Tuning in to Spring

Spring is definitely amongst us, with Koels singing louder and louder everyday and Large Hawk Cuckoos now joining in as well. Birds are now starting to get into pairs to build nests, if not then they are trying their best to! I was out mothing with Hoiling and the moth group last week at Lung Fu Shan, and was delighted to hear a pair of Collared Scops Owl calling nearby, one was making the classic "oh" call while the other making a much softer whistle which I never heard before. I guess they were a pair trying to find a suitable spot for nesting, I caught glimpses of the pair and finally was able to get a photo of one perched at close range!

Collared Scops Owl

Long Valley had been very quiet, people had been getting Oriental Pratincoles and Red-necked Phalaropes on passage, but I got none of those on a short visit. A few brilliant looking adult Little Ringed Plovers were there to entertain and they truly are cracking birds when seen up close.

Little Ringed Plover

With everywhere else quiet I thought it's best to stick to Mai Po. I headed into the Deep Bay hide fairly early, on the way I got a nice looking male Taiga Flycatcher just moulting into breeding plumage.

Taiga Flycatcher

I was quite early when I got to the bird hide. A few Black-faced Spoonbills in breeding plumage were in front of the hide, looking rather splendid with their yellow breast and huge crests. Great Egrets have also moulted into breeding plumage, their long plumes cascade down their backs, while their bill turns black and face turns greenish blue.

Black-faced Spoonbill - breeding plumage

Great Egret - breeding plumage

Of all egrets perhaps the Chinese Pond Heron undergo the most amazing transformation, where they moult from their cryptic winter plumage into colourful breeding plumage with reddish brown heads and breast, bluish black backs and white wings. Their face and bill colour also undergo much transformation, from dull yellow to orange, blue and green. At this time of the year you may still find individuals retaining their non-breeding plumage, and often you get individuals in-between.

Chinese Pond Heron - non-breeding to breeding plumage

A mudskipper collector prowled the mudflats, these illegal collectors can be rather annoying, as they often scare away the birds and blatantly catch fish in this ramsar site. But what's more annoying is that calling the police or the AFCD often ends in vain as they quickly vanishes into the thick mangroves before authorities arrives.

As the tide came in birds started coming in closer, although I was a bit disappointed by the fact that there weren't much smaller waders like Stints, I barely saw a single Curlew Sandpiper! Whether the mudskipper collector had anything to do with this I am not sure...the Black-headed Gulls harassed pretty much any bird that caught a fish, including this Great Egret. Black-faced Spoonbills followed the tide in and will often get very close to the hide.

Great Egret harassed by Black-headed Gulls

Black-faced Spoonbill - breeding plumage

Waders such as Marsh Sandpipers, Common Greenshanks, Spotted Redshanks and Common Redshanks were in good numbers, but even Greater Sand Plovers, Grey Plovers and Kentish Plovers were surprisingly scarce...Caspian Terns were however in fairly good numbers now.

Marsh Sandpiper

Caspian Tern

While the Black-capped Kingfisher had already gone, a Common Kingfisher takes it's place. A pair of Pied Kingfishers also came by briefly, the male caught a fish and perched on one of the "kingfisher pole".

Common Kingfisher - female

Pied Kingfisher - male

There were still plenty of large gulls around, including Mongolian Gulls and Heuglin's Gulls. A fairly pale looking 1st winter Slaty-backed Gull was perhaps the only interesting bird on the mudflat.

Mongolian Gull - sub adult

Heuglin's Gull - 1st winter

Slaty-backed Gull - 1st winter

Everything left once the tide came in, only bird of interest was a single Great Crested Grebe in breeding plumage. The bird hide floated around on the water, I decided to wait for the tide the recede, good time for an afternoon nap.

Great Crested Grebe

The receding tide was delayed by the strong northerly winds, it was still 2.14m at 3pm, it wasn't until 4pm that we started seeing more movements. I spotted a large white gull in the distance which surely was a Glaucous Gull. It was very very far away so all I could do was hope for it to come over as the tide recede further.

Glaucous Gull in the distance

While I waited, a few 1st winter Saunders's Gull flew past, most of the breeding birds had already left, and we often get a few non-breeding individuals staying slightly longer. This species is now listed as vulnerable due to habitat loss from land reclamation along their breeding range.

Saunders's Gull - 1st winter

A flock of Red-necked Stints finally came down to the mudflat, the reason for their absent during the incoming tide remains a bit of a mystery. Eurasian Curlews were in good numbers, I spotted a Far Eastern Curlew really far out.

Red-necked Stint

Eurasian Curlew

I put my attention back to the gulls present. A few adult Mongolian Gulls were there, the paler heads were quite obvious. However, a strange looking gull grabbed my attention, it was rather small headed with a fairly weak bill with dark tip. It had very little streaking on the head which resembles Mongolian, although it had very well-defined dark streaks on it's nape which somehow reminds me of 1st winter Relict Gulls. Back looked fairly dark, well within range of Heuglin's perched next to it. Legs were yellowish which doesn't quite fit Mongolian...What's more, it had barely any mirror visible, with a somewhat nearly all dark wing tip. I did some research and this is nearly identical to what had been named the "Yellow Sea Gull" on a page call 'A consideration of "The Herring Gull Assemblage" in South Korea'  by Nial Moores on Birds Korea's website (http://www.birdskorea.org/Birds/Identification/ID_Notes/BK-ID-Herring-Gull-Page2.shtml), under what they had named "Type D" Mongolian Gulls. I guess this will remain a bit of a mystery for now...

Mongolian Gull - adult

Strange looking gull to the right...

The 1st winter Slaty-backed Gull came in with the other large gulls. 1st winter birds in late winter are often very worn out like this bird, with coverts and tertiaries bleached and becoming quite pale.

Slaty-backed Gull - 1st winter

Finally, the 1st winter Glaucous Gull decided to drop over to our side, although against the sun...This is most probably the same bird I encountered late last month, although it had bleached slightly, it still showed that fairly dark belly. This bird raised some concerns over it's identity due to it's smaller size, from the side it looked chunky, but certainly wasn't a very tall looking bird especially when it's hunched up, but it was certainly larger than the rest of the Gulls present. Either way, I was quite happy to count it as a Glaucous Gull last month, I saw nothing that may change my mind on it's identity.

Glaucous Gull - 1st winter

migration season is well underway, but I haven't seen much yet...

Gulls, Gulls, Gulls...

Glaucous Gull - or at least it is to me

Deep Bay in winter is good for two kind of birds, gulls and ducks, scanning masses of them may cause serious headaches but you would often find one or two goodies within commoner species. One of those goodies was an American Wigeon which some other birders had found a few days ago, it stood out from the rest of the Eurasian Wigeons like a sore thumb.

American Wigeon - hello again!

Having seen the last American Wigeon, I turned my attention to the gulls on display. Black-headed Gulls were obviously the most numerous, a few of them came quite close to the bird hide. There was also a terribly oiled individual, not sure how long it will take for it to moult out of this mess...Most Saunders's Gulls had assumed breeding plumage, a few 2nd calendar year individuals showed well, much smaller than Black-headed Gulls, with short black bill and legs.

Black-headed Gull

Black-headed Gull - or should I say Black-bellied Gull?

Saunders's Gull - 2cy

I counted just two Black-tailed Gulls, an adult plus a 2nd calendar year bird. The adult was slightly oiled but not as bad as the Black-headed Gull. The 1st year bird was in pretty bad shape however, missing it's left leg entirely and have a bunch of nylon nets wrapped around it's bill...Not sure how long it can last like this.

Black-tailed Gull - adult with Black-headed Gull for size comparison

Black-tailed Gull - a poor one legged 1cy bird

A good numbers of large gulls were on display which provided hours of 'fun'. Three species are currently recognised on the Hong Kong bird list, these are the Heuglin's Gull (Larus heuglini), Mongolian Gull (Larus mongolicus) and Vega Gull (Larus vegae), the classification of these gulls are highly debated in the birding world, where as the placement of these gulls varies from different sources, making identification of these gulls even harder. I compiled some general identification features for these three (supposed) species of gulls below:

Heuglin's Gull

- Smallest of the three species
- Adults have darkest backs
- Legs yellowish to bright yellow in adults, pinkish in juveniles
- Bill often brighter yellow, short
- Wings longer with long primary projection from tip of tail
- Adults with pale iris

In general it is believed that Heuglin's Gulls are the most common species in Hong Kong, adults having darker mantles, smaller stature and yellowish legs. sub-adults should is equally dark backed but with heavier streaks on head, plus dark tip to bill. 2cy birds are not easy to identify with Vega Gulls of similar age, reason being 2cy birds have pinkish legs, however their rounded heads often provides a clue.

Heuglin's Gull - adult

Heuglin's Gull - sub-adult

Heuglin's Gull - 2cy

Mongolian Gull

- Largest of the three species

- Adults with lightest shade on back

- Head often looking longer with slanted foreheads

- Adults moults into breeding plumage earlier, head all white earlier on in the year

- juveniles have paler head and often white foreheads.

- Legs of all ages pinkish

- Darker iris

The second most common species in Hong Kong, adults are easy to pick out from the rest as they often moult into breeding plumage early, so their complete white heads are often easy to pick up. Individuals of all age should show paler heads even in 2cy birds when compared with the other two species. Foreheads often white with no streaking. Legs pinkish. Often described as a rather 'full chested' gull with larger bill and stronger build.

Mongolian Gull adult with Heuglin's Gull to the left

Mongolian Gull - adult with 3cy bird

Mongolian Gull - 3cy

Mongolian Gull - 2cy

Vega Gull

- Slightly larger than Heuglin's Gull, but smaller than Mongolian.
- Heavier built and more robust than Heuglin's
- Heavily streaked head in all ages except adult in breeding
- Mantle shade somewhat in-between Heuglin's and Mongolian.
- Legs pinkish to reddish
- Iris slightly darker in adult than Heuglin's

Supposedly the scarcest of the three species, although I have a feeling that juveniles are constantly being identified as other species or simply ignored. Adults have very smoky heads, often heavily streaked and blotched from crown to breast. I lack confidence to identify any juveniles to this species, I saw one likely 3cy bird that was much darker and heavily streaked both on head and breast, also quite a bulky looking bird which I feel points more towards Vega.

Vega Gull - adult (taken last year for comparison)

Vega Gull - adult

Vega Gull - likely 3cy bird with adult Mongolian Gull to the left

I have yet gain enough confidence to nail the id for each gull, that will likely take a much longer time to master...Spotting a gull out of the ordinary from the three species was however slightly easier. I noticed a large gull with fairly dark belly but pale wings amongst the flock, it's white primaries were especially apparent when it flapped it's wings! Pink legs, bi-coloured bill with pink base and pale primaries all points towards a 2cy Glaucous Gull. It was on the small side for a Glaucous, I received mixed comments about this bird's identity, while some suggested that this could be a hybrid Glaucous x Slaty-backed or something...Although for me this seems unlikely, seeing that most hybrid Glaucous Gulls often shows distinct abnormal features such as darker or monotoned bill and darkened primaries, which this bird showed none of those features. Personally I would happily accept this as a Glaucous Gull towards the smaller end of the species's spectrum, although if the true identity of this gull should not be considered a Glaucous Gull then I must say gulling is probably way too difficult for my liking...

Glaucous Gull - 2cy

Back to some birds with little doubt of it's identity, the Black-capped Kingfisher showed well next to the bird hide, a species with such irresistible colours!

Black-capped Kingfisher

A Black Kite also perched close to the bird hide briefly, which allowed some closeup shots to be taken. While a few Temmink's Stints ventured to the front of the hide as the tide came in.

Black Kite

Temmink's Stint

Eurasian Wigeons and Northern Shovelers were numerous, many of them came in very close to the front of the bird hide, so close even that I was able to see the lamellae lined along the Shoveler's bill, it acts like a sieves to filter out any crustaceans and plankton in the mud and water.

Eurasian Wigeon - drake (right) & female (left)

Northern Shoveler - drake & female

Black-faced Spoonbills are starting to moult into breeding plumage, this particular individual came right up to the bird hide to the point where I could hardly fit it all in frame! Shorebirds species had yet to pickup, I only counted a few species including this Whimbrel and Common Redshank at close quarters, we should be getting some more species in the coming months.

Black-faced Spoonbill - assuming breeding plumage

Whimbrel

Common Redshank

Back inside Mai Po I saw the Black-backed Swamphen yet again, although this time it was even further so I did not even bother with a photo. Though an adult Purple Heron which stood right out in the open was much worthier of a photo!

Purple Heron

Gulls identification is challenging indeed, but it is good exercise for the brain...if you can stay awake long enough....

Mongolian Gull - yawn