Spring Summary

Dollarbird - nice to get them at home every year

Spring is coming to an end, with temperature up to 31°C on Buddha's Birthday, it surely feels like we are barely clinging onto the tail of spring. There's been very little bird movement at home, no flycatchers to note and lacking any interesting migrants. A pair of Blue Whistling Thrushes had been seen in the gully though, likely will start breeding soon at their previous nest site just across the road. They provided some great views the other day and allowed me to get quite close, this was taken in quite dim light handheld at 1/40.

Blue Whistling Thrush

The best migrants were probably a few Dollarbirds around the valley, they usually perch on the high voltage cables, where they appear like small dots on the wire. I was lucky and managed to snuck up to a few perched on a tall tree down the valley and got a decent view, not particularly close but closer then those on the wire. Dollarbirds are quite common during spring or autumn, but it's during spring that we see mature adults with bright red beaks and purple throats, their colours are also generally sharper.

Dollarbird - a spring and autumn staple in Hong Kong

A day trip to Cheung Chau at the end of April didn't produce much migrants, I got a few distant Grey-streaked Flycatchers, a few Arctic Warblers and a single Brown Shrike. The local Pacific Reef Egrets can always be seen around the beach, where they perch on the top of shark nets to hunt for small fishes below.

Brown Shrike - lucionensis

Pacific Reef Egret - coming in for the landing

I visited Po Toi Island for both the Labour Day holiday and Buddha's Birthday. On the ferry you can see plenty of Terns have returned on one of the offshore island, Bridled being most numerous but also a few Black-naped Terns around.

Bridled Tern - circling the island

Black-naped Tern

Things on the island were generally quiet on the two days, with a minimum amount of flycatchers, only a few Grey-streaked Flycatchers were seen dotted around. A pair of Mugimaki fluttered around the mangroves but not so well for photographs. Arctic Warblers were numerous but none showed very well, I missed the chance for the Large-billed Warbler earlier. A few Pacific Swifts drifted around in the bay, surprisingly this is the first photo I have ever taken of this species, not sure why but sometimes you do "forget" to take photos of the common birds.

Grey-streaked Flycatcher

Pacific Swift

Things got very excited on Monday when fellow birder Leo found himself face to face with an Oriental Dwarf Kingfisher next to the helipad! We all darted there but the bird was nowhere to be seen. We waited around the area for the next eight hours but the bird was not what you call cooperative...It showed only once more that day and I received a brief flyby view of it. An amazing record for Hong Kong, only the second recorded, both in May. Certainly a species we should look out for in near future. Birders who went on the next day (not a public holiday) received much better treatment from the Kingfisher, with many able to get good photographs. I therefore tried again on Buddha's birthday along with Hoiling, but so did over sixty other birders...naturally a bird this rare and beautiful is worth twitching for. Unfortunately, the bird never showed and my guess was that it left the island early morning that day seeing the weather was clear. A bummer for all the birders wanting to catch a glimpse of this little jewel, and one nice holiday wasted!

I have to keep reminding myself that it's OK that I missed the opportunity for any photographs, at least I got this little guy on my HK checklist! It's not like I haven't seen one before either, flashback to my last Fraser's Hill visit, on our last morning we found an ODK trapped inside the hotel's restaurant! I later managed to grab the bird and brought it outside where it perched for a little while for us to enjoy in a more "natural" setting. But I guess seeing one at home still feels slightly different and just a little bit more exciting.

Oriental Dwarf Kingfisher - a shot from Fraser's Hill

Seeing that the Kingfisher was a no-show (although many optimist waited), Hoiling and I joined Captain and his father, a long with John and Jemi Holmes on a short pelagic trip to the southern waters on Captain father's small fishing sampan. They have had a great morning and counted a total of six Short-tailed Shearwaters just south of Po Toi! This was a bird I have yet to tick off my Hong Kong list, so joining in the action seems like a better plan. I've never had much luck with these seabirds, I never seems to be able to connect with them whenever I am out at sea. Good news was that I managed to see a single bird that flew just above the water some distance away, unfortunately it was brief and was gone before I could reach for my camera. Oh well, you got to start somewhere! On our way back to Chai Wan we encountered a few more obliging Red-necked Phalaropes.

Red-necked Phalarope - coming into breeding plumage

So, that kind of sums up my spring adventures. Not terribly exciting but not half bad either, although many birds seems to have eluded me the whole time...Tomorrow I will be off to Cambodia on a little quest for some of the Cambodian specialties, hopefully my luck will be better there then at home! I am kind of counting on that!

An Urban Fairy

Fairy Pitta - Pitta nympha

It was April of 2015 that I saw my last Fairy Pitta at Tai Po Kau, that was a huge birding moment in Hong Kong personally, I can still remember how overjoyed and exhilarated that day was for me. Seeing a Pitta; any Pitta is worthy of being a highlight in any given country or places, but to see one in the concrete jungle of Hong Kong was absolutely amazing.

Flashback - the Tai Po Kau Pitta from April 2015

I received texts that a Fairy Pitta was spotted by John Chow at Ho Man Tin, the hills of Ho Man Tin had been his local patch for last few years, and thanks to John this spot is now known as one of the best places for migrants in Kowloon Peninsular. The exact location is Ma Tau Wai Service Reservoir Playground, the best spot for birds there is a small platform on the hillside next to the pumping station. Bang on time, as most Pittas should be passing through Hong Kong mainly from mid April to early May.

My dad and I got there just before 8am, there were already more then a dozen birders looking at the bird. This is my dad's lifer and I presume it is for many other birders present. The bird kept out of view for several minutes but finally showed itself briefly, foraging actively on the ground. At one point it was on the feeding with a few Tree Sparrows! Certainly a sight you don't see everyday. We spent just around fifteen minutes there and left the place as more birders arrived to pay a visit to this rarity.

Fairy Pitta - quite a good show for just under fifteen minutes!

I heard from other friends that after we left more and more people arrived, and it seems that some of those people weren't behaving as they should, being overly noisy, littering, breaking branches or plants...and as a birder you can't help but to be concern of the well being of the birds. It's a huge dilemma in today's birding scene in Hong Kong whether to keep the rarity hushed up or to disclose the location publicly. The first option seems to have created a lot of arguments and had torn the birding community in half, for example 'birders vs bird photographers', while creating a lot of 'closed circles', where only some birders may benefit from certain bird news, while some being completely oblivious. This situation for me is not the best in the interest of both birders or birds.

As a birder, I think it is important to keep the public educated about the birds around us, theoretically the more bird lovers there are, the easier it is to protect the birds in our city. So, hushing up bird news in a way stops people from enjoying or getting into this hobby as pure birders, instead those interested will turn towards the community that they can gain most access, in this case bird photographers circles. This seems to have been the case in recent years, where most new 'birders' were introduced to photography first and birding second, where they might not have the basic conservation knowledge of a naturalist and becomes objective orientated bird photographers, where their prime concern became whether they can take good photographs or not and not the well being of the birds.

I can't say I blame those people entirely, as they were never introduced to those concepts of conservation, sure a lot of their actions probably won't benefit the birds, but isn't it a better way in educating those just starting in the hobby about the correct way of birding instead of barring half the people from the excitement of birding? There will always be 'bad blood' in any hobby, but the current method in hushing up bird news seems to have created more trouble then good in my opinion with both parties growing further and further apart, even more conflict amongst birders, while the photographers continue with their own way...a vicious cycle looping continuously.

Rome wasn't built in one day, and these kind of problems certainly can't be fixed overnight, I believe birders needs to take on a more active role, not just simply condemning those who doesn't follow proper birding codes, but to educate more new comers on the correct way of birding. And ultimately, the birds will benefit from more controlled birders who put the well being of the birds above getting good photographs.

Just my two cents on this subject, although much is debatable and I am sure there are tons of different opinions out there. Either way, I wish this Pitta will find it's way to it's breeding ground safely, unharmed. Hopefully, it will visit us again sometime in the near future!

Continued Surprises - Mai Po

Eurasian Eagle Owl - our largest owl species, likely in the world!

Mai Po never seizes to surprise us, and in April anything can turn up anywhere. The raptors are taking advantage of the abundance of migrant waders, other then the Peregrine and Eastern Marsh Harrier from the previous posts, I witnessed a Black Kite coming down onto the mudflat and grabbed an injured Curlew Sandpiper and devoured it right in front of the bird hide! A Besra was also ambushing around the footpaths, this particular one I encountered at least twice throughout the day, first time it chased a few songbirds through the mangroves, the second time Pan Lau found it perched close-by next to the footpath, we enjoyed some confiding views for as long as we wanted.

Black Kite - with Curlew Sandpipers between it's talons...

Besra

Large Hawk Cuckoos had been calling constantly in Mai Po, and we have been getting some good views of them lately, here's another one perched on top of a tree, a bit further away then my last close encounter. The other Cuckoo species that had been active are Indian Cuckoos, their "One More Bottle" call can be heard throughout, I was lucky to bump into one that allowed me to get an obscured but close view, it's the first time had been able to get a photograph of a perched individual.

Large Hawk Cuckoo

Indian Cuckoo

Mudflats at Deep Bay had been full of waders, here are just a sample of the many waders found there on any given day...Greater Sand Plovers, Ruddy Turnstones, Terek Sandpipers, Great Knots, Red Knots, Red-necked Stints, Sharp-tailed Sandpipers, Common Sandpipers, Whimbrels and Asian Dowitchers...

Greater Sand Plover

Ruddy Turnstone

Terek Sandpiper

Great Knot

Red Knot

Red-necked Stint

Sharp-tailed Sandpiper

Common Sandpiper

Whimbrel

Asian Dowitcher

An interesting wader caught our eye on the mudflat, a very bright and well marked stint foraging amongst the Red-necked Stints. The general reaction in the bird hide at the time is that this was probably a Little Stint, and I thought so too given that it looked so different with rest of the flock. It was later suggested that this is a Red-necked Stint, although I must say it's bill shape doesn't quite click as classic Red-necked to me, it looks slightly longer and very pointed...especially when placed side by side with the Red-necked present, but I must admit the body structure, leg structure both seems a bit off for a usual Little. I did saw a more 'obvious' Little Stint on the same day in bright breeding plumage, although it was way too far for any photo to be taken, but in breeding plumage they are difficult to miss. It does show the huge variety Red-necked Stints can show. So, I will have to wait my turn for photos...

The 'strange' Red-necked Stint with a 'regular' Red-necked Stint

Other then waders, there was a bird that attracted quite a lot of attention in form of an Eurasian Eagle Owl, they are rare to scarce residents in Hong Kong, although quite widespread they are seldom seen. One had been spotted around pond 11 frequently and attracted a lot of birders to try their luck for this elusive species. I took my chance and went for it, knowing that birders waited half a day to get a look at it the day before. I was surprise therefore when Peter Wong found the bird sat right next to the footpath, it didn't move much for the next few hours. By the time it was surrounded by a dozen of photographers, it seems quite obvious to us that there was some problem with this owl. After a heavy rainstorm birders reported it to be quite week, and called up WWF to pick the bird up. It was later transferred to SPCA later on the day. It was unclear what was wrong with the bird, but our guess is that it could have ate a rat with poison? Sad news is that after a few days this majestic bird did not make it. It was exciting while it lasted...let's hope we get to see a healthier one next time.

Eurasian Eagle Owl - RIP...