[JWN Andrewes]

Originally Posted by MKinHK

The big debate is whether I should count this as part of the Magic Roundabout. In strict geographical terms its not, but in the spirit of the UK Patchwork concept its an extension of a circular walk from my office of an area of 250 x 300 metres. At one point it goes over a footbridge with a view of the golf course - hence the opportunity to add a larger area of short grass and the edge of a pond to the habitats on the route.

Cheers
Mike

Looks like an entirely justifiable, compact patch, going by the map.

Best of luck with it, I shall continue to follow your fortunes with interest.

Cheers

James

[MKinHK]

So far one vote in favour of the expanded patch . . . Thanks James!

You must have an amazing garden to have that many species in just over a month - especially having waxwings in it!

Dev you're dead right - I bird here the for the views, not the view!

Dusky is my eighth "airport" thrush since October John:

Chinese Blackbird
Grey-backed Thrush
Japanese Thrush
Pale Thrush
Eye-browed Thrush
Blue Rock Thrush
Naumann's Thrush
(Dusky Thrush) off-patch but on-Chek Lap Kok.

It was there again today, and as I have a free lunchtime tomorrow I'm thinking about dragging the scope over to try to get some pix.

Cheers
Mike

[Gretchen]

Originally Posted by MKinHK

The big debate is whether I should count this as part of the Magic Roundabout. In strict geographical terms its not, but in the spirit of the UK Patchwork concept its an extension of a circular walk from my office of an area of 250 x 300 metres. At one point it goes over a footbridge with a view of the golf course - hence the opportunity to add a larger area of short grass and the edge of a pond to the habitats on the route.

Nice picture of the situation. I say go for it - your patch is not too big yet :)

[Jos Stratford]

Originally Posted by MKinHK

So far one vote in favour of the expanded patch . . . Thanks James!

Another vote in favour from here, a logical stroll. And changes nothing in terms of the uniqueness of the patch - i.e. a breath of life in the midst of one of the busiest airports in the world

[Allen S. Moore]

I enjoy reading your thread. If the suggested larger patch helps with logistics, add my "Yes" vote.

[Tarsiger]

To my way of thinking a local patch is defined as a contiguous area that can be visited regularly, potentially daily, and covered before, after or during work and can be walked around in less than half an hour(ish). Anything larger or further starts to become a day's birding or a nature reserve visit. Oh , and preferably a site with no other birders!!
Russ

[johnjemi]

Expanded patch : "Yes, please !"

[JWN Andrewes]

Originally Posted by MKinHK

So far one vote in favour of the expanded patch . . . Thanks James!

You must have an amazing garden to have that many species in just over a month - especially having waxwings in it!

Mike

Ah, not updated the garden list stuff for 2013, so what you see there is last year's final total. So far this year I'm up to 45, with a couple of fly-by Lapwings the highlight. The Waxwings were a fly-by last year.

Cheers

James

[MKinHK]

They all count James!

I did the long loop today and added Pale Thrush on the northern bend and a male Daurian Redstart and a Richard's Pipit on the golf course to the usual Grey-backed Thrush and White Wagtails and a lone Eastern Great Tit.

Cheers
Mike

[Jeff hopkins]

Originally Posted by MKinHK

They all count James!

I did the long loop today and added Pale Thrush on he northern bend and a male DUrian Redstart and a Richard's Pipit on the golf course to the usual Grey-backed Thrush and White Wagtails and a lone Eastern Great Tit.

Cheers
Mike

A durian redstart? Did he smell really bad?

[MKinHK]

Maybe, but too far away to tell - but he was yellow and spiky. OK OK I've fixed the typo now.

Cheers
Mike

[MKinHK]

Things were starting to look a little parched, and to be honest, monotonous on the patch as the number of species has declined over the last three or four weeks, so it was a great relief to see the first sign of spring migration as three Barn Swallows zipped over the golf course heading determinedly into the ENE wind.

Other than that the main attractions were the leucopsis x alboides White Wagtail, looking very smart in its freshly moulted plumage, three Grey-backed Thrushes including a first winter male, an adult male and a female, plus a Pale Thrush that showed well again on the northern bend.

A pair of Black-necked Starlings serenading each other with all the raucous charm of drunken football supporters were a nice surprise as I'd not seen them for a while, but that was it apart from a dozen Japanese White Eyes, a male Magpie Robin and a couple of Richard's Pipits on the golf course.

Cheers
Mike

[MKinHK]

Today was a good reminder of why I'm a birder first and photographer a very distant second.

This morning started well with the Dusky Thrush standing at attention (spotted chest full puffed up) as the bus drove past this morning and as I had my scope with me I thought about going for it at lunchtime.

But one of those little niggles pushed me to check out the roundabout for the leucopsis x alboides White Wagtail. It was absent from the Eastern Verge on the first pass, but on the way out a "peep" from the railing above the grassy verge revealed it sitting there laughing at me for a few seconds before it zipped off over the coach park.

Hoping that it would come back I set up and waited. Ten minutes later it dropped in with a male leucopsis White Wagtail and walked steadily towards me and then steadily away, barely stopping for a second. The following pix are the "optimised" results of my handheld digiscoping attempts. They're not great, but they do give a decent impression of what a handsome devil its is!

After a while it flew off over the carpark again, and only returned as I headed back to the terminal to grab a late and hasty lunch. Other birds included the Asian Brown Flycatcher and a couple of Grey-backed Thrushes.

The Dusky Thrush will have to wait for another day.

Cheers
Mike

[thirudevaram]

Indeed that's one great looking hybrid and one of my favourite hybrid which i never knew before you posted here. Good one Mike.

[MKinHK]

Thanks Dev. I'm hoping to do a bit more justice to him when I have more time.

Another trog round the patch at lunchtime today promised a bit more after a fog that blanked out everything further than fifty metres stared back when I opened the curtain this morning.

First up were a couple of male leucopsis White Wagtails on the Grassy Verge, along with the first of three Olive-backed Pipits, and as I came under the flyover and into the core area a female Pale Thrush that was curious enough to stop and check me out before flipping up and away across the road.

Other birds here included a couple of Yellow-browed Warblers, one of which showed pretty well, a male Magpie Robin and the Long-tailed Shrike, for once perching high on a treetop rather than lurking with malice aforethought.

There were a couple more OBPs and a flash of what I think was a different Pale Thrush on the Northern Bend, where i also found a raised spot with a view over the sea - offering the chance for a flyby gull or Reef Egret for the patch list.

The golf course delivered a second Blue Rock Thrush - this one a female - and at least five Richard's Pipits , one of which was far enough away that I was able to indulge myself with a good forty seconds delusion that it might be a Northern Skylark.

It wasn't. Never mind, there's always next time.

Cheers
Mike

[MKinHK]

No Dusky Thrush from the bus this week, and I have to presume its moved on, but a movement on the lawn closest to the terminal caught my eye, and I back-tracked to find a group of three White-cheeked and two Silky Starlings which helpfully flew up to show the banded tail of the former and white wingspots of the latter.

Off patch, but not by much . . .

Cheers
Mike

[MKinHK]

A lunchtime walk today started with six Olive-backed Pipits and two leucopsis White Wagtails on the Grassy Verge, the leucopsis x alboides White Wagtail on the Eastern Verge and most surprisingly given the warm weather, two each of Grey-backed Thrush and Pale Thrush in the core area. The only other birds were a three or four Crested Mynas, single Black-necked Starling and Magpie Robin, and a Yellow-browed Warbler, which called a couple of times.

Earlier in the week I'd also had two more sightings of Silky Starlings from the bus, plus single Reef Egret and Little Egret on the way home one day. All off these wee, alas, off patch.

Cheers
Mike

[MKinHK]

What looked like another day of late winter clear-out took a turn for the better after a quiet start when I doubled my Blue Rock Thrush high count (to two!) and added my first new bird for almost a month when a Little Ringed Plover puttered distantly but unmistakably into view on the golf course, which also had four each of Olive-backed Pipit, Richard's Pipit and White Wagtail, and a single female Silky Starling.

The Core Area held just a single Grey-backed Thrush, two Black-necked Starlings, a dozen Japanese White-eyes plus a couple of Large-billed Crows, while a Grey-backed Thrush on the Northern Edge might have been the same as the first or another. There was no doubting the identity of the leucopsis x alboides White Wagtail which was feeding on the narrowest of lawns just across the highway from its regular Eastern Verge.

I also had a fine flock of 20-odd Silky Starlings from the bus on the way home.

Cheers
Mike

[MKinHK]

. . . and the flood-gates have opened - another patch tick today in the form of a Heuglin's Gull flying west above the shipping lane I can glimpse from the top of the slope on the North Bend.

That apart it was much the same as it has been - the leucopsis x alboides White Wagtail and another leucopsis White Wagtail were on the Eastern Verge and a couple of Gray-backed Thrushes, a female Pale Thrushand an Olive-backed Pipit on the core area.

The golf course held the regulation four Richard's Pipits and just the male Blue Rock Thrush which was trying to hide among the blossoms of a flowering flame tree.

Cheers
Mike

[johnjemi]

Looking forward to seeing what spring migration has in store for The (Greater) Magic Roundabout, Mike !

[MKinHK]

Me too John, but it cartianly isn't happening yet.

Thankfully a Pale and two Grey-backed Thrushes were still about yesterday, but with the exception of a YBW , two BN Starlings and the Richard's Pipits on the golf course that was about it.

Cheers
Mike

[MKinHK]

Four Barn Swallows were the only migrants on a day when spring really kicked in with heavy cloud and rainfall in the afternoon.

Other than that a solitary Pale Thrush, a YBW and the leucopsis x alboides White Wagtail, plus three Richard's Pipits and an OBP on the golf course continued to linger.

I also saw the Long-tailed Shrike and the pair of Large-billed Crows, plus an egret out at sea that was probably Great, but just too far away to add to the patch list.

Late last week I again (and still off-patch) had the same mixed flock of Silky and White-cheeked Starlings from the bus.

Cheers
Mike

[MKinHK]

I had such high hopes of spring migrants following yesterday's rainstorm that I went to work 40 minutes early to give the roundabout a proper early morning going-over.

Sadly my diligence was not rewarded - a calling YBW, three OBP and the usual Pale Thrush, plus a circling Black Kite were the highlights of the roundabout proper, while the golf course had the usual three OBPs and four Richard's Pipits.

However, just when I thought it was going to be exactly the same as the previous day two Grey Herons flying over the sea past the Marriott Hotel were my 50th addition to the patch list!

Cheers
Mike

[thirudevaram]

Congrats on hitting half century Mark. I wish you could be a cricket fan but your earlier posts suggests you are a soccer fan.

The flight taking off behind the golf course is a nice scenic shot. I see some lack of winter residents(Lemon-rumped warbler, Red-flanked Bluetail n Daurian Redstart) in my apartment compound. Definitely, something is coming from the south. Waiting for the spring break news from your teeny-tiny magic patch.

[MKinHK]

I'm a cricket fan too Dev and the half century was most welcome. I do also follow rugby, and I've played hockey (field hockey for the New Worlders) every season for the last 35 years.

I didn't get out today, but two Chinese Starlings flying over the bus on the way in this morning were a promising sign of migration starting to get going.

I'm even starting to wonder whether I should include my bus trip (or at least the part on the airport island) as a part of my patch.

Cheers
Mike