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ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

Ng Tung Chai, Hong Kong (1 Viewer)

Sunday was a quieter day - much less birdy - but with occasional highlights.

There was no sign of the Yellow-browed Bunting, while the Black-faced Buntings were evrywhere they'd been the day before. However I did have brief views of a Grey Treepie for the first time in a while, four flyover Grosbeaks, which were presumably Chinese, a female Siberian Rubythroat and the same Wryneck that I saw yesterday.

I also photographed my second ocularis White Wagtail in the Valley.

Cheers
Mike
 

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I did enjoy the Wryneck. As for the range of species, well what more can I say except the patch totally rocks!

I also had a good morning in the woods at Tai Om Shan with John Cantelo of Kent & Cadiz.

In the short walk from the minibus to the house we picked up a fine male Daurian Redstart, Olive-backed Pipit, Chinese Blackbird, Crested Mynah, Spotted Dove, Magpie and a Chinese Pond Heron which ignored us as it fished in the pathside stream. We then heard and scoped a trio of grizzling White-browed Laughingthrushes and a Greater Coucal from my balcony, and as we headed out again a fine male Scarlet Minivet showed in the top of the big camphor tree by the car park.

As we started up the hill behind Tai Om village Pallas' Leaf and Yellow-browed Warblers appeard in the same tree as an elusive Scarlet-backed Fowerpecker a group of Chestnut Bulbuls, and a Black-winged Cuckooshrike showed well at close quarters, and an Ashy Drongo played hard to get - calling away from the wrong side of a bamboo clump before zipping overhead.

We were fortunate to get pretty good views of a Russet Bush Warbler that thought it was more invisible than it was as it chakked away in the grass, the first Red-flanked Bluetail popped up in the ruins of Tai Om Shan, and John found a female Verditer that I failed to string into Pale Blue Flycatcher.

We heard, but could not see some of the usual skulkers, including Pygmy Wren Babbler, Lesser Shortwing and Mountain Tailorbird, but did get fleeting views of a male Grey-chinned Minivet in display flight - orange-red tail spread against the blue sky.

We eventually got views of Fork-tailed Sunbird, Scarlet-backed Flowerpecker, Eastern Great Tit, Silver Eared Mesia and Blue winged Minla, and as we left the valley a superb Crested Serpent Eagle called as it soared over.

A couple of days earlier in the week a Japanese Thrush flew over the house shortly after dawn.

Cheers
Mike
 
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Many thanks once again Mike for your terrific help. I'm currently sweltering in Kurunda near Cairns - 40+ ticks on my first day and double figures for the next two. Sadly my 'heard-but-not-seen' list has also rocketed! Full report anon,
 
A day that started and finished with flocks of black birds - 51 Chinese Blackbirds flying out from their roost in the morning and 29 Hair-crested Drongos going to roost at dusk.

As I headed out to Mai Po at the start of the day the female Daurian Redstart was again perched on the wires by the car park, and during couple of hours at the end of the day the highlight was a wonderful half hour with a foraging party of White-browed Laughingthrushes searching for food in the heads of the ginger plants in the marsh below the grassland. They've always been rather difficult to photograph, but seemed much more amenable to being filmed.

The clip is on Youtube at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8VyC63CgrSo

I also had a good day at Mai Po, joining the ringers for a session in the reedbeds at the north end of the reserve, which delivered my 440th HK tick - a Blunt-winged Warbler.

But best of all my binoculars (the old double hand grenades - that were showing each and every one of their 8 years of hard service) came back from an overhaul at Leica - new lenses, new armour, better than new and a joy to use!

Cheers
Mike
 
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Nice video! Good views of the bird, and nice to watch it looking for insects (I assume). Are the white flowers ginger, or is that something else?

Congrats on improved binos - sure that is a great feeling.

Gretchen
 
Another overcast day in the valley.

The top bird of the day was a fine winter plumaged taivana Yellow Wagtail which was on a field with a Grey Wagtail, the ocularis White Wagtail from a couple of weeks ago, three or four leucopsis White Wagtails, a couple of Olive-backed Pipits and half a dozen Oriental Turtle Doves.

Other birds in the same area included an Ashy Drongo, three Hair-crested Drongos, one of which posed well (you can even tell from the way its hairs are wafting which way the wind was blowing) Greater Coucal, Koel, Siberian Stonechat, Dusky Warbler, Daurian Redstart,Chinese Pond Heron, and Long-tailed Shrike.

Dylan also had Pallas' Leaf Warbler and a Verditer in his garden.

Cheers
Mike
 

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A rather quiet morning in Tai Om Shan, but I did accomplish the near impossible - photographing and filming a Russet Bush Warbler without using a tape recorder to pull it out!

There were a few other birds about, but not many of them chose the show themselves - thus two Rubythroat, an Asian Stubtail and a Red-flanked Bluetail stayed well hidden, but unusually I had brief views of a couple of rather perky Mountain Tailorbirds, which have been giving me the runaround for the last month or so.

Other birds that did show included a female Verditer, a Black-winged Cuckooshrike, three Black-faced Buntings and at least 5 Pallas' Leaf Warblers.

The Russet Bush Warbler was in a patch of grass on top of a small rise by the path that caught the early morning sunlight just right to allow views of a rather pale-billed bird. However, the undertail coverts were unequivocally white-tipped and there was a hint of dark spotting on the sides of the throats.

Being rather static I was able to get the scope on it and fired of a couple of shots more in hope than expectation of any worthwhile results, and was astonished when the first pic came out as well as it did. The video, here, was an even bigger surprise. unfortunately the mike on the camera was not powerful enough to pick up the call (you can just about hear something if you really strain!)

A little higher up I had another bird which seemed to have a slightly different call, lighter ground colour and more prominent eyering, but I just couldn't get a decent look at the undertail coverts, so it can only go down as a possible Brown Bush Warbler (this species also wintered last year).

The view from the top of the hill looks over the farmland areas of the patch. The grassland close to my flat is in the bottom left corner, with the marsh stretching across from the trees next to the grassland all the way right to the three blocks on the middle right edge. The wagtail field is just above and to the right of centre.

The other highlight of the week was either re-finding HK's third Smew or actually finding the fourth record at Mai Po yesterday. I've posted separately on BF here.


Cheers
Mike
 

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and for all the nursery rhyme lovers out there . . . four and twenty Blackbirds flew out of the big tree right next to my house as I came home today!

Cheers
Mike
 
A walk up to Ng Tung Chai on Monday started well with fine views of a Greenish Warbler, a Mountain Bulbul, a Striated Heron and a wonderful male Red-flanked Bluetail.

However the most prominent birds were a constant stream of Chestnut Bulbuls from below the lower falls to the upper falls. There must have been 50 at least in the valley. Mountain Tailorbirds also seemed to call constantly.


Cheers
Mike
 
Hi Mike,

I hope that stream of Chestnut Bulbuls didn't get too battered going over the falls!

On a different note, I was just reading about the Smew (re your 19 December posting) and I'd say poor Andy Li pulled the roof down on his head.

Happy holidays (with lots more birds to tell us about!). (And incidentally, a bird of the moment for those inclined in Tokyo, is a Scaly-sided Merganser, a female. I got up before 4 a.m. three different days before the gods decided I had demonstrated enough sincerity! )

Best wishes from Tokyo,

Norm
 
Frost on the ground in the valley and a perfect clear blue sky offered plenty of promise, and Richard and I got it right first time, checking out the small pond and farmland just next to the She Shan feng shui woodland where the baicalensis White Wagtail was seen a couple of months ago.

The first bird to show was a fine female Grey Bushchat perched on an overhead wire. A couple of minutes later a large yellow-bellied bunting landed on another wire - a stunning winter-plumaged male Red-headed Bunting! This is a huge find as this could be the first accepted record for Hong Kong! Better still the bird showed extremely well, returning to the same spot throughout the day so that many birders and photographers got to see and photograph it.

By way of background a female/immature was seen by one photographer at Long Valley last week, but the pix appeared to show cage damage to the tail, so the likelihood of it being accepted as a wild bird is low. The trouble is that my bird, which was in immaculate plumage, may still be found guilty of being a possible escape because it turned up around the same time. One for the Records Committee to ponder. In the meantime I'm totally loving the idea of a HK first on the patch!

There are plenty of excellent photos on the Red-headed Bunting page on the HKBWS website here:

Here's a short video of the bird http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J202WBEXHXc

Other birds around today included four Little Buntings, four Daurian Redstarts, two Red-throated Flycatchers, a couple of Bright-capped Cisticolas and at the end of the day a Wryneck at Pak Tin Kong and a fine male Chestnut-eared Bunting on the dumped land across the river from the Red-headed Bunting.

Dylan also had brief flight views of the Brown Wood Owl at dusk and heard a possible Chinese Bush Warbler, another potential HK first! Watch this space for more exciting updates from the best patch in HK (for today at least).

Cheers
Mike
 

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Thanks Gretchen

I went back for another ogle of the Red-headed Bunting today and was frustrated to find a bunch of photographers walking around in the grass where it had been feeding and showing so well the day before.

As a result the bird showed much less well and really made the point by appearing within 15 feet of me on top of a bush just as the last photographer walked away, allowing me the bet shot I've had so far. The same 4 Little Buntings were in the same area from the day before

It took another 45 minutes to get a decent shot of the Grey Bushchat, which was hunting around the chrysanthemums within 100 metres of the Bunting.

Other birds in the same area included Zitting and Bright-capped Cisticolas and a fine male Grey-backed Thrush.
 

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This last pic of the red-headed bunting looks quite good - fabulous pose! I like the idea of bird watching in flower fields - wish I knew of some around here. Seems like they would be good for birds especially in fall with flowers going to seed, and I guess in other times when insects are common (if they don't use a lot of pesticides).
 
Lovely shot of the Chestnut-eared bunting - a portrait. And the chrysanthemum field looks beautiful too - not the sort of HK landscape someone who's never been would expect.
 
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