Ng Tung Chai, Hong Kong (2 Viewers)

[Gretchen]

After a great week in Taiwan the first bird to greet me on Tuesday morning was a Red-billed Blue Magpie - a rare visitor to Ping Long, but as you can see from my signature, the major excitement has been off-patch.
... ...
So in summary:

• One China
• Two pittas
• Three systems
• Four days
• Four life ticks

Cheers
Mike

Life in one China-three systems is rich with birds

Glad you enjoy those Red-billed Magpies - I always think we are fortunate to have such a lovely bird locally, and very pleased to discover that they are actually in my neighborhood more than I initially thought.

Great fortune on the pittas!

Gretchen

PS great pics of the crake on the link - interesting to see what the HK bird community is seeing and talking about.

 

[MKinHK]

Things have gone a little quieter here in HK, but a male Chinese Starling was a nice surprise this morning, and I did not get onto a small flock, which I think was also this species. Other late spring specialities include a calling Indian Cuckoo - just my second here, and a Streak-breasted Flycatcher as I zipped out last Sunday morning.

apart from that the cuckoos are loud - Plaintive, Large Hawk, Koel, Lesser Cuckoo are round the house, but unless we get some weather , with the chance of a bittern (or possibly Pechora Pipit) we heading for frog, snake and dragonfly season as summer wraps its humid hands around us.

Cheers
Mike

 

[MKinHK]

A hot and frustrating day on the waterfall trail with one major bird - Orange-headed Ground Thrush - which showed really well, flying inside the steep cliffs between the upper and lower section of the Lower Falls, and made it all worthwhile.

As it came out out it perched on a large hanging creeper for almost a minute and the as it flew out it spent another minute, again in full view on a tree fork on the opposite bank about 20 metres up.

This is just my third record here in 7 years, so a great bird to get.

At home that evening a Black Drongo was on the grassy field - an obvious drop-in migrant - and a couple of Oriental Turtle Doves are still hanging around. About this time last year I thought they might breed, so watch this space - there are very few breeding records in HK.

Cheers

Mike

 

[dbeek]

An interesting read, Mike. Thanks for sharing your many bird outings. You have had a great couple of days there and the Pitta experience sounds fantastic. I saw the Orange-headed Thrush in Thailand this past winter but it is a hit/miss bird there as well, I am told.

Dave

P.S. Congrats on the Band-bellied Crake and impressive that you hung-on to the end of the speech!

 

[MKinHK]

An interesting week in the valley.

The White-breasted Waterhens have produced four black fuzzy balls on legs, and the Chinese Pond Herons now have at least three fledged, but still flightless juveniles were scrambling around in the top of the bamboo grove.

I was also surprised to see a pair of Little Egrets in the village this morning, also in the bamboo grove - another breeding bird on the patch.

Also of interest were the 8 Oriental Turtle Doves that are still about. Last year I suspected them of breeding, and it seems likely that birds staying so late may also be breeding.


Cheers
Mike

 

[MKinHK]

Yesterday morning I was able to photograph a Large Hawk Cuckoo perched in the large tree above the shop. I wonder what trauma caused the penultimate tail band to be so thin.

And as I headed out in the dead of night to watch Barcelona make Man Utd look rather ordinary in the European Cup Final, a Night Heron walked under the street lamp in the drizzle. I strongly suspect it has been attracted in by the frogs that continue to call in full force.

Later on, three Oriental Turtle Doves were mooching in the rain, of which this was the closest.

Around the same time the White-breasted Waterhen chicks perched up nicely, just inviting the attentions of any lurking predators, but a Crested Goshawk did not come through and perch on its favourite electricity pole (see post 379) until a few minutes after they had disappeared back into the scrub.


Cheers
Mike

 

[Bucko1983]

my trip to Hong Kong

hello birders of Hong Kong,

in November i am due to be in Hong Kong for 3 days whilst en-route to Australia. i am going to spend a day at Mai Po but other than there i am at a loss for where i maight be able to sneak off from the family for an hour or so in some of the Urban parks.

which ones would you reccommend to me, i am staying in Kowloon and am interested in seeing anything, be it rare or common.

many thanks

karl

 

[MKinHK]

Hi Karl

There are some good spots on Hong Kong Island - a walk round the Peak will give you a chance at some of the woodland birds and if you go to Stanley then look out for Reef Egret on the buoys of the shark nets around the beaches on the way.

If you are shopping in Kowloon, Kowloon Park has some good birds and is worth an hour or so, as is Hong Kong Park on Hong Kong Island.

You might also interest your family in a trip to the Big Buddha on Lantau. Try to persuade them to go at least one way by ferry and bus instead of both ways by train and cable car. You have a good chance of White-bellied Sea Eagle from the ferry and the gardens around the Buddha and the monastery sometimes hold birds.

The best thing in your favour is that November is a good month to come, as migrants are arriving from further north all the time.

To follow what's going on it's well worth registering on the Hong Kong Bird Watching Society bulletin board www.hkbws.org/BBS/ and the birdline number is 2667 4537.

Cheers
Mike

 

[MKinHK]

A quiet weekend on the patch (but not really leaving the house/observatory), with a couple of pix the best things on offer.

A Greater Coucal at up to be photographed and showed a single retained juvenile feather in the left wing, and An Oriental Turtle Dove looked a little less bedraggled than Thursday's bird.

New birth announcements for two Long-tailed Shrikes and three Black-collared Starling. Bizzarrely the White-breasted Waterhen chick count is now up to six.

I also had another glimpse of the male White-shouldered Starling.

Cheers
Mike

 

[MKinHK]

Yesterday I had a pair of White-shouldered Starlings at the bus stop, making it even more likely that they have bred - Hopefully I'll be able to go and find the nest at the weekend.

Yesterday morning I had the first Lesser Coucal juvenile of the year.

This morning at least 5 newly fledged Chinese Pond Herons were on top of the bamboo.

Cheers
Mike

 

[MKinHK]

Not much new, but I did fire off another 60 or so shots of the Large Hawk Cuckoo - hoping to catch it exposing its yellow gape as it called - very tricky with the 10 second delay on my Cruelpix 4500. I missed the money shot, but I did get one sharpish shot and a blurry preening shot.

Cheers
Mike

 

[MKinHK]

Lesser Coucals were the main focus today - I watched a pair following each other round the house. One was substantially larger than the other - and explains why I 've been open to confusing Greater and Lesser Coucals.

Yesterday and Friday Scarlet Minivets flew over the house, but did not land where i could photograph them.

Today was also a big day for the Chinese Pond Heron Colony - I saw one juvenile bird flying confidently, and another hopped ut of my way fom a pathside stream as I walked by.

I also had a family party of five White-browed Laughingthrushes - the first for a couple of months.

The photos of the Lesser Coucal show the pale shafts in the mantle pretty well.

Cheers
Mike

 

[Gretchen]

Interesting comments on the Lesser Coucal sizes, Mike. I just met coucals for the first time in Thailand a few months ago and was struggling to figure out which kind I was seeing - size difference in the sexes doesn't make it any easier! However, your photo does show the light shafts as you say, and I guess that's what I should focus on next time. Anyway, a helpful observation on the pair's sizes - thanks.

 

[MKinHK]

Hi Gretchen

Happy to hear these pix are useful. If you scroll up to post 389 you can make a direct comparison of these two species - both taken from my flat!

Cheers
Mike

 

[MKinHK]

Off-patch news, but too good not to mention - today I did a mid-afternoon runner from work (after pulling a10pm finish the night before) to see HK's first Great Thick-knee, which turned up at Mai Po (see pix and full story here)

This mega bird has never been recorded closer than Eastern Hainan and Yunnan (and I have suspicions the Hainan birds are Beach Thick-knee (identified before they were split) and is an unlikely vagrancy candidate as they are not known to migrate large distances.

Cheers
Mike

 

[dbeek]

Very special sighting! Thanks for sharing.

DB

 

[MKinHK]

A new patch tick this evening, but not a bird.

While walking the dog after getting back from work I found a Marbled Pygmy Frog on the path. I tried to grab it to bring it home and photograph it, but it escaped, so no pic and you'll have to go here to see what one looks like.

This is my seventh frog at Ping Long (all within 100m of my house), my ninth in the valley, and my tenth amphibian (Hong Kong Newt) for the valley.

since its summer and (Thick-knees aside!) there are not many birds about here's a list of all the amphibians I've seen in the valley.

Common Toad
Spotted Narrow-mouthed Toad
Gunther's Frog
Brown Tree Frog
Paddyfield Frog
Asian Painted Frog
Marbled Pygmy Frog
Green Cascade Frog (NTC only)
Hogn Kong Cascade Frog (NTC only)
Hong Kong Newt

 

[MKinHK]

Well some bird news at last, but mostly not good.

The small egretry in my village has six or seven Chinese Pond Heron nests, and for the first time a Little Egret nested this year.

Last weekend a fast-moving typhoon hammered my valley especially hard and Sunday morning I found ten live chicks and three dead birds from the second brood on the ground. They were collected by the rehab staff from Kadoorie Farm (which has an excellent wild animal hospital), but twodays later all the adult birds have deserted the small stand of bamboos.

On a more positive note a family of eight or teen Scarlet Minivets landed briefly in the big camphor tree next to the egretry when I was watering the roof this fternoon, a Velvet -fronted Nuthatch flipped over to visit from the forest and I saw a female Magpie Robin feeding on unripe guava.

There seems to be some sort of wierd love triangle going on between three Lesser Coucals. There is a smaller bird, a larger bird and a random extra adult bird (in addition to a juvenile which plays no part, and all three seem to do a lot of posturing.

I did manage to get a good shot of the Greater Coucal today, and one less good shot of the juvenile Lesser Coucal showing how chestnut they are.

Reptile news:

A good week

Many Banded Krait and Taiwan Kukri Snake were both for the village (but not the valley) and the frogs have been showing well. I aslo added yet another new frog - an Ornate Pygmy Frog, which sat on the path for a few seconds, bringing my valley frog list to 10 (all within 2km of home)

Cheers
Mike

 

[Mark Bruce]

Sorry to hear about the egretry, Mike. We got some of the rain as the typhoon passed south of Taiwan but no high winds or flooding.

 

[MKinHK]

A family party of White-cheeked Laugingthrushes mid-week were my first for a while, but frankly I can't wait for some migrants to arrive - its a very hot summer and its not that interesting!

However this White-breasted Kingfisher added some colour.

And just at last light . . . 64 Little Egrets flew over the house, up the valley, back down the valley, back up the valley and away towards Mai Po - a nice surprise.

Cheers
Mike