Long Valley - day out with church group

Was invited by Dr. Choi to lead a tour to Long Valley for a group from Shatin Christian & Missionary Alliance Church, happily accepted the offer. Weather was fine, much more then fine in fact; it was a stunning day. Clear and dry, if not a little bit on the warm side. We met at the tofu factory and set off at around 3pm. I took along only my 7D II with 100-400mm lens with me, as I had to carry along the telescope as well. Things started off slowly, with common species at first, most showed well for everyone to enjoy. Stilts, Avocets, Wood Sandpipers, Little-ringed Plovers, Yellow Wagtails, Siberian Stonechats...the usual birds all greeted us nicely. We moved along to the pond where the Eastern Water Rail had been around, at first it didn't show, but then I moved along and found the bird standing by the water edge half blocked by vegetation. The Rail got spooked and not everyone saw it. Just as we thought we were out of luck, the Rail reappeared! Trotted along the water's edge, being as exposed a Water Rail can be, I even managed a record shot of it before it skulked back into the tall grass. Everyone was happy, me included!

Met Kwok Jai right after wandering on his own, he found the group some nicely camouflaged Painted Snipes that were very shy. Masters of disguise, these Painted Snipes gave our visitors a very hard time...I didn't even bother with a photo. As the group stopped by the organic farm to get some fresh veggies, my Father spotted a Black-faced Bunting, unfortunately it was too quick for the group. I managed a record shot however. We also got Sooty-headed Bulbul on the day, a nice addition to the day list.

We ended our tour at around 5pm, a good two hours to introduce Long Valley to the guys. Kwok Jai tagged along our car, on our way out right next to the road by the river, I spotted a shrike standing on a top of a ginger plant, it looked suspiciously reddish...I had Red-backed Shrike on my mind, but as we stopped the car a quick inspection revealed it as a female Bull-headed Shrike. Not exactly a Red-backed but a nice find none the less! I am very Okay with that. I had limited reach with my lens, so a distance record shot ended my day.

Birdwatching 101

It's always a joy to share your interest with someone who have never experienced it, it reminds you of the time you first began your hobby and everything was so exciting and new to you! To be able to show this whole new world for someone is a true delight.

Today, Long and I gave a tour of Long Valley with Victor; a friend of ours, the classic tour of Long Valley. This must be one of the most perfect place to start with, as the birds are relatively easy to see, and the wide range of species is also a good introduction to the birds of Hong Kong.

We started with the basics, a Spotted Dove right in front of us. Black-collard Starlings were everywhere, White Wagtails gave a good introduction of the idea of sub-species, with two ocularis in the flock. Siberian Stonechats are conspicuous and hard to miss. Smart looking Long-tailed Shrikes provided some fairly good views. Koels were calling everywhere, reminding us that Spring is truly amongst us. Black-winged Stilts, Avocets and Wood Sandpipers were all good introductions to waders in Hong Kong.

Spotted Dove

White Wagtail (ocularis)

Long-tailed Shrike

For the more uncommonly seen birds, we got some very shy Painted Snipes today, well hidden within the thick vegetation. A Citrine Wagtail made an appearance, a bird that should be leaving Hong Kong soon and back to breeding grounds up North. A flock of Garganey gave good text book comparison between male and females dimorphism. A Pied Kingfisher gave a good fly-by. Red-throated Flycatcher showed briefly. Common Buzzard and Kestrel circled above us.

Citrine Wagtail

Garganey

Even better birds showed up, in form of Bull-headed Shrike which showed quite well, a Japanese Sparrowhawk that flew low and flushed all the sandpipers and stilts, Ruddy-breasted Crake and Eastern Water Rail showed well, the later especially so. Long and Victor managed to spot the male Bluethroat briefly. We ended the day with a more common crake species the White-breasted Waterhen.

Bull-headed Shrike

Eastern Water Rail

White-breasted Waterhen

A total of 64 species is really quite good as an introduction.

Looking for "Chickens"

11/1/2015

The family of Crakes and Rails in Chinese translates as "Paddy Chickens", which I feel describes these birds very well. Back in the days when farmers were working on the paddies I am sure they would've seen a lot of these "Chicken" like birds, which was probably how they got their names from.

Got news from HKBWS that a Purple Swamphen was seen yesterday at Long Valley. Accepted in Hong Kong only as Cat E, this species was treated as escape back in the days. It was recorded from 1988 to 1998 at Mai Po. But, there are no reasons why this species could not appear in Hong Kong through natural causes.

I went in the afternoon and straight to the place where it was reportedly seen yesterday. It have not been seen the entire morning, a bunch of exceedingly bored photographers were staking out the bird without much success. I waited around for a while and decided to move on. Not far away at another pond with clumps of reeds, a few were photographing another "Chicken", the Eastern Water Rail. A bird I have not seen for some time, at one point it did run from one clump of grass to the other, that's when I took a few shots of the bird. There was also a male Bluethroat at the location, however was too quick for me to take any photographs.

Eastern Water Rail

The other "Chicken" in the area was the Ruddy-breasted Crake, the same bird that's been sticking the the same patch of reeds for nearly two months!

Ruddy-breasted Crake

Other birds includes a rather cooperative Red-throated Pipit, a Wood Sandpiper that came very close when we were waiting for the Water Rail.

Red-throated Pipit

Wood Sandpiper

At the other side of Long Valley, a flock of 7 Greater Painted Snipe were hiding in the vegetations as usual, barely visible to the naked eye.

Greater Painted Snipe

A female Bluethroat was flushed not far away, strangely it chose a stock of reed to roost. A pose I am certainly not accustomed to, as Bluethroats are usually very shy in Hong Kong, this is a behaviour only observed mainly during Summer at their breeding grounds up North. Looking through the view finder it felt I landed myself in Hokaido! Only thing that was lacking was a Spring song from the bird.

Bluethroat

Maybe the Swamphen left to Mai Po?