Rare Ducks - Mandarin Duck & Common Shelduck

Comes December, most of our wintering species has arrived, with a few winter rarities. Having been quite busy I haven't been able to chase some rarer birds, but still able to get some birding done. Kam Tin River been hosting a good range of wintering ducks, including a drake Mandarin Duck in full plumage! Mandarin Ducks are rare winter visitor to Hong Kong, most winter further north with only a handful coming this far south. A bird like this naturally gathered quite the crowd, with over 100 photographers and birders all wanting to get some good photos of this bird.

Mandarin Duck - incredible colours!

The Mandarin Duck being slightly larger than the Eurasian Teals present, was taking its advantage and bullying the other ducks in the proximity, although most of the time they were able to feed peacefully together, it was not afraid to bite the other birds.

Mandarin Duck & Eurasian Teal

The area along Kam Tin River is probably the best place in Hong Kong to find Grey-headed Lapwings, where they roost here almost daily. The area is quite good for other common waders such as Black-winged Stilts, Common Greenshanks and Wood Sandpipers, the water outlet seems to gather a lot of fishes and Grey Herons take full advantage of this, as shown in photo below.

Grey-headed Lapwing

Grey Heron

Another rare duck visiting Hong Kong recently is a Common Shelduck. This species was formerly extremely common around Deep Bay area, with over 4,000 wintering on the mudflat. I remember seeing hundreds of them out in Deep Bay when I was younger up until 2002. Within a few years their numbers dropped and soon they stopped wintering in Hong Kong, why that is remains a mystery to us, but this species in now a rarity. One turned up around Mai Po and I was lucky enough to have it landed on a drained pond at Tai Sang Wai one afternoon! 

Common Shelduck

A Northern Goshawk was spotted at Mai Po recently, I thought I would try my luck around the reserve, I scanned almost all the raptors without much luck. There were evidently lots of raptors around the reserve, including numerous Eastern Buzzards, quite a few Eastern Marsh Harriers, I had one Japanese Sparrowhawk and an Eastern Imperial Eagle gliding with the Black Kites.

Eastern Buzzard

Eastern Marsh Harrier

Japanese Sparrowhawk

Eastern Imperial Eagle & Black Kite

Deep Bay is home to thousands of wintering water birds, the most iconic being Black-faced Spoonbills, which I can never get bored of, quite often we find them feeding on drained ponds at close range. Great Cormorant is probably one of the most numerous wintering species in Hong Kong, hundreds can be seen on a single visit to Mai Po.

Black-faced Spoonbill

Great Cormorant

Mai Po is not just home to wetland birds, plenty of smaller passerines winter in the area, the reedbed is home to Chinese Penduline Tits, Black-browed Reed Warblers and Oriental Reed Warblers. Black-faced Buntings are very common and often seen feeding by the roadside. Yellow-billed Grosbeaks are often found on fruiting trees, while Asian Brown Flycatchers are regularly sighted around the reserve throughout the winter months. Just across the river of Mai Po at Tai Sang Wai, plenty of Common Starlings been coming into the bread to feed.

Oriental Reed Warbler

Black-faced Bunting

Yellow-billed Grosbeak

Asian Brown Flycatcher

Common Starling & Eurasian Tree Sparrow

Plumbeous Redstart is a scarce but regular winter visitor to Hong Kong, although they are known to inhibit fast flowing mountain streams elsewhere, wide man-made gullies and straightened rivers seems to be their habitat of choice in Hong Kong. Two males been seen regularly along a gully in Yuen Long recently, showing exceptionally well.

Plumbeous Redstart - male

At Tai Lam, a pair of Small Niltava made an appearance, both were very vocal, although the female kept its distance. This species is increasingly common in winter months, I expect they may start breeding in Hong Kong in the near future.

Small Niltava - male

Small Niltava - female

Dark-sided Flycatchers may still be found around late November to early December, this one was spotted at Tai Lam as it came down for water just along the footpath. Grey-headed Canary Flycatcher is quite a common wintering species in Hong Kong, I always enjoy watching this delightful species as they hawk around the branches. We get more Fire-breasted Flowerpeckers in the winter, such as this lovely looking individual which I saw at Tai Lam. 

Dark-sided Flycatcher

Grey-headed Canary Flycatcher

Fire-breasted Flowerpecker - male

Finally, while out working in a primary school one day I found a small bird that just hit a large pane of glass. Turns out it was a Manchurian Bush Warbler, luckily it regained consciousness very soon and flew off into a nearby bush. I just so happen to have my camera with me, therefore I was able to grab a few shots before it flew off again.

Manchurian Bush Warbler

Pat Heung - Shek Kong & Kam Tin

Speckled Piculet - star bird of the morning

The area known as Pat Heung which includes one of my favourite birding spot Shek Kong Catchment actually includes a wide range of habitat, from forested areas on the northern slope of Tai Mo Shan, scrubland further down before you get to some agricultural land along the base of the mountain, further away you have Shek Kong Airfield Road which includes some open woods and grass, while Kam Tin there are some fishponds as well as Kam Tin River which holds a fair amount of water birds. So, it is a pretty good area for birds.

That morning I once again decided to visit Shek Kong Catchment for the first time in October. I actually got there pretty late, I didn't actually start walking until well past 8am. Around the public toilet I flushed a large bird which I suspected to be a Crested Serpent Eagle, I followed it's direction and managed to relocate the bird perched at eye-levels! I've had quite a lot of luck with them perched lately, I am certainly not complaining.

Crested Serpent Eagle

Things seemed pretty quiet, there weren't that many bird waves around, and even when there were it didn't contain much. A few Scarlet Minivets as well as Black-winged Cuckooshrike were pretty much all the action I got. Lesser Shortwings were singing constantly although none showed.

Scarlet Minivet

Black-winged Cuckooshrike

I bumped into John Clough, THE birder of Shek Kong Catchment, he lives nearby so naturally this is his local patch. We were just in time and saw a Ashy Drongo, the darker race hopwoodi is the least common subspecies in Hong Kong, they also look very different to the other two lighter race. I decided to tag along with John and he suggested we walk down to the agricultural land where he had seen some buntings, so I followed. I never been in that area so it's quite an eye-opener, although we didn't manage too many species down there except a few Black-faced Buntings, Richard's Pipits and Siberian Stonechats etc. We also managed a Pale-legged Leaf Warbler and Asian Brown Flycatcher along the more wooded area. John led me through the village of Lin Fa Tei and told me to walk back up the stairs towards the catchment to complete a loop, while he walked back home.

Ashy Drongo - hopwoodi

Asian Brown Flycatcher

It was already near noon when I got back up to the catchment, I picked up a few Fire-breasted Flowerpeckers, the male showed well although staying quite high up, the female came much lower down. They are mainly winter visitors to Hong Kong, although we do have some that over summer. Further along I spotted another Ashy Drongo, this time a leucogenis, being much paler and having a very white face.

Fire-breasted Flowerpecker - male (above) & female (below)

Ashy Drongo - leucogenis

As I was walking past the eco garden, I heard the high pitched 'sit-sit-sit-sit-sit' call of the Speckled Piculet, I quickly scanned the surrounding trees, finally found the tiny bird feeding very high up above my head. I waited around and the bird decided to come down and gave better views, as it busily pecked at the branches. John Clough had seen the Piculet at Shek Kong Catchment on a regular basis, this was however the first time I've ever seen them here. Although they are increasing in the last few years, they are still not what you call common, and I am happy to get some decent photos at last.

Speckled Piculet

After the Piculet I headed towards Ko Po Road by Kam Tin River, hopefully to take some photos of the Grey-headed Lapwings. I was not disappointed, as I saw a few at the usual roosting site along with a flock of Black-winged Stilts. Along the road I spotted a Chinese Skink, a fairly common skink species in Hong Kong, although a lot of the time they are so quick that I never had much chance to get a photo, this one was a little more cooperative and stayed long enough for me to get a decent photo. A little over 60 species of birds one morning in such a compact area is not bad.

Grey-headed Lapwing

Chinese Skink

New Year Surprise - Lesser Whitethroat

Lesser Whitethroat - most unexpected find while out working!

While out working last Tuesday at Tsim Bei Tsui, I encountered a small bird that made an unfamiliar "tick tick" call. When I found the bird that was making the call, I immediately recognised it as a Lesser Whitethroat despite the fact that I did not have any binoculars or camera with me at the moment! The bird was merely 5m away from me, so it was quite clear what I was looking at. On Thursday I decided to give it another try. A few birders saw the bird earlier that morning after hearing the news, but the bird only showed briefly.

I waited along with them for another three hours before the bird reappeared! And briefly it was! It perched on an open branch for a few seconds before jumping into a tree giving very obscured views, shortly after it disappeared into the woods and not to be seen again. Luckily I managed to grab a couple of record shots. A nice tick of this rarity before Chinese New Year!

Lesser Whitethroat - a bird that really make you wait a long time...

On other birds during the Chinese New Year break, a visit to Shek Kong Airfield yielded a few female Common Rosefinches yet again, but I again didn't have much luck with any males, although the females showed quite nicely. The other nice bird there was a single female Black-naped Monarch, which was seen briefly.

Common Rosefinch - female

Black-naped Monarch - female

Common birds like Yellow-browed Warblers and Dusky Warblers were still in good numbers. But I didn't find any other interesting warblers amongst them. Both of these quick little birds showed well though, even posing long enough for me to take a few photos! A flock of Red-billed Blue Magpies again showed quite well, with this one perched right out in the open for a good minute or two.

Yellow-browed Warbler

Dusky Warbler

Red-billed Blue Magpie

I also visited Kam Tin River to try get some closer shots of the Grey-headed Lapwings there and with great success! I found a flock resting along the shore next to the road, I snuck up to them and popped my head and lens just over the low wall so not to scare them off. Turned out they were quite confiding and I managed to take some good photos before sneaking off again without disturbing them from their roost.

Maybe having a bird as the Chinese zodiac this year will bring more birds! We shall see!

Grey-headed Lapwing