MKinHK
Mike Kilburn
A mixed bag of a weekend started with a second exploratory trip to the reclamation next to the Disney site. The canned music blaring with relentless cheerfulness from every lamppost nearly drove me nuts, until a little girl dressed as Cinderella and dancing with delight just because she was going to Disneyland reminded me what the whole thing was about.
Once again there was a Pacific Reef Egret on the rock wall of the reclamation, and a little further down a female Blue Rock Thrush as well. The huge expanse of low grass and the ponds was as promising and as unproductive as it had been last time and I worked very hard to winkle out one Little Egret, a solitary Swintail Snipe, a Stejneger's Stonechat and one each of Dusky and Yellow-browed Warbler.
The only relatively abundant birds were the dozen or so Richard's Pipits and 28 and 29 respectively of Black-collared Starlings and Crested Mynas. A pair of Besras upset the flock and chased off a smallish dull-coloured starling which could have been White-shoulderd, or more optimistically Daurian or Chestnut-cheeked. a Silky Starling did appear in the same flock too.
This morning I took a punt that the fast-moving rain belt would pass through Tai O before I got there on the bus this morning. It didn't, and I spent a good deal of time lurking in shelter before 30 minutes staring into the murk from the jetty by the Heritage Hotel delivered a dozen terns that were too far-away in the murk to be identified. This was frustrating, as I only have Roseate and Black-naped on my Lantau list, and I don't think it was either of those.
When the rain did finally stop it appeared that my plan had worked as birds began to appear - a few hawking Barn Swallows and then a flyover Minivet sp. which the balance of probability states should be Ashy, but Swinhoe's has a rather similar call and I've never learned the difference.
The Shaolin Valley was flu of families paying their respect to the ancestors and therefore rather noisy and my expectations were correspondingly low. But taking a path up to the right to scan the treetops immediately delivered a mixed flock of Silky and Chinese Starlings, and then the flicker of a longer, altogether more elegant wing flicked and twisted and then settled just across the valley, allowing me to nail my first Blue-tailed Bee-Eater on Lantau! The punt had paid off, as this was one of the species that I had hoped might be brought in to Tai O by the rain. I snapped off a record shot, and then crossed the valley in search of better views.
Unfortunately the path came up right beneath the bird, and my views and the shots I managed were all little better than silhouettes, which nonetheless allowed me to appreciate the longer-than expected bill, and the elongated streamers of a bird in pristine breeding plumage. Unfortunately my attempt to sneak round it displeased the bird, which took off, calling as it went and settled atop another tree on the other side of the valley. Distant though it was I was still able to appreciate the bronze-tinged back and crown, blue rump, tail and tertials, broad black mask and bill and the yellow chin and lower face above a gingery orange throat patch. Anyone who's see one knows how little justice this description does to a stunning stunning bird, but at least the wonders of photo editing allow a little colour onto my bottom-up photos.
The other birds of note were my fist Black Drongo of the spring, which came over the ridge just like an arriving migrant and eight orange-tinged Cattle Egrets, which also came in over the sea.
As I headed back through the village the Tai O dragonboat team came in under the bridge looking throughly drenched, but adding to the colour of one of my favourite villages in Hong Kong.
A small brown bird on a wire just as the bus crested the ridge above the reservoir might have been a Grey-streaked Flycatcher - they like such spots - but could equally have been any other small brown passerine. Oh well, maybe at the airport during the next few days . . .
Cheers
Mike
Once again there was a Pacific Reef Egret on the rock wall of the reclamation, and a little further down a female Blue Rock Thrush as well. The huge expanse of low grass and the ponds was as promising and as unproductive as it had been last time and I worked very hard to winkle out one Little Egret, a solitary Swintail Snipe, a Stejneger's Stonechat and one each of Dusky and Yellow-browed Warbler.
The only relatively abundant birds were the dozen or so Richard's Pipits and 28 and 29 respectively of Black-collared Starlings and Crested Mynas. A pair of Besras upset the flock and chased off a smallish dull-coloured starling which could have been White-shoulderd, or more optimistically Daurian or Chestnut-cheeked. a Silky Starling did appear in the same flock too.
This morning I took a punt that the fast-moving rain belt would pass through Tai O before I got there on the bus this morning. It didn't, and I spent a good deal of time lurking in shelter before 30 minutes staring into the murk from the jetty by the Heritage Hotel delivered a dozen terns that were too far-away in the murk to be identified. This was frustrating, as I only have Roseate and Black-naped on my Lantau list, and I don't think it was either of those.
When the rain did finally stop it appeared that my plan had worked as birds began to appear - a few hawking Barn Swallows and then a flyover Minivet sp. which the balance of probability states should be Ashy, but Swinhoe's has a rather similar call and I've never learned the difference.
The Shaolin Valley was flu of families paying their respect to the ancestors and therefore rather noisy and my expectations were correspondingly low. But taking a path up to the right to scan the treetops immediately delivered a mixed flock of Silky and Chinese Starlings, and then the flicker of a longer, altogether more elegant wing flicked and twisted and then settled just across the valley, allowing me to nail my first Blue-tailed Bee-Eater on Lantau! The punt had paid off, as this was one of the species that I had hoped might be brought in to Tai O by the rain. I snapped off a record shot, and then crossed the valley in search of better views.
Unfortunately the path came up right beneath the bird, and my views and the shots I managed were all little better than silhouettes, which nonetheless allowed me to appreciate the longer-than expected bill, and the elongated streamers of a bird in pristine breeding plumage. Unfortunately my attempt to sneak round it displeased the bird, which took off, calling as it went and settled atop another tree on the other side of the valley. Distant though it was I was still able to appreciate the bronze-tinged back and crown, blue rump, tail and tertials, broad black mask and bill and the yellow chin and lower face above a gingery orange throat patch. Anyone who's see one knows how little justice this description does to a stunning stunning bird, but at least the wonders of photo editing allow a little colour onto my bottom-up photos.
The other birds of note were my fist Black Drongo of the spring, which came over the ridge just like an arriving migrant and eight orange-tinged Cattle Egrets, which also came in over the sea.
As I headed back through the village the Tai O dragonboat team came in under the bridge looking throughly drenched, but adding to the colour of one of my favourite villages in Hong Kong.
A small brown bird on a wire just as the bus crested the ridge above the reservoir might have been a Grey-streaked Flycatcher - they like such spots - but could equally have been any other small brown passerine. Oh well, maybe at the airport during the next few days . . .
Cheers
Mike
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