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The Magic Roundabout (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter MKinHK
- Start date
thirudevaram
Trapped in mist ***s
Lol, you managed a photo with your phone? Also, from what i have observed, Rustic's are bit tame than the other wintering buntings in Shanghai. Or jus say the lady loved your company
Good to see the ocularis white wagtail in your patch, you would have been certainly bored by the leucopsis x alboides. Grey Bushchat is a gorgeous little bird. Roundabout is growing.
Good to see the ocularis white wagtail in your patch, you would have been certainly bored by the leucopsis x alboides. Grey Bushchat is a gorgeous little bird. Roundabout is growing.
MKinHK
Mike Kilburn
Awesome though my wit, charm, captivating prose (thanks Gretchen!) vast personal wealth and dashing good looks are, I have to, humbly, agree that it must have been the sheer force of my animal magnetism that has delivered the goods on this occasion Dev!
I showed the photo some some of my mates last night, including the Secretary of the Records Committee, who told me it was so bad it would probably prejudice rather than help my submission!
Anyway . . .
More good news from the Roundabout yesterday in the shape of a Mountain Tailorbird (104) that flashed its brilliant yellow belly at me a few times on the Eastern Tangle without ever giving me a reasonable chance at a photograph.
Other highlights were a curious female (yes, yes I know!) Siberian Rubythroat, the Wryneck, a couple of Grey-backed Thrushes and a distantly heard Chinese Blackbird, four flyover Oriental Turtle Doves three Dusky Warblers a couple of YBWs and a Pallas's Leaf Warbler, three female Daurian Redstarts and a Long-tailed Shrike.
I showed the photo some some of my mates last night, including the Secretary of the Records Committee, who told me it was so bad it would probably prejudice rather than help my submission!
Anyway . . .
More good news from the Roundabout yesterday in the shape of a Mountain Tailorbird (104) that flashed its brilliant yellow belly at me a few times on the Eastern Tangle without ever giving me a reasonable chance at a photograph.
Other highlights were a curious female (yes, yes I know!) Siberian Rubythroat, the Wryneck, a couple of Grey-backed Thrushes and a distantly heard Chinese Blackbird, four flyover Oriental Turtle Doves three Dusky Warblers a couple of YBWs and a Pallas's Leaf Warbler, three female Daurian Redstarts and a Long-tailed Shrike.
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MKinHK
Mike Kilburn
Maintaining the autumn's excellent run a Bull-headed Shrike (107) - messed up the counting with the Tailorbird - was on the Eastern Tangle at lunchtime today. Also here were a warbler that sounded like Manchurian Bush Warbler and looked like Brownish-flanked Bush Warbler, but will haveto go down as one that got away for now.
Other bits and pieces includes Pallas's Leaf, Yellow-browed and Dusky Warblers, Grey-backed Thrush, two Daurian Redstarts and a drift-over Black Kite.
Great, Little and Reef Egrets were on the silt curtain again as I came in on the bus this morning.
Cheers
Mike
Other bits and pieces includes Pallas's Leaf, Yellow-browed and Dusky Warblers, Grey-backed Thrush, two Daurian Redstarts and a drift-over Black Kite.
Great, Little and Reef Egrets were on the silt curtain again as I came in on the bus this morning.
Cheers
Mike
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MKinHK
Mike Kilburn
It seemed like an aeon had passed since my last trip to the roundabout way back in November! Today I had barely 40 minutes between meetings, but the effort was well rewarded.
Starting at the golf course there was little on show except for a couple of Richard's Pipits, but the Northern Edge had at least one fine male Grey-backed Thrush another thrush sp. and an Olive-backed Pipit.
The Western Tangle had been pruned since I was away, but still delivered two new species - a very friendly Taiga Flycatcher (108) and a Chestnut Bulbul (109) making my fifth bulbul and ninth flycatcher. I also got onto a female Grey-backed Thrush, but another couple of thrushes slipped away unseen.
Other birds included a Long-tailed Shrike, Dusky and Yellow-browed Warblers, a Black-necked Starling, two Black Kites, an unidentified thrush and a large mystery warbler.
Cheers
Mike
Starting at the golf course there was little on show except for a couple of Richard's Pipits, but the Northern Edge had at least one fine male Grey-backed Thrush another thrush sp. and an Olive-backed Pipit.
The Western Tangle had been pruned since I was away, but still delivered two new species - a very friendly Taiga Flycatcher (108) and a Chestnut Bulbul (109) making my fifth bulbul and ninth flycatcher. I also got onto a female Grey-backed Thrush, but another couple of thrushes slipped away unseen.
Other birds included a Long-tailed Shrike, Dusky and Yellow-browed Warblers, a Black-necked Starling, two Black Kites, an unidentified thrush and a large mystery warbler.
Cheers
Mike
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MKinHK
Mike Kilburn
For the first day in ages I had no new patch ticks, but a fine male Japanese Thrush in the leaf litter on the Eastern Tangle amongst no less than seven Grey-backed Thrushes brought the total for the quarter to 75. Two Chinese Blackbirds made it ten individual thrushes.
Other highlights included a Wryneck, the Taiga Flycatcherfor a second day, a female Daurian Redstart two Pallas's Leaf Warblers, three Dusky Warblers and a pair of Black-necked Starlings .
Other highlights included a Wryneck, the Taiga Flycatcherfor a second day, a female Daurian Redstart two Pallas's Leaf Warblers, three Dusky Warblers and a pair of Black-necked Starlings .
MKinHK
Mike Kilburn
A truly horrible day - cold, wet, and rainy - and not many birds to make up for it.
The pick of the bunch were the now expected Wryneck, and an Eastern Buzzard that was hounded off by the local pair of Large-billed Crows.
The supporting cast included my first Asian Brown Flycatcher for a few weeks hunting close to the ground, two female Daurian Redstarts, a fine male Grey-backed Thrush on the northern edge, a Chinese Blackbird, four Richard's Pipits a Dusky Warbler and a YBW.
Hoping this cold front will bring some more birds to replace all those that have just cleared out.
Cheers
Mike
The pick of the bunch were the now expected Wryneck, and an Eastern Buzzard that was hounded off by the local pair of Large-billed Crows.
The supporting cast included my first Asian Brown Flycatcher for a few weeks hunting close to the ground, two female Daurian Redstarts, a fine male Grey-backed Thrush on the northern edge, a Chinese Blackbird, four Richard's Pipits a Dusky Warbler and a YBW.
Hoping this cold front will bring some more birds to replace all those that have just cleared out.
Cheers
Mike
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MKinHK
Mike Kilburn
Another horrible wet day, but my diligence was more than well rewarded with my first White's Thrush (110) (the Chinese name translates as Tiger-striped Ground Thrush) lurking on the Western Tangle. It was pretty shy and I only had relatively distant views, but it was more than worthy of being my tenth thrush species on the Magic Roundabout.
An unusually deep blue male pandoo Blue Rock Thrush showed exceptionally well - hunting from the top of a bright orange traffic cone on the Grassy Patch, and unlike the White's Thrush was gracious enough to allow me to get some reasonable record shots.
Other birds seen despite the murky weather included a Brown-flanked Bush Warbler, my first Great Tit and Common Tailorbird for a while, a Chinese Blackbird foraging on the waterlogged lawn of the core area, plus a couple of female Daurian Redstarts, a YBW, a Black-necked Starling, two Olive-backed Pipits and I once again knocked the Eastern Buzzard out of the Western Tangle.
I also had brief views of a flycatcher that with the naked eye just didn't look right for Asian Brown Flycatcher - too brown - too much tail-cocking and what looked like it might have been a pale brown wing-bar. Stupidly I blew it by going for the camera instead of the bins. Very much hope it's there tomorrow, by which time the rain should have moved on.
Cheers
Mike
An unusually deep blue male pandoo Blue Rock Thrush showed exceptionally well - hunting from the top of a bright orange traffic cone on the Grassy Patch, and unlike the White's Thrush was gracious enough to allow me to get some reasonable record shots.
Other birds seen despite the murky weather included a Brown-flanked Bush Warbler, my first Great Tit and Common Tailorbird for a while, a Chinese Blackbird foraging on the waterlogged lawn of the core area, plus a couple of female Daurian Redstarts, a YBW, a Black-necked Starling, two Olive-backed Pipits and I once again knocked the Eastern Buzzard out of the Western Tangle.
I also had brief views of a flycatcher that with the naked eye just didn't look right for Asian Brown Flycatcher - too brown - too much tail-cocking and what looked like it might have been a pale brown wing-bar. Stupidly I blew it by going for the camera instead of the bins. Very much hope it's there tomorrow, by which time the rain should have moved on.
Cheers
Mike
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thrush
Craig Brelsford (大山雀)
Hi Mike, I always appreciate your reports from The Magic Roundabout.
According to the IOC, White's and scaly thrush are two species, the former taking the Latin name Zoothera aurea, the latter taking Z. dauma. In Chinese, Z. dauma retains the old "tiger-striped ground thrush" (虎斑地鸫, hǔbān dìdōng), while Z. aurea is called "White's tiger thrush" (怀氏虎鸫, huáishì hǔdōng).
MKinHK
Mike Kilburn
Christmas arrived a early - at 10:36 today to be precise, when (all together and to to the tune of "the Twelve Days of Christmas") . . .
The week before Christmas Geoff Carey Whatsapped me:
"A Little Curlew by the first tee".
This was agonising as I can see the golf course from my office, but had meetings all the way up until lunchtime and no prospect of getting away. The best I could do was to drag my birding kit to my pre-lunch meeting to enable a swift escape the minute it ended. Meeting concluded I zipped off to the golf course and found the bird straight away, and pretty much where Geoff had left it, wandering around close to the clubhouse between the fairway of the first hole and the ninth green.
It performed superbly, coming in to within 20 metres as it probed its way across the short turf, studiously ignoring golfers, lawn-mowing machines and the constant background of aircraft noise. This was unusual, as normally they are pretty flighty and rarely allow close approach.
For it even be here at all was a miracle in itself. Little Curlew is a passage bird in spring (regular in very small numbers) and autumn (rare), with no previous records between the end of October and mid April. The airport is a good site for this species, and Geoff had gripped me with another on the airfield on 29th October that I couldn't get to.
I was able to get a few shots, but thankfully two of the quality photographers, John and Martin, showed up with the heavy artillery and I look forward to seeing some top class shots. The problem was that I would have been forced to increase the boundary of the patch in order to count it - something I was reluctant to do. My solution was to go back to the terminal and scour the golf course from the walkway on the far side from where the bird was showing. Thankfully this worked out well, as after a short while the Little Curlew (111) emerged and showed well enough for me to nail a couple of shots at extreme zoom. Whether the bird is identifiable in these pix is highly debatable, but there is no question that it was indeed the same bird and anyway . . . my patch, my rules!
Other birds seen today included a tight flock of 100-odd Silky Starlings (a high count) feeding on the turf near Terminal One, a male philippensis Blue Rock Thrush on the golf course, plus the same rather large male Japanese Thrush and three or four Grey-backed Thrushes on the Eastern Tangle, along with a Dusky Warbler and the Eastern Buzzard, now into the third day of its stay, flew right over my head.
If all that were not enough the wind and rain of the last two days had washed away all the pollution so the whole of Hong Kong was bathed in glorious, if rather chilly, sunshine.
Geoff also had a lugens White Wagtail and a Plain Prinia. The latter is one I still need for the patch list, but after nailing such a monster bird I figured, in contravention of my birding motto* . . . meh.
Cheers
Mike
* = Always be greedy
The week before Christmas Geoff Carey Whatsapped me:
"A Little Curlew by the first tee".
This was agonising as I can see the golf course from my office, but had meetings all the way up until lunchtime and no prospect of getting away. The best I could do was to drag my birding kit to my pre-lunch meeting to enable a swift escape the minute it ended. Meeting concluded I zipped off to the golf course and found the bird straight away, and pretty much where Geoff had left it, wandering around close to the clubhouse between the fairway of the first hole and the ninth green.
It performed superbly, coming in to within 20 metres as it probed its way across the short turf, studiously ignoring golfers, lawn-mowing machines and the constant background of aircraft noise. This was unusual, as normally they are pretty flighty and rarely allow close approach.
For it even be here at all was a miracle in itself. Little Curlew is a passage bird in spring (regular in very small numbers) and autumn (rare), with no previous records between the end of October and mid April. The airport is a good site for this species, and Geoff had gripped me with another on the airfield on 29th October that I couldn't get to.
I was able to get a few shots, but thankfully two of the quality photographers, John and Martin, showed up with the heavy artillery and I look forward to seeing some top class shots. The problem was that I would have been forced to increase the boundary of the patch in order to count it - something I was reluctant to do. My solution was to go back to the terminal and scour the golf course from the walkway on the far side from where the bird was showing. Thankfully this worked out well, as after a short while the Little Curlew (111) emerged and showed well enough for me to nail a couple of shots at extreme zoom. Whether the bird is identifiable in these pix is highly debatable, but there is no question that it was indeed the same bird and anyway . . . my patch, my rules!
Other birds seen today included a tight flock of 100-odd Silky Starlings (a high count) feeding on the turf near Terminal One, a male philippensis Blue Rock Thrush on the golf course, plus the same rather large male Japanese Thrush and three or four Grey-backed Thrushes on the Eastern Tangle, along with a Dusky Warbler and the Eastern Buzzard, now into the third day of its stay, flew right over my head.
If all that were not enough the wind and rain of the last two days had washed away all the pollution so the whole of Hong Kong was bathed in glorious, if rather chilly, sunshine.
Geoff also had a lugens White Wagtail and a Plain Prinia. The latter is one I still need for the patch list, but after nailing such a monster bird I figured, in contravention of my birding motto* . . . meh.
Cheers
Mike
* = Always be greedy
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thirudevaram
Trapped in mist ***s
:king: lovely little bird for the roundabout. Looks like Santa dropped a big gift early :t:
MKinHK
Mike Kilburn
Thnaks for the clarification and for your kind words Craig.
Yes indeed dev - a great early present. The bird was still present today at lunchtime, and this time at the right end of the course to at least be visible from the walkway.
John Holmes has posted a much better pic on the HKBWS website.
Other birds present included three Common Sandpipers, a Eurasian Kestrel, the Dusky Shrike and eight Richard's Pipits.
Elsewhere, the Roundabout was quieter, with four Grey-backed Thrushes, a female Daurian Redstart, three OBPs, two Pallas's Leaf Warblers, Yellow-browed and Dusky Warblers plus Great Tit, Common Tailorbird and a Spotted Dove.
Cheers,
Mike
Yes indeed dev - a great early present. The bird was still present today at lunchtime, and this time at the right end of the course to at least be visible from the walkway.
John Holmes has posted a much better pic on the HKBWS website.
Other birds present included three Common Sandpipers, a Eurasian Kestrel, the Dusky Shrike and eight Richard's Pipits.
Elsewhere, the Roundabout was quieter, with four Grey-backed Thrushes, a female Daurian Redstart, three OBPs, two Pallas's Leaf Warblers, Yellow-browed and Dusky Warblers plus Great Tit, Common Tailorbird and a Spotted Dove.
Cheers,
Mike
Jeff Hopkins
Just another...observer
Wow, if that guy sticks around I might just have to delay my connection through Hong Kong next month.
MKinHK
Mike Kilburn
Many thanks for posting these fine shots John.
Slightly gutted it wasn't my find, but no question I'd rather have seen it than not! The bird was present again yesterday. I didn't see it, but others did, and since it looks pretty settled I'm hoping it may stay a while.
There were a few other birds about. The highlight was an Osprey eating a fish on the runway approach lights. I was delighted to pick it up from my sea watching point (see pic) as it was my 80th species on the Roundabout for the quarter! I still have another 5 days in the office before the end of the year.
Once again there was a Blue Rock Thrush on the golf course, four or five Grey-backed Thrushes - one of which appeared to show a dark eyestripe, but this is just a trick of the light, and the big male Japanese Thrush. I also got my first shots of one of three Pallas's Leaf Warbler, picked up a couple of Dusky Warblers and a calling YBW and had a flyover Black Kite.
Cheers
Mike
Slightly gutted it wasn't my find, but no question I'd rather have seen it than not! The bird was present again yesterday. I didn't see it, but others did, and since it looks pretty settled I'm hoping it may stay a while.
There were a few other birds about. The highlight was an Osprey eating a fish on the runway approach lights. I was delighted to pick it up from my sea watching point (see pic) as it was my 80th species on the Roundabout for the quarter! I still have another 5 days in the office before the end of the year.
Once again there was a Blue Rock Thrush on the golf course, four or five Grey-backed Thrushes - one of which appeared to show a dark eyestripe, but this is just a trick of the light, and the big male Japanese Thrush. I also got my first shots of one of three Pallas's Leaf Warbler, picked up a couple of Dusky Warblers and a calling YBW and had a flyover Black Kite.
Cheers
Mike
Attachments
MKinHK
Mike Kilburn
The Little Curlew was again at the far end of the golf course on a rather quiet day on which the Eastern Buzzard again flew up from the Western Tangle and the Eurasian Kestrel was again over the golf course and the Crested Bulbuls and Chinese Bulbuls were feeding on the heads of the nectar-rich bottle brushes.
Other than that a quartet of Olive-backed Pipits were very confiding on the Northern Edge, four Grey-backed Thrushes were spread around the site, a Daurian Redstart was on the Core Area with a Great Tit , Dusky Warblers were on the Western Edge and in a hedge next to the coach park and single Yellow-browed and Pallas's Leaf Warblers were also about.
Cheers
Mike
Other than that a quartet of Olive-backed Pipits were very confiding on the Northern Edge, four Grey-backed Thrushes were spread around the site, a Daurian Redstart was on the Core Area with a Great Tit , Dusky Warblers were on the Western Edge and in a hedge next to the coach park and single Yellow-browed and Pallas's Leaf Warblers were also about.
Cheers
Mike
MKinHK
Mike Kilburn
A few more birds yesterday as I tried an early start to see what else I might pick up.
The Little Curlew was halfway down the course and the thrushes were on good form on the Roundabout, as White's, Japanese, Grey-backed and Blue Rock Thrushes all showed reasonably well.
Other bits and pieces included the usual three phylloscs, four OBPs, Common Sandpiper and the female Eurasian Kestrel on the golf course again and the leucopsis x alboides White Wagtail dropping down onto a grass verge on the edge of the highway close to the golf course.
Also, from yesterday, a couple of pic of one of the Crested Bulbuls feeding on the bottle brush bushes, and a shot of a Grey-backed Thrush that was frustratingly obscured by foliage.
Merry Christmas!
Mike
The Little Curlew was halfway down the course and the thrushes were on good form on the Roundabout, as White's, Japanese, Grey-backed and Blue Rock Thrushes all showed reasonably well.
Other bits and pieces included the usual three phylloscs, four OBPs, Common Sandpiper and the female Eurasian Kestrel on the golf course again and the leucopsis x alboides White Wagtail dropping down onto a grass verge on the edge of the highway close to the golf course.
Also, from yesterday, a couple of pic of one of the Crested Bulbuls feeding on the bottle brush bushes, and a shot of a Grey-backed Thrush that was frustratingly obscured by foliage.
Merry Christmas!
Mike
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MKinHK
Mike Kilburn
Lunchtime at the roundabout was as quiet as it has been this quarter - there was nothing on the Core Area except for a Richard's Pipit, a Yellow-browed Warbler and a couple of leucopsis White Wagtails and only a female Daurian Redstart and a Grey-backed Thrush on the Western Tangle, with one more of the latter on the Northern Edge.
But as I emerged from behind the substation after a second attempt at photographing the OBPs (five today) a small-medium raptor whipped over showing a pale rump and landed briefly on a lamp post. It was almost immediately chased off by a couple of Large-billed Crows who continued to hassle it when it landed a bit further away and the magic of the SX50 superzoom allowed me to steal a couple of pix to to clearly see the pale head, strong supercilium and even . . . a grey cheek patch.
Grey-faced Buzzard (112) is actually rarer in December than Naumann's Thrush, having never previously been recorded in Hong Kong in this month before. Dozens do of course pass through in a good spring, but never mind that - it's still a top Christmas present to end the year.
I spent 10 minutes looking for the Little Curlew on the golf course but instead came up with the alboides x leucopsis White Wagtail three Little Ringed Plovers a couple of male Blue Rock Thrushes, and the Dusky Shrike finally came in range for a pic.
Cheers
Mike
But as I emerged from behind the substation after a second attempt at photographing the OBPs (five today) a small-medium raptor whipped over showing a pale rump and landed briefly on a lamp post. It was almost immediately chased off by a couple of Large-billed Crows who continued to hassle it when it landed a bit further away and the magic of the SX50 superzoom allowed me to steal a couple of pix to to clearly see the pale head, strong supercilium and even . . . a grey cheek patch.
Grey-faced Buzzard (112) is actually rarer in December than Naumann's Thrush, having never previously been recorded in Hong Kong in this month before. Dozens do of course pass through in a good spring, but never mind that - it's still a top Christmas present to end the year.
I spent 10 minutes looking for the Little Curlew on the golf course but instead came up with the alboides x leucopsis White Wagtail three Little Ringed Plovers a couple of male Blue Rock Thrushes, and the Dusky Shrike finally came in range for a pic.
Cheers
Mike
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MKinHK
Mike Kilburn
The highlights of the penultimate day's birding of 2013 on the Roundabout were close views of a one-barred Greenish Warbler hunting close to the ground on the Eastern Tangle, which was one of four phyllosc species (along with Yellow-browed, Pallas's Leaf and Dusky Warblers and the White's Thrush along with four Grey-backed Thrushes, two Japanese Thrushes and a Chinese Blackbird.
Other bits and pieces included the Wryneck, which finally allowed me the chance for a (pretty ropey) photo, a female Daurian Redstart, the leucopsis x alboides White Wagtail, the Kestrel and a Common Sandpiper, but no Little Curlew, alas, on the golf course.
Cheers
Mike
Other bits and pieces included the Wryneck, which finally allowed me the chance for a (pretty ropey) photo, a female Daurian Redstart, the leucopsis x alboides White Wagtail, the Kestrel and a Common Sandpiper, but no Little Curlew, alas, on the golf course.
Cheers
Mike
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