Ng Tung Chai, Hong Kong (1 Viewer)

[MKinHK]

Great pix John!

Everyone else should note tht the pitta was photographed and hs been identified as Blue-winged - just the second record for Hong Kong.

The pic can be seen at http://www.hkbws.org.hk/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=5003&highlight=

Cheers
Mike

 

[MKinHK]

Apologies to thse who tried to see the pic of the pitta - the HKBWS site was hacked on Thursday night, but is now up and running again.

Arriving home in the rain after a disappointing seawatch (earliest ever typhoon in HK) I found first a male Silky Starling and then presumably the same White-shouldered Starling as yesterday, both sitting up on wires, and both looking pretty bedraggled.

Walking the dog yesterday evening I also heard the big owl again - "ho-hoo hoooo" - not right for Eagle, not too far off for Brown Fish Owl, but not yet conclusive. I need to nail this one!

Another interesting sighting from earlier in the week was two Oriental Turtle Doves feedding close to the house. One was very much browner than the other, with a less developed, but clearly visible neck patch. It seems probable that this browner bird is a juvenile, and this is therefore probably the second breeding record for HK. Exciting stuff! Very much hope to confirm.

Cheers
Mike

 

[MKinHK]

Managed to scope a Grey Treepie from the living room in a tree a good 700-800m away this morning. Apart from that it was pretty quiet except that the male Siberian Stonechat was still in the veggie patch and a couple of Sooty-headed Bulbuls were flying back and forth as if to and from a nest.

Almost forgot - the highlight of my morning was watching the pair of Lesser Coucals chasing each other ponderously about.

A couple of frog highlights from today and yesterday were a Asian Painted Frog on the stairs of the railway station on my way back yesterday, a very small Paddy Frog just by the front door this evening, and just at the edge of the village a Spotted Narrow-mouthed Frog was just my second ever. I've also seen Brown Tree Frog on the patch a few times and Common Toad is abundant.

Cheers
Mike

 

[MKinHK]

A Hobby whizzed over the woodland opposite the house at high speed yesterday. An obvious migrant ,and my first decent views on the patch. I have just two previous records of distant birds.

Also of interest was a second visit by a Black-throated Laughingthrush - just a flash as it dived into one of the lychee trees next to the veggie patch.

Best of the lot was the arrival on Monday of of two pairs of Chinese Pond Herons which have started nestbuilding in a small bamboo grove next to the carpark; I saw one carrying a stick this morning.

In non-bird news a dragonfly (actually a giant damselfly), photographed whilst tree-planting at the top of the botanic garden where I work ,turned out to be an Ochre Titan - a deservedly terrific name for a wonderful insect. This is the same species as one I saw in the main forest behind Ng Tung Chai village, which lies over the next ridge from the garden.

and finally . . . a dodgy picture of Gunther's Frog (digiscoped with a coolpix and a 10 second delay - it only took 15 tries to catch the croak!) with its air-sacs inflated - these are the noisy sods that would keep us awake all night if we had not already retreated from the heat behind closed windows and the whisper of the aircon.

Cheers
Mike

 

[MKinHK]

A very nice day in Lam Tsuen started with 3 Grey Wagtails in the newly planted marrow field next to my house and five Crested Serpent Eagles and a Crested Goshawk drifting over at lunchtime. But the real highlights were see or hearing all 7 of Hong Kong's breeding cuckoos during the day.

The one that made me think it was possible was a Hodgson's Hawk Cuckoo giving its distinctive high-pitched "cheez-zweet" across the road from Kadoorie Farm while I was waiting for a meeting to start. Before that I'd seen Greater and Lesser Coucals in front of the house and a female Koel cackled overhead as she was chased off by Black-necked Starling as I waited for the bus.

When I got home a Chestnut-winged Cuckoo gave its clear sweet "toot toot" whistle, but did not respond to my imitation of its call. However an Indian Cuckoo, the rarest of the resident cuckoos in Lam Tsuen started calling - and even gave fllight views as it fled from my "one more bot-tle" imitation.

The last to give itself up was a distant Plaintive Cuckoo which twice gave the typical "oh, what-ever-you-do" call as the gloom gathered.

Other rewards for my evening walk included a White-browed Laughingthrush and a distantly calling owl. Its three-note hoot has intrigued me for a few days. The call was pretty distant, so it will certainly take some tracking down. This is the first time it has called at a sociable hour - its usually going between 11pm and 1am!

Last but not least a Spotted Narrow-mouthed Frog was on the path near one of the mostly ruined villages and allowed a very close approach.

Cheers
Mike

 

[MKinHK]

A superb male Chestnut Bunting was in the veggie patch when I woke up this morning. It had the good manners to call to let me know there was a bunting about, and then sat up very nicely to be seen. Spring buntings have been pretty few and far between in HK in the last few years, but this species was also seen at Mai Po yesterday so there are obviously a few about.

Awalk up to Ng Tung Chai from Ping Long produced my first Grey-streaked Flycatcher of the year and a lovely male Yellow-cheeked Tit in the forest. It had obviously just had a wash and gave pretty good views while tidying itself up. Other than that it was pretty quiet - Hainan Blue Flycatcher sang, but not where I could see it. A Blue Whistling Thrush was more co-operative - perching on a bamboo stem and fanning its tail. A Large Hawk Cuckoo was also calling in the village, reminding me that I also had it on Thursday making it eight species of cuckoo seen or heard in the valley that day.

Indian Cuckoo was also calling again this morning and I confirmed a third Chinese Pond Heron nest in the village bamboo grove.

Continuing the recent frog theme there were several Hong Kong Cascade Frogs along the river this morning.

Cheers
Mike

 

[MKinHK]

its never a bad day when a needletail flies over your house!

Today started with a couple more Chestnut Buntings - a male and a female - in the veggie patch, followed a little later by Crested Goshawk, which disappeared on the ground behind some plants as after a nest, but I never saw what it was hunting , nor any sign that it actually caught anything.

The Silver-backed Needletail came over around 1030 along with a party of 3 House Swifts, but I immediately picked it out by its longer pinched in wings held drooping below the horizontal. I rushed up onto the roof and had good views of it hunting over the woodland about 100 metres away, and even got the scope onto it to ensure it was not White-throated.

As I got home this evenign a Chestnut-winged Cuckoo was tooting away and a Black-crowned Night Heron squawked as it lifted off from the frog pond, which had hosted another Grey Wagtail this morning.

I was outdone by my mate Richard who had seven Blue-throated Bee-eaters (a mega with six or seven records - and which I still need in HK) over his patch a few km to the east, and Mai Po a few km to the west, which had several Blue-tailed Bee-eaters. However, I enjoyed the buntings and the needletail enough that for once it didn't matter.

But being gripped off by the Great Frigatebird (HK's fourth) seen from the Society outing to Po Toi yesterday, which I missed to play in a hockey match we lost 7-0, certainly did hurt. I suppose it serves me right for being all balanced and having more than one interest in life!

Cheers
Mike

 

[MKinHK]

A Brown Shrike lurking under the bamboo grove was a year tick as I came home from adding Grey Phalarope to my HK list. I only ever had one at Ng Tung Chai so its interesting to see how different the birds can be just 1km apart.

The phalarope is in no way a patch bird, but as a HK and China tick I'm posting it anyway. Other bird news from HK today includes a first record of Himalayan Cuckoo (Oriental is split into Himalayan and Horsfield's. Himalayan breeds in N Guangdong, so its a little surprising its taken to so long), and a visiting Finnish birder had a Eurasian Cuckoo (potential second record) calling at Mai Po.

Cheers
Mike

 

[MKinHK]

More off-patch news - but nailing a Hong Kong first is a good enough excuse for me - I saw and heard the Himalayan Cuckoo this morning - and probably saw it yesterday, but had a "forgot to bring the bins" shocker - so brief flight views were never going to be enough to nail it, especially with three other cuckoos calling in the area. Today I heard it singing , and then had scope views of it perched in a tree, although it tried to hide behind a tree branch.

Himalayan is a bit smaller that Horsfield's, with which it was previously lumped - predictably so, as Horsfield's is a long distance migrant - breeding north of the Yangze River and into Mongolia and Siberia, and the three note call is a clear differentiator from the two note call of Horsfields.

The opinon suggested this morning was that since this bird was singing (apparently cuckoos almost never do on migration)and had not moved on overnight it was probably holding territory and may stay to breed. One to look out for on my own patch.

Cheers
Mike

 

[MKinHK]

No fireworks this morning, but definite signs of passage from home. First up was a male Black-faced Bunting in the veggie patch, quickly followed by a couple of blue-crowned simillima Yellow Wagtails - just my second sighting since moving into the valley more than 6 years ago.

Up on the wires were 3 Dollarbirds, and while watching those a Grey-faced Buzzard went past behind them. A Chinese Goshawk being dive-bombed by the resident Besra completed the tally.

A pair of White-breasted Waterhen with six black fluffy balls on legs were the first sign of successful breeding this year.

I also heard the "tarp . . . .tarp . . . tarp" of Slaty-legged Crake last night as I was walking the dog.

Cheers
Mike

 

[MKinHK]

Passage seen through the big window continued today with a Dollarbird flying over around 2:30 and a Grey-streaked Flycatcher joining a whole variety of birds gorging on the hatching of some be-winged wee beastie. These included such improbable fly-catchers as Crested Mynah, Crested and Chinese Bulbul and a Magpie, plus the more expected Barn Swallows and House Swifts. A fine male leucopsis White Wagtail was the first for a couple of weeks and the third wagtail species of the week from home.

Other highligts included the return of the Crested Goshawk peering into the veg from the fence and a ferocious scrap between three Magpie Robins - two of them with locked claws and beaks on the ground, in the air, and through the marrow leaves, while a third bird darted in to make the occasional peak at the head of one of them. This continued for a good three minutes before they flew off to continue the squabble behind the banana trees.


Cheers
Mike

 

[MKinHK]

Passage continued today with 2 Dollarbirds making sallies from the trees about 80m from the house, a Grey Wagtail, and what was presumably yesrterday's Grey-streaked Flycatcher hawking from canes in the field at the back of the house.

A potential rare breeder was a pair of Silky Starlings - the female is hiding behind the pole.

The Changeable Lizard posed for ages on top of the melon frame.

Cheers
Mike

 

[Mark Bruce]

Lovely shots, Mike. Dollarbirds are few and far between here. On Friday a real surprise! A Fairy Pitta for my garden list.

 

[MKinHK]

In the garden!! Fantastic Mark! Any pix?

Quieter here - just a couple of Dollarbirds high on the transmission lines.

 

[Mark Bruce]

Caught me by surprise, Mike. No time to go in and get a camera. I suspect the bird was a young male. It likely came down in our area that night or late the previous afternoon. The pitta was on the move when I saw it and headed off in the direction of northern Huben. It was probably heading to the northern Huben area on migration or was a young male looking to set up a territory but soon discovered that our area wasn't really suitable.

The work on the Hushan Dam has likely displaced around a hundred pairs so less habitat this year. It's too early to tell for sure but it would appear that numbers in areas near the dam site are down. Apart from the actual dam site I guess the noise etc is displacing birds from the surrounding habitat. Numbers in north Huben away from the dam appear to be pretty much the same as previous years but numbers in southern Huben seem much lower. A few more weeks and we'll know for sure.

 

[MKinHK]

Shocked at the number of Pitta territories affected by the dam . . .

Back in Ping Long a flight of 4 Yellow Wagtails on the Morning Glory bed - again all simillima - was a surprise . . . and curiously, the number of White-breasted Waterhen chicks was back up to 4.

Cheers
Mike

 

[MKinHK]

Its becming something of a soap opera but the White-breasted Waterhen chicks were back up to 5 this morning, but the only other bird of note was a Dollarbird on the wires above Ng Tung Chai village over a kilometre awy from my new place.

I had four more at Ho Chung during a site visit this afternoon, but an attempt to nail the large owl at dusk was a failure - I made some reluctant donations to the Lam Tsuen Valley Mosquito Food Fayre and didn't get a sniff of an owl.

Cheers

Mike

 

[Mark Bruce]

Shocked at the number of Pitta territories affected by the dam . . .

Mike, send the Dollarbirds our way :t:. We don't get to see them that often.

It looks like the density has increased in the north of Huben which will compensate a little for the numbers (perhaps 10 pairs or so). How this will increase competition it's too early to tell. It is clear that the dam has had a big impact and displaced a lot of birds.

 

[MKinHK]

Three more Dollarbirds dropped in with the bad weather this evening and were feeding over the fields for a couple of minutes before moving off northwards.

Also an adult Black-crowned Night Heron in the veggie patch this morning was a first sight record of a bird on the deck here.

I also messed up what I think was a very late thrush in the veggie patch - I moved to quickly for my bins and it saw me and scarpered before I got anything on it.

Earlier in the week a Chestnut-winged Cuckoo responded superbly to my imitation of its call and came bombing in to check me out - crest spiked up and cackling furiously. Lesser and Greater Coucal, Large Hawk Cuckoo, Koel and Plaintive Cuckoo are all still calling, and I had a swift fly-by from one of the White-browed Laughing-thrushes, which had disappeared for the last month.

Cheers
Mike

 

[MKinHK]

a feast of frogs

Since the birds have become a little thin on the ground as spring becomes summer I thought I'd offer up a menu of potential prey items for the discerning Schrenck's Bittern or Black Bittern I fantasize may drop in . . . They are, in order of appearance (all photographed on night walks with the dog):

1. Spotted narrow-mouthed Frog (a very pale individual)
2. Gunther's Frog
3. Common Toad
4. Asian Painted Frog
5. Paddy Frog (with no line down the back)

In the meantime at least three White-breasted Waterhen chicks have made it this far, although the dumbass curiosity with which they checked out a 4-foot snake that was either a Chinese Cobra or a Common Rat Snake did not bode well.

Apart from that White-breasted Kingfisher was still flying around and calling actively - I am loking forward to signs of successful breeding in the next few days, and a Scarlet-backed Flowerpecker seems to have discovered the big tree near the carpark.

A pair of Crested Serpent Eagles and a Crested Goshawk were over the house atdifferent times yesterday morning, and a little further down the road I saw a Barred Owlet on a tree stump at the edge of some feng shui woodland by the roadside.

Cheers
Mike