Ng Tung Chai, Hong Kong (1 Viewer)

Cuckoo ID

Thanks for this, Mike.

I'm questioning the ID in the hope of illuminating my admitted ignorance: is it because the head is pale grey that it's saturatus, etc ?

In the photo, the back certainly appears brownish and darker, in comparison; with the head, as you state, "pale and grey". Is the back not dark enough for micropterus ?

This might help me, the next time I'm confronted with a cuculus somewhere in your continent. I recall a cuckoo in northern Thailand, retrospectively ID'd from a photo and only on my return to the UK- I couldn't see it well enough on the camera LCD and hadn't seen it properly in the field- actually, a bush !

Thanks again, J.

Hi John

Indian Cuckoo always has something of a brown tone to the head as well as the back, wings and tail, which this bird does not show.

It also shows a strong dark subterminal band on the tail, which this pic does not show.

PS Dylan also heard a Chestnut-winged Cuckoo lower down the valley last night.

Cheers
Mike

Not much on the patch this weekend as I went to Mai Po on Saturday and slept in this morning. However, as I was heading into town for my hockey match I did pick up a Chinese Goshawk sitting on a bare stump in a feng shui wood from the minibus window.

However, I did have a good day's birding yesterday -including very close views of Blue-tailed Bee-eaters, which you can read about here.

Cheers

Mike

The first Slaty-legged Crake of the year was calling as I came home this evening, and on Saturday the egret group came to the village and found six Chinese Pond Heron nests in the bamboo grove.

Cheers
Mike

A Grey Heron flying up the valley on Wednesday morning was a good local record, but I've been slightly guilty about neglecting the path for greener pastures a little further afield during this spring passage period, so It was good to have a walk up Tai Om Shan with my wife this afternoon.

The best birds were a Grey-streaked Flycatcher on the upper edge of the fung shui wood as we climbed the ridge, a singing Hainan Blue Flyactcher and a Chestnut-winged Cuckoo in the woods above Tai Om Shan village, but the news that Dylan saw a Chinese Starling carrying nesting material knocks all of these into a cocked hat - I've been wanting these handsome starlings, which appear a couple of time a year in spring on passage, to breed for years - and it looks like it might just be happening! I had a pair fly past the window today as well, so . . . lets see.

I also heard the big owl sp. give its distinctive three note call last night (but only twice and when I was already tucked up in bed!).

Cheers
Mike

Interesting that Grey Herons aren't common there - I guess they have other migration routes? (or don't care for the valley?)

Good luck on the starlings breeding - looks like they are handsome! And I don't blame you for being lured off patch - when there's good birds about, of course it's nice to see something new. You did find some nice ones!

MKinHK said:

I also heard the big owl sp. give its distinctive three note call last night (but only twice and when I was already tucked up in bed!).

Click to expand...

Is this to puzzle beginners like me? Or to check if we're paying attention? I've heard of Little Owl, but not "big owl" :-O

On Sunday morning 15 yellow Wagtails flew low over the house as I was hanging out the laundry before I went looking for the Chinese Starlings, but apart from a brief appearance in the big camphor tree next to the bamboo grove where at last 7 Chinese Pond Heron pair are now nesting, I was unsuccessful. However poking about in areas of the village I rarely visit I found a singing Dusky Warbler, a quietly feeding White-browed Laughingthrush, a newly fledged Great Tit, and in Tai Om playground the giant camphors held a very inquisitive pair of Scarlet Minivets, but curiously the female was the more vocal of the pair.

I then climbed the ridge up to Tai Om Shan with the intention of looking for the owl, but the most interesting birds were either in the grassland or across the valley - the same Grey-streaked Flycatcher as yesterday showed well, and two Chestnut-winged Cuckoos called from near the graves where I saw the Japanese Paradise Flycatcher a few weeks ago.

In the wood the best I could do was a darker shape drop off a branch, but it was obscured and too far away and could have been a Besra or a Crested Serpent Eagle. Another hour of scrambling produced three singing Hainan Blue Flycatchers, none of which I saw.

However I did have some compensation in the form of my first Dollarbird on the patch this year, and a pair of Hair-crested Drongos and an Ashy Drongo close-by. And that was basically it, except for a large pale-headed looking bunting which I only got onto as it flew. I had the fell of something special, but will go into the "one that got away" column as emberiza sp.

Cheers
Mike

First up a couple of pix from last Saturday - a fantastic caterpillar - any help with ID most welcome , and a view looking NE along the ridge opposite my house. These are the wires where Dollarbirds sometimes rest on migration.

The week has also been interesting for migrants, with a Grey-streaked Flycatcher taking up residence in the veggie patch for the last 3 days, a buff-headed Cattle Egret taking a breather atop a lychee tree near the bus stop one morning and the pair of Chinese Starlings prospecting fuse boxes on telegraph poles - still hoping to confirm breeding this year!

Cheers
Mike

Don't know much about Asian caterpillars but I'd guess at a Hawkmoth sp judging by the size and colouration, a beauty nevertheless. There are some good 'brains' on the insect section on BF.

A good morning on the patch today.

It started well with a Collared Crow - my first one from the house settling briefly on a bare tree in the grassland and the Grey-streaked Flycatcher performed well on the beanpoles, allowing me to get a couple of decent shots.

A brief timeout form birds was called when I found two lovely Spangle butterflies drinking at the weir of Tai Om stream. I really enjoyed the difference between first picture showing the wing and the head-on shot - which is much more sinister! As I watched them drink I was amazed to see water dropping from the end of the abdomen about once every seven or eight seconds. Anyone know why they do this?

As I finished with them my eye was drawn to a flicker above the dam - and a White Dragontail landed at the edge of the water and amazingly stayed long enough for me to get a couple of shots - this is usually in near perpetually motion, wings whirring like a hummingbird.

Hoping for another miracle I checked out the first row of the graveyard where the Japanese Paradise Flycatcher performed so well a few weeks ago. It was pretty quiet, but I was delighted when a Chestnut-winged Cuckoo responded to my whistle and came bombing in to see off a rival. Seeing that it was "only me" it immediately went into its cackling and scolding routing - letting me know exactly what it thought of being disturbed.

Interestingly the next birds to show were three Greater Necklaced Laughing-thrushes, which is the host species for this cuckoo.

Heading up past the graveyard a rustle just to the right of the path turned out to be a Red-necked Keelback - probably the snake I see most often in the valley. It is venomous, but back-fanged, so the few bites reported are rarely troublesome.

Looking across the valley I was happy to see a male Chinese Goshawk perched in a bare tree on the edge of the farmland it was a little distant but I did get couple of record shots clearly showing the yellow eye which separates males from females (dark eye).

Probably the best bird of the day was a nest-building White-rumped Munia, which posed wonderfully on grass-stems while he checked me out.

At the top of the trail a male Orange-bellied Leafbird showed briefly, a Hainan Blue Fycatcher was singing but did not show, but a second Grey-streaked Flycatcher popped up on a bamboo stem on the way down.

A Crested Bulbul right out of the nest flopped onto a grass head and then sat there because it was too young and dumb to know what to do. I like birds like this - it makes them easier to photograph!

and finally . . . a Map Butterfly was 30 yards down the same river from the other butterflies first think this morning.

Cheers
Mike

A few more pictures from Saturday morning:

Sounds like good sightings (and hearings). Lots of new species for me - collared crow is quite an interesting looking bird. The munia I could recognize family right off, though I've never seen White-rumped before - I have a kind of soft spot for munias, and this looks quite similar to the scaly breasted... By the way, the picture of the fly catcher is a ?

That caterpillar is utterly immense. I don't mind caterpillars usually, but that one gives me pause - was it larger than your finger?!?! Too big in my estimation (and that's not just tai dale!)

Hi Gretchen

The Flycatcher is Grey-streaked. The should be coming your way in the next few days . . .

Top bird today was a pristine male Eye-browed Thrush, which I eventually saw high up under the canopy above Tai Om Shan Village. Not a great view, but my first in Lam Tsuen for a while so it was a nice way to finish what has been a poor winter for thrushes.

The male Chinese Goshawk was still about, and had 3 Crested Serpent Eagles in the air together, and saw Besra doing its plunging display flight on a good day for raptors - no surprising given the sunshine.

DSCN1388 Chinese Gos bf.jpg (151.32 KB)
2/05/2010 21:51


There was also a Dusky Warbler in the orchard next to my house, and two Chinese Starlings flew past in the early morning.

However most memorable moment of the day was hearing a sliding behind me and watching a Chinese Cobra sliding away from about 18 inches behind me. Good job I didn't take a step back! However it was my first for Lam Tsuen, so a patch tick!

Cheers

Mike

Hi Gretchen

The Flycatcher is Grey-streaked. The should be coming your way in the next few days . . .

Top bird today was a pristine male Eye-browed Thrush, which I eventually saw high up under the canopy above Tai Om Shan Village. Not a great view, but my first in Lam Tsuen for a while so it was a nice way to finish what has been a poor winter for thrushes.

The male Chinese Goshawk was still about, and had 3 Crested Serpent Eagles in the air together, and saw Besra doing its plunging display flight on a good day for raptors - no surprising given the sunshine.

There was also a Dusky Warbler in the orchard next to my house, and two Chinese Starlings flew past in the early morning.

However most memorable moment of the day was hearing a sliding behind me and watching a Chinese Cobra sliding away from about 18 inches behind me. Good job I didn't take a step back! However it was my first for Lam Tsuen, so a patch tick!

Cheers

Mike

PS the damselfly is a Black-banded Gossamerwing

Hi Mike

I've been following your site with interest.

First, because it's a great read (not to mention your gripping photos).

And also it's a good indication of what's on its way here and when it might arrive.

Best regards.


Shi Jin

Thanks Shi Jin

I'm pretty pleased with what I'm getting with my new Zeiss 85mm/ handheld coolpix p6000 combination.

On Monday what was probably the last Little Bunting of spring was in the garden, and this morning there were 2 Collared Crows mooching around nearby, hopefully looking for a nesting site - they're terrific birds!

Dylan also had an adult and two juvenile Common Kingfishers over near his place, which muct have bred in the valley and another sighting of the Chinese Starlings nearby. Hope is rising . . .

Cheers
Mike

A long hot humid day in the valley produced some birds and other bits and pieces - and they were certainly all earned!

The migrant highlights were the 6 Dollarbirds hawking over the grassland outside my house, 15 Cattle Egrets, late Richard's Pipit and Oriental Turtle Dove, a Black Drongo.

An escaped White-headed Munia with the Spotted Munias was a new addition to the Lam Tsuen list

However it was also a good day for residents and summer visitors:

I found a nests of Chinese Pond Heron and Hair-crested Drongo and had young Long-tailed Shrike and Crested Mynah, plus a surprise Little Ringed Plover and good views of three normally highly secretive Large Hawk Cuckoos.

Dragonflies are very much in evidence, with at least eleven species flying at present, but the top moment was seeing a spider having his wicked way with a stranded dragonfly.

And Sunday morning as I'm preparing the pix a Brown Shrike - the first of the spring - popped out of a lychee tree, but the camera decide to focus on the background.

Cheers
Mike

Looking forward to seeing your Dollarbirds up this way in the next few days... ;-)

Shi Jin - after what you've had this week that's just plain greedy!

We're just about done for migrants now, but I'm enjoying seeing them twice and three times on their way north through the pix from you and Dongbei.

Cheers
Mike

PS my birding motto is : "always be greedy"!

Dollarbirds arrive in beijing in May? I don't know if I have any records of them here until July at least and then it is usually the end of July.

Cool spider shot!