Exploring Lantau (3 Viewers)

I'm somewhat shamefaced to admit to my filthiest ever twitch today.

John Alcock, who is on an amazing roll this autumn, found Hong Kong's fifth Common House Martin yesterday at Pui O, just one day after identifying our first ever Green(ish - opinions differ) Warbler at Tai O. . . and finding a fifth or so Grey-backed Shrike on my old patch at Ng Tung Chai in October!

Having badly neglected both of these sites over the last three months as I've invested every spare moment in covering the Magic Roundabout ,I have absolutely no right to be scoring here, but once in a while it's great to benefit from others' hard work. So, having achieved my Roundabout target of 100 species in the quarter, and spending a morning at work watching the Whatsapp group delivering up to the minute reports on the martins I flew out of the office, grabbed a bus to Tung Chung and a taxi to Pui O and within one minute of arriving I had crippling zoom-past-your-nose views of two Common House Martins feeding low over the buffalo fields in the company of a Red-rumped Swallow.

One bird was a cracking piebald adult with a shiny black cap, huge white rump that extended down onto the upper tail coverts, as is typical of the race lagopodum that breeds in NE China, and undertail coverts that reached all the way to the fork of the tail. The other, duller, individual, with brown cap, wings and tail was presumably a juvenile. As and when photos are posted I'll provide a link. It was also reassuring to confirm that I had correctly identified the Asian House Martin that appeared on the Roundabout on Saturday morning.

Other birds seen in the approximately four minutes I was there, before racing back to the road and whizzing - unsuccessfully - off to Tai O for the Green(ish) Warbler included a handful of Eurasian Teal and fifty or so Red-billed Starlings.

In retrospect the dash to Tai O was a poorly-considred rush of blood. No one was there, let alone on the bird, and after a couple of passes I ran out of time and headed back to the office, exultant in nailing the martins, but regretting that I had not given them more time.

Cheers
Mike

Coming back to Lantau seems to be all about seeing other peoples' birds. I went back to Pui O firstly to have a another look at the Common House Martins, but either the overnight drop in temperature and rain or the clear conditions of yesterday afternoon seems to have provided cause for their departure.

I arrived in the middle of a protracted gust of cold rainy wind that drove all the birds on the buffalo fields, and even the water buffaloes themselves for cover. There was no sign whatsoever of the martins, nor of the Dusky Thrush or rumoured Bull-headed Shrike, both birds I've never previously seen on Lantau, which were my other reason for coming. Four Little Buntings picking over the short grass in the westernmost field were the most I've had here and the first sign that there were a few birds to be winkled out.

As I poked about looking for anything that might be lurking in a few sheltered spots I started to find a few birds. First up was a fine male Grey-backed Thrush which helpfully popped up onto a branch in the quarry and a Pallas's Leaf Warbler appeared overhead, drawn in by my pishing. I also planned to have a look for the Brown Fish Owl that was also reported, but as I entered the woods a Water Buffalo loitering 30 metres down the trail gave me second thoughts - should it be grumpy I would have had absolutely no room for manoeuvre.

As I headed back along the beach a solitary Kentish Plover exploring the tideline gave me brief, but instantly dashed, hope of a Swinhoe's Plover. The legs were dark and the upperparts and face offered not the slightest opportunity for some creative interpretation. It continues to amaze me that this enigmatic species occurs in numbers either side of Hong Kong on the Guangdong coast but remains extremely rare here. Another wader on the river behind the campsite raised even briefer hope as it was very obviously a Lesser Sandplover. The was not all bad news as it turned out to be my first ever on Lantau. It very helpfully posed just across the river from a wall that I could rest my arms on, thereby providing a solid platform for the camera and delivering some decently sharp images.

As I headed back towards the buffalo fields it seemed that the weather had cleared and I picked up three of the day's five Daurian Redstarts close to the big banyan in the Eastern field, plus a Taiga Flycatcher and 20 or so Black-collared Starlings and half a dozen Silky Starlings by the canoe storage area. I searched unsuccessfully among the Red-throated, Olive-backed and Richard's Pipits for the rumoured Buff-bellied Pipit , and would have stopped here, reasonably satisfied with the day until the Dusky Thrush finally relented and popped out on a corner of pasture between the marsh and the hedge. It was a rather dull individual, but my pix allow an obvious necklace of black dots across the breast and the white super and uniform dusty-brown back provided the usual impression of an oversized Bluethroat. As so often happens I took my eye off it and it disappeared. It did not appear in the other field, but when I went to look for it I found a female Grey-backed Thrush and enjoyed a delightfully close view of an Intermediate Egret by peering back through the hedge.

My second attempt to get into the wood was more productive. This time there were no Water Buffaloes lurking and as I crept carefully in I was fortunate enough to look up at exactly the right time to find the Brown Fish Owl perched high through a light veil of foliage and branches. I strongly suspect it was asleep as the front claws were not gripping the branch and it was instead resting on the soles of its feet the branch. In Hong Kong the most secure way to differentiate Brown Fish Owl from Eurasian Eagle Owl is to see wetehr the toes are feathered or unfeathered. I'm tempted to submit this to the Records Committee to see if it would be accepted! Tempted as I was to find an angle from which I could get a clear view of the face, I left it in peace, as I suspected that if it saw me it would figure out that I was not simply another buffalo and be flushed out.

On the way out I also heard a second Taiga Flycatcher, wrapping up what turned out to be a pretty good Christmas morning.

Cheers
Mike

Kudos to you Mike in choosing not to disturb the Owl. It has pained me in the past to see other bird watchers who are so focused on getting closer for a positive ID that they are like a herd of elephants trampling through the brush. I try to be sensitive to the wildlife and even environment in general and have often left a potential new tick as an undetermined rather than to pursue and disturb. We just need to not get so focused that we lose situational awareness. Be aware of when it is time to just let them go for now.

Thanks Owen. Hopefully it will make an unobstructed pic all the sweeter - if and when I get one!

On Sunday I had a third attempt to look for the viridanus Greenish Warbler at Tai O. Getting off the bus I had time to get some nice shots of an unusually tame Grey Heron before the heavens opened I got utterly drenched. As I lurked under a tree and tried to minimise the soaking I consoled myself with the tough that birds often sing or after rain to tell the world they're still alive and well. . . and this is exactly what the little blighter did!

The intermittent call was very similar to, if a little sweeter than, Two-Barred Greenish Warbler, from which some authorities including the IOC (which the HK Records Committee follows), split Greenish, and after a few minutes I connected with the bird hunting in the top of a cuban bast within 10 metres of the spot it had first been found (thank you John Alcock!). The views were far from excellent, but enough for me to convince myself that this was indeed the bird in question (and should it be accepted, a Hong Kong first) before it dived into the mangroves a couple of minutes later, and did not reappear.

It mattered little as other birds also began responding to the clearing skies. These included a couple of Black-faced Buntings, Yellow-browed andDusky Warbler, Plain and Yellow-bellied Prinias, a Taiga Flycatcher lurking low in the reed bed and a couple of Chinese Penduline Tits, which were my first on Lantau. Unfortunately the light was too poor to even try for pix of any of the above.

Soaked though I was I decided to make best use of the day and headed over to see if the Shaolin Valley would produce anything of interest. A week earlier I had seen a rather dark female robin with a distinctly white throat that just looked wrong for either Red-flanked Bluetail or Rufous-tailed Robin. I had no luck with this bird, but by trogging up and down the path a couple of times I did see at least three Grey-backed Thrushes (including the very confiding male in the photo), a couple of Chinese Blackbirds and a Pale Thrush, plus my first Red-flanked Bluetail and Siberian Rubythroat(a nice male) of the winter and a total of five Daurian Redstarts. I was also pleased to connect with a flock of seven or eight Chinese Grosbeaks, which dropped into the top of a nearby tree just as I was leaving.

The b/w pic of the Eastern Buzzard is actually from the week before as was the final picture of a village dog that cheerfully checked me out as I was (abortively) looking for the Greenish Warbler.

Cheers
Mike

Having taken the weekend off to prepare for the Bird Race next weekend (any one wishing to sponsor my team - the Eagles - as we aim to raise money for Mai Po is more than welcome to click here, with my grateful appreciation, to do so), I was delighted to score big this evening when I was walking the dogs at dusky . . and a large owl flew overhead as the dogs were running about on the lawn by the school. It is most likely to be Eurasian Eagle Owl, but Brown Fish Owl has also been recorded here, so it will have to go down as "large owl sp."

This made a good finish to a chilly and wet day on which Richard and I went in search of swans, geese, cranes and other mythical goodies on Deep Bay, but the wind made the bay choppy and viewing conditions so poor we ended up with little.

Yesterday, on the other hand was such a good day that it's well worth writing up. Richard, Ruy and I started late with a flock of 11 Common Rosefinches (including three handsome males) at Airfield Rd in Shek Kong. The site was very birdy, and we had three of the day's seven Red-throated Flycatchers, a couple of Red-flanked Bluetails, numerous Daurian Redstarts, Pale, and Grey-backed Thrushes and Chinese Blackbird, plus a pished-in Barred Owlet and an unexpected Blue Magpie.

As we tucked into M&S's luxury mince pies (a 2 for 1 special offer - or "Buy 1 Get 1" as we rather confusingly say in Hong Kong) we also enjoyed a dust-up between two of Hong Kong's noisiest birds as a gang of Hair-crested Drongos, ultra-cool, if a bit flash, in iridescent black, had a go at a scruffy half-dozen Masked Laughingthrushes that came foraging beneath their hangout in a Chinese Hackberry.

In the afternoon a variety of fishpond sites delivered over 20 Grey-headed Lapwings, lots of snipe feeding somewhat in the open, 6 species of starlings and mynas, including five Eurasian Starlings (not at all common here), a fine haul of Red-rumped Swallows and two splendid Northern House Martins (a top self-found tick!) and an unexpected Hoopoe that Ruy picked out lurking under a tree. We finished back at Kam Tin Station, where a very approachable female Mandarin has been lurking in the highly unpalatable drainage channel for a month or so.

The cold weather which has shocked Hong Kong by delivering frost ice, hail and even a tiny waft of snow is set to last at least into Monday, and I'm hoping for a biggie at the airport tomorrow lunchtime to really get the year going on the Magic Roundabout!

Cheers
Mike

Sounds like race preparations are going well - and if I forget to say it later - good luck! Hope you get lots of birds!

Enjoying your pictures as always. I've never seen a group of snipe milling around like that - very nice. Do you think your Rosefinch is eating a berry or a worm/insect? It's a nice action shot, but I'm not sure what they usually eat, or what this one is eating...

Many thanks Gretchen. The rosefinch was eating the little green fruit from the vine just to the left, and the snipe were unusual for being out in the open - they were hidden in the gras on the edge on the day of the race. The race preparations were birdier than the race itself. We saw 150 species and were third behind a team with 158 and one with 159.

This week has been a good one on Lantau as the cold weather has brought in a few chats and thrushes - including Chinese Blackbird, a male Japanese Thrush, and a Grey-backed Thrush, plus Daurian Redstart and a male Red-flanked Bluetail in the park where I walk the dogs.

Today I did something different and went to check out the big piece of vacant land next to Disneyland in the hopes of finding a spectacular new birding site. It didn't quite work out that way, although I did pick up five Chinese Blackbirds and two Grey-backed Thrushes in the big trees in the carpark. The land is covered in a very tough small acacia and lots of rank grass with a few wetter patches and a small shallow pond in one corner.

I was disappointed to find very few birds here - four or five Richard's Pipits, a couple of Long-tailed Shrikes and a dozen Black Kites, plus a solitary Zitting Cisticola and Dusky Warbler. Things perked up significantly when an Eastern Buzzard and couple of Ospreys flew over - I've never seen two together before on Lantau, and a flock of thirty or so Silky Starlings burst out of one of the acacia groves. They got better again as I walked along the NW edge of the site where a few more birds appeared in the lee of the big trees around the Disney site.

These included Plain and [Yellow-bellied Prinias[/B], a couple of Common Tailorbirds, a showy Pallas's Leaf Warbler, another couple of Dusky Warblers, three Yellow-browed Warblers, a and the first three of six Daurian Redstarts, and most interesting of all a flycatcher that I suspect of being Red-breasted, but only had poor views against the light. I did get a couple of pix, and any thoughts on ID would be most welcome.

The sea wall around the site provided a female Blue Rock Thrush and my best ever shot of a Pacific Reef Egret, and as I walked in I flushed a Greater Cocual that scuttled furtively away.

Cheers
Mike

A beautifully cold sunny day lured me to go birding on Sunset Peak, which delivered a hatful of thrushes and chats in the same area I had a Japanese Robin this time last year.

As last year I started at Wong Lung Hang and had four (very confiding) Daurian Redstarts, a Red-flanked Bluetail, a Rufous-tailed Robin and three Grey-backed Thrushes in very short order, plus a Grey Wagtail. A steep climb through the ekianthus started quietly as many of them were yet to bloom, but I was pleased to hear, see and then record the "Chocolate" Laughingthrushes, which were lower down than I've seen them in the past.

The highlights of the contour trail were a couple of exceptionally confiding Rufous-tailed Robins, a Pallas's Leaf Warbler, four Brown-flanked Bush Warblers, and a Crested Goshawk that pushed in behind some cover, and the big frustration was an unidentified Golden Spectacled Warbler sp. that also showed very close but not for long enough for the crucial photo.

By the end of my walk the totals for the day were:


6 Grey-backed Thrushes
6 Daurian Redstarts
5 Red-flanked Bluetails
3 Rufous-tailed Robins
1 Pallas's Leaf Warbler
4 Mountain Bush Warbler
1 Goldspec sp. (grrr)
6 Chocolate Laughingthrush
1 Crested Goshawk

Cheers
Mike

Great shot of HKIA, Mike. I've not been there yet and I did not imagine there to be so much wildlife habitat in what is one of the most heavily populated areas in the world.

40% of Hong Kong's land area is gazetted Country Park Owen, and much of it is on Lantau Island.

Tuesday morning I tried another new path, which started up at the Big Buddha at Ngong Ping (c.440m ask) and walked down a 6-7km trail to the eastern end of Shek Pik Reservoir.

The woodlands and abandoned tea plantations around Ngong Ping were pretty productive, kicking off with the first of twelve Grey-backed Thrushes, a female Daurian Redstart and a Pale Thrush on the first corner, and then Rufous-tailed Robin, Red-flanked Bluetail and best bird of the day a wonderfully approachable female Common Rosefinch, which flew into a seeding tree and posed for pix just a couple of feet overhead. I was also delighted to find the first flock of half-a-dozen Red-billed Blue Magpiesin the same area.

As I walked down the twisting contour path I heard a Siberian Rubythroat barking in the scrub, and then over the next three hours I passed through various areas of high quality forest interspersed with more open areas and lower down some mixed pine and broadleaved woodland. Apart from the Pale Thrush at the top (which had obviously not got the memo), every single thrush I identified was Grey-backed and a good portion of the dozen others I heard either calling or leaf rustling from cover on the way down.

I was also pleased to find a couple of Rufous-tailed Robins close to the bottom of the trail that responded well to my pishing - one of them jumping up onto a branch at eye level and giving a nice view through the foliage. Other bits and pieces included four more Red-flanked Bluetails, two Brown-flanked Bush Warblers and threeAsian Stubtails, and by the time I got to the bus stop I'd scored eight Daurian Redstarts.

Cheers
Mike

On Wednesday Carrie and I took the dogs for a walk from Mui Wo round to Pui O. The highlights were a Red-flanked Bluetail and eleven Daurian Redstarts, and best of all two Japanese Thrushes, which (with the exception of a male in the Discovery Bay park whilst dog-walking) have been in desperately short supply on either Lantau or the Roundabout this winter.

Sunday morning I went back to Pui O and had one of those quietly enjoyable sessions when the typical birds of the habitat and the season all choose to co-operate. This was especially true of the corner where the steam flows pinot the buffalo fields, where in short order Daurian Redstart, Stejneger's Stonechat, several Silky Starlings, a Chinese Blackbird and a female Japanese Thrush all showed nicely at close range, while four Cattle Egrets were shepherding the Water Buffaloes and four Little Buntings flew onto the short grass nearby and were soon joined by four Olive-backed Pipits - and a male Grey-backed Thrush flashed past in the background.

Out on the more open areas of the marsh were at least 10 visible, and probably as many invisible, Fantail Snipe feeding busily, along with four Eurasian Teal, a few taivana Yellow Wagtails and the odd Richard's Pipit. The local Large-billed Crows were making a good dal of noise over by the "private Parts" gate, and an investigation into the trees beneath them revealed the feathers of a Magpie, which had presumably been recently caught by some predator.

A walk up alongside the stream delivered more Daurian Redstarts, Grey-backed Thrushes and Chinese Blackbirds, plus a Red-flanked Bluetail and the highlight of the morning - a superb male Pale Thrush with the darkest hood I've ever seen.

Cheers
Mike

Love the "photobomb" title, Mike!

Nice to read about the interesting birds, and see that your Daurians are looking ready for the new season - quite handsome. I enjoyed the pictures of the Japanese thrush and buffalo herd particularly!

On Sunday morning, a big cold wind was blowing from the northeast and I was struggling to think where to go for a chance of finding something new on Lantau without blown away. I eventually decided to take the same path as I had over Chinese New Year and walk down from the Big Buddha at Ngong Ping to the eastern edge of Shek Pik Reservoir.

As I got to to the bus stop at Tung Chung the Ngong Ping bus pulled out and away, closely followed by the 3M, which takes me to Pui O. Having missed the bus to Tung Chung by a whisker and sat 20 chilly moments waiting for the next one I was in no mood to wait any longer and instead took the next bus - to Tai O.

This turned out to be a better move than expected as the whole town was out of the wind and conditions were just about ideal for some late winter birding. This time I headed straight for the Shaolin Valley and was delighted to strike gold with my first cautious look into the nearest garden as a first winter male Brown-headed Thrush was hunting in the leaf litter beneath the papaya trees. This was only my third or fourth ever in Hong Kong and my first on Lantau, and even better, the bird performed like champion - giving cracking views for a solid ten minutes no more than 15m away!

This garden, which also has a well whose owner uses discarded eggshells to fertilise the papayas, has been more generally productive in the past, and was similarly busy today - a handsome male Chinese Blackbird posed on a stump as three Silky Starlings, a couple of Olive-backed Pipits and three or four Crested Bulbuls foraged on the deck, a Long-tailed Tailorbird puttered among the higher branches and Black Kites wheeled over the hill behind. A scrabbling in the bushed underneath the bamboo stand presaged the arrival of a couple of lovelorn Greater Coucals, which scuttled off as soon as they saw me and a Black-collared Starling plonked itself down just as the garden's owner arrived to start dragging bits of corrugated roofing about and scared everything off.

There was clearly something in the air as further in the valley the thrushes al seemed to be equally tame - starting with a magnificent male Grey-backed Thrush buried deep in a pile of leaves which then perched like a champion as I grabbed some shots from less than five metres. This was followed by an equally tame female, and then another male further in, before a male and a female Japanese Thrush and then a Pale Thrush resumed normal service by shooting off at high speed as soon as they saw me.

Other bits and pieces included three Daurian Redstarts and a male and a female Red-Flanked Bluetail, before I had further cracking views of the same Grey-backed Thrushes on the way out , plus another Japanese Thrush on what turned out to be a terrific short morning's visit to Tai O.

Cheers
Mike

PS. The only minor flaw in my otherwise brilliant "random destination" plan was that another birder found a Chinese Thrush, of which there are just 4 or 5 previous HK records,at Pui O the same day. Ho Hum.

Saturday morning at Pui O was one of those days when the birds just keep on coming. I went with the faint hope that the Chinese Thrush reported last Sunday might still be around. It wasn't, but the area I looked - somewhere I don't usually cover - was full of birds that had seemingly forgotten the rules about lurking and flushing, and positively queued up to be seen and and photographed in the open.

First up was a superb male Grey-backed Thrush on the grass right next to the path, and then a female Japanese Thrush and a Chinese Blackbird that emerged from the edges of a pungently "organic" stream, only to to be followed by five Chinese Grosbeaks, including a splendid male, that came down to feed on the lawn not 20 yards away.

Everywhere I walked birds popped up and showed and by the end of the day my totals were 13 Grey-backed Thrushes, eight Daurian Redstarts, six Japanese Thrushes, four Chinese Blackbirds, a Red-flanked Bluetail and, unusually, a Blue Rock Thrush.

The other usual suspects, in the form of Silky and Black-necked Starlings, plus Crested Mynas and Cattle Egrets mooching round the water buffaloes and grabbing any tasty morsels like groupies round a rock star, a Common Snipe, and Grey Heron added their usual colour. Less usual were a Crested Serpent Eagle calling high overhead and a Taiga Flycatcher playing tag with a female Daurian Redstart. And saving the best tip last I was delighted to run into a Bull-headed Shrike - my first ever on Lantau - in one of the gardens right next to the path back to the bus stop.

Cheers
Mike

PS pix to come tomorrow.

And as promised the pix from Pui O on Sunday . . .

Cheers
Mike

Great photos, Mike.

Many thanks Owen - it was one of those days when everything lined up and posed!

Today was not one of those days.

Hoping that the mists that had brought so many birds to the airport during the week would do the same for Tai O, I left a foggy DBearly this morning, passed through more and thicker fog several times on the bus ride, only to find the whole village bathed in sunshine! Doh!, and double Doh!

It was also clear that there had been a bog clear out from two weeks before. The best bird was a lovely male Tristram's Bunting - which I think is my first ever on Lantau - in the Shaolin Valley, and five singing Pallas's Leaf Warblers in the tallest trees, all of which were pushing out tender new leaves. That apart it was pretty quiet - just two female Daurian Redstarts, a couple of thrush sp. I never got onto, and a Grey Wagtail in a drainage channel near the bus stop.

Other birds seen at Discovery Bay over the last two or three weeks include the long-staying flock of 100-odd Silky Starlings, two Black-faced Buntings and a superb male Stejneger's Stonechat in the grounds of the country club, a Chinese Blackbird over the last couple of days and a week earlier a male Japanese Thrush. A Red-flanked Bluetail has been hanging round one of the bare slopes, sometimes accompanied by a very vocal female Daurian Redstart, and a Grey Wagtail has been in the same area.

It's about the time of year to be looking for nightjars again - and hopefully Grey as well as Savanna this year, so I'll head up that way when the weathers a bit less gloomy.

Cheers,
Mike

On Good Friday I headed down to Tai O with visiting birder Shelley Rutkin. We started well with half-a-dozen Grey-faced Buzzards that drifted low over the top of the hill in the middle of the island - an unambiguous sign of spring.

The Shaolin Valley again held singing Pallas's Leaf Warblers (2) and my first Eastern Crowned Warbler of the spring, plus a couple of Daurian Redstarts, and half-a-dozen White-shouldered Starlings were in one of the trees close to the playground.

As we were waiting for the bus to Pui O a Crested Goshawk was displaying over the hill and a couple of Dusky Warblers chased each other through the mangroves.

Pui O was a bit birdier - starting with the usual collection of Cattle Egrets and Yellow Wagtails lurking around the feet of the Water Buffalo, plus a couple of Intermediate Egret, two Wood Sandpipers and a couple of snipe sp. . Other birds included a Pacific Swift, two Crested Serpent Eagles, a trio of Red-throated Pipits, a Richard's Pipit, two Little Buntings and a lurking male Grey-backed Thrush in a thicket that eventually hopped down onto a buffalo pat and gave very good views.

Cheers
Mike

On the way to Tai O this morning I spontaneously jumped off the bus at Shek Pik and stared the long walk along the catchment road to Fan Lau at the southwesternmost tip of Lantau (and Hong Kong).

The first birds were a gang of five or six thrushes on a fruiting tree, the only one of which that stopped long enough for an ID was a male Japanese Thrush. Even better my first Blue-and-white Flycatcher - a cracking male - of the spring popped up in the same tree.

At the path down to one of the beaches the first of seven Rufous-tailed Robins was singing away in the undergrowth and an immature White-bellied Sea-Eagle flew over, following the line of the catchment, and where I finally left the catchment a quiet song in a bush turned into a second male Blue-and-white Flycatcher, which perched beautifully in the sunshine a few metres below me. The third was by the Fan Lau village well, and preceded an excellent spell on the far end of the west beach where Narcissus, Hainan Blue and the fourth Blue-and-white Flycatchers appeared in the same stand of mature trees in just a few minutes.

With time pressing I was pleased to pick up Asian Brown Flycatcher and a much closer Narcissus Flycatcher before beginning the walk to Tai O. This was pretty quiet, with only a Little Bunting at Yi O and an exceptionally confiding male Tristram's Bunting (my first on Lantau) just before arriving back in Tai O.

It was also a pretty good day for herps. A Changeable Lizard was in the catchment and continued to play dead when I dropped in a branch so it could find its way out and of the many rustles and scuttles in the leaves at least one was Chinese Skink, one was a small Blue-tailed Skink, and a longer green loop that slipped off the path was almost certainly a Red-necked Keelback.

Cheers
Mike