Forest Birds Research - Yinpingshan Forest Park #3 + Long Valley

I had my third visit of Yinpingshan Forest Park with Captain Wong, a big gap in-between our two visits because it had been difficult to find time that fits everyone's timetable. We finally found time and off we went for another visit. We again stayed a night at Zhang Mu Tou and headed out at 6:30am in our pre-arranged taxi with the driver Mr. Choi whom we met last time, it's always handy to keep a contact of the local drivers! We got there by 7:00am, just when the sky started to brighten, the weather was fine with little clouds. Soon after we got off and got our gears out, we heard the Bay Woodpecker calling close-by, a burst of call back and a pair responded quickly, showing itself just at the public toilet next to the car park. We were quite surprise that they will show up in such degraded habitat, but it seems they are not actually that fussy about where they find food...I think the main concern for them is that they need good habitat for breeding purposes. I couldn't manage any decent photos, so a record shot is all I got.

Bay Woodpecker - by far the most common Woodpecker we have encountered.

There were plenty of Thrushes on the way up, notably a Grey-backed Thrush and a White's Thrush by the road side. I also saw a Blue Whistling Thrush later on. White's Thrush is new on our site list, likely a regular winter visitor to this site. The bird stayed a fair distant away from us however.

Grey-backed Thrush

White's Thrush - record shot...

Red-flanked Bluetails were EVERYWHERE, you literally would find one every few minutes. We saw at least 15 individuals in total. Most were females, but we also got a few males but none were close enough to have a clear shot taken. To our surprise, there were very little visitors compare to our last two visits, the rain from the day before might have put off some early hikers.

Red-flanked Bluetail

Things went very quiet after the first round...We were not sure what were the reasons behind, but strong wind is likely to be one factor. The trees were swaying and we could hardly hear anything. Even when we encountered small bird waves they remained fairly silent. Bird waves consisted mainly of Minivets, Cinerous Tits, Yellow-browed and Pallas's Leaf Warblers. We found a more interesting warbler in a Goodson's Leaf Warbler, also new addition to our site list.

Goodson's Leaf Warbler

Bird were not particularly active, when we finally reached the third public toilet, we saw little else. A pair of Slaty-backed Forktail flashed very briefly and were out of sight. We found one flock of Greater-necklaced Laughingthrush, a species that seems to be scarce at this site. Going back down the the main road, a single Tristram's Bunting was observe, a fine male. I managed a half decent record shot, only to have the bird cut in half by a branch in front...

Tristram's Bunting - the branch cut right through the middle!

Back at lower elevations, we followed the river downhill, the path running alongside the river seems to have been opened again after being closed for repair the last two times we visited. By that time people were starting to hike up, songs had also started playing on the loud speakers fitted by the park authorities...a decision that still baffles me, why would anyone in their right mind put loud speakers that plays music in a tranquil forest park?! I hope this trend will not extend to Hong Kong...We looked for Plumbeous Redstarts but found none, only a male Daurian Redstart along the river.

Daurian Redstart - would have been nicer if it was a Plumbeous Redstart...

On the same path, we saw a small bird wave with a few Red-billed Leiothrix and White-bellied Epornis. Conditions weren't the best for photography, plus I was using my 100-400mm lens which is a lot slower at focusing, making things more difficult. I did managed a half decent record shot of the Epornis. We soon got to the car park and Mr. Choi picked us up at around 12:15pm, the trip back to train station and back to Hong Kong was very straight forward, we were across the border by 1:30pm!

Red-billed Leiothrix

White-bellied Epornis

Later in the afternoon, I met my parents at Fanling. It was my Father's day off, so he decided to spend a few hours at Long Valley in the afternoon, which I gladly followed. Not carrying around my 500mm means that birds seemed a lot further away...Nonetheless, we found some decent birds. Five Buff-bellied Pipits in total, one gave some decent views.

Buff-bellied Pipit

The Greater Painted Snipes were still at the same location, always half obscured. Things were actually quite good at that location, we saw a single Black-browed Reed Warbler skulking about the tall grass, occasionally giving us distant but decent views. A Plain Prinia was however more then happy to show off to us, it was right by my feet when I took this photo! I even saw a male Buethroat that perched on a wire there, but was too far away that I didn't even bother to take a photo.

Greater Painted Snipe - along with Common Snipe on the left

Black-browed Reed Warbler

Plain Prinia

Just around the corner looking from the other side, a Zitting Cisticola decided to show itself to us, giving quite good views. It perched for a minute or two before melting back into the tall grass, never to appear again. A few steps ahead an Eastern Water Rail walked across the pond, I later found it hid amongst the thick grass preening, giving some obscured views. Views were nothing compare to last year's, but it's still nice to see this shy species. Finally, a Daurian Redstart perched on some very man-made structures just by the car park at Ho Sheung Heung before we left.

Zitting Cisticola

Eastern Water Rail

Daurian Redstart - somehow the colours goes quite nicely with it...

Forest Birds Research - Yinpingshan Forest Park #2

The second Yinpingshan Forest Park（銀瓶山森林公園）visit for me, and third for Captain. After the first visit I have found this site worthy of a few more attempts, the forested area is quite large, nearly equivalent to the entire Tai Mo Shan Country Park in size, while the habitat seems decent enough to hold some interesting species.

We stayed overnight at Zhang Mu Tou (樟木頭) again, the high speed railway got us there in no time. Friday night was not as busy as expected, we got settled into our hotel room and got some rest. The next morning we got up at 6am, after another KFC breakfast we hopped onto a Taxi straight away which took us directly to the entrance of Yinpingshan Forest Park (70RMB).

Guan Yin Zuo Lian Gu Dao (觀音座蓮古道) was clearly our best choice of trail, we followed it up the hill. We immediately were greeted by calls of Pygmy Wren Babblers and Lesser Shortwings, which seemed quite active today. Our first bird was however a male Daurian Redstart, a recently arrived winter visitor to our region, the first one for me this season!

Daurian Redstart

Bird activity was slow, Mountain Tailorbirds were also calling but none showed themselves. It wasn't until we got to where we saw the Piculet last time that we heard something interesting, the call of the Bay Woodpecker. This species have been recorded here before, but we have not found this bird in our visits. I played a recording of the bird and a pair flew right in giving some half decent views, though they didn't stay long and soon flew out of sight, leaving us with their haunting calls. Still, a record shot none the less!

Bay Woodpecker

Flocks of Chestnut-collared Yuhinas kept us entertained though they were quite high up and views were not good, an interesting bird to note was a single Radde's Warbler that skulked in the undergrowth, calling constantly. It's call is easily recognised and distinguished from the similar Dusky Warbler by it's softer and more muffled tone. It did not stay long nor did it allow any photographs to be taken. Things were pretty quiet afterwards, I managed to get a clear shot at a Mountain Tailorbird. Commoner birds such as Grey-chinned Minivets made appearances.

Mountain Tailorbird

Grey-chinned Minivet

It wasn't until near the end of the trail we found some interesting species, including a flock of Blue Magpie. Lesser Shortwings were very active today, but none showed well, we found one that responded well to playback but remained fairly well hidden in the undergrowth, I only managed some record shots. 

Lesser Shortwing

We heard our second pair of Bay Woodpecker, I immediately played a burst of playback and the pair responded very quickly! One actually flew out to the open at one point, which gave very good views (Bay Woodpecker standard), allowing Captain and I to take a few half decent shots before they disappeared. Captain most definitely got some better shots then I did, which make me consider very seriously about upgrading either my camera body or my lens (or both!). Bay Woodpeckers are very widespread throughout the region but is never easy to see well, this was one of my best encounter with this species so far. Seeing them so well established here, it's clear that the Hong Kong birds that have only became regulars in recent years come from forest reserves similar to this, which indicate places like Yin Ping Shan as important stepping stones for forest birds dispersal.

Bay Woodpecker

It was extremely quiet the rest of the way, we barely saw a bird! A flock of Red-billed leiothrix at close range compensated. This species have been found in all forest sites we have been to so far, and seems to be doing quite well if not better then the birds in Hong Kong. Likely because there are less competition here then in Hong Kong?

Red-billed Leiothrix

Forest Birds Research - Yinpingshan Forest Park

This is my second research trip to China with Captain, this time we went to Yinpingshan Forest Park 銀瓶山森林公園 (40km from Hong Kong), a site close to the large town of Zhang Mu Tou, the forest park is another 8km from the town. We met up on Saturday night and took a train to Zhang Mu Tou, which only took 20 minutes. We found a hotel immediately after we got there, at around 260RMB/night the room was very luxurious and very comfortable. There was even a 24hour KFC right next to the hotel, just tells you how much mainland have advanced in these two decades...

We started early, a quick local KFC breakfast (soya milk and fried Chinese cruller!) got us ready for the hike later. We found a taxi with ease and was at the entrance gate of Yinpingshan Forest Park in no time. There aren't many trails to choose from like many other forest parks in China, but we decided to take a trail call Guan Yin Zuo Lian Gu Dao (觀音坐蓮古道), which is a trail that runs through the lower forest of the park. Habitats here are secondary forest, with original forests likely deforested many decades ago, these forests seems to be maturing well at the age of 30 to 40 years old.

Entrance Gate

Site Map

We headed towards the trail, immediately seeing a couple of Cinerous Tits, few of them were young fledglings, likely the first brood this season. A Chestnut-winged Cuckoo called nearby, I imitated it's two-note whistles and quickly got a response, though the bird flew close it never came out of the cover, as is the case of many encounters with this species.

Cinerous Tit juv.

A few hundred meters up, we encountered a very small bird wave, we were first attracted by the unexpected call of a few Silver-eared Mesia, though very common in Hong Kong, they have always been thought to be escaped exotics as their natural range lies further west. They have never been recorded at Yinpingshan, and seeing them here makes me wonder whether there are possibilities of wild populations existing in Guangdong. Though there are also the possibility that these have been decedents of escapees as well, more research must be done to get a clearer picture on this matter!

While we looked for the Mesias, I saw a tiny bird flew up and perched on a branch close by, I picked up my bins to find myself staring at a Speckled Piculet! Another real surprise! A recent coloniser into Hong Kong's forests, this species likely expanded it's range from forests like these. We saw and heard a total of at least 6 individuals on the trip, indicating that this species is doing fairly well here.

Speckled Piculet

A Besra also flew into sight, making ariel displays in the area.

Besra

As we continued, we found the forest trail here quite productive, we got birds including Chestnut Bulbul, Mountain Bulbul, Emerald Dove, Grey Treepie, Grey-throated Minivet, Scarlet Minivet, Hainan Blue Flycatcher, Brownish-flanked Bush Warbler, Large Hawk Cuckoo, Pygmy Wren Babbler, Mountain Tailorbird, Greater-necklaced Laughingthrush, White-bellied Epornis and Japanese White-eye. Another surprise was a Hodgson's Hawk Cuckoo, it was calling nearby, with a little taping it flew right towards us but didn't stop and flew on. A Slaty-legged Crake was heard as well, but it didn't showed.

Over looking the forested valleys

Chestnut Bulbul

Scarlet Minivet

At the end of the trail, we reached a stream, where numerous Green Cascade Frogs were found calling and mating, they are far less common in Hong Kong and I found them a welcoming sight! At the same stream, Captain spotted a Slaty-backed Forktail at a distance, another bird that is rare in Hong Kong but remains quite abundant in mainland China.

Green Cascade Frog

Slaty-backed Forktail

We hit the main road and decided to follow it down back to the entrance gate. On the way down, we encountered a small flock of Chestnut-collared Yuhinas, foraging together along the road. They gave great eye-level views and one particular bird caught a stick insect and gave us quite a show! As you can see, it took the bird quite a while to swallow the stick insect, but it certainly looked satisfied! A likely breeder here, Chestnut-collared Yuhinas have long been recognised as a winter visitor in Hong Kong, but with colonies at such close proximity to Hong Kong it seems likely they will become a resident species very soon. I have only recently realise about their split from Striated Yuhinas.

Chestnut-collared Yuhina

Just incase you wonder how people in China build trails up a mountain...we saw many Mules along the main road, looks like they are using them to carry rocks and bricks up the mountain. Tough life.

Mule!

All in all, a very successful research trip, especially on finding a good number of Silver-eared Mesias here. Also good to know the numbers of Speckled Piculets seems to be stable and likely increasing, which means we will likely see more of this species in Hong Kong's forest very soon. An interesting observation though, I don't recall seeing many Crested Mynas on both my research trips, a bird which I immediately saw when we crossed the boarder. Maybe we should be more grateful about these common birds, we do take many of these species for granted...

A bird we take for granted - Crested Myna