Hok Tau - Brown-breasted Flycatcher and More

Brown-breasted Flycatcher - a pleasant surprise

It's actually been quite a good summer in the birding department, with a few interesting birds to see here and there, I haven't even have time to visit the breeding terns yet! But hot weather doesn't usually help with outdoor excursions, you can only be outside for so long before feeling exhausted and just want to sit at home with fan pointing straight at you. So, I can only stick to early morning to escape the intense mid-day heat.

I gave Hok Tau another go this week, hoping to find a Piculet or two which had been elusive for me but showed for a few other birders. Things started off rather slow, a large flock of Scarlet Minivets were noted, lower down were Streak-breasted Scimitar Babblers and Rufous-capped Babblers, of which I only managed a shot of the latter. I noticed two flycatchers, which turned out to be juvenile Hainan Blue Flycatchers.

Rufous-capped Babbler

Hainan Blue Flycatcher - juvenile

I walked around the camp site with little success, but things improved immensely when I walked down to the stream, where I was greeted by the beautiful song of a Lesser Shortwing across the stream, as I went and investigate, I noticed a bird perched silently on a low branch, a flycatcher for sure, I first thought it was another Hainan Blue Flycatcher. On closer inspection however, it was clear that it was in fact a Brown-breasted Flycatcher! A bit scruffy looking, but a very nice bird to see! It was quite approachable and allowed fairly close views. This is the second bird I encountered in Hong Kong this summer, and the first time I've seen one at Hok Tau, so it's clearly a good sign.

Brown-breasted Flycatcher

I returned to the car park and heard the now familiar whistles of the Indochinese Green Magpie, this is now somewhat of a specialty at Pat Sin Leng Country Park, not exactly common but certainly becoming more widespread. I walked up the stairs and the calls got louder, there were quite a lot of movements, it was clear that it was a flock with more than just Magpies. A few Greater-necklaced Laughingthrushes were present, as well as Grey Treepies, but curiously I saw what I believe to be a Koel following the Laughingthrushes, as far as I know they are not known to parasitise Laughingthrushes, especially such a forested species such as Greater-necklaced!

I soon got glimpses of a few birds with Chestnut wings, the whistles got even louder. I stood there and wait, surely enough a brilliantly green bird with bright red bill hopped up right in front of me! I just managed a few photos through a gap between the branches. The Indochinese Green Magpies moved on soon after. Whether this species will impact the natural avifauna in Hong Kong is unclear, but it does seems that they have found a niche in the ecosystem and is here to stay. One thing is clear though, they are great looking birds!

Indochinese Green Magpie

During summer I probably spend more time outdoors at night than I do by day, and for good reasons...It's certainly not as hot, plus it's a good time to observe other creatures. I was at Lung Fu Shan with Hoiling earlier in the month, and we were fortunate enough to come across a Masked Palm Civet feeding on a Ficus variegata. Wild Boars were also very common around Lung Fu Shan, we saw plenty that night. Last but not least, a very confiding Short-legged Toad, a near endemic species that is quite common around the hill sides of Hong Kong Island, they are quite charismatic!

Masked Palm Civet

Wild Boar

Short-legged Toad

I will be off to West Java tomorrow for a few days of birding at Gunung Gede, hopefully the good weather we are having will be carried over to Indonesia.

Dragonflies, Damselflies and Indochinese Green Magpies

It rained for a solid whole week and it seems the draught was finally over, amphibians can finally rejoice! June marks the start of the quiet summer months, where bird movement is at it's minimum. The rain certainly helped brought down the temperature, although the high humidity still make you sweat like crazy. I visited Hok Tau near Fanling for a brief morning session, I was hoping to recreate my luck with the Speckled Piculet last year, however I was disappointed to find that the patch of bamboo near where I saw one last year had been chopped down. I kept my ears out for them but heard nothing. I was however greeted by the loud and piercing calls of the Indochinese Green Magpies, I followed the calls and soon saw up to three birds moving through the forest. They were quite shy, and kept their distance with me, but one bird perched just long enough for me to grab a record shot. This beautiful species had only been recorded in Hong Kong in recent years, and seems to have rooted around north eastern New Territories, where small flocks can often be observed also at Brides Pool. I would say it's highly unlikely that they derived from genuine wild birds, although not impossible, it would seems wild birds will need to get through a lot of habitat barriers to reach Hong Kong naturally, as closest wild population is near Hainan and Guangxi.

Indochinese Green Magpie - so shy and uncooperative!

A Plaintive Cuckoo called nearby, while a few Chestnut-winged Cuckoos sang constantly, but only gave me a brief flight views. A few Velvet-fronted Nuthatch caught my attention, not that they are rare, but because a pair were attending to a few young birds. Juvenile Velvet-fronted Nuthatch lacks the bright red bill that is iconic of this species, but it's certainly cute...

Velvet-fronted Nuthatch - adult

Velvet-fronted Nuthatch - juvenile

I spotted a single female Hainan Blue Flycatcher, I wonder whether this one is single or not, but I've yet to come across a nesting pair this year. I heard Lesser Coucals but none showed, Greater Coucals were more cooperative, one perched out in the open drying off it's wings after the morning shower.

Hainan Blue Flycatcher - female

Greater Coucal

The recent rain had certainly boosted insect numbers, and there were a lot more Damselflies and Dragonflies flying around streams that are once again flowing. At a small stretch of mountain stream near Lam Tsuen I spotted some of our very colourful Damselflies, including the beautiful Common Blue Jewel Rhinocypha perforata and the metallic green Stream Glory Neurobasis chinensis (I really love their common names, why can't birds have more common names like these?). While the more humble looking Black-banded Gossamerwing Euphaea decorata also frequented the stream.

Common Blue Jewel - Rhinocypha perforata

Stream Glory - Neurobasis chinensis

Black-banded Gossamerwing -  Euphaea decorata

I also saw quite a few Dragonflies, although I probably missed quite a few, there were a lot of Black Stream Glider Trithemis festiva around, the Blue Marsh Hawk Orthetrum glaucum and the bright and colourful Crimson Marsh Glider Trithemis aurora.

Black Stream Glider - Trithemis festiva

Blue Marsh Hawk - Orthetrum glaucum

Crimson Marsh Glider - Trithemis aurora

Hok Tau - Piculets and A Bit More

Busy work schedule had limited my time birding outside, but a few friends who visited Hok Tau and yielded some interesting birds such as Speckled Piculets and Indochinese Green Magpies, this got me off my ass to pickup my paces. Hok Tau is a place I rarely visited, it is part of Pat Sin Leng Country Park, opposite to Robin's Nest. The habitat is not considered prime, with mainly secondary forests and tall scrubs with patches of more mature woodlands along rivers and streams.

I picked up Hoiling early on Monday morning and drove towards Hok Tau. things were better then expected as we encountered a small flock of birds at the carpark, mainly Scarlet Minivets, Bulbuls and Velvet-fronted Nuthatches. The Minivets had obviously been busy breeding, as there were quite a few juveniles around.

Scarlet Minivet - male

Scarlet Minivet - juvenile

Velvet-fronted Nuthatch

We continued along the main road, on the way we saw a single Scarlet-backed Flowerpecker feeding on a low bush, it's orange bill indicate this as a juvenile, but probably still too early to sex. A small flock of Masked Laughingthrush made an appearance, while a single Lesser Coucal perched out in the open to sing.

Scarlet-backed Flowerpecker - juvenile

Masked Laughingthrush

Lesser Coucal

We walked to a picnic area to look for some birds but found very little except Red-whiskered Bulbuls and a pair of Streak-breasted Scimitar Babblers which showed briefly. There were quite a few juvenile Long-tailed Skinks as well.

Red-whiskered Bulbul

Streak-breasted Scimitar Babbler

Long-tailed Skink

After a bit of shower, we backtracked to the spot where a pair of Speckled Piculets had been seen lately, sure enough I heard the call of the Piculet and soon we both locked our bins onto this tiny woodpecker. It however stayed pretty high up near the canopy making photographing it difficult. This species had been increasing in Hong Kong steadily, and had became a stable resident in many country parks, although it's still not an easy bird to see by all means!

Speckled Piculet - a spreading resident

We walked towards the reservoir afterwards, on the way we spotted a pair of Hainan Blue Flycatchers. More juvenile birds came in form of Rufous-capped Babblers, as a small flock greeted us by the the roadside, a few pretty much fully grown youngsters continued to beg for food from their parents...a few juvenile Cinerous Tits were also spotted. Greater-necklaced Laughingthrushes also made an appearance.

Hainan Blue Flycatcher - male

Rufous-capped Babbler

Cinerous Tit - juvenile

Greater-necklaced Laughingthrush

It started pouring down hard just as we reached the reservoir, so we decided to turn around. As rain subsided slightly, I saw a Greater Green Snake sitting right on the tarmac road, a medium sized diurnal snake that is non-venomous. They are possibly one of the prettiest snakes we have, a beautiful light green across the whole length of it's body and a yellow underside. This particular one allowed me to get pretty close before slithering out of sight. Certainly interesting enough to be the highlight of the day! The Indochinese Green Magpies never showed in the end, but at least we got something else green that day.

Greater Green Snake