Ryukyu Scops Owl - an unusual otus for Hong Kong

Ryukyu Scops Owl - an interesting record for Hong Kong 

The Collared Scops Owl is perhaps the most commonly encountered local Owl species in Hong Kong, while another species of the genus otus the Oriental Scops Owl is a scarce passage migrant in Hong Kong. I was alerted by a friend of an interesting scops owl found somewhere near Sheung Shui, although it had yellow eyes just like Oriental Scops Owl, it was making the call of the Ryukyu Scops Owl. As bizarre as this maybe, I went over to check it out for myself. Before I even got to the supposed location, I heard the distinctive 'pu-wu' call. I have yet to visit Okinawa or Lanyu of Taiwan, but I knew this call was very different from the barbet like call of the Oriental Scops Owl.

It took a little effort but we were able to get a good observation of the bird, it was very vocal and kept calling throughout most of the evening, this left me with little doubt on the true identity of this owl as truly elegans. However, the natural range and habitat of this species is of offshore islands from northern Philippines all the way to southern Japan, and this begs the question 'what is it doing here?'.

I wouldn't reject the possibility that this may well be a wild bird that had gone off course during dispersal, I am sure they are capable of island hopping when dispersing...Although the likeliness of a vagrant Ryukyu Scops Owl is not high, as there have not been any mainland records of this species I am aware of. Another explanation for this unlikely occurrence is for this bird to be an escapee...while it is illegal to sell or keep owls in Hong Kong, the black market for owls is unfortunately very much alive. Therefore, it is not impossible for this to be a pet owl that escaped. Either way, it was a pleasant encounter and a nice surprise for us to see this exotic creature amidst this travel ban!

Ryukyu Scops Owl - what subspecies though? 

Birding is still very slow of late, early migrants will likely arrive around late August. Local breeding species is all we have for now, and one of those we don't often get a good look is the Russet Bush Warbler, they are becoming more and more common at Tai Mo Shan during summer months, although being a Locustella they are notoriously difficult to observe in the wild. We were able to locate this vocal individual on Tai Mo Shan, singing away inside a dense bush.

Russet Bush Warbler - 'zee-bit, zee-bit, zee-bit...' 

 I myself is not a huge butterfly person, but I do look at the odd one from time to time. Here are a few I have seen lately, highlights including a Powdered Oakblue, a Burmese Bush Blue and Shan Nawab and Common Duffer.

 Powdered Oakblue

 Burmese Bush Blue

 Tropical Fritillary

Shan Nawab 

 Common Duffer

Bamboo Treebrown 

Chinese Bullfrog is our second largest frog species in Hong Kong, unfortunately they are also a very popular food item hence a very popular species for mercy release. We saw a few froglets the other day, surely not released! Hong Kong Cascade Frog is one of those species we often see during night walks, as long as you find cascading waters they are usually not far away.

Chinese Bullfrog

Hong Kong Cascade Frog 

On our most recent night walks we encountered two snakes, a Many-banded Krait and an Anderson's Stream Snake, although none of them stayed long enough for a photo, we did however encountered a very friendly Chinese Waterside Skink that was quite the poser. I don't encounter this species very often, as they are usually very good at hiding, plus their patterns blends in perfectly with the pebbles in mountain streams.

 Chinese Waterside Skink

End of April

You know the migrating season is coming near the end when you start seeing Grey-streaked Flycatchers, they are often the latest to arrive amongst the migrating flycatchers. They filled the hills of Ho Man Tin last week, I saw up to 3 at one time.

Grey-streaked Flycatcher

Hainan Blue Flycatchers had been seen regularly at Ho Man Tin as well, I finally caught up with the male there, although it was much shyer than the female I saw the week before.

Hainan Blue Flycatcher - male

I saw my 4th and 5th Narcissus Flycatchers on the 26th. A 1st year male was extremely well behaved and not at all shy which resulted in some pretty good photos. The female was also very cooperative and came down to eye-levels a few times, interestingly both birds had fairly pale legs for a Narcissus.

Narcissus Flycatcher - 1st year male

Narcissus Flycatche - female

Many first brood of birds had fledged, including up to 3 young Barn Swallows at Long Valley, they were still being fed by their parents, although they were perfectly capable of flying around already.

Barn Swallow

On the 30th I birded with Swedish birder Mikael Käll, his main target was the Chinese Grassbird and Russet Bush Warbler. We tried hard for the Grassbird but came up empty handed at both Tai Mo Shan and Robin's Nest. We had awesome views of two very friendly Russet Bush Warblers, the second one was especially showy and came to within 2m from us. Other good birds that day includes a Hodgson's Hawk Cuckoo in full view at Robin's Nest plus a flock of up to 13 Blue-tailed Bee-eaters which flew past the summit of Robin's Nest, shame I wasn't carrying my camera at the time! But certainly a view to remember!

Russet Bush Warbler - not shy at all...

Hodgson's Hawk Cuckoo - probably one of the best views I've had in a long time

Other than birds, Hoiling and I been out at night around Tai Po Kau on two occasions. Brown Wood Owls were actively calling, while we spotted a Collared Scops Owl just along the red walk, although it flew off before I could get my camera in focus. Slaty-legged Crakes were also calling around the hills. Other interesting animals we encountered includes a Chinese Water Skink which was extremely cooperative and even allowed me to place onto my palm.

Chinese Water Skink - a friendly little guy...

We saw very few snakes unfortunately, only a cute and docile White-spotted Slug Snake was found along the main road.

White-spotted Slug Snake

Frogs were also very active now, Gunther's Frogs were being very loud at the little pond. We also spotted Brown Wood Frogs and Green Cascade Frogs. Although I wonder if the lack of rain had affected some of the frogs breeding? Especially those that requires more seasonal streams or ponds to breed in.

Gunther's Frog

Brown Wood Frog

Green Cascade Frog

I know peak migration season had past, but I still have high hopes for May...Better keep an optimistic attitude!

Tai Mo Shan - an afternoon stroll in mid July

Chinese Francolin

A few weeks ago, I got an email from UK birder Dave Bickerton who was passing through the city for a business trip, I saw that I had the Sunday afternoon free so I offered to take him around for a short bit of birding. With the heat we have been experiencing of late (38 °C) last week caused by the nearby Typhoon in Taiwan, weather's been quite unstable. I was up one night photographing lightning bolts from our living room window, quite a sight to behold...I naturally wanted to find the coolest place in our city to bird in the afternoon, therefore suggesting an outing at Tai Mo Shan.

A huge bolt from our window, one of the many that night!

My father and I met up Dave on Sunday afternoon at his hotel. I was a little doubtful in the beginning about the conditions near the summit, as I saw that the summit was clouded over. My father however insisted that we should go up and just take a look first (we later credited him for his perseverance!). So, up we went all the way to the car park. Turned out the cloud wasn't as low as I have expected, so we decided to pushed on. We were certainly made more willing to walk by the considerably cooler temperatures.

Things began okay, with a pair of Streak-breasted Scimitar Babblers that showed briefly (not the best views), a Black-throated Laughingthrush sang it's melodic and beautiful song from the thickets nearby but never showed, we also heard Mountain Tailorbirds, Brown-flanked Bush Warblers and Lesser Shortwings but none of them wanted to show. The rest of the way up was pretty much the same, with birds teasing us constantly with their calls!

We got to our usual birding spot and very soon heard a series of harsh calls from below the ridge, the call of the Chinese Grassbird for sure! We quickly got up to the ridge and played a burst of playback, but by that time a bit of mist came in and we heard the bird moving further down the slope away from us, we waited for a few more minutes but heard nothing more. Moving on, we walked towards the southern slope and soon heard a Chinese Francolin calling not far off, we got the bird on our binoculars soon after scanning the rocks! The bird was calling away and didn't really move as we snuck even closer, we were taking advantage of the mist that came through, hiding us from the bird! This was by far the closest encounter I have had with this species, we were so close that we could even hear it usually inaudible clucking noises!

Chinese Francolin - what a bird!

After enjoying this prolonged and excellent views of the Francolin, we moved further down hoping to get another Grassbiird. It wasn't an easy walk as the bamboos had really started to grow over the footpath and moss were growing on the rocks, making the path very slippery! We managed to get to the open grassland where I played the recording of the Grassbird once again, but nothing replied. We waited for a little bit and decided to walk back up and see what else we could find.

Me and Dave at the Grassbird spot, me scratching my head wondering where all the birds are...

Up to the bit where I usually find a dozen of Parrotbills, but they were not there today. Dave however picked out a small bird hopping about in a bush. We all managed to get our bins on the bird and confirms it to be a juvenile Russet Bush Warbler! What a find! It's the first time I have seen a juvenile and the first time for my father to actually see the bird! (He only heard it before) It showed quite well for a few minutes (by bush warblers standard) and hopped out of sight into the bamboo thickets.

The rest of the way wasn't that exciting, a single Long-tailed Shrike made an appearance, not the most regular visitor up to this elevation. A few Mountain Tailorbirds continued to taunt us in the thickets and a Blue-winged Minla passed through briefly for Dave to have a better look.

Russet Bush Warbler - juvenile, a tick for David and my Father!

Long-tailed Shrike - the unusual visitor to the area I suppose?

We were going to head down to Shek Kong Catchment for a brief visit, but the road was blocked by what looked to be an accident, so we drove Dave straight to the airport afterwards. All in all, a very pleasant and enjoyable afternoon stroll with a few great birds! Most importantly making a new friend on the way!

Cuckoo Frenzy on Tai Mo Shan!

I have been hooked to Tai Mo Shan this summer, partly because it's really not that far away from where I live, also the fact that it's a few degrees cooler then the rest of the city which makes this place a perfect summer getaway. Breeding birds here are also very interesting, you see a lot of juveniles of various species at this time of the year, most of all I find the place full of surprises. Dragon Boat Festival saw me up at 6am, I looked out the window and saw clear sky. I got to Tai Mo Shan car park by 6:40am, and the car park was already full! In fact, people were on their way down as I went up, they must've hiked to the summit last night for the sunrise.

First birds were a pair of Chestnut-winged Cuckoo, surprisingly these were the first I have seen this year! I haven't had much luck with them this year and was glad to have caught up with this pair. Although it was a classic "hide and seek" with them, as always they are very responsive to my imitation, but they will never perch without something blocking in front! These two obscured shots were the best I could get out of the pair. They are impressive looking bird when seen up close, very large and very noisy.

Chestnut-winged Cuckoo - always behind branches...

The walk up the tarmac road was pretty uneventful, although I heard a Lesser Cuckoo calling near the car park, it didn't show. A Crested Serpent Eagle circled at a distance in the morning sun. Once I got to the "usual" spot, a pair of Chinese Francolins were calling and a quick scan on the horizon revealed it's perch, it wasn't particularly close but I was glad to have gotten some better shots then last time. Another Francolin was calling further down the slope, I located the bird but it was much further away.

Crested Serpent Eagle

Chinese Francolin - their white dots do resembles Guineafowls

I listened out for Chinese Grassbird and the Parrotbill but none called. I was surprise that no Parrotbills were present, considering how common they were the last two times I visited. As always, there are no guarantee in birding. Although very quiet, the area was occupied by a family of Mountain Tailorbirds, two adults were attending to a juvenile, they kept foraging on a single tree so I took some time observing, and resulted in some decent photographs of this species. The juvenile look similar to the adult but lack the "golden cap" and grey neck, although they both have bright yellow underparts.

Mountain Tailorbird - adult and juvenile

Seeing that not that many birds were around, I continued upwards through the winding road. This stretch of road is arguably one of the most scenic in Hong Kong, hence it is popular with cyclists and hikers, as you walk around the summit you will get a near panorama view of the city below, on a fine and clear day like this views can be breathtaking. Past the radar station a few Brown-flanked Bush Warblers showed well, singing out in the open!

Spectacular views up winding roads

Brown-flanked Bush Warbler

Also past the radar station just at the fence above the abandoned barracks, three Russet Bush Warblers were heard calling, with a little bit of patience, they do pop out from their cover to sing on an open perch. The views today were much better then those I had last time, at close range you can just make out the delicate streaks on the breast. It seems to be the right time to look for this highly secretive species, the three warblers present were calling constantly to each other and kept coming in and out of their cover. Their latin name of it's genus Locustella pretty much sums up the impression of this species, it acts and sounds much like a locust or insect.

Russet Bush Warbler - good time to visit this skulking species

As I headed back down, heavy mist and light rain started to set in. There wasn't much to see on the way, only a pair of Streak-breasted Scimitar Babblers made an appearance. Lesser Cuckoos were again calling from various locations but I simply could not locate them!

Streak-breasted Scimitar Babbler - this one lacking a tail

When I got back to the carpark, I heard another Lesser Cuckoo calling from the valley next to the carpark, I scanned the hills and listened out to the calls to try and figure out it's location when suddenly I saw a small grey dot on a tree at the opposite side of the valley. I took a photograph and confirms the dot as a Lesser Cuckoo! Although it was very far away, I was still glad to get this species onto my Hong Kong list finally. Lesser Cuckoos are still considered quite rare in Hong Kong, but we have been getting regular summer records in recent years. The successful colonisation of Brown-flanked Bush Warblers may have aided this increase in records, as they are a known host for the Lesser Cuckoo. I heard a total of three birds and saw one today, not a bad result and a perfect way to end a day that started also with a cuckoo.

Lesser Cuckoo - a distant view of this small cuckoo