2019 Birding Review - Top 10

This annual birding review was late due to our Australia trip, but it is one that must be done! Especially that 2019 was a very very good year for birds. There were a lot of really memorable species and some long awaited rarities. Here are ten of the best species I saw in 2019. My year list was 320 species, my highest year count in the last couple of years. I do look forward to more exciting new and rare birds in 2020.

1. Glossy Ibis

No Ibis had been recorded in Hong Kong since late 90s, since the Oriental White Ibis is now practically extinct in the region, the chances for another ibis in Hong Kong seemed slimmer than ever. Unexpectedly, a pair of these beautiful Glossy Ibis paid us a visit and decided to stay in town for a while for everyone to enjoy! The duo first landed at Mai Po briefly but later relocated at Long Valley, finally settling at Tai Sang Wai. This was no doubt the most exciting and most twitched bird in Hong Kong this year.

2. Fire-capped Tit

Always expect the unexpected in birding, and a Fire-capped Tit which turned up at Kadorie Farm in January last year was probably one of the least expected vagrant in Hong Kong. This little guy found a nice plum blossom and fed on the buds for a few days, allowing most birders to tick this incredible bird off their Hong Kong list. Let's hope we get a male next time!

3. Wood Warbler

This dainty warbler was found on Po Toi island during spring migration, a mega rarity that is way out of its usual range, with very few records from southern China, this Wood Warbler somehow found itself on the most southerly island in Hong Kong!

4. Japanese Night Heron

Around the end of November a Japanese Night Heron was found feeding on the lawns at a barbecue site at Sai Kung. They are not only rare in Hong Kong, but is a rare and elusive species throughout its range, including Japan where they breed. We are very blessed to be one of the very few places where this species do passage through. This young bird showed exceedingly well for prolonged period of time throughout December.

5. Sooty Tern

A very long awaited bird on my Hong Kong list, this rare tern turned up at the tern colony and stayed there just long enough for interested birders to check this off their list. We had wonderful views of this bird up close as well as a cast of various terns around the colony which made it an especially great day out!

6. Black Stork

One of those birding stories that you will remember for the rest of your life, especially great I got to share this great bird with good friend John Hansford from the UK who visited in December. We knew a Black Stork had been spotted the day before, but we saw no bird on site when we arrived, waited a while and nothing happened, just as we were about to leave I suddenly saw this bird just standing there in front of us, turns out it was just hiding in the tall grass!

7. Japanese Robin

Tai Lam Country Park became one of my favourite birding spot late last year, and this was one of those species that totally blew my mind! A very very long awaited lifer and one of my boogie bird, seeing a male in full view for over a minute was not an everyday thing! Having not seen any for many years, I saw over three individuals within a month!

8. Red-backed Shrike

Another one of those really long awaited lifers, having missed the last few records in Hong Kong, I have been waiting for one to turn up somewhere. In late September one finally dropped into Long Valley! It showed exceedingly well and wasn't shy at all.

9. Collared Owlet

We have anticipated this species to spread to Hong Kong, and I was lucky enough to find this very vocal individual at Tai Po Kau being mobbed by other birds. This newest addition to our local owls was exciting news that our forest continues to mature and more welcoming for these long lost species.

10. Brown Wood Owl

Last but not least, one of the most heart stopping moment in 2019, when I came face to face with this Brown Wood Owl at close range at Tai Lam Country Park. It turns out there were more than one bird there and other birders soon found another one, making them a likely breeding pair! I hope they continue to do well there in years to come.

Collared Owlet - New Coloniser

Collared Owlet - new coloniser at Tai Po Kau

Many forest species in Hong Kong have only colonised Hong Kong in last two decades, species such as Pygmy Wren Babblers and Lesser Shortwings were only first recorded in year 2000. Things had changed since then, and many forest species once scarce are now fairly widespread. With Chinese Barbet spreading to Hong Kong a few years back, it is clear that Hong Kong's forest is finally good enough to hold some mature forest species. I've predicted Collared Owlet will soon follow, and sure enough someone reported hearing one at Tai Po Kau last week.

The location was somewhere along the infamous brown walk, where most birders are put off by the long trek usually. I walked up slowly, call of Chinese Barbet echoed through the forest. Soon as I arrived at the supposed location, I heard a very distant but distinctive 'Hu hu-hu hu' call of the Collared Owlet. It is a familiar call for anyone birded in China and South East Asia, as you often hear them throughout the day. I followed the call along the trail and arrived at a location where I thought was closest to the Owlet.

For the next hour I looked extremely hard, but could not locate the bird! I soon noticed a large flock of birds gathering and they started making all sorts of harsh alarm calls. A sign that a raptor is nearby, and Collared Owlets are well known to be hated by ALL birds in the forest. I followed the flock and sure enough they guided me right to where the owl was perched! The owlet was calling while other birds mobbed it from all sides. For the next few hours I was able to observe the owlet closely and counted up to 11 species of birds mobbing the poor thing. Blue-winged Minlas, Cinereous Tit, Mountain Bulbuls, Silver-eared Mesia, Red-billed Leiotrix...

Collared Owlet - calling

Mobbed by various species, Blue-winged Minla, Cinereous Tit, Mountain Bulbuls...

The owlet was so well behaved that a few of my friends were able to get to Tai Po Kau, walk up and see it as well. It was chased off by the birds once and relocated itself on another tree, this time much closer where everyone got top views of this tiny owl. Collared Owlets are known to utilise old woodpecker holes for nest, with woodpeckers increasing in numbers it seems only natural that they will take advantage and move in. Let's hope they stay and make Hong Kong their permanent home!

Collared Owlet - looking normal

Playing rock...

Paper...where are the scissors?

Good view of the 'false eyes' behind it's head

Breeding season is in full swing, and many birds are either building nest or already caring for their young. A pair of Little Grebe had decided to nest next to the footpath at Mai Po, allowing great views at their floating nest. I saw up to three eggs there and during my most recent visit they already hatched.

Little Grebe

I noticed a pair of Blue Whistling Thrush breeding at Tai Po Kau, at Kowloon Park I also saw an adult feeding it's chick, the fledgling is already as big as it's parent, but still requires much care.

Blue Whistling Thrush with chick

The most interesting nesting observation though belongs to a pair of Common Tailorbird, despite being such a common bird in Hong Kong, their nests are never easy to locate. I was very happy to found this nest coming together nicely, thanks to these two skilled tailors.

Common Tailorbird - at nest

Last week I also birded with two visiting birders Arjan Brenkman and Jan van der Laan from the Netherlands. They were on their way to East Pupua and dropped by Hong Kong for a transit, we made good use of the 9 hours and did some birding. They gave me a fairly challenging target list with Chinese Grassbird, Russet Bush Warbler, Styan's Grasshopper Warbler, Chinese Penduline Tit, Asiatic Dowitcher, Chinese Hwamei and Yellow-breasted Bunting. We connected with 6 our of 7 on the day, with an incredibly efficient morning on Tai Mo Shan! First with a singing Hwamei the moment we got off the car, Russet Bush Warbler was not behaving very well but we managed fairly good views in the end. The Chinese Grassbird showed beautifully in the mist in classic Grassbird fashion.

Chinese Hwamei

Russet Bush Warbler

Chinese Grassbird - star bird of Tai Mo Shan

Chinese Penduline Tits were pretty straight forward at Mai Po, you can always pick them out from their call within the reedbed. While out at Deep Bay the usual waders were present, Arjan and Jan got their Asiatic Dowitcher while I added Grey-tailed Tattler to my list of recent waders.

Chinese Penduline Tit - female

Over looking towards north hide

Grey-tailed Tattler

On our way out from the Deep Bay hide I picked up the song of a Styan's Grasshopper Warbler, this was probably the most difficult out of Arjan's target list, since they are incredibly skulking...We waited and sure enough we caught sight of it walking along the water edge along the mangroves! I had a fairly obscured view but Arjan and Jan got the best viewing angle. Before we got to the warden's post we even picked up a Himalayan Swiftlet, a fairly rare passage migrant in Hong Kong.

Styan's Grasshopper Warbler

Himalayan Swiftlet

Other interesting migrants of late includes a single Pale Sand Martin at Long Valley, mixed in amongst the Red-rumped and Barn Swallows. A fairly late female Narcissus Flycatcher was also present at Ho Man Tin, it gave brief but fairly good views.

Pale Sand Martin

Narcissus Flycatcher - female

The best bird at Ho Man Tin of late was a male Siberian Thrush of race davisoni. I was unable to get a clear shot of the shy bird, but I got a record shot of the most important feature, which is the daker lower belly. race sibirica have a paler underside compare with davisoni which are also known as the Sakhalin Thrush. Here's a shot of a subadult male at Shing Mun a few years ago for comparison.

Siberian Thrush - race davisoni

Siberian Thrush - old photo of race sibirica