Slow Spring - Rosy Starling & Waders

Spring migration had been pretty slow for me, mainly because my local patch had been exceedingly disappointing in producing anything of interest, a stark difference to last year's run. Work had been keeping me away from much birding for a week or so, therefore, I haven't even been able to connect with some of our more regular migrants. One of the better bird of late is a Rosy Starling moulting into adult plumage, which I suspect was the one present since November, only now prettier than before. It had been showing regularly and terrorizing the White-shouldered Starlings present.

Rosy Starling

White-shouldered Starling

I also saw a few Great Mynas mixed in with Crested Mynas, now a regularly seen species around Deep Bay area, no doubt taken up residence in Hong Kong. The only purely migrating species of interest I saw at San Tin were a few Himalayan Swiftlets.

Crested & Great Myna

 

Himalayan Swiftlet

Despite all the bulldozing happening at Long Valley, it is still a worthy area to visit during migration, over a dozen Red-necked Phalaropes feeding on the shallow ponds made for great photographic opportunities, with a few now moulting into their breeding plumage.

Red-necked Phalarope

One of the less common visitor to Long Valley is the Grey-headed Lapwing, which I was delighted to see around the shallow ponds, these ponds also attracted a small numbers of waders including Long-toed and Red-necked Stints. 

Grey-headed Lapwing

Red-necked Stint

Over at Mai Po, shorebirds migration are now in full swing, with a good number of species present on the scrape during high tide. Here are a good selection of the commoner species which came close to the hide.

Terek Sandpiper

Black-tailed Godwit

Pied Avocet

It was hard to resist taking a few photos of this Little Grebe in full breeding plumage, especially when it swam so close in front of the hide. 

Little Grebe - breeding plumage

Some of the better migrants on the day were a few Great Knots, numerous Red Knots in breeding plumage and good numbers of Asian Dowitcher, a species I enjoy immensely seeing each spring. I also spotted a single Nordmann's Greenshank and a few Far Eastern Curlews on the scrape, but those were too far for any decent photos.

Great Knot

Red Knot - breeding plumage

Asian Dowitcher - breeding plumage

Greater Painted Snipes likely started their breeding season at Mai Po, I heard and saw at least one pair along the pond outside Education Centre.

Greater Painted Snipe - female & male

A short visit to Po Toi yielded a few Bunting species such as Black-faced, Little and a pair of Chestnut Buntings, none of which were photo friendly...The only bird photographable on the day I visited were a pair of Ashy Minivets. There is still a bit of time left for spring migration, hopefully my luck will come...

Ashy Minivet - male

The Buntings Returns

It is about the time of year when flocks of Buntings are returning to the paddies at Long Valley, and without missing a beat I found them in fairly good numbers, although many of them were still rather skittish and only gave brief perched views. I counted over ten Yellow-breasted Buntings, the now critically endangered species is clinging on despite trapping in China continues to threaten their existence. A Black-headed Bunting is also present, their annual appearance is much appreciated. Other species I saw includes Chestnut-eared Buntings and Little Buntings.

Yellow-breasted Bunting

Black-headed Bunting

I was delighted to find small flock of Russet Sparrows feeding in the paddies, some of the handsome males were showing nicely. This is not a particularly common species in Hong Kong, usually appearing sporadically in the winter months.

Russet Sparrow

I finally caught up with a Himalayan Swiftlet at Long Valley last week, having missed them throughout much of this autumn. They are fairly scarce passage migrants in Hong Kong, where we usually get single birds following other swifts or swallows, this one was seen hawking for insects with a large flock of Red-rumped Swallows.

Himalayan Swiftlet

At Tai Sang Wai I failed to produce anything particularly interesting, the numerous Whiskered Terns were still attracting tons of photographers. I suspect the disturbance may have affected the birds there somewhat, as one of the promising looking drained ponds were missing all the interesting waders that I was expecting.

Whiskered Tern

Shek Kong Catchment had been fairly consistent lately, with a few bird waves seen near eco-garden, with newly arriving Verditer and Grey-headed Canary Flycatchers, although none of which allowed a photo. Eastern Crowned Warblers were still in good numbers, while a few Hartert's Leaf Warblers (goodsoni) are now turning up in the bird waves.

Eastern Crowned Warbler

Hartert's Leaf Warbler - goodsoni

Larger birds includes Ashy Drongos and Black-winged Cuckooshrikes, both regularly seen in the area. During a full day tour last week we had great views of a single Speckled Piculet within a bird wave, it showed superbly for everyone. The best bird was probably an adult Bonelli's Eagle, a local species that seems to have declined significantly in recent years, I haven't seen one for over two years, its nice to catchup with this handsome raptor last week.

Ashy Drongo - salangensis

Black-winged Cuckooshrike

Speckled Piculet

Bonelli's Eagle

Wryneck, Sparrows and Swiftlets

Eurasian Wryneck - an attraction at Long Valley at the moment

An afternoon stroll at Long Valley proved to be quite productive, it is not surprising given the time of the year. Other than the usual suspects you would expect at this time of the year, a Eurasian Wryneck had very kindly been active near Ho Sheung Heung side. As always, Wryneck is a huge draw for photographers, I understand why as they are truly charismatic birds to look at.

Photographers lining up to get a shot at the Wryneck

It wasn't long before the Wryneck hopped into view, it had been active around an ant nest that it found under a small tree. The ants had made a nest out of an old wood board, the Wryneck feasted on those ants using it's specialised long tongue. The bird looked pretty contented with this 'restaurant' and seemed completely oblivious to the few dozens of photographers surrounding it...

Eurasian Wryneck - a very entertaining bird

Other goodies at Long Valley included up to nine Russet Sparrows feeding at the paddies! This is however not the highest ever count, the honour goes to fourteen birds in October 2012. This is still my personal high count by a long way, we usually just get single birds, pairs at most. There was one young looking male within the flock, with reddish brown cap and back.

Russet Sparrow - female

Russet Sparrow - male

Russet Sparrow - two of the nine birds at Long Valley

I was later joined by John Holmes while watching the Russet Sparrows, we later saw another single Russet Sparrow perched on a wire, incidentally it was the exact same spot that I saw the female House Sparrow. Here's a good comparison between the two species, of which there have been occasional mis-identification of. The main difference is size, as House Sparrows are much chunkier and longer, while Russets are only slightly larger than Munias even in flight, you also get more of a reddish tone to the nape and back area.

Russet Sparrow - female

House Sparrow - female from November 2017

We visited the Wryneck again and was delighted to find it perched on a low branch. This Wyrneck is easily the most photogenic I've seen. Eurasian Wrynecks are extremely widespread globally, ranging from Europe all the way East Asia. There are six recognised subspecies, and the one we get in Hong Kong is most likely race chinensis which breeds in Eastern Siberia and Central China.

Eurasian Wryneck

A pair of Himalayan Swiftlet zoomed past before I left, this is the second time I've seen them at Long Valley. This species is a scarce passage migrant in Hong Kong, and is at the moment the only swiflet species we get here, although it is not impossible for other swiftlet species such as the Germain's Swiftlet to turn up...we will just have to keep looking.

Himalayan Swiftlet