My birding started dramatically when an
Asian Paradise Flycatcher flew straight at me! It came to within a couple of feet before veering away. I think it was after a small yellow butterfly and was so intent on catching it that it didn't see me until the last second. The remainder of my normal walk was quiet except for another
Asian Para seem briefly in a tree overhanging the river some 50 metres below.
With no pressure to go to work because it was Saturday I decided to climb higher up into the valley. And climb is the word - there is a very steep path that passes two waterfalls with only short sections of the trail being flatter and easier to bird. However, the forest here is excellent with large, mature trees and large birds-nest ferns and tree ferns, especially close the the river which flows faster between large boulders.
The only good bird was a
Mountain Bulbul which sat out above the canopy for a few seconds. This is another recent colonist to Ng Tung Chai and other upland forest areas in HK, but still in small numbers. This part of the forest was very quiet so I took some time to look fo Hong Kong Cascade Frog, an endemic species that loves boulder-strewn rivers. I found over 20 of this very cryptically coloured frog.
As I pushed on up yet another steep section to the Top Falls I came across a mixed flock which contained a couple of
Asian Paras, making four in total and giving me a new site record for this species, and an
Eastern Crowned Warbler, as well as several
Blue-winged Minlas and
Japanese White-eyes. I folowed the flock for a while, trying to turn one of the Paras in Japanese Paradise Flycatcher - which look rather
similar to Asian in the autumn - just hints of a maroon wash to the back and tail, but no luck.
There was a
Grey Wagtail wandering around at the the impressive, 30m high Top Falls, where I stopped to drink from the river. Its a beautiful spot, but worth noting that 2 people have died from falling here within the last year, and two more had died about 15 years ago in a landslide along the path I was about to take!
As I drew level with the top of the falls I entered the clouds that had been gathering, but this did not stop me seeing my first
Chestnut Bulbuls of the day - a juvenile with three adults. I also pished a phyllosc out of the fog, which never showed enough for identification, but was either
Eastern Crowned or Arctic Warbler.
Arriving at the junction where the path either climbs to the top of Tai Mo Shan through good habitat for
Large Grass Warbler or returns to the valley I started my descent and after coming out of the cloud found another mixed flock comprising Red-billed Leiothrix (silly name - I'll use the inaccurate old favourite
Pekin Robin from now on),
Blue winged Minlas, Streak-breasted Scimitar Babblers, Rufous-capped Babblers, and both
Arctic and Pale-legged/Sakhalin Leaf Warblers. There was also a female
Hainan Blue Flycatcher and, a scarce bird in this area,
Yellow-bellied Prinia.
My last bird of the day before the rain came down was a
Sooty Flycatcher, showing heavy streaks on the breast, but with too much darkness on the underparts to be Grey-streaked, which should also be coming through over the next few weeks.