Frosty and Cold!

Temperature dropped below zero in many parts of north east New Territories, with frost reported throughout! Here are some shots of frost at Wu Kau Tang I took one cold morning, but other birders have reported frost at Lam Tsuen, Ta Kwu Leng, Fanling, Shengshui and Mai Po. Frost is not a common sight in Hong Kong, while we view it as a novelty, it is certainly a testing time for many birds, many of which are not used to cold weather like this. 

Frost in Hong Kong

With colder weather we often see changes in bird behaviour, skulking birds may become more bold and bold birds can become fearless! This was the case of this lovely male Siberian Rubythroat I encountered along Tsing Tam Reservoir one very cold morning, it was basically feeding by the roadside like a Magpie Robin! I took a few photos and left it to forage for food in peace.

Siberian Rubythroat - male

Other birds in the area and along Shek Kong Catchwater includes a bird wave with Speckled Piculet and the usual suspects of Minivets, Nuthatches and Babblers. Quite a few Rufous-tailed Robins were feeding close to the road, allowing good views.

Speckled Piculet

Grey-chinned Minivet - male

Velvet-fronted Nuthatch

Rufous-tailed Robin

Closer to home, a female Verditer showed fairly well at Tai Mei Tuk Catchment, it was feeding on low branches on a cold morning. On the same day I connected with the long staying Alstrom's Warbler there, but only had a quick glimpse through the trees, but it was very vocal and easily detected by its 'Chi-Chit' call.

Verditer Flycatcher - female

Long Valley was also hit hard by frost, as I saw several fields of crops all withered from frostbite. Eastern Yellow Wagtails foraged along the dead plants. Ever since the construction of the nature park began, the affects on birds and wildlife in the area had been a huge concern for birders and green groups, draining and flattening of fields and wetland is worrying, I am certainly seeing less Snipes and Black-winged Stilts than usual. Several Little Ringed Plover foraged on dried fields, while small flock of Eurasian Teals made good use of the remaining ponds in Long Valley.

Eastern Yellow Wagtail - race taivana

Little Ringed Plover

Eurasian Teal

Good numbers of Red-rumped Swallows and House Swifts soars the sky above, hawking for insects in the midday sun. I scanned for other swift species but couldn't find any.

Red-rumped Swallow

House Swift

The remaining paddy fields are still the main attraction for Munias and Sparrows, perhaps it was the cold weather, theChestnut and White-headed Munias have become much bolder than they were before, often allowing close views of them feeding within the paddies. Whether these exotics will slowly die out or establish themselves remains to be seen.

Chestnut & White-headed Munia - exotic species in Hong Kong

Chestnut Munia

White-headed Munia

For now, Scaly-breasted Munia is still by far the dominant species, with no less than 400 birds in the paddies. Some Eurasian Tree Sparrows also join in for the action.

Scaly-breasted Munia

Eurasian Tree Sparrow

While a few Little Buntings persisted around the paddies, the the best Bunting at Long Valley by far is a male Crested Bunting, it had been showing well for anyone keen enough to visit, this is the first male I've seen in Hong Kong, certainly a very handsome looking fella!

Crested Bunting - male

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