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

October Heat - 30°C Autumn

Despite heading into second week of October, weather remained hot and humid for quite a while. Only until today that temperature started to drop somewhat. Still, despite the less than ideal weather, birds continue to move through, with a few good birds found the past week or so. I went out birding with Richard Patient once more before he flew back to the UK, we decided upon a morning walk at Tai Lam as his main targets remains to be any migrant flycatchers. We struck luck on the day, and we chanced upon a Green-backed Flycatcher right at the magic valley! This individual was very yellow underneath that I initially thought it was a Yellow-rumped Flycatcher, upon closer inspection it was clear it was definitely not. This is supposedly the 8th record for Hong Kong if accepted, and one of our rarer migrant flycatchers! This bird was only seen briefly and not seen by any other birders afterwards as far as I know.

Green-backed Flycatcher - one of my better find this Autumn

We got a good range of common forest birds at Tai Lam, as well as numerous warblers including Two-barred, Arctic, Pallas's, Yellow-browed, Eastern Crowned, Pale-legged and Hartert's Leaf Warblers. A nice looking female Verditer Flycatcher as well as another Dark-sided Flycatcher added some excitement to the morning's list.

Verditer Flycatcher - female

Dark-sided Flycatcher

We connected with no less than two Japanese Paradise Flycatchers amongst two separate bird waves, this was one of the top target species of Richard, and we got some phenomenon views of one of them, even stopped and preened its wings for a while at relatively close range!

Japanese Paradise Flycatcher

Other highlights were a few Dollarbirds, as well as a Crested Goshawk perched on an open branch. We ended up with quite a nice list of birds for the morning. While birding at Tai Lam is never easy, it is always an enjoyable walk and quite often pack a few nice surprises.

Dollarbird

Crested Goshawk

I finally gotten around to my local patch at Tai Mei Tuk Catchment one morning. It started relatively slowly, with very few migrants of note. Grey Treepies are always nice to see, and I think this is one of the easier place to see this species well in Hong Kong. A high flying raptor raised my hopes slightly, although turns out only to be a Besra. An Ashy Drongo was a nice addition, as well as a pair of Black-winged Cuckooshrikes that I didn't manage to photograph. White-bellied Erpornis is also a species I quite often find along the catchment.

Grey Treepie

Besra

Ashy Drongo

White-bellied Erpornis

A very distant Black-naped Oriole was one of the better migrant of the morning. There were numerous Two-barred Warblers along the catchment, only this one showed relatively well for a half decent photo.

Black-naped Oriole

Two-barred Warbler

The best bird was found while I was walking back out to the entrance, when I flushed a wagtail from the road. I initially thought it was a Grey Wagtail, a species I find here often, although I immediately knew it wasn't the case when it started calling mid-flight, surely it was a Forest Wagtail instead. I located the bird a little further on, it was slightly skittish to begin with but once it got used to my presence started feeding along the slope on the other side of the catchwater. Despite it not being the closest view I've had of this species, I enjoyed this encounter, after around ten minutes it took flight and was not seen again.

Forest Wagtail

I also gave Fung Lok Wai a try lately, hoping to find a Manchurian Reed Warbler somewhere, I was a little disappointed that I didn't find any, but there were a lot of Black-browed Reed Warblers around, almost one every 15-20 metres apart! Oriental Reed Warblers were also in good numbers.

Black-browed Reed Warbler

Oriental Reed Warbler

Other notable birds was a single Black-winged Kite as well as a very shy Pheasant-tailed Jacana. Both seen at a distant, but were nice birds to see nonetheless.

Black-winged Kite

Pheasant-tailed Jacana

Over at San Tin, some Whiskered Terns were there, despite being a relatively common sight here I do enjoy seeing these elegant terns skimming the water for small shrimps.

Whiskered Tern

Although I didn't find anything super interesting at San Tin, I did find a rather skittish Eurasian Wryneck. I also flushed a Pallas's Grasshopper Warbler along the tall grass, a much more 'naturalistic' and traditional setting to see such skulking birds before Telford Garden. I scanned for some of the roosting swallows but saw nothing out of the ordinary, a few juvenile Barn Swallows did perched nicely for a photo though. There were not that many interesting waders on a drained pond, I only found a single Sharp-tailed Sandpiper thats worth mentioning.

Eurasian Wryneck

Barn Swallow

Sharp-tailed Sandpiper

Since Long Valley is still closed off to the public, I've been feeling like a kid locked out of the sweet shop. The only way to 'legally' look at the birds is to stand on the biking path along the north end and scan the fields for any birds. I did see a Yellow-breasted Bunting flying into the paddies, but it was way too far for a photo. A 'Swintail' Snipe gave good views a little closer, although it never fanned its tail out for me to confirm the ID. A pair of Dunlins were feeding on one of the shallow ponds, this one still retaining some dark feathers on its belly.

'Swintail' Snipe

Dunlin