed made them feel safe, therefore allowed quite close views.

Yellow-breasted Bunting - still in good numbers at Long Valley

Chinese Penduline Tits were also present, a few of them stayed near the reed bed as well, occasionally flying out to feed. This species is most easily detected by their piercing calls, once you are familiar with it you will find them to be pretty common during winter months.

Chinese Penduline Tit

Daurian Redstarts and Red-throated Pipits were both in good numbers, both typical wintering species in Long Valley. While a very pretty Eastern Yellow Wagtail stood out from the rest, it was of race tschutschensis, with longer supercilium.

Daurian Redstart - female

Red-throated Pipit

Eastern Yellow Wagtail - race tschutschensis

Everything was quite ordinary, in fact things got a little boring when I noticed a large black bird perched on the overhead cable. Large-billed Crows aren't that common at Long Valley, so I took a closer look through my binoculars. It was quite clear something wasn't quite right the moment I looked at the bird and very soon I figured out what it was, it's was a Rook! Unlike the bird from last year, it was an adult, which showed it's most prominent feature of it's 'naked' nose. It looked healthy if not a little tired, coughed up a pellet before flying off into the distance.

This was quite a remarkable encounter, as last year's bird was only Hong Kong's first confirmed record, this if accepted will be the second. Now all we need is a Black Redstart and November feels like Deja Vu...

Rook - coughing up a pellet

Rook - all features showed well, straight thin beak with pale base, purplish sheen

Fish Ponds and Mountains

I have been visiting fish ponds at Tai Sang Wai regularly of late, although I haven't been able to find anything of huge interest, it's still a nice area to visit for migrants and resident birds alike. One of the better bird I managed to get good views of was a female Chinese Penduline Tit, it was oblivious to my presence as it fed on the insects hidden within the stem of the reed. Although a fairly common species in Hong Kong during winter months, you don't get to see them up close like this often as they usually hide out of sight within large reed beds.

Chinese Penduline Tit - female

Yellow-bellied Prinias were singing like crazy, often right out in the open. You can often hear them making wing beating sounds as well, a sign of territorial display I presume?

Yellow-bellied Prinia

The fish ponds had hosted a large congregation of Black-headed Gulls during winter, they were still present but many adults are already moulting into their breeding plumage.

Black-headed Gull - 1st winter bird and adult in breeding plumage

Red-throated Pipits now found in fairly good numbers in this area. I scanned for Buff-bellied Pipits but found none, this year had not been a particularly good year for them. A few ocularis White Wagtails had been around, always nice to see and a pleasant change from our resident race leucopsis.

Red-throated Pipit

White Wagtail - race ocularis

Stejneger's Stonechats are still around, most of them should be heading north by end of April. Many of the males had moulted into their handsome breeding plumage.

Stejneger's Stonechat - male

Little Ringed Plovers have already started breeding, at one of the fish pond I saw a pair acting slightly nervous, on closer inspection I noticed a fluffy little chick following them around. The chick was amazingly well camouflaged and I could barely see it when it kneeled down.

Little Ringed Plover - adult and chick

I also visited the fish ponds at night, as some fellow birders had been seeing a Savanna Nightjar perched on the ground of late. The nightjar never showed for me but a few Oriental Pratincoles feeding on mosquitoes in the middle of the road was quite interesting.

Oriental Pratincole

Spring is also a good time to start visiting Tai Mo Shan as breeding season begins. I was surprised by a flock of Red-billed Blue Magpies near the summit car park as I have never seen them venture up this high. Songs of Russet Bush Warblers filled the hills as I walked up towards the grassy area.

Red-billed Blue Magpie

I managed to spot a Chinese Grassbird in the usual area, but it didn't stay long enough for me to photograph. A Brown-flanked Bush Warbler was quite the opposite, they can be quite curious when pished. Vinous-throated Parrotbills were seen in good numbers, I noticed a pair coming back and forth towards one area of short bamboos which I presume as a possible nest site, I managed to grab a half decent shot of one.

Brown-flanked Bush Warbler

Vinous-throated Parrotbill

Still a pretty quiet spring for me, April will hopefully be better!