Out of Luck - a series of failed twitches

Since the finding of the Rosy Pipit, plenty of other rarities have been found by other birders, unfortunately, due to work, I missed most of them. My unlucky streak started when I tried my luck with Captain at Robin's Nest for Oriental Scops Owl, but yet again failed to produce any results, a Collared Scops Owl was my only consolation prize for the evening's hard work.

Collared Scops Owl

One of the better bird I connected with was the Bramling at Long Valley, not a common bird in Hong Kong but not exactly a rarity. The real rarity that turned up was a Japanese Reed Bunting, which unfortunately only stayed for a day and was not found again the next day when I tried...

Brambling

The day I visited was great for Buntings, the best being Crested Bunting and Yellow-browed Bunting, which I both missed...A pair of good old Rustic Buntings and a single Black-headed Bunting was not quite enough to make up for this upsetting dip.

Rustic Bunting

Black-headed Bunting

There were plenty of Yellow-breasted Buntings around, they were finally settling in and much for photogenic than before. Little Buntings were also in good numbers, while a few Black-faced Buntings played hide and seek with me for a while before finally revealing itself for a photo.

Yellow-breasted Bunting

Little Bunting

Black-faced Bunting - female

Chinese Penduline Tit is always a crowd favourite, a small flock have returned to the reeds at Long Valley and gathered a small following. While the numerous White-headed Munias continue to mix in with the local Scaly-breasted Munias. A single female Russet Sparrow was also seen.

Chinese Penduline Tit

White-headed Munia & Scaly-breasted Munia

Russet Sparrow - female

I am still missing photos of Slaty-breasted Rail, and one had been frequenting a pond at Long Valley...most of my friends have seen it, so it shouldn't be too hard, right? While I was there the numerous Greater Painted Snipe provided great views...while the Eastern Water Rail was more than happy to feed at close range...However, the Slaty-breasted Rail refuse to show itself to me as always.

Greater Painted Snipe - male

Greater Painted Snipe - female

Eastern Water Rail

A few Alexandrine Parakeet made an appearance at Long Valley, I usually see them fly through without stopping, this time they were perched on a wire. A single Kestrel drifted past had my hopes up for Amur, but was again disappointed.

Alexandrine Parakeet

Common Kestrel

I visited Mai Po hoping to glimpse a pair of Greater White-fronted Geese that turned up earlier this week, which apparently been showing well at pond 16/17, I arrived thinking they will be hard to miss, turns out they flew off to a different scrape before I arrived...The idea of chasing after the geese were not particularly pleasant, so I just sat at the hide enjoying some of the more 'common' species, such as numerous waders. Of course, the Black-faced Spoonbills which are now returning once again, one of which even had a satellite tracker on its back. A flock of Pacific Golden Plovers were a pleasant sight as well...

'Assorted Waders'

Black-faced Spoonbill

Black-faced Spoonbill with satellite racker & Common Redshanks

Pacific Golden Plover

All in all I would say birding is not too bad, just bad luck on twitching all the rarities, while missing out on a few lifers...But, as is life, you can't always get what you wish for.

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