Mai Po Nature Reserve, Hong Kong (1 Viewer)

As you may have guessed from my comment Mark, I'm also a bit surprised that Beardies are treated as escapes. Before this bird, all previous records (3 records, c. 10 birds) had occurred in a narrow window in mid to late December. Most have been trapped, and none has shown any sign of cage damage (which seems surprising for such a long-tailed species). I think the reason they are treated as escapes is that there are no records closer than northeast China, but that was also true of Varied Tit which was accepted easily enough this year, and I do wonder whether observer effort is a factor.

With the long weekend I wasn't at work but still headed onto the reserve yesterday to look for waders on the good tide. The rising tide came in fast and pushed waders onto the reserve early to roost.

Good numbers of Godwits were present - around 30 Bar-tailed and almost 1000 Black-tailed which also contained a single Asiatic Dowitcher (#174). There were fewer small waders but these did include around 30 Great Knot and a single Sanderling (#175).

The falling tide was initially slow but the Curlew flock did involve 3 Far Eastern Curlews (#176) - I'm kind of surprised that it took so long to see this, given that there's been one reported all winter. But I timed my arrival at the outermost mudflat hide perfectly, just as big numbers of Curlew Sandpipers, Red-necked Stints and Greater Sand Plovers started dropping in. And then followed an excellent few minutes with great views of good numbers of birds active just outside the hide. A great reminder of why Mai Po is so good. And among the flock I also managed to pick up #177 - a Little Stint in among the Red-necked.

I had another Grey-faced Buzzard circling high over the resrve as well, but the day really belonged to the waders.

Well it does seem completely daft to me John. I see no reason other than the lack of records in between, and therefore supporting evidence why they shouldn't be treated as 'hard-winter' vagrants to the south. They are elusive things at the best of times, even in the smallest patches of suitable habitat, I'm sure we wouldn't have seen ours had we not known the call. I have a suspicion I might have seen a record from the Rudong area, I'll chase it up.

I took a gamble that the weather this morning would clear up enough for a ringing session and it paid off.
A few Pintail/Swinhoe's Snipe circling first thing were destined to go onto the year list as either/or until I flushed one straight into the net - Swinhoe's Snipe (#178), the less common of the two. Other good birds trapped included a nice adult male Bluethroat and a Wryneck. And there were two Slaty-breasted Rails and an Eastern Water Rail hainging around the nets but refusing to go in.
Bird of the day came when I saw something flying in. My first thought of Moorhen was immediately dismissed on the basis of size. Coot maybe? No, still too big. I briefly wondered if it was just a cormorant at a funny angle, but even head-on the structure wasn't right and it wasn't quite big enough. Must be a Coot. No still too big. Just as my mind realised the only bird that could fit was a male Watercock, it turned side on and dived into the edge of the reedbed showing a huge blue-purple body, pale head and massive red bill - PURPLE SWAMPHEN (#179)! There are previous records, with the last in 1998, but all have been treated as escapes on the basis that at the time is was not known to occur closer than Vietnam, and a site nearby was known to have lost a pair in 1992. But it is now known to breed at Haifeng, only about 100km east of Hong Kong. And with unsettled stormy weather over the last few days, at a suitable time of year, I'm going to stick my neck out and say that this one is the real deal. So it's going on the list.

Given that I was on the reserve I thought I'd stick around to check out the roosting waders. Big numbers on the scrape again, including an influx of Great Knot (69) and Broad-billed Sandpipers (27), and Nordmann's now up to 7 birds. Plus a single Sharp-tailed Sandpiper (#180) mixed in among the Curlew Sandpipers.
As I left the reserve a flock of House Swifts over the car park warranted a second look, which worked out well as there was a single Pacific Swift (#181) mixed among them.

Congratulations on the Swamphen John! It will be interesting to see if it takes up residence. I remember those old records and have a crystal clear memory of watching one digging up reeds with its feet and munching away.

BTW there are also a few records of Swamphen from Hainan - Richard Lewthwaite and the Barrettos have seen them a few times.

Cheers
Mike

Purple Swamp Hen in China ! And here was I thinking that was a tick from NZ I couldn't get over here :eek!:

Gratuitous reason to post a Pukeko (PSH) shot (hope you don't mind John).

If they're not split Kevin I suspect they soon will be. Here's a pic of the race in South China taken at Haifeng in Eastern Guangdong a couple of years ago.

Cheers
Mike

Thanks Mike - looks like they have no right being classified as the same species !

I believe that's the same ssp. that we had in Cambodia last month. As I understand it some authorities have already split it as "Black-backed Swamphen."

Of course, Clements/Cornell hasn't.

Thanks for posting the photo Mike. It's just like the bird I saw (although perhaps with a slightly more swollen shield). The taxon involved should be poliocephalus - Grey-headed Swamphen - but I think the split is still not too widely accepted.

Just one more species to add to the year list - Long-toed Stint (#182), which have been present on the scrape for the last couple of days. There have also been reports of Narcissus Flycatcher and Pallas's Gull around, so I'm hoping to find one (or both!) of those.

johnallcock said:

Thanks for posting the photo Mike. It's just like the bird I saw (although perhaps with a slightly more swollen shield). The taxon involved should be poliocephalus - Grey-headed Swamphen - but I think the split is still not too widely accepted.

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You're right, John. The Indochinese ssp. is viridis. Clements groups it with the Indonesian ssp., indicus, as the black-backed group.

I should look these things up before I post.

No problem Jeff. I had to double-check because I was puzzled why the bird I'd seen with a green back should be named as 'Black-backed Swamphen'!

One more for the list today, courtesy of my colleague Bena - Yellow-browed Bunting (#183). This is a bit of a relief after missing one a couple of months ago - it's not an easy species to see.

Thursday (4th) was a public holiday here in Hong Kong (for Ching Ming), but I was on duty. Sitting at my desk I heard one of the sounds of summer arrive on the reserve - the first Indian Cuckoo (#184) of the spring, which remained out there for most of the day.
At lunchtime I headed to the mudflat hides to check out the waders. These are arriving in really good numbers now. There was a single Ruff (#185) among the Marsh Sandpipers. A small group of Little Terns (#186) had also arrived.
Bird of the day though was a bird I saw twice, but unfortunately only a very brief glimpse on both occasions. The second time was just about enough to confirm Ferruginous Flycatcher (#187), but was really not a good view!

To make up for the duty day on Thursday, I actually had the day off on Friday. But I knew there were really good tides in both the morning and afternoon and decided to head up to the reserve anyway. A single Ashy Minivet (#188) just before I reached the car park was followed by a flock of 10 flying over the mangroves.
The big surprise for the day was on the mudflats - an Eurasian Oystercatcher (#189). This may not seem exciting for those of you based in Europe, but with only about 5 HK records, this was a great bird to find. It showed really well on the morning tide, and then even better in the afternoon!
Also on the afternoon tide were five Red-necked Phalaropes (#190), while Gull-billed Terns had increased to about 150, Spotted Redshanks to 180 and Black-winged Stilts to over 200. The Black-tailed Godwit flock is also in god numbers this year - a count of 2,500 reported in the week is a record for HK.
An indication of the importance of Mai Po for migrant waders was apparent by looking for leg-flagged birds. Over the course of Thursday and Friday, I managed to find birds with leg flags from Western Australia, Victoria, Thailand, Chongming and Taiwan.
Friday finished with a flock of five Pale Martins (#191) heading over the reserve, presumably to roost in one of the reedbeds.

So that's eight new species in two days. You have to love migration time, don't you?

johnallcock said:

Thursday (4th) was a public holiday here in Hong Kong (for Ching Ming), but I was on duty. Sitting at my desk I heard one of the sounds of summer arrive on the reserve - the first Indian Cuckoo (#184) of the spring, which remained out there for most of the day.
At lunchtime I headed to the mudflat hides to check out the waders. These are arriving in really good numbers now. There was a single Ruff (#185) among the Marsh Sandpipers. A small group of Little Terns (#186) had also arrived.
Bird of the day though was a bird I saw twice, but unfortunately only a very brief glimpse on both occasions. The second time was just about enough to confirm Ferruginous Flycatcher (#187), but was really not a good view!

To make up for the duty day on Thursday, I actually had the day off on Friday. But I knew there were really good tides in both the morning and afternoon and decided to head up to the reserve anyway. A single Ashy Minivet (#188) just before I reached the car park was followed by a flock of 10 flying over the mangroves.
The big surprise for the day was on the mudflats - an Eurasian Oystercatcher (#189). This may not seem exciting for those of you based in Europe, but with only about 5 HK records, this was a great bird to find. It showed really well on the morning tide, and then even better in the afternoon!
Also on the afternoon tide were five Red-necked Phalaropes (#190), while Gull-billed Terns had increased to about 150, Spotted Redshanks to 180 and Black-winged Stilts to over 200. The Black-tailed Godwit flock is also in god numbers this year - a count of 2,500 reported in the week is a record for HK.
An indication of the importance of Mai Po for migrant waders was apparent by looking for leg-flagged birds. Over the course of Thursday and Friday, I managed to find birds with leg flags from Western Australia, Victoria, Thailand, Chongming and Taiwan.
Friday finished with a flock of five Pale Martins (#191) heading over the reserve, presumably to roost in one of the reedbeds.

So that's eight new species in two days. You have to love migration time, don't you?

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Sounds exciting John. I'll be back out there on Monday.
Neil.

After a very productive weekend birding off-site I was back at Mai Po today, hoping for some more migrants. And, once again, the reserve delivered!

In the morning I had very brief views of a male Narcissus Flycatcher (#192) at the car park before I had to head in to a meeting which lasted all morning. This was followed by a meeting on-site, where I was lucky to get a fly-by Eurasian Hobby (#193) disappearing over the mangroves. As I headed back to the office, I flushed a bird with chestnut wings and long black tail, which in turn disturbed some more birds as it landed in a tree. I briefly thought to myself that it was unusual for a coucal to disturb a flock of bulbuls. And then I realised that the 'coucal' was actually a Chestnut-winged Cuckoo (#194) and the 'bulbuls' were actually Blue-tailed Bee-eaters (#195)! (The bee-eaters weren't flushed, just very noisy!). In the afternoon, I heard the call of a Pale-legged/Sakhalin Leaf Warbler (#196) from within the mangroves. This is going on as a species pair until I can confirm one or both species.

But the big news from the day was not bird-related but was the arrival of a new buffalo onto the reserve. We are gradually building up a herd of buffalo to help with vegetation management on some of the rain-fed ponds, and this animal brings the herd size up to five. Unfortunately the arrival didn't go too smoothly, leading to a bit of a dispute with one of the established males, so I'm hoping the herd will calm down again over the coming few days.

johnallcock said:

After a very productive weekend birding off-site I was back at Mai Po today, hoping for some more migrants. And, once again, the reserve delivered!

In the morning I had very brief views of a male Narcissus Flycatcher (#192) at the car park before I had to head in to a meeting which lasted all morning. This was followed by a meeting on-site, where I was lucky to get a fly-by Eurasian Hobby (#193) disappearing over the mangroves. As I headed back to the office, I flushed a bird with chestnut wings and long black tail, which in turn disturbed some more birds as it landed in a tree. I briefly thought to myself that it was unusual for a coucal to disturb a flock of bulbuls. And then I realised that the 'coucal' was actually a Chestnut-winged Cuckoo (#194) and the 'bulbuls' were actually Blue-tailed Bee-eaters (#195)! (The bee-eaters weren't flushed, just very noisy!). In the afternoon, I heard the call of a Pale-legged/Sakhalin Leaf Warbler (#196) from within the mangroves. This is going on as a species pair until I can confirm one or both species.

But the big news from the day was not bird-related but was the arrival of a new buffalo onto the reserve. We are gradually building up a herd of buffalo to help with vegetation management on some of the rain-fed ponds, and this animal brings the herd size up to five. Unfortunately the arrival didn't go too smoothly, leading to a bit of a dispute with one of the established males, so I'm hoping the herd will calm down again over the coming few days.

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John,
The buffalo strategy seems to be working as I've seen a lot more activity around the new field on the way to Hide 1.
Neil.

I agree Neil, the buffalo are great for site management. I've been arguing for years that the reserve needed more - even before I started working here!

I had a bird survey this morning, so was very hopeful for a few more migrants. All went well again - 3 Ashy Minivets, 7 Blue-tailed Bee-eaters, male Narcissus Flycatcher, loads of Intermediate Egrets (need to check counts, but possibly a record count for HK), Pale Martin, Red-rumped Swallow, big flocks of waders, etc. But it wasn't until the penultimate pond that I finally scored for the year list - an Oriental Cuckoo (#197). I've been doing reasonably well for cuckoos this year, which just makes it all the more strange that there are no Large Hawk Cuckoos around, which was a species I had expected to be easy. I have no idea what has happened to them this year.

Later in the day I had 3 Pale-legged/Sakhalin Leaf Warblers. This is a species that seems to be around in really good numbers at the moment, and 3 is a fairly good count for Mai Po (especially in spring).
As I was packing to leave for the day, an Accipiter flew over. Unforunately it just kept powering on through as I dashed to grab my binoculars, and I never managed to work out what species it was (I suspect Japanese, but can't confirm).

johnallcock said:

I agree Neil, the buffalo are great for site management. I've been arguing for years that the reserve needed more - even before I started working here!

I had a bird survey this morning, so was very hopeful for a few more migrants. All went well again - 3 Ashy Minivets, 7 Blue-tailed Bee-eaters, male Narcissus Flycatcher, loads of Intermediate Egrets (need to check counts, but possibly a record count for HK), Pale Martin, Red-rumped Swallow, big flocks of waders, etc. But it wasn't until the penultimate pond that I finally scored for the year list - an Oriental Cuckoo (#197). I've been doing reasonably well for cuckoos this year, which just makes it all the more strange that there are no Large Hawk Cuckoos around, which was a species I had expected to be easy. I have no idea what has happened to them this year.

Later in the day I had 3 Pale-legged/Sakhalin Leaf Warblers. This is a species that seems to be around in really good numbers at the moment, and 3 is a fairly good count for Mai Po (especially in spring).
As I was packing to leave for the day, an Accipiter flew over. Unforunately it just kept powering on through as I dashed to grab my binoculars, and I never managed to work out what species it was (I suspect Japanese, but can't confirm).

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john,
As I was leaving yesterday I saw the 20 or so Cattle Egrets that were hanging around in front of the Tower hide. I took a few photos and then all my cards were filled. I had a record day with 88 gigs of stills and videos. I had to take today off to go through them.
Back again tomorrow. I'd like to see the Bee-eaters as it's a species I've never seen at MP.
Neil.

Another good day on the reserve yesterday. I knew I had passed the 200 mark, but couldn't remember what total I was on so wasn't sure which species had been number 200...

It started with an early morning ringing session. There was a Large Hawk Cuckoo singing on the way to the reserve, but which had awkwardly decided to shut up by the time I reached the car park. Still, it shows that I'm still in with a chance this spring. Birds trapped included three Little Buntings, 3 Stejneger's Stonechats, another Bluethroat and Wryneck. We also trapped the Bearded Tit, and it seems that I will have to take back my earlier coments - the bird had virtually no tail and damage around the bill, suggestive that it was indeed an escaped bird. There were a couple of Ruddy-breasted Crakes trilling in the reedbed. And flyovers included Pacific Swift and a Pied Harrier (#198). I also had a possible flyover Oriental Plover but wasn't sure.

Following the ringing, I had a shorebird survey to carry out. Within about 1 minute of starting the survey I managed to find first Grey-headed Lapwing (#199) and then an Oriental Plover (#200) - there were three of Oriental Plovers in total. They've been around for a few days and I was hoping I'd manage to catch up with them, and I was pleased this species managed to make it as #200. Also on the scrape were good numbers of Bar-tailed Godwits (someone managed a count of 157 for the day - a record count for HK in spring), a Ruff, a single Whiskered Tern (#201) and, surprisingly, two Saunders's Gulls. I also saw another (or the same?) Oriental Cuckoo during the survey. And as I finished a 'grey' minivet was next to the Education Centre - I had sneaking suspicions about Swinhoe's but couldn't track it down.

At lunchtime I went to check on the buffalo and found a rather early Grey-streaked Flycatcher (#202) on the edge of the mangroves. I also had an encounter with a couple of Chinese Cobras which was a bit too close for comfort and got the pulse racing a bit (I nearly cycled straight into one which was poised ready to strike!)

While sat at my desk working in the afternoon I heard a minivet fly past the window. REmembering the bird earlier I dashed outside to look for it, and sure enough managed to confirm this as a Swinhoe's Minivet (#203). A great bird to get, and one that I hadn't really expected for the year. It was joined by a second and they showed really well in the trees around the EC, putting on a great show for several staff who had never seen the species before.

So, six new species in a day. This is the highest total since right back on the 7th Jan, showing just how good the migrants are at the moment.

Another day on duty yesterday. Two Phylloscs in the car park when I arrived included an Eastern Crowned Warbler (#204) and another that I couldn't get good enough views of - I think Two-barred but I'm not sure. There was also a stunning male Narcissus Flycatcher in the trees. I headed slowly along the main path, hoping to find another bunting or one of the Bramblings that have been seen. Instead a bird that flew up into the trees turned out to be a female Blue-and-white Flycatcher (#205). At lunchtime I didn't quite have enough time to head to the floating hides to look for waders, so had to content myself with watching the gull-billed terns that were still on the main scrape - the flock now being above 200 birds.

This morning was sunny and warm but hazy. I was a bit early getting to the office, so wasfairly relaxed heading in, and had a quick cycle round before starting work. It was only 20 minutes but it was pretty productive. First off was an Eyebrowed Thrush (#206) which I flushed by the path, and it turned out there was already another in the trees. This is a species I haven't seen before at the reserve, so was very pleased. A bird that I saw in the main woodland area kept giving brief glimpses but eventually hopped into the open, and showed itself to be a male Hainan Blue Flycatcher (#207). The woodland also held two Narcissus Flycatchers (male and female) and another Blue-and-white.