Rhodolea in Full Bloom

The Rhodolea Trees around Tai Po Kau are now in full bloom, attracting many nectar loving species to the area, Orange-bellied Leafbirds are of course the most notable and often the noisiest of the bunch. Colourful males are always a lovely model, but the bright green females are also quite interesting to look at.

Orange-bellied Leafbird - male

Orange-bellied Leafbird - female

A few Hair-crested Drongos were also attracted to the tree, being a species that are seen mostly high up near the canopy, it is always nice to see them feeding low down and at close range, where you can appreciate their peculiar plumage and crest.

Hair-crested Drongo

The various flowering trees plus lower temperature lately means birds are generally quite active, Blue-winged Minlas for example are showing very well lately, Mountain Bulbuls which rely heavily on nectar have also been very active.

Blue-winged Minla

Mountain Bulbul

Along with other 'usual suspects', Tai Po Kau is always worth going. You cannot go wrong with seeing a bird wave up close, when numerous species dances around you at close range, even if they are our common species.

White-bellied Erpornis

Huet's Fulvetta

Silver-eared Mesia

Yellow-cheeked Tit - male

Speckled Piculet

Grey-chinned Minivet - male

You are almost guarantee to see a Rufous-tailed Robin at this time of the year if you put some effort in, while not every encounter end up with a good photo, it is not too difficult to get a good look at this wintering species. Bumping into Indochinese Yuhinas however require a lot more luck, this winter visitor is more of an eruptive species, some years  you may see them everywhere, and some years you only see a few flocks, this winter seems to be the latter, and I haven't seen them as often as other winters.

Rufous-tailed Robin

Indochinese Yuhina

Getting good photos of common species like Scarlet-backed Flowerpecker is also no easy task, they generally show better if there are fruiting mistletoe plants around. Got quite lucky with this male at the car park of Tai Po Kau, where it showed exceptionally well, a real treat!

Scarlet-backed Flowerpecker - male

Over at Tai Tong, a Forest Wagtail had been reported. I went to give it a go the other day, and found it walking along the barbecue site casually. Unfortunately, this bird seems to have a deformed or broken bill, but otherwise looks healthy. It was able to catch and swallowed a grasshopper during my observation, so hopefully it is well enough to survive through the winter.

Forest Wagtail

The Black-capped Kingfisher out on the Deep Bay mudflat have been showing very well, unlike previous years where they would be hiding in the mangroves for prolonged period of time, this one perched right out in the open sometimes, occasionally flying out to catch fiddlers crabs or mudskippers, a real gem of a bird to see!

Black-capped Kingfisher

You do get a good selection of birds at this time of the year in Mai Po, while it is generally nothing hugely rare or exciting, they are some quality wintering species. Here are a few examples...

Grey Plover

Eurasian Wigeon

Black-faced Spoonbill

Black Kite & Imperial Eagle

Taiga Flycatcher

Temminck's Stint

Falcated Duck - male

Northern Lapwing

White-cheeked Starling

Oriental Storks are always a highlight of the day if you get to see them well, some days we don't see them at all, but they more often than not turn up around the reserve at some point, either resting on the scrape or soaring past our heads.

Oriental Storks

While the Black-necked Grebe is still present at Tai Sang Wai, I have not bothered taking much photos of it since it never came very close. The Bluethroat is still around, but now abandoned by the photographers, therefore retreating back into the cover, you can still see it along the track though. Zitting Cisticolas are in good numbers there, you can get quite good views of them sitting on the tall grass. You can always count on Tai Sang Wai as a regular spot to see Collared Crows, this vulnerable species can often be seen foraging around the fish ponds.

Bluethroat

Zitting Cisticola

Collared Crow

The Brown Shrike at Lok Ma Chau have stayed on and continued to show well around the farm fields, although it is becoming more unpredictable and may hide for prolonged period of time occasionally. The long staying Citrine Wagtail have also been showing quite well, it seems to get chased around by the Eastern Yellow Wagtails there, luckily it still likes to stick around the cabbage field there.

Brown Shrike

Citrine Wagtail

Southern Lantau Migrants - Birding at Hong Kong's Largest Island

I rarely bird Lantau, mainly because I live on the opposite side of Hong Kong, the other reason being no person without a permit can drive into southern Lantau, which makes getting there more difficult than it should be. Usually, we need to head to Tung Chung and catch a bus to reach just one of the many birding hotspots, therefore it is difficult to travel multiple stops on a single day without getting bogged down by public transport. Therefore, when an opportunity arrises that a friend got a car with a permit to go into southern Lantau, it was worth spending a day there! We met up at Sunny Bay and got into his car and headed towards Shui Hau. Shui Hau been getting more attention of late due to a presence of a Fairy Pitta there a week ago, we knew it was already gone by the time of our visit, but our morning there started fairly well, with a female Yellow-rumped Flycatcher plus a few very confiding Asian Brown Flycatchers.

Yellow-rumped Flycatcher

Asian Brown Flycatcher

With so many Water Buffalos, this naturally attracts a lot of Cattle Egrets, this is a common sight in south Lantau. The grass attracted quite a few Eastern Yellow Wagtails, and I was very pleased to find a Citrine Wagtail there as well, this juvenile got the classic looking C-shaped ear covert. 

Eastern Cattle Egret

Citrine Wagtail

To my complete surprise, a Forest Wagtail jumped out of nowhere and was feeding next to the Citrine Wagtail! It was very strange to see these two species together, as they usually inhabits very different habitats! The Forest Wagtail did not give good views however and disappeared very soon.

Forest Wagtail

After a relatively productive morning at Shui Hau we moved on towards Pui O, on the field we spotted a good numbers of 'Swintail' Snipes, but when two of them took flight their fanned tail revealed themselves to be Swinhoe's Snipes! I wasn't quick enough with my camera, but Ko who already got his camera ready managed to snap a few photos before they landed, confirming them as Swinhoe's Snipes.

Swinhoe's Snipe

Swinhoe's Snipe (photo credit to Ko)

Black Drongos were everywhere, one perched nicely and infront of a nice background for a good photo. Asian Brown Flycatchers were in no short supplies, and we saw a few more of those, one of them was very friendly and allowed close views.

Black Drongo

Asian Brown Flycatcher

But talking about friendly, nothing quite beat this over the top friendly Sanderling, feeding along the beach without a care in the world. it is always a pleasure to see these long distance migrants up close, getting the camera as close to the ground as possible ensures a nice background, we had a nice little photo session with this charming little bird before moving onto other birds at Pui O. We didn't connect with the Black-capped Kingfisher, but I did see a Black-naped Oriole. 

Sanderling - a very confiding individual

The mangroves at Pui O was covered in Fiddler's Crab, we saw two species, the pale but larger Austruca lactea and the smaller but very colourful Paraleptuca splendida.

Austruca lactea

Paraleptuca splendida

It was already mid-day when we got to Shap Long, and bird activity started to slow. We did add a distance Brown Shrike at the reservoir. Closer to the village we were surrounded by over a hundred Large-billed Crow, probably the largest congregation of Large-billed Crows I have seen in Hong Kong, I estimated at least 120 crows together, but actual count maybe even more. The best bird at Shap Long was an Eurasian Wryneck, but it was not cooperative and remained well hidden.

Brown Shrike

Large-billed Crow - one of the largest congregation I've seen in Hong Kong

Finally, we moved on towards Ngong Ping, where we were greeted by a pair of Eurasian Hobbies. But, our main target there was actually a Yellow-browed Bunting that was found earlier the day, luckily for us, the bird stayed and gave excellent views, no doubt one of my best encounter of this species to date!

Eurasian Hobby

Yellow-browed Bunting

On our way back to the car we added a single Dollarbird perched on a dead tree, plus a Dark-sided Flycatcher. And that concluded our rather productive full day birding at southern Lantau, although our species count was not that impressive, we managed some very good species and even some good photos to take home with us! Lantau is certainly a much under birded area in Hong Kong, and with more birders willing to spend time here, I am sure a lot more rarities will be reported here in the near future.

Dollarbird

Dark-sided Flycatcher

I was invited by Canon Hong Kong to co-lead a forest bird photography workshop with James Kwok, we decided to head to Shek Kong Catchment for our outing, and it proved to be a good choice, as it provided plenty of photography opportunities of several forest species, the best being a flock of Asian Emerald Doves! We started with three on the same branch, later we saw at least 6 individuals coming and going, both adults and juveniles were seen.

Common Emerald Dove - adult

Common Emerald Dove - juvenile

Unfortunately we didn't get to experience any large bird waves with the group, but other birds of interest includes a single Plaintive Cuckoo, plus good numbers of Arctic Warblers, which always provide a good challenge for any bird photographer.

Plaintive Cuckoo

Arctic Warbler

Both Dark-sided and Asian Brown Flycatchers were seen, although they weren't particularly close, everyone got good views of them. I also saw a Yellow-rumped Flycatcher near the reservoir, but it was too quick for anyone else to see it.

Dark-sided Flycatcher

Asian Brown Flycatcher