Exploring Lantau (2 Viewers)

Thanks Gretchen

A big day today at Tai O started well with three White-bellied Sea Eagles over the hill just to the East of Shek Pik Reservoir dam and absolutely bizarrely a Japanese Quail trying to hide behind a lamp-post on a shot-creted slope a little uphill from the western end.

I got to Tai O a little after 7:00am and headed along the northern edge of the island to see if any migrants had dropped in. There were a couple of Dusky Warblers calling in the mangrove around the tidal pool and a Pale-legged/Sakhalin Leaf Warbler that did not want to come out to play.

The big trees in the christian retreat centre held a couple of calling Yellow-browed Warblers. While trying to spot them in the upper branches of a chinese hackberry I spotted a larger pale green phyllosc that piqued my curiosity but promptly disappeared. When I did get back onto it I was surprised to see that it had no wingbars, no crown stripe and a plain yellow face and throat above a whitish belly.

This started major alarm bells as it looked like none of our regular phylloscs and that combination can only belong to Willow Warbler, which has occurred only once, and Wood Warbler, for which there are no records in Hong Kong (but there are from Japan and the Shanghai area). Having reviewed what there is about the eastern form of Willow Warbler and the very limited info on how Wood Warblers look in autumn I'm pretty sure it was Wood Warbler based on its heft - it looked stubby and stocky rather than slim and long-tailed, the clear demarcation between the yellow on the throat and the white belly, and the overall ice-green tone of the upperparts.

Be that as it may, getting a written description of a briefly seen first record through the records committee is a far from foregone conclusion- and in some ways it would be better if it had been Willow Warbler as the bar for acceptance for a second record is never quite so high.

It feels a bit like deja vu after finding the large locustella at the Magic Roundabout a couple of weeks ago, which can only be either Styan's or Gray's Grasshopper Warbler. What really annoys me is that I've just bought a new camera to get pix in exactly such situations - and I didn't get a single shot!

I kept searching for about an hour, but these trees tend to be the point of first arrival for incoming migrants and there is lots of woodland for the birds to filter off into. Once I'd seen the same Asian Brown Flycatcher and Dusky Warblers coming round for the third time and having no sign of the YBWs and the Wood Warbler, I assumed they'd moved on and did the same myself.

Elsewhere the Shaolin Valley was its usual mozzie-filled self, but I did add a Taiga Flycatcher and a couple of Olive-backed Pipits to the usual crop of Asian Brown Flycatcher and phylloscs which included two Pale-legged/Sakhalin Leaf Warblers, a very noisy Arctic Warbler and a couple each of YBW and Duskies. Despite the gentle NNW winds The dolphin ridge was unproductive and the only sign of movement was a Hair-crested Drongo and a Black Drongo that could both very easily have been local birds.

Cheers
Mike

Fascinating read and has brought home what I should have done with my youth! Added the link to my favourites so will look forward to seeing what else you turn up

Many thanks Paul

I'm hoping for more of the same, but hope to post more bird pix from now on.

Cheers
Mike

Where did you hid those sea eagles when i was @ Tai O? Nail the woody warbler next time.:t:

This weekend I could only manage an afternoon visit to Pui O. The highlights were my first Common Buzzard of the autumn, a flyover male Japanese Sparrowhawk, a scruffy flock of four Red Turtle Doves (continuing my best ever period for this species) and a couple of Greater Painted-snipe in the marsh.

Other birds included ten or so Dusky Warblers, eight Common Sandpipers and a flock of well over 100 Crested Mynas and Black-collared Starlings feeding on the marsh near the main buffalo herd.

A Striated Heron that flew across as we headed out was the last good bird of the day.

Cheers
Mike

A rather quiet morning at Tai O was rescued by the appearance as I was leaving of first a female Blue-and-white Flycatcher and then, even better, a very confiding Asian Paradise Flycatcher. Other birds included a couple of Daurian Redstarts, six Dusky Warblers and three Yellow-browed Warblers, plus a single Pale-legged/Sakhalin Leaf Warbler and flyover Zitting Cisticola and a female Eurasian Kestrel. Also, a couple of Oriental Turtle Doves were my first of the autumn.

I also climbed the hill in the middle of Tai O island for the first time and spent a while hoping one of the Black Kites might be a Booted Eagle, which would be a first fro Hong Kong, but instead I had to be content with a few habitat shots of Tai O and not a lot else. Ths was also the first week that there were not at least seven Black Drongos in the Shao Lin valley.

I took the ferry back to Tung Chung and was delighted to see two Chinese White Dolphins at close quarters a couple of minutes out of Tai O.

Cheers
Mike

Mike, if you're interested the butterfly is a Powdered Oak Blue Arhopala bazalus. A nice one to get - although they're fairly widespread at this time of year, they aren't always easy to see.

A work meeting at lunchtime today meant y birding was constrained to a couple of hours in the morning at Pui O.

This turned out pretty well as two Eurasian Starlings in their super-spotted winter plumage were feeding among the buffaloes, and round the corner three Red Turtle Doves (down from four last week) were again foraging on the close-cropped turf, and I had the briefest of glimpses of a Eurasian Woodcock flying out from the hedge.

As I was looking for the Woodcock a large-winged bird flew up from the branch and into the woods. I suspected it might be a Malayan Night Heron, but a little later I looked up into a tree to see an eye peering down at me from below a tawny brown ear-tuft above a finely streaked brown breast - Brown Fish Owl!. It ghosted away before before I could get a shot of it but I was delighted to have just my third ever view in HK.

Other birds on the marsh included a male Greater Painted-snipe, four Richard's Pipits, five Olive-backed Pipits, a dozen Red-throated Pipits, a female ocularis White Wagtail and a couple of fine male Daurian Redstarts and a late Barn Swallow.

Cheers
Mike

Another good day at Pui O with BF's Shanghai Perambulator, Frogfish.

It began with a calling Chinese Blackbird and the mystery of the missing starlings. First a Eurasian Starling flew into a bare branch in the hedge and then disappeared, never to be seen again, and a few minutes later four Silky Starlings did exactly the same. . . OK OK not quite the Twilight Zone, but odd.

At least ten Fantail and Swintail Snipe were in the marsh along with four Greater Painted-snipe that were (eventually) as showy as they have been in the last few visits.

But the highlight of the morning was seeing two Brown Fish Owls together. We had good but brief views of a bird sat on a branch and the other flying away after being mobbed by bulbuls. The attcahed back-on pic was the best we could manage.

Other birds seen included a displaying Crested Goshawk- shivering its wingtips and fluffing out its undertail covers as it soared over the marsh, three Common Sandpipers and two Common Kingfishers, by the beachfront shop and on the river respectively, while the usual mix of pipits, wagtails and ardeids were again on the marsh with the White-breasted Waterhens, Crested Mynas and Black-necked Starlings.

Cheers
Mike

A big new influx of migrants at Tai O today with no less than six species I've not previously seen this winter.

The first of these was a long-awaited Dark-sided Flycatcher on the wires next to the pond on the north side of the island and in th mangroves beneath two phylloscs that looked like Yellow-browed bouncing around with both wings held out - very odd!

There were at least five of the day's total of ten Daurian Redstarts around here, plus the only Dusky Warbler, a soaring Crested Goshawk, and a thrush and a bunting, neither of which I got onto.

I climbed over the ridge, adding few birds, but getting my first distant shots of Chinese White Dolphins plus pix of a Long-tailed Shrike and Sooty-headed Bulbuls. A Russet Bush Warbler singing across the other side of the valley was my first of the autumn. As I started down into the Shaolin Valley two Siberian Rubythroats started calling, and I got a couple of crummy shots of a fine red-throated male.

A bit further down an early Red-flanked Bluetail and two Asian Stubtails were in the trees along the path and on my second pass I had the briefest of views of the head of a Radde's Warbler before it nipped into the undergrowth.

Cheers
Mike

Fresh easterly winds with rain overnight was a new weather combination for me to check out at Tai O this morning. Also for a change I searched the path up to the old barracks past the Heritage Hotel and found at least seven Yellow-browed Warblers, an Asian Brown Flycatcher, and heard my second Daurian Redstart of the morning after point blank views of a superb male above the market.

Shaolin Valley again delivered - first with a typically confiding Asian Stubtail (I also head a couple more), then a Black-faced Bunting and a female Red Turtle Dove before a larger bunting zipped away then perched up and called just long enough for me to track it down to a tree just above the path, where between the branches it revealed a flash of colour in the supercilium in front of the eye and below an unusually scruffy crown - Yellow-Browed Bunting! It then flipped on - and I think up and out as I didn't have the least hint of a second sniff at it.

I did get a third and fourth Daurian Redstart and - even better - a very friendly Rufous-tailed Robin that came up out of a ditch and, clearly curious sat on an exposed branch and called at me. It was immediately answered by two others, subtly telling me what I'd missed over the last hour.

Other birds included a female Eurasian Kestrel floating along the ridge, a Pallas's Leaf Warbler and a couple of Common Sandpipers on the beach near the hotel.

Cheers
Mike

Sounds like I was a few days too early for Tai O Mike !

I think it was the winds associated with outer bands of the monster typhoon that has delivered all these Kevin, but I'm guessing all the migrants are common enough around Shanghai. Sorry to hear you didn't find the path to the ridge

I've attached a couple of pix of the dolphins and two of the ubiquitous birds of Shaolin Valley's upper slopes - long-tailed Shrike and Sooty-headed Bulbul.

Cheers
Mike

Mostly Mike. I did find the ridge path (no dolphins that day I'm afraid) and could see the valley from there - but I'm afraid I didn't have enough time to explore it as I wanted to spend 45-60mins in Tai O too. Interesting town.

Nice pics of the Dolphin Mike. I certainly found that, one need some elevation to get some decent shots of the dolphin. In a small ferry, they are damn too close.

I found the same when I took the ferry back to Tung Chung, Dev - too close!

Tai O was again heaving with birds this morning - with several flocks of migrating Chinese Bulbuls and once again I added a handful of species I hadn't yet seen this autumn.

First up was a Black-naped Oriole that dropped into the big cotton tree in front of the Shaolin Valley. I never got onto it in the tree, but had poor views against the light as it eventually headed out the other side and away.

Almost all my birds in the valley were seen before the turnoff for the dolphin ridge path. A Brown-flanked Bush Warbler popped up right next to the path, showing rich brown upperparts and the distinctive grey supercilium. During the morning this patch of woodland, which is only about 40m by 40m produced the following array of migrants (those in red are new autumn arrivals at Po Toi:

Oriental Turtle Dove - 2
Emerald Dove
Rufous-tailed Robin - 2
Daurian Redstart - 1
Lesser Shortwing - 1
Chinese Blackbird - 4
Grey-backed Thrush - 4
Japanese Thrush - 2
White's Thrush - 1
Asian Stubtail -1
Silky Starling - 5
Brambling - 1

The latter, a female, was the star of the morning. Brambling is a scarce late autumn migrant in Hong Kong, and this was only the fourth time I've seen it in the last 20 years. It flew over and landed on a dead pine branch for about a minute before heading off purposefully for the ridge, and presumably out across the South China Sea.

Elsewhere in the valley I had a very confiding Olive-backed Pipit, an Eastern Buzzard, three more each of Daurian Redstart and Rufous-tailed Robin, a couple of YBWs, plus and a couple of warblers that hinted at being Radde's without either showing quite well enough to be confirmed or calling so that I could dismiss them as Duskies.

The prize for bizarre record of the day goes to a juvenile Purple Heron that took off from the grass somewhere close to the ridge line and hung in view for a few seconds before disppearing from view. Why it chose a grassy ridge rather than the mangroves and reedbeds that surround Tai O is a complete mystery!

The walk over the ridge and the northern corner delivered three more Daurian Redstarts, yet another Rufous-tailed Robin, a Siberian Rubythroat, three kosher Dusky Warblers, a Manchurian Bush Warbler and a Long-tailed Shrike with a large praying mantis in its bill. I am all but certain I heard a Mountain Tailorbird, but it was just too far away to confirm.

Cheers
Mike

A great day of birding on southwest Lantau last weekend, from Tai O to Yi O and Fan Lau. Mike posted a couple of posts about this area in the spring, but it seems that no-one had visited this autumn. It turned out to be very worthwhile.

The day started well with an Eastern Water Rail in the reedbed at Tai O (sorry Mike!) and a Radde's Warbler shortly after leaving Tai O. I had another Radde's later in the day.

But for me the real highlight was the numbers of some of the commoner migrants. A total of 33 Rufous-tailed Robins over the course of the day is a Hong Kong record count (previous high 25), but was probably an underestimate. A total of 48 Daurian Redstarts was also a record (previous high 30). Siberian Rubythroats were also common - a total of 38 heard over the course of the day.

Other species present in really good numbers were Dusky Warbler (42) and Japanese/Manchurian Bush Warblers (17). 8 Mountain Tailorbirds was a very good count for Lantau, in what seems to be a good period for this species, and there were also 8 Asian Stubtails.

Thrushes were also present, but mostly staying hidden (as they do). I had nice views of a White's Thrush at Fan Lau, plus Japanese and Grey-backed, and Eurasian Blackbirds. Buntings were similarly being difficult to see at Yi O, but there were Black-faced, Little and Chestnut present. A couple of large flocks (40 and 20) of Chestnut Bulbuls were obvious migrants, with a few more scattered along the route. Also a couple of Mugimaki Flycatchers, 2 Black-browed Reed Warblers and my first Red-flanked Bluetail of the winter. Two Lesser Shortwings singing near Tai O were a surprise, suggesting that the species may have started to colonise Lantau.

So, overall a very good day out, even if it was a bit of a trek (20km in total).

Seriously gripped by John's terrific day I thought about following in his footsteps and heading down at least as far as Yi O, but my plan to "just check" the Shaolin Valley first delivered a host of birds and I ended up staying on the island for the whole morning.

Even before arriving at the valley I heard a Mountain Tailorbird and picked up the first of six Daurian Redstarts in the woods behind the spooky house. I also watched a bunch of bees defending their hive from a prowling hornet, but failed to get any worthwhile video of this fascinating exchange.

The beginning of the valley was almost as good as last week - with Chinese Blackbirds, Japanese and Grey-backed Thrushes feeding on emerging fruit, while a Rufous-tailed Robin teased me for a while before showing pretty well on the forest floor. I was also delighted to pick up two spectacular male Chinese Grosbeaks flashing their white-edged wings black hoods and big triangular yellow bills as they flew across the valley. By the end of the morning I had counted at least five of the wonderful birds.

Further inside I was pleased to find four Chestnut Bulbuls, a couple more Rufous-tailed Robins, two Red-flanked Bluetails (one of which was a nice blue male), three Pallas's Leaf Warblers , a flushed Woodcock two Asian Stubtails, plus another bird that I initially thought was a Pale-footed Bush Warbler, but I just couldn't pin it down, and two singing Lesser Shortwings. A Yellow-fronted Canary singing from the topmost branches of the dead tree was a nice extra - albeit an escape.

The rarest bird of the morning was a briefly seen Elegant Bunting which perched for a few seconds beside the path allowing me to note the dark crest and throat patch and almost bronze-tinged supercilium, cheeks and ear coverts.

On my walk up and over the ridge to the north side I had wonderful views of a Eurasian Hobby that flew right overhead before scything down through the valley with obvious intent to kill. A couple of Siberian Rubythroats called from the scrub,and a Mountain Tailorbird and a third Red-flanked Bluetail on the north side of the island wrapped up another very enjoyable morning.

Cheers
Mike

Excellent day! Lots of nice sightings - esp. the so well named Elegant bunting. Nice frog pic too - the browner one reminds me of the North American wood frog - a handsome (though slightly smaller fellow) we came across in the woods a good deal this summer.

Thanks Gretchen! These are Gunther's Frogs. The pale one is a colour I've not seen before.

With less time this morning I went to Pui O instead of Tai O and had a very pleasant morning which started well with the two Eurasian Starlings and a couple of Red Turtle Doves still on the buffalo fields, and a wonderfully confiding Greater Painted-snipe that fed right out in the open and giving me an excellent opportunity to practice holding the camera steady on full zoom. In the woodland were a couple of Grey-backed Thrushes and Daurian Redstarts were lurking in a few corners.

A Greater Sandplover and a Kentish Plover were on the wet sand that had been exposed by the falling tide. My fantasies about the latter being Swinhoe's Plover came to naught, but it was a new bird for my Lantau list.

Back on the marsh four taivana Yellow Wagtails, a Green Sandpiper and three Common Moorhen aught my attention, as did the fine gathering of migrant butterflies before became absorbed in what should have been a wholly one-sided encounter between a good-sized Checkered Keelback and a young Grey Heron. Having caught the snake the heron just could not work out how to get the full length of it down. I'm guessing the snake was too skinny for the usual peristalsis to push down into the stomach and the heron kept ending up with the back end of the snake wrapped around its bill and neck.

There were aso decent numbers of the usual suspects - Crested Mynas (including a excellent poser at the bus stop in Tung Chung) and Black-necked Starlings, Richard's Olive-backed and Red-throated Pipits, plus a Common Sandpiper that posed nicely on the flood wall of the river.

Cheers
Mike