• Welcome to BirdForum, the internet's largest birding community with thousands of members from all over the world. The forums are dedicated to wild birds, birding, binoculars and equipment and all that goes with it.

    Please register for an account to take part in the discussions in the forum, post your pictures in the gallery and more.
ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

Exploring Lantau (1 Viewer)

An unexpected Lantau tick for me on Sunday as I bumped into a migrating flock of 20 or so Chestnut-collared Yuhinas milling about in a small plantation woodland on the ridge behind my block while walking the dogs.

Cheers
Mike
 
On Saturday I made my first visit to Yi O for good long while in the hope of finding some late winterer or early spring migrants.

I started well with trio of male Chinese Grosbeaks flying over the mangroves at Tai O, but then had little else on the walk along the well vegetated pathway except for a trio of thrushes, one of which was almost certainly Grey-backed Thrush.

Shortly after passing the campsite where the path returns to the water's edge I heard three different Red-tailed Robins singing cheerfully away - their song highly reminiscent of the high-pitched trilling of Little Grebes - albeit from the deepest pathside cover.

As I entered the village three Crested Serpent Eagles floated over calling loudly at each other, and as I looked for a second time a migrating Grey-faced Buzzard had the good manners to flight past above them, moving steadily northwards.

The highlight of the day was a marvellously confiding Ferruginous Flycatcher that was too curious to stay away after I found a good spot near a favourite perch, returning several times as at flipped up and away after a fly before zipping back in to exactly the same, just as if it had never moved.

Other bits and pieces included a juvenile Crested Goshawk, a male Chinese Starling that was lurking amidst a flock of thirty-odd Crested Mynas back at the Tai O mangroves and this Archduke butterfly sunning itself at the campsite as I left Yi O.

Cheers
Mike
 

Attachments

  • DSC09987 Ferruginous Flycatcher @ Yi O.jpg
    DSC09987 Ferruginous Flycatcher @ Yi O.jpg
    362.9 KB · Views: 43
  • DSC00027 Besra @ Yi O.jpg
    DSC00027 Besra @ Yi O.jpg
    667.7 KB · Views: 38
  • DSC00031 Archduke @ Yi O.jpg
    DSC00031 Archduke @ Yi O.jpg
    674.2 KB · Views: 43
Seduced away by the terrific diversity and potential for finding great birds at San Tin I ‘ve not been to Tai O for almost a year. With transport totally messed up by the ongoing demonstrations in Hong Kong, the promise of overcast skies, and memories of good birds including a Sulphur-breasted Warbler and a too-briefly-seen Wood Warbler during this time I immediately headed for the Zeng Sheng Christian Centre on the northern corner of Tai O Island, whose large trees hosted the abovementioned goodies and seem to be a point of first arrival.

Three flyover Black Drongos provided the first signs of passage and a Sakhalin/Pale-legged Leaf Warbler called frustratingly distantly to be beyond recording and hopefully identifying. The trees themselves were immediately interesting as I pulled in a large heavy, long-tailed phyllosc with a rather short “drzz’k” call that sounded too short for Arctic and too textured for Dusky. I got better views once it flew across to the smaller trees next to the sewage pumping station, where it hung about with four or five Yellow-browed and an Arctic Warbler. I managed the dodgiest of pictures, but I’m rather at a loss unless I’ve totally forgotten what Dusky Warblers look like when they’re not grotting about in the bottom of a bush. Other birds here included one or possibly two Asian Brown Flycatchers, and a juvenile Large-billed Crow exploring the breakfast possibilities of the tideline limpets.

A walk up the hill onto the dolphin ridge was enlivened by three or four Black Drongos that were hunting from the low trees and not much interested in me, and even more by a juvenile Black-naped Oriole that flushed from almost directly overhead as I ducked under a low branch and posed nicely before flying off to join three others perched up on a distant ridge. Tai O in autumn is a good spot for these lovely birds but I have never had such good views as I did later when one came into a fruiting tree in the little valley behind the Shaolin Centre. Most of the day’s thirty-plus Drongos and three more Black-naped Orioles were more visible up on the ridge, and I was pleased to add a single Black-winged Cuckooshrike hanging about with one group of fifteen of so Black Drongos that were squabbling with the resident Crested Mynas over the foraging rights to a hatching of some doubtless delectable flying insect. The ridge also produced a briefly seen but vocal Black-browed Reed Warbler and a couple of Red Turtle Doves, the first a fine male that went past me like a rocket.

Perhaps unsurprisingly on the weekend of the grave sweeping festival when there were several noisy crowds of people and lots of freshly cut vegetation I struggled down in the valley, adding only a Dusky Warbler and a Asian Brown Flycatcher. One of the latter calling by the bus station turned out to be the last bird of a decent, if unspectacular, morning in which I clocked 34 species. I should also mention Tai O retains its weirdness, this time in the shape of a giant shrimp lantern in the village square, and the discovery that you can buy tea here that costs up to US$10,000 … per kilo!

Cheers
Mike
 

Attachments

  • IMG-8366 giant prawn @ Tai O.JPG
    IMG-8366 giant prawn @ Tai O.JPG
    394.2 KB · Views: 28
  • IMG_8944 northern edge of Tai O @ Tai O.jpg
    IMG_8944 northern edge of Tai O @ Tai O.jpg
    1.5 MB · Views: 22
  • IMG_8945 Zeng Sheng Christian Centre @ Tai O.jpg
    IMG_8945 Zeng Sheng Christian Centre @ Tai O.jpg
    551.9 KB · Views: 17
  • IMG_8958 Black-naped Oriole @ Tai O.jpg
    IMG_8958 Black-naped Oriole @ Tai O.jpg
    1.6 MB · Views: 26
  • IMG_8956 Asian Brown Flycatcher @ Tai O.jpg
    IMG_8956 Asian Brown Flycatcher @ Tai O.jpg
    112.4 KB · Views: 25
Last edited:
Lovely picture of the young oriole and his spots! I'm impressed in your first pic that the egrets had better watch out for that shrimp - looks like the tables could be turned!
 
Thanks Gretchen - as close as I've ever got to an oriole I believe!

The shrimp is a lantern - would love to see it lit up!

Cheers
Mike
 
On saturday and Sunday afternoons I enjoyed two unexpectedly productive sessions at the tiny lagoon behind Sam Pak Wan beach, which lies close to the North Plaza in Discovery Bay, just a few hundred metres from home. I went on the news from Roy Smith that a male Plumbeous Redstart had taken up residence last week and, despite the various beach-goers, including a 25-strong Christmas party with Karaoke, bonfire builders and a new age counselling session, there he was - pottering along the sandy edge right at my feet and dipping his rufous tail!

On the opposite side of the pool a couple of Chinese Bulbuls and a Crested Bulbulhad come down for a dip, but wanting to make sure I was on the right side of the light I found a spot to park myself where I had a good view of the lagoon which is about 40 metres long by 10-15 metres wide and of a number of prominent perches which I hoped the redstart would use. The plan worked perfectly. No sooner had I set up my shiny new scope and fixed my new backpack-cum-stool on a reasonably level stretch of sand it dropped onto the beach no more than ten feet away. After a few minutes I looked up to see it had gone, but reappeared on the other side of the pond, almost swamped in the wings of a newly-caught black and red Jezebel.

Having consumed the butterfly the redstart spent the next couple of hours flipping from one perch to another and sallying out to catch small white moths and other invisible prey items, all the while giving phenomenal views in the warm evening sunlight that was coming directly over my shoulder and illuminating him to perfection. In between the scope-filing views and grabbing some pix I racked up over 20 species over the two days, with the other highlights being three female Scarlet Minivets, four Chestnut Bulbuls and a Brown-flanked Bush Warbler (all Discovery Bay ticks, ringing my list here to 111).

A good dozen Black-crowned Night Herons were lurking in the round-leaved Cuban Bast at the upstream end of the pond, and there were almost certainly many more hidden from sight, and on both days a White-breasted Waterhen poked and scrambled its way among the branches along the waterline. Two Common Sandpipers chased each other round the pond but did not settle. Black Kites and Large-billed Crow drifted overhead and five Chinese Blackbirds flolloped eastwards along the ridgeline. Smaller birds included small flocks of Swinhoe's White-eyes, three or four Scaly-breasted Munias, a Common Tailorbird a calling Yellow-browed Warbler and two Dusky Warblers foraging among the spiky-edged pandanus leaves right at the water's edge. Other birds giving brief views included a couple of Amur Wagtails, the disappearing tail of a Verditer Flycatcher, and a possible female Japanese Thrush.

Two birds that showed better were a Blue Whistling Thrush that hid modestly behind a rock to perform its ablutions and a wonderful male Daurian Redstart with an unusual pale gorget on the lower edge of the black chest patch that flew up into the the tree above me and stayed for a few minutes to thoroughly check me out. heading home on the Saturday I was amazed to discover a female Plumbeous Redstart actively feed on tideline rocks as the waves broke over them as the light was fading and I had run out of time. Roy had seen the female, but only once, so it may be that this bird ranges a little more widely. Has anyone else seen this species feeding in this habitat?

I shall definitely be giving this area more time in the months to come.

Cheers
Mike
 

Attachments

  • DSC00488 Plumbeous Redstart @ Sam Pak Wan.jpg
    DSC00488 Plumbeous Redstart @ Sam Pak Wan.jpg
    108.2 KB · Views: 26
  • DSC00485 Plumbeous Redstart @ Sam Pak Wan.jpg
    DSC00485 Plumbeous Redstart @ Sam Pak Wan.jpg
    1.5 MB · Views: 29
  • DSC00493 Daurian Redstart @ Sam Pak Wan.jpg
    DSC00493 Daurian Redstart @ Sam Pak Wan.jpg
    1.7 MB · Views: 28
  • DSC00530 Lagoon upstream @Sam Pak Wan.jpg
    DSC00530 Lagoon upstream @Sam Pak Wan.jpg
    1.5 MB · Views: 25
  • DSC00527 Plumbeous Redstart @ Sam Pak Wan.jpg
    DSC00527 Plumbeous Redstart @ Sam Pak Wan.jpg
    163.4 KB · Views: 21
Last edited:
Absolutely marvelous photos, Mike! Looks great after a week of high temps of -6 or so and now slightly warmer but horrible air pollution blowing up from Beijing.
 
Thanks Owen!

Unfortunately neither bird stuck around until the following weekend, but there's a couple more pix from the sort of photo-op that comes around all too rarely.

Cheers
Mike
 

Attachments

  • DSC00470 Plumbeous Redatrt @ Sam Pak Wan.jpg
    DSC00470 Plumbeous Redatrt @ Sam Pak Wan.jpg
    1.4 MB · Views: 16
  • DSC00501 Plumbeous Redstart @ Sam Pak Wan.jpg
    DSC00501 Plumbeous Redstart @ Sam Pak Wan.jpg
    1.4 MB · Views: 13
  • DSC00520 Plumbeous Redstart @ Sam Pak Wan.jpg
    DSC00520 Plumbeous Redstart @ Sam Pak Wan.jpg
    1.3 MB · Views: 15
Yesterday I spent a very enjoyable couple of hours at Pui O, which I visited primarily with the objectives of putting my new scope through its paces. For the past 15+ years I have been very much a "bins only" and then a bins + bridge camera birder as much of my birding has been covering forest patches and a large area of fishponds on foot, with the aim of finding rare birds and running up a decent site list. This does not really require a scope, which is heavy and awkward, especially in HK's typically humid weather.

Having treated myself to the Kowa TSN883 in November this was an opportunity to visit a relatively small and open site that does not require much walking - a small patch of wet and dried marsh that is used for buffalo grazing and just sit and see what came into view.

My main target were pipits. Six Buff-bellied Pipits had been reported a week or so earlier, and a quick san of the dryer ares quickly revealed a couple so I set up the scope, plonked myself on my also new old man's backpack-cum stool and had as good a look at any pipit as I ever have in 25 years of birding. Secretly I was hoping to turn one of them into a Rosy or Water Pipit, but none of the views of these rather muted birds with heavy spotting on the breast and rather plan bak was anywhere near.There were also three Richard's Pipits and a a scattering of Olive backed Pipits for variety, plus eight or nine leucopsis Amur Wagtails. Other birds included a Little Egret fishing in a puddle by dabbling its toes in the mud, five Common Snipe, a family of four Moorhens, two White-breasted Waterhens, a male Chinese Blackbirdand a party of ten Scaly-breasted Munias that dropped in zipped off a couple couple of times.

I always enjoy the Water Buffalo here, and as I was perched and scanning a face appeared in the hedge next to me just before a couple of youngish animals stepped cautiously across the path and out onto the marsh. Other expected birds included an Intermediate Egret and the usual Crested Mynas and Black-collared Starlings, a male Daurian Redstart, plus a Common Sandpiper. There were few birds on the beach but a walk over to the estuary delivered fishing Great Egret and Chinese Pond Heron, a Common Kingfisher as well as a patient female Buffalo being suckled by three calves of two different ages.

Just before the bus stop there is another area where a stream runs through another buffalo field. A couple of the trees heres were laden with small black berries, which ad pulled in good numbers of Chinese and Crested Bulbuls, 30-odd Silky Starlings. Some of these were dropping down onto the muddy banks of the stream to drink, and the same banks held half-a-dozen Tree Sparrows which were feeding on fallen berries. This area turned out to be unexpectedly productive as a couple squawking Large-billed Crows drew my attention to an Eastern Buzzard, a rather tatty Crested Serpent Eagle, drifted up and over the ridge line, my only Eastern Yellow and Grey Wagtails appeared and a handsome pair of Oriental Magpies dropped in to feed on the short grass.

The final highlights here were a trio of Chinese Grosbeaks, including a fine male, in a streamside tree and four hen-plumaged Scarlet Minivets - rare on Lantau before this winter - but perhaps enjoying a breakout year.

Cheers
Mike
 

Attachments

  • DSC00754 Water Buffalo @ Pui O.jpg
    DSC00754 Water Buffalo @ Pui O.jpg
    1.7 MB · Views: 15
  • DSC00745 Buff-bellied Pipit @ Pui O.jpg
    DSC00745 Buff-bellied Pipit @ Pui O.jpg
    1.6 MB · Views: 19
  • DSC00760 Silky Starling @ Pui O.jpg
    DSC00760 Silky Starling @ Pui O.jpg
    1.7 MB · Views: 17
  • DSC00759 Chinese Grosbeak @ Pui O.jpg
    DSC00759 Chinese Grosbeak @ Pui O.jpg
    182.5 KB · Views: 13
  • DSC00761 Oriental Magpie @ Pui O.jpg
    DSC00761 Oriental Magpie @ Pui O.jpg
    1.2 MB · Views: 11
Last edited:
Great stuff Mike! I may have to think about getting one of those old man's backpack-cum stools myself. Certainly qualify for the old man part, even after the five years my wife takes off my age every time someone asks how old I am. I even considered a chair hide, but figure that would be counter productive here since anything unusual just attracts attention and draws people in to stare.
 
Yesterday, excited by the prospect of some spring migrants following the cool weather, rain and overcast conditions I did one of the long walks of Lantau - 20 kilometres around the far SW corner Hong Kong, starting from Tai Long Wan village near Shek Pik Reservoir to Fan Lau and finishing at Tai O.

The first part of the walk is along a catchment road, and was frustrating for delivering two different flocks of trilling Ashy Minivets, which I never caught sight of, a thrush that remained invisible, four migrating buntings that were nothing more than tiny tsipping silhouettes, and more positively a briefly-seen Chinese Sparrowhawk, a pair of Oriental Turtle Doves, two Grey Wagtails in the catchment channel and two slender-winged Grey-faced Buzzards, one of which perched on a fir tree at the end of the catchment just before the path down to Fan Lau. I always keep watch along this road for wildlife stuck in the channel, and this time I found a chilly Changeable Lizard clinging onto a twig above the low flow channel. It was so torpid I was able to climb down and grab it and release it on a tureen the other side of the path. This area also held a singing Chinese Francolin, and has good populations of pitcher plants, which I always enjoy, and in the dank conditions it was good to hear Romer's Tree Frogs singing away, which I usually only hear at night behind my building while doing the midnight dog walk.

As I approached Fan Lau an Osprey was sat on a rock on the point, and a Manchurian Bush Warbler grumbling from deep cover was swiftly put to shame by the glorious descending liquid trilling of the first of four Rufous-tailed Robins. The highlight of the day was a wonderful kettle of 21 Grey-faced Buzzards circling the granite-topped outcrop across the village with a dozen resident Black Kites. As I walked through the village I was eventually able to get close enough to capture some detail on these regular spring migrants. Given the perfect fall conditions I was hoping the village would deliver a host of migrants - especially the spectacular flycatchers which are such a feature of a good spring. In this I was disappointed - with a solitary Asian Brown Flycatcher revealing itself. There were a few warblers - very few! singleton Arctic, Yellow-browed, Dusky and Pallas's were not much to write home about, and the only goodie and potential HK tick - a Sakhalin Leaf Warbler that could equally have been a Pale-legged Leaf Warbler given the distant views and the disturbingly similar calls refused to come in and left me wondering and frustrated - they should be singing joyfully at this time of year - and the songs are of course completely different! yet more Ashy Minivets trilled and refused to show, and it was definitely time to move on.

The path to Yi O delivered a couple more Grey-faced Buzzards - the flock had drifted northwards towards Tai O - and two Pacific Swifts but was otherwise rather quiet, with not much more than a couple of Pallas's Leaf Warblers and another Rufous-tailed Robin, but Yi O itself, a narrow valley running north-south and separated from the sea by another steep ridge, was vibrant with the perfect green of newly planted rice paddies. These held a nice mix of ardeids - two glowing Chinese Pond Herons, a fully black-billed Intermediate Egret and several Little Egrets, plus a typically elegant Black-winged Stilt. I normally see these marching around the less than decorative bare earth and fish turd bunds of San Tin fishponds, so seeing this one against the rice shoots was a rare treat.

I was unable to find anything more exciting than a yellow-bellied female Black-faced Bunting amongst the ten Little Buntings feeding on the fringes, but as I left the village a glowing male Blue-and-white Flycatcher pillaging a mulberry tree with the resident Crested Bulbuls was the pulse of spring I'd been hoping for. As I left the village a scan of the mudflat revealed that the long-staying Whimbrel with a damaged leg which has been reported in the last few months, was still present and feeding effectively despite its obvious awkwardness. I also went all botanical here - photographing the five different species of mangroves and a weird bubble-leafed thing that coexist in a very small area here.

The final walk to Tai O delivered an late crop of migrants, starting with a female Blue-and-White Flycatcher and an Eastern Crowned Warbler at the campsite and then on entering the outskirts of Tai O I - finally - had brief flight views of half-a-dozen Ashy Minivets heading south towards Fan Lau plus a very approachable Ferruginous Flycatcher perched on a dead branch in deep shade. The last migrants of the day were half a dozen White-shouldered Starlings, while four Grey Herons on the sea wall, a couple of Great Egrets feeding in the salt pans and hanf a dozen orange-headed Cattle Egrets brought my total of herons and egrets to seven species - including the four Reef Egrets seen perched on the shark net along Cheung She Beach from the bus.

Cheers
Mike
 
Sounds like great fun, Mike! 20km is too much for me anymore, though it brings back fond memories of spending all day tramping about the forested hills.

Your comment about the lack of warblers is interesting. Maybe still a bit early here, but it has been a warm spring and I haven't been seeing any warblers either. A wave of buntings in abundance went through last week though.
 
Thanks Tom and Owen.

Here's a few pix. First the birds:
 

Attachments

  • DSC01763 Grey-faced Buzzards @ Fan Lau.jpg
    DSC01763 Grey-faced Buzzards @ Fan Lau.jpg
    39.9 KB · Views: 12
  • DSC01782 Asian Brown Flycatcher @ Fan Lau.jpg
    DSC01782 Asian Brown Flycatcher @ Fan Lau.jpg
    77.4 KB · Views: 12
  • DSC01795 Black-winged Stilt @ Yi O.jpg
    DSC01795 Black-winged Stilt @ Yi O.jpg
    1.7 MB · Views: 8
  • DSC01803 wobbly Whimbrel @ Yi O.jpg
    DSC01803 wobbly Whimbrel @ Yi O.jpg
    240.6 KB · Views: 10
  • DSC01810 Ferruginous Flycatcher @ Tai O.jpg
    DSC01810 Ferruginous Flycatcher @ Tai O.jpg
    1.6 MB · Views: 18
Then some others, including a Government helicopter that was hanging for a few minutes over the Yi O ridge - they sometimes practice air/sea rescue here.
 

Attachments

  • DSC01791 Govt Flying Service helicopter @ Yi O.jpg
    DSC01791 Govt Flying Service helicopter @ Yi O.jpg
    981.4 KB · Views: 8
  • DSC01740 Changeable Lizard @ Fan Lau.jpg
    DSC01740 Changeable Lizard @ Fan Lau.jpg
    1.7 MB · Views: 10
  • DSC01744 Changeable Lizard @ Fan Lau.jpg
    DSC01744 Changeable Lizard @ Fan Lau.jpg
    125.2 KB · Views: 4
  • DSC01747 Pitcher plants @ Fan Lau.jpg
    DSC01747 Pitcher plants @ Fan Lau.jpg
    1.6 MB · Views: 10
  • DSC01806 Foreshore @ Yi O.jpg
    DSC01806 Foreshore @ Yi O.jpg
    1.6 MB · Views: 10
A few other bits and pieces of birding without travelling far from home in the last few days included a trip to Mui Wo in a failed attempt to see Brown Fish Owls which delivered five Black-faced Buntings, two Scarlet Minivets but precious little in the way of migrants. The real highlight was the creepiest ruined house I've ever seen - complete with "welcome" sprayed in red paint on the lintel and a swing hung with equally red string hung from the banyan that was devouring the house.

Also a bit spooky was my first visit in a series of night bird surveys starting at a mist-shrounded Po Lin Monastery. I picked up three Collared Scops Owls, a Large Hawk Cuckoo, a Grey Nightjar - my first on Lantau - and a barking deer delivering its familiar call.

But the highlight was today's confirmation that the Black-crowned Night Heron roost behind the beach where I walk the dogs has become an active breeding site. I saw two nests this morning and arriving an hour later he HKBWS ardeid expert group confirmed six nests! A Common Sandpiper on the beach among the rubbish was a bittersweet sight, but there was absolutely nothing wrong with the Peregrine that drifted over between a couple of Black Kites!


Cheers
Mike
 

Attachments

  • DSC01698 Ngong Ping at dusk.jpg
    DSC01698 Ngong Ping at dusk.jpg
    511.4 KB · Views: 14
  • DSC01729 Creepy house @ Mui Wo.jpg
    DSC01729 Creepy house @ Mui Wo.jpg
    1.6 MB · Views: 16
  • DSC01871. Common Sandpiper @ DB.jpg
    DSC01871. Common Sandpiper @ DB.jpg
    1.8 MB · Views: 18
  • DSC01876 Black-crowned Night Heron @ DB.jpg
    DSC01876 Black-crowned Night Heron @ DB.jpg
    1.5 MB · Views: 13
  • DSC01885 Black-crowned Night Heron @ DB.jpg
    DSC01885 Black-crowned Night Heron @ DB.jpg
    1.1 MB · Views: 13
Warning! This thread is more than 2 years ago old.
It's likely that no further discussion is required, in which case we recommend starting a new thread. If however you feel your response is required you can still do so.

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top