[Jeff hopkins]

I had the opportunity to do some birding in Hong Kong Just before Christmas. I haven’t seen many trip reports for Hong Kong in December, since most people try to arrange their visits to coincide with shorebird migration. However, my trip was an extension to a business trip to Taiwan, so the timing was not under my control.

The weather was pleasant each day – around 10C in the morning, getting up to 15-17C in the afternoons with no rain in sight. Perfect weather for birding. And for those wondering why I didn’t just go birding in Taiwan, I’ve been there numerous times on business where I tagged on some birding. The only opportunity for new birds would have been to go to the central mountains, and I hadn’t packed for snow. I had also considered a trip to SE Asia, but couldn’t get reasonably priced flights with all of the expats heading to Phuket for Christmas vacation. So Hong Kong it was.

In summary I had about 90 species seen well, with a few more heard only or BVD (better view desired). Of the 90, 16 were lifers. Not bad for three days in the off-season.

Day 1 – Saturday, Dec 19th, 2009

My flight from Taiwan landed in Hong Kong at about 9:30 AM. Clearing immigration took a while, but after that it was smooth sailing. I bought a three day tourist pass for the Airport Shuttle and the MTR for $300 at the airport, and I was checked in at my hotel in Yaumatei by about noon. Soon thereafter I was on my way to Kowloon Park, to look for a bird that I’ve missed there before – red-billed blue magpie.

I went up the stairs near the mosque and found a couple of oriental magpie-robins playing on the sidewalk. I’d see more. Further in, was a small flock that was mostly Japanese white-eyes, but had a common tailorbird mixed in. A little further on was a huge flock – the first of many red-whiskered and light-vented bulbuls. Both species are hard to miss in the park. I kept looking into the canopy for the magpies, but any large bird moving there seemed to be a spotted dove.

I walked from there to the open area with fountains and heard screeching. It turned out to be a pair of Alexandrine parakeets, one of which was sitting in a nest hole. Along with those two were a rose-ringed parakeet and a blue fronted amazon – clearly an escaped bird from the park’s aviary. From there I headed to some of the wooded areas at the north end of the park adding black-necked starling and a single masked laughingthrush (unusual since they’re almost always in small groups).

In the woods, I found another flock of small birds. Again they were mostly white-eyes, but I was also able to pick out a few phylloscopus warblers mixed in. Because they kept flitting around, It took me about an hour to figure out what I was seeing, but I eventually settled on Pallas’ Leaf warbler for one of them. The other I was less confident on, but concluded it was likely a yellow-browed warbler. While trying to figure out the warblers, I also saw fork-tailed sunbirds (a male and a female), a great tit, a perched black kite, and a female common koel curled up in a ball doing her best impression of an owl.

By about 3 PM, I’d pretty much seen everything I’d seen on a previous stop in Hong Kong except my target bird. I was on my way back out of the park, when I got to the stairs leading down to the duck pond. As I did, two red-billed blue magpies flew into a bare tree beside the pond. Unfortunately, before I could get down the stairs for a closer view, they were gone. What a shame. But at least I finally had my target.

Since I’d now seen most everything Kowloon Park had to offer, I decided to head down to the promenade at the tip of Kowloon to watch the activity in the harbor and watch the lights come up on Hong Kong Island. As usual, there were quite a few black kites flying around the harbor along with the occasional fly-by little egret. Eurasian tree sparrows flitted around looking for scraps from the tourists. As it got dark, a flock of 30 or so great cormorants flew by in a V and as I got up to leave for dinner, a black-crowned night heron also flew through.

Not a bad day, but a tougher day was in store the next day. So I had a quick dinner at a small stand in the Temple Street night market, and called it an early night.

[Jeff hopkins]

Day 2 – Sunday, Dec 20th, 2009

The plan today was to hook up with the Hong Kong Birdwatching Society trip to Fung Yuen and Sha Lo Tung in the New Territories. I took the train out to Tai Po Market MTR Station and while waiting for everything to get organized I started talking with Jackie, who was originally from Hong Kong, but now lives in Australia. She wasn’t a birder, but was accompanying a birder friend, Phillip, on the outing. Once the group got organized at 8 AM, I paid a $30 non-member fee to participate in the outing, and after a group picture we all headed off by taxi to the trail head at Fung Yuen.

Now while I was waiting at the station, the group leader asked if I’d have any problems climbing stairs since the hike would begin with a long climb. I answered “No problem,” but little did I know. Boy, did I start to worry when we got there. I could see railings leading straight up the mountainside. If that was where we were heading, it was doubtful that I’d be able to make it all the way up.

There was a small patch of woods at the bottom where we had a few Pallas’ leaf warblers and the obligatory red-whiskered bulbuls. The leader also pointed out the call of a rufous-capped babbler, but we never saw one.

But then the stairs started and we began to climb…and climb. As it turns out, the trail climbs 200 meters in only about 500 meters of length (no switchbacks). The group pushed steadily up the stairs, but I was having serious trouble. And there were very few birds to see. I had a couple of distant large-billed crows and a besra that flew by, calling as it did. I was the only one who saw it because by then the group was long gone.

Jackie, bless her heart, stayed with me, as did another woman, both of them encouraging me upward, but I was dying. So after over a half hour of climbing (with a lot of rest stops), I gave up and decided to turn around. I had gone only a few steps down when Jackie called me back. Her friend had come back for her and to tell her there were no more stairs! The trail met up with a road and the grade was shallower, though still climbing. On the way, we found a nice female daurian redstart feeding in the middle of the road.

Finally the road crested the ridge and began to descend. We had few birds on the way down, most notably a male fork-tailed sunbird, but not much else besides bulbuls. Eventually the road ended at a small parking area with a shelter, where a dirt road started. We confirmed with the people sitting at the shelter there that the birding group headed down the path, so we continued onward.

The road/trail went through some open brushy areas. The path was fairly level, but because of numerous hikers, we didn’t turn up too many birds. Eventually, the road ended at the little hamlet of Sha Lo Tong. Once again a stop for directions and we were off to Hok Tau Reservoir. I stopped briefly for a bush-warbler that wouldn’t reveal itself, but the other three pushed on. I caught up to them as the trail entered a nice wooded area.

The trail continued for about 2 kilometers, but by now I could tell that the others were more interested in making progress, rather than looking for birds. As we came within sight of the reservoir, we came within cell phone range, and got a phone call from the rest of the group. It turns out they weren’t heading for the reservoir. They had taken a fork about a half kilometer back – we had passed them. They were planning on hiking back the way they’d come, and would go back to the original trailhead. Rather than deal with the hills, our foursome decided to push on to the reservoir and then catch a public mini-bus from near there to the train station.

After a rest at the reservoir, we started down the road to town. I had a soaring common buzzard that I tried to get the group onto. And once we hit Hok Tai Wai Town, we found the birdiest stretch of the whole morning. We turned up plain prinia, a pair of common tailorbirds, a flock of masked laughingthrushes, crested myna, black-collared starling, and an LBJ that I’d eventually get ID’ed as olive-backed pipit.

We arrived at the mini-bus stand to find an empty taxi, so we piled in and headed back to Tai Po Market Station. We arrived at about 1 PM. Surprisingly, we met up with some of the group. They’d seen a few species that we hadn’t (greater necklaced laughingthrush, verditer flycatcher), but all in all, they had a fairly quiet day. I said goodbye to Jackie and Phillip, then headed to the mall next door for a late lunch, and then caught the train back to my hotel in Kowloon.

I finished the day with a late afternoon nap and another quick meal at the night market. That night, I spoke to my guide for the next day and he assured me we would not have any climbs like I’d had that morning. That pleased me to no end.

[Jeff hopkins]

Day 3 – Monday, Dec 21st, 2009

Today I was going birding with Mike Kilburn, a professional birding guide who was born in and lives in Hong Kong. His local patch is in the Lam Tsuen Valley. He’s also on the board of WWF Hong Kong so has access to Mai Po on short notice. We met at 7:30 at the Tai Wo MTR station and jumped in a taxi to Lam Tsuen.

Our first stop was a small Feng Shui Wood on the edge of the valley. Mike knew this as a spot for greenish warbler, and although we didn’t find that, we did turn up a beautiful pair of scarlet minivets, a scarlet-backed flowerpecker, a great tit, a Pallas’ leaf-warbler (Mike said it was a really good year for them) plus the obligatory white-eyes. We also heard some kind of thrush, but couldn’t coax it out.

We headed down into the valley, where Mike pointed out the call of a dusky warbler which eventually flew to the edge of a ditch where we got good looks. We also saw a Eurasian magpie, the first of many olive-backed pipits, a white-breasted waterhen slinking into the brush, and a perched up stonechat. Mike said that the arrival of the stonechats always signals the beginning of winter in Hong Kong to him.

We headed to a patch with some trees, with Mike pointing out the calls of lots of buntings along the way. But every time one would get up and fly it would go well out of sight. The trees held a couple of hair-crested drongos, identifiable by their upturned tails, an oriental turtle dove, and a flock of masked laughingthrushes. While trying to get a closer look at the drongos, a lesser coucal flew off. Finally a couple buntings flew into a bare tree beside us. These were identifiable by their mini-crests as little buntings but the light wasn’t right for a good look.

Further down the valley we walked through some flower farms turning up both grey and white wagtails, several more pipits, a Chinese-pond heron, and lots of invisible buntings. On the edge of the fields, we found a Japanese bush-warbler, which Mike described as ”a rufous cap and a supercilium.” He heard a Siberian rubythroat, and found it hidden deep in a bamboo patch, but I couldn’t get onto it. We tried for that bird for quite a while, but despite our pishing, it stayed hidden. While working the bamboo, I also had a brief glimpse of an Asian stubtail, but not one that I’d call countable.

After another try for the rubythroat, we moved on to a wetter area, where we found yellow-bellied prinias. While trying to get a better look at some phylloscopus warblers and buntings, we had a couple collared crows fly up through the valley, which Mike noted was an unusual sighting for his patch. The crows drew our attention to a white-throated kingfisher on a distant telephone pole. We went back to the warblers and identified them as a Pallas’ leaf and a yellow-browed warbler, but once again, we never could identify the buntings.

As we were leaving that spot, we heard the call of a golden-headed cisticola. A long search came up empty, so we headed away…and another called. We tried another angle and eventually one sat up for us, and soon we had four or five fly off and perch on some distant brush. After that, Mike pointed out a resident blue rock thrush on a distant house and we saw a large swirling flock of nutmeg mannikins nearby. We also saw a crested goshawk flying towards the wooded mountainsides.

We bushwhacked into a side area on the edge of the valley where a friend of Mike’s had earlier found a couple of goodies. We didn’t find those, but we did turn up an Asian brown flycatcher and a small flock of black-throated laughingthrushes, and had a brief look at a red-flanked bluetail. We also heard a streak-breasted scimitar-babbler and a velvet fronted nuthatch. We couldn’t get a look at the babbler, and didn’t chase after the nuthatch (it’s a non-countable introduced species). Coming back out of that side area, we had another bluetail. This one perched up on an open branch.

From there, we ended up at a group of houses where we had a brief look at a common blackbird (the large subspecies which some have split as Chinese blackbird) and a small flock of sooty-headed bulbuls. At this point, we had the option of continuing down the valley or going for a change of habitat. I opted for the habitat change. So we headed to Mike’s home so he could pick up his scope. On the way, we turned up some white-rumped munias, more little buntings, a black-faced bunting, and a couple black-collared starlings. We stopped for lunch at an excellent dim sum restaurant near Mike’s home, and from there we were in a taxi on our way to Mai Po Reserve.

[Jeff hopkins]

Mai Po is probably best known for its migrant shorebirds. However, in December those birds are long gone. So we did not have to worry about the tides or the mudflats. Our focus was going to be wintering landbirds and raptors and of course the large wintering population of black-faced spoonbills. We quickly took care of the entrance payment and permit pick-up, but first made a detour back down the entrance road for a quick look at the introduced azure-winged magpies.

We then headed into the reserve, seeing some of the more common species: little and great egrets, great cormorant, grey herons and lots of common moorhens. Mike saw a possible thrush down one of the side walk-ways, but a school-group headed down that path and spooked the birds. So we headed on to the Tower Hide for a quick orientation. From the hide we saw a couple of black-faced spoonbills and our only shorebird of the visit, a common greenshank. We also had a common kingfisher perched on a post out in the marsh and a few northern pintail.

We headed from there to the reed beds, spotting a little grebe mixed in with a flock of moorhens in one of the ponds along the way. In the reeds we had a small flock of very accommodating Chinese penduline-tits. Mike said the habitat is perfect, but nine times out of ten, he misses them, so we got lucky. We also heard another siberian rubythroat, but like the one in the morning, it wouldn’t come in to our calls, maybe because of the nearby long-talied shrike. The only thing that responded to our pishing were prinias. A break at the gazebo on the far side of the reedbeds turned up a pair of daurian redstarts, but the taiga flycatcher that called nearby refused to give us a decent look.

As we headed toward the border fence, we saw some raptors soaring in the distance. A nearer bird that I got on first was a black kite. According to Mike, they’re easily identified by the large tweaks they make in their tails to adjust their flight. Beyond the kite, the two larger soaring birds turned out to be an imperial eagle and a rather scruffy-looking great spotted eagle. We walked a little further and found a couple of perched imperial eagles inside the fenced off area which gave us great scope looks. When one took off, we noticed a flock of soaring birds over Deep Bay toward Shenzhen. While we never got the scope on them Mike eventually figured out they were black-headed gulls rather than raptors.

It was now late in the afternoon, so we started heading back. We contemplated trying to get to Long Valley, but we decided that it would be dark long before we got there. So we leisurely worked our way back to the Tower Hide. On the way we had a couple small birds working their way across the trail. A couple were daurian redstarts, but a small gray bird sitting in the trail turned out to be a wryneck. We followed it up the trail a bit until it disappeared in the brush. This was one of my target birds for Mai Po, so I was glad to have seen it well.

Heading toward the Education Center we had some new additions to the trip list: a Eurasian kestrel hovering over our heads and a group of red-billed starlings mixed in a tree-full of bulbuls. Scanning the sky beyond the kestrel I found a small flock of swifts which Mike said were likely house swifts. On the pond behind the Education Center were ducks – lots and lots of ducks. Most were Eurasian wigeon, northern pintail, and eastern spot-billed ducks, but there were a few northern shovellers and Mike also picked out a couple of garganey.

It was getting near sunset, so it was time to head to the Tower Hide. Our goal was to find bitterns coming in to roost, but we knew there would be all sorts of goodies to see. The common kingfisher was still on the same post, but the spoonbills stole the show. There were 20 or so black-faced spoonbills feeding with a couple of Eurasian spoonbills mixed in the flock for comparison. The more common waders (grey heron, great and little egrets) were there in numbers and mixed in were a couple of purple herons and an intermediate egret, with a couple of black-crowned night-herons hiding in the tall brush. The trees were overflowing with roosting great cormorants.

Swimming around in the shallow water were northern pintail and green-winged teal and a lone common coot. A pale headed eastern marsh-harrier, a pied kingfisher and a distant greater coucal were perched along the edges of the pond. While we took in all of this, there were more spoonbills and cormorants flying in and out. But the most fun occurred when a young peregrine took a run at the harrier...then the pied kingfisher…. and then he came back and started flying at everything including the spoonbills!

As the sun set, every so often a great bittern would fly in and disappear into the tall reeds. We counted five of them. Finally, one stuck its head up and Mike got the scope on it before it dropped back out of sight. To wrap things up, an osprey flew by, putting a cap on a great raptor day.

We headed back to the headquarters in the dark, where Mike slipped our permit under the door and called for a taxi to take us to Sheung Shui Station. We took the train to Tai Wo, Mike and I said our goodbyes, and I continued on to Yaumatei.

[Jeff hopkins]

SYSTEMATIC LIST

Eurasian Wigeon (Anas penelope)
Many at Mai Po near the Education Building

Eastern Spot-billed Duck (Anas zonorhyncha)
Many at Mai Po

Northern Shoveler (Anas clypeata)
A few at Mai Po pond #8

Northern Pintail (Anas acuta)
10-20 at Mai Po Pond #8

Garganey (Anas querquedula)
A couple at Mai Po near the Education Building

Green-winged Teal (Anas crecca)
A few at Mai Po pond #8

Little Grebe (Tachybaptus ruficollis)
One at Mai Po in the gei wais

Great Cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo)
A string of 30 over Hong Kong Harbor. Thousands at Mai Po.

Great Bittern (Botaurus stellaris)
These birds come in to roost at Mai Po pond #8 at sunset.

Gray Heron (Ardea cinerea)
Common at Mai Po

Purple Heron (Ardea purpurea)
A couple at Mai Po pond #8

Great Egret (Ardea alba)
Common at Mai Po

Intermediate Egret (Egretta intermedia)
One at Mai Po pond #8

Little Egret (Egretta garzetta)
One fly-by at Hong Kong harbor. Many at Mai Po

Chinese Pond-Heron (Ardeola bacchus)
One perched on a wire in Lam Tsuen Valley. Several at Mai Po.

Black-crowned Night-Heron (Nycticorax nycticorax)
One Hong Kong Harbor fly-by and a couple at Mai Po

Eurasian Spoonbill (Platalea leucorodia)
Two at Mai Po pond #8 gave a good comparison to the next species.

Black-faced Spoonbill (Platalea minor)
Approx. 20 of this endangered species feeding at Mai Po pond #8 with more flying in an out. The major winter attraction at Mai Po.

Osprey (Pandion haliaetus)
One flying by at Mai Po pond #8 at sunset

Black Kite (Milvus migrans)
The common raptor in Hong Kong. One perched in Kowloon Park. Numerous in flight around the harbor and around the buildings in Kowloon. A couple flying at Mai Po. Split by some as black-eared kite.

Eastern Marsh-Harrier (Circus spilonotus)
One light headed individual at Mai Po pond #8

Crested Goshawk (Accipiter trivirgatus)
One flying above the Lam Tsuen Valley

Besra (Accipiter virgatus)
One flying and calling above the steep trail at Fung Yuen at the start of the Sha Lo Tong outing.

Eurasian Buzzard (Buteo buteo)
One near Hok Tau Reservoir, and one in Lam Tsuen

Greater Spotted Eagle (Aquila clanga)
One scruffy-looking individual soaring with an imperial eagle at Mai Po

Imperial Eagle (Aquila heliacal)
One soaring at Mai Po. Later two individuals seen perched in the border zone there.

Eurasian Kestrel (Falco tinnunculus)
One kiting above the gei wais at Mai Po

Peregrine Falcon (Falco peregrines)
A young bird taking a run at anything that moved at Mai Po pond #8.

White-breasted Waterhen (Amaurornis phoenicurus)
Scattered birds in wet habitats. Not afraid to come into the open.

Common Moorhen (Gallinula chloropus)
Several small flocks at Mai Po

Eurasian Coot (Fulica atra)
One at Mai Po pond #8

Common Greenshank (Tringa nebularia)
One at Mai Po pond #8 was the only shorebird of the trip

Black-headed Gull (Chroicocephalus ridibundus)
A distant flock soaring over Deep Bay seen from Mai Po

Rock Pigeon (Columba livia)
A few seen among the skyscrapers in Kowloon

Oriental Turtle-Dove (Streptopelia orientalis)
A few seen in Lam Tsuen and Mai Po

Spotted Dove (Streptopelia chinensis)
The common dove of Hong Kong.

Rose-ringed Parakeet (Psittacula krameri)
One (of dubious origin) seen in Kowloon Park with some other feral psittacids

Asian Koel (Eudynamys scolopaceus)
A male and female seen separately in Kowloon Park. Another at Mai Po

Greater Coucal (Centropus sinensis)
One seen perched at Mai Po pond #8

Lesser Coucal (Centropus bengalensis)
One seen in flight at Lam Tsuen

House Swift (Apus nipalensis)
A small flock flying at dusk over Mai Po

Common Kingfisher (Alcedo atthis)
One perched on a stick at Mai Po pond #8

White-throated Kingfisher (Halcyon smyrnensis)
One perched on a telephone pole in the Lam Tsuen Valley

Pied Kingfisher (Ceryle rudis)
One seen at Mai Po pond #8

Eurasian Wryneck (Jynx torquilla)
One seen foraging less than 1m off the ground along a path at Mai Po.

Long-tailed Shrike (Lanius schach)
One at Lam Tsuen. Another at Mai Po.

Scarlet Minivet (Pericrocotus flammeus)
A pair in the Feng Shui Wood at the edge of the Lam Tsuen Valley

Blue Magpie (Urocissa erythrorhyncha)
Two birds seen quickly in a bare tree near the duck pond at Kowloon Park

Eurasian Magpie (Pica pica)
A couple birds in Lam Tsuen Valley

Azure-winged Magpie (Cyanopica cyana)
Introduced. A couple birds seen along the entrance road to Mai Po.

Large-billed Crow (Corvus macrorhynchos)
One flying above the steep trail at Feng Yuen the start of the Sha Lo Tong outing.

Collared Crow (Corvus torquatus)
A pair flying up Lam Tsuen Valley. Another couple at Mai Po.

Great Tit (Parus major)
One each in Kowloon Park, in the Feng Shui Wood near Lam Tsuen, and at Mai Po

Chinese Penduline-Tit (Remiz consobrinus)
4 or 5 in the reedbeds at Mai Po

Red-whiskered Bulbul (Pycnonotus jocosus)
Found anywhere there’s trees.

Light-vented Bulbul (Pycnonotus sinensis)
Not as common as the previous species, but still hard to miss.

Sooty-headed Bulbul (Pycnonotus aurigaster)
A couple in a private yard in Lam Tsuen Valley

Golden-headed Cisticola (Cisticola exilis)
4 or 5 in a wet reedy patch in the Lam Tsuen Valley

Yellow-bellied Prinia (Prinia flaviventris)
Fairly common in brushy habitat

Plain Prinia (Prinia inornata)
Common in brushy and reedy habitats

Asian Stubtail (Urosphena squamiceps)
Better View Desired - One barely seen in the Lam Tsuen Valley

Japanese Bush-Warbler (Cettia diphone)
One seen well in Lam Tsuen Valley. Described as “A rufous cap and a supercilium.”

Common Tailorbird (Orthotomus sutorius)
Relatively common. Seen at all birding sites.

Dusky Warbler (Phylloscopus fuscatus)
Easily heard and sometimes seen in wet ditches and marsh edges in both Lam Tsuen and Mai Po.

Pallas' Leaf Warbler (Phylloscopus proregulus)
The common small leaf warbler this winter. Seen at all birding sites.

Yellow-browed Warbler (Phylloscopus inornatus)
Less common than the previous species, but scattered sightings in Kowloon Park, Lam Tsuen and Mai Po.

Asian Brown Flycatcher (Muscicapa dauurica)
One seen in Lam Tsuen Valley

Taiga Flycatcher (Ficedula albicilla)
Heard Only – One calling at Mai Po wouldn’t reveal itself.

Red-flanked Bluetail (Tarsiger cyanurus)
A few heard and one seen well at Lam Tsuen.

Oriental Magpie-Robin (Copsychus saularis)
Common especially in parks and more open habitat

Daurian Redstart-Phoenicurus auroreus
Surprisingly common. One at Fung Yuen and quite a few at Mai Po

Siberian Rubythroat (Luscinia calliope)
Heard Only. A couple in the Lam Tsuen Valley. One in the reed beds at Mai Po.

Stonechat (Saxicola rubicola (maura))
Common in Lam Tsuen. A solitary bird perched up in a brushy area was likely to be this species. Split by some as Siberian stonechat.

Blue Rock-Thrush (Monticola solitaries)
One perched on a chimney in the Lam Tsuen Valley

Eurasian Blackbird (Turdus merula) – One in a private backyard in the Lam Tsuen Valley. Split by some as Chinese Blackbird.

Masked Laughingthrush (Garrulax perspicillatus)
One in Kowloon Park. Small flocks seen at all other birding sites. Usually in flocks of 5-7 birds.

Black-throated Laughingthrush (Garrulax chinensis)
A few birds seen in the Lam Tsuen Valley.

Rufous-capped Babbler (Stachyris ruficeps)
Heard only. Several heard at Fung Yuen

Streak-breasted Scimitar-Babbler (Pomatorhinus ruficollis)
Heard only. One heard in the Lam Tsuen Valley

Japanese White-eye (Zosterops japonicas)
Small flocks were common anywhere there were trees

Fork-tailed Sunbird (Aethopyga christinae)
Scattered sightings. Two seen in Kowloon Park, one near Sha Lo Tong, also in Lam Tsuen Valley.

Scarlet-backed Flowerpecker (Dicaeum cruentatum)
One seen in Feng Shui woods near Lam Tsuen Valley

Hair-crested Drongo (Dicrurus hottentottus)
A few birds seen in the Lam Tsuen Valley

Crested Myna (Acridotheres cristatellus)
Single birds seen at Kowloon Park, Hok Tai Wai and Lam Tsuen.

Black-collared Starling (Gracupica nigricollis)
Common in Kowloon Park. A couple others seen in Hok Tai Wai, Lam Tsuen and Mai Po.

Red-billed Starling (Sturnus sericeus)
A small flock at Mai Po

Western Yellow Wagtail (Motacilla flava)
One seen at Lam Tsuen

Gray Wagtail (Motacilla cinerea)
One seen at Lam Tsuen

White Wagtail (Motacilla alba)
Several seen at Lam Tsuen and Mai Po

Olive-backed Pipit (Anthus hodgsoni )
Common in brushy habitat near cultivation. An “LBJ” perched up and flicking its tail was this species.

Little Bunting (Emberiza pusilla)
Several seen, and many heard, in Lam Tsuen Valley

Black-faced Bunting (Emberiza spodocephala)
One seen, and probably many heard, in Lam Tsuen Valley

Eurasian Tree Sparrow (Passer montanus)
Common urban bird

White-rumped Munia (Lonchura striata)
A few seen at Lam Tsuen

Nutmeg Mannikin (Lonchura punctulata)
Flocks of 20-30 seen at Lam Tsuen and Mai Po


CATEGORY E - INTRODUCED SPECIES

Alexandrine Parakeet (Psittacula eupatria )
A pair (one in a nest hole) in Kowloon Park

Velvet-fronted Nuthatch (Sitta frontalis)
Heard only. One in the Lam Tsuen Valley

[Gretchen]

Jeff,

I'm really enjoying this. Though I haven't read it all yet, I wanted to comment...

Originally Posted by Jeff hopkins

a female common koel curled up in a ball doing her best impression of an owl.

Great description! So far I've mostly heard and not seen these - now I know one of their tricks.... Sounds like Kowloon Park was nice, I'd heard that before, but nice to hear all you saw there.

Originally Posted by Jeff hopkins

... the group leader asked if I’d have any problems climbing stairs ... I could see railings leading straight up the mountainside...

I know this was tough, but I had to smile when reading it because some years ago when my mom visited us in China she noticed how everywhere there were stairs! Though she was in good shape and only in her 50's they really tired her out (and not on a mountain as you were!). Stairs are a part of China, and having visited some of the many famous mountains here, there are certainly a part of most mountains I think many of us north Americans find that a bit surprising.

[John Cantelo]

Good stuff, Jeff, and very timely since I've just booked a stop over in HK for the start of December 2010 (although I'll only have two whole days),

John

[Jeff hopkins]

Originally Posted by Gretchen

Jeff,

Stairs are a part of China, and having visited some of the many famous mountains here, there are certainly a part of most mountains I think many of us north Americans find that a bit surprising.

My experience with all of Asia is that trails (and sometimes roads for that matter) seem to be as direct as possible. The steepness of the climb is not considered.

I mentioned to Jackie that in the US we'd have switchbacks rather than a straight climb. Her comment was that the trail wasn't there for leisurely hiking. This was how the people who lived in the mountain valleys got to and from their homes. So the trail was the fastest, straightest route.

[MKinHK]

A nice report Jeff, with amazing retention of detail!

You have a treat in store for you John - HK in winter is wonderful.

Cheers
Mike

[Jeff hopkins]

Originally Posted by MKinHK

A nice report Jeff, with amazing retention of detail!

You have a treat in store for you John - HK in winter is wonderful.

Cheers
Mike

Thanks, Mike. I couldn't have done it without you. I'll be honest that I may have taken some literary license with some of the details, but it's close enough to give the flavor of the trip.

And I'll second Mike's other comment. Hong Kong in winter is a treat. A bit hazy at times, but extremely pleasant temperatures and good birding weather. And other than the specialty shorebirds, a good mix of species to find.