thirudevaram
Trapped in mist ***s
Brilliant bird and shot Mike! Please let me know if you are hiring.
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The Magic Roundabout (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter MKinHK
- Start date
thirudevaram
Trapped in mist ***s
McM, your findings are hardcoded in my memory. We had a female this autumn as well, that makes it two in a row.
But, a Verditer in a work place is just too tempting.
Jeff Hopkins
Just another...observer
One of my favorite birds. Nice shot, Mike.
MKinHK
Mike Kilburn
Many thanks gents - it was a real highlight to have this cracking bird sit so still in such good light for so long . . .
Having abandoned the patch for the tropical delights of western Mexico last week I was pleased to get back to the Roundabout at lunchtime today in hot pursuit of the quarterly target of 82 species. At the beginning of the session the total stood on 71.
The grassy edge to the golf course immediately provided an addition to the score as at least 3 Pallas's Leaf Warblers headed a fine mix of common phylloscs that also included a couple of Yellow-browed Warblers and two very showy Dusky Warblers . I also had a not-very-gingery Japanese-type Bush Warbler that I am tempted to put down as Japanese rather than Manchurian on the basis that it looked so different from the super-ginger and rather larger bird I saw on 18th November.
I also heard and briefly saw a male Chinese Blackbird, plus the usual leucopsis White Wagtail, Olive-backed and Richard's Pipits, plus the lingering femaleEurasian Kestrel on the golf course. A male Daurian Redstart was on the the Northern Edge, along with a Little Egret from the sea watch point.
The Western Tangle proved to be the hotspot of the day, holding a Wryneck, a hyperactive and very noisy Taiga Flycatcher and I heard the first Pale Thrush of the autumn here, bringing the quarter's list to 73, before another or the same bird showed on the Eastern Tangle and then the Core Area.
Cheers
Mike
PS As I got on the bus this evening a Whatsapp message from Morten the birder pilot told of this autumn's second Northern Lapwing at HKIA (but off-patch) appearing at the southwestern corner of the airfield.
Having abandoned the patch for the tropical delights of western Mexico last week I was pleased to get back to the Roundabout at lunchtime today in hot pursuit of the quarterly target of 82 species. At the beginning of the session the total stood on 71.
The grassy edge to the golf course immediately provided an addition to the score as at least 3 Pallas's Leaf Warblers headed a fine mix of common phylloscs that also included a couple of Yellow-browed Warblers and two very showy Dusky Warblers . I also had a not-very-gingery Japanese-type Bush Warbler that I am tempted to put down as Japanese rather than Manchurian on the basis that it looked so different from the super-ginger and rather larger bird I saw on 18th November.
I also heard and briefly saw a male Chinese Blackbird, plus the usual leucopsis White Wagtail, Olive-backed and Richard's Pipits, plus the lingering femaleEurasian Kestrel on the golf course. A male Daurian Redstart was on the the Northern Edge, along with a Little Egret from the sea watch point.
The Western Tangle proved to be the hotspot of the day, holding a Wryneck, a hyperactive and very noisy Taiga Flycatcher and I heard the first Pale Thrush of the autumn here, bringing the quarter's list to 73, before another or the same bird showed on the Eastern Tangle and then the Core Area.
Cheers
Mike
PS As I got on the bus this evening a Whatsapp message from Morten the birder pilot told of this autumn's second Northern Lapwing at HKIA (but off-patch) appearing at the southwestern corner of the airfield.
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MKinHK
Mike Kilburn
Today's highlights were a nice bright first winter Grey-backed Thrush lurking on the Western Tangle and a White-throated Kingfisher in the trees along the golf course, along with a two Japanese/Manchurian Bush Warblers that I didn't get much on, plus a high count of four Daurian Redstarts across the site.
Aslo different from yesterday were the pair of Plain Prinias again next to the golf course and both Black Kite and Great Egret on the N Runway landing lights jetty.
Bummer of the day was not getting onto a calling bunting - with only Black-faced and Chestnut seen here so far there's plenty of scope for adding to the list.
Cheers
Mike
Aslo different from yesterday were the pair of Plain Prinias again next to the golf course and both Black Kite and Great Egret on the N Runway landing lights jetty.
Bummer of the day was not getting onto a calling bunting - with only Black-faced and Chestnut seen here so far there's plenty of scope for adding to the list.
Cheers
Mike
MKinHK
Mike Kilburn
A rare treat to get out to the Roundabout four times this week.
Yesterday I managed a reasonable shot of a fine male Japanese Thrush on the Northern Edge and a few dodgy ones of the first of two Pale Thrushes on the edge of the golf course. An Asian Brown Flycatcher was on the Core Area along with an intriguing large, long-tailed accro which bounced around calling in the tops of the trees in a very un-acro-like manner, and the Taiga Flycatcher and Buzzard remind typically elusive.
Today the undoubted highlight was a gathering of 15 Black Kites on the end of the Northern Runway - I'm not sure I've ever had more than three or four together previously at the airport (and no bad thing!). This area also produced a White-throated Kingfisher, a couple of Blue Rock Thrushes and a female Daurian Redstart, while the Northern Edge held a more confiding Pale Thrush, the Western Tangle a first winter Grey-backed Thrush and the Taiga Flycatcher and the Eastern Tangle my second Siberian Rubythroat of the quarter. The Eurasian Kestrel was also back on the golf course today - along with a male Stejneger's Stonechat, my favourite leucopsis X alboides White Wagtail, and the usual range of phylloscs and bush warblers.
Cheers
Mike
Yesterday I managed a reasonable shot of a fine male Japanese Thrush on the Northern Edge and a few dodgy ones of the first of two Pale Thrushes on the edge of the golf course. An Asian Brown Flycatcher was on the Core Area along with an intriguing large, long-tailed accro which bounced around calling in the tops of the trees in a very un-acro-like manner, and the Taiga Flycatcher and Buzzard remind typically elusive.
Today the undoubted highlight was a gathering of 15 Black Kites on the end of the Northern Runway - I'm not sure I've ever had more than three or four together previously at the airport (and no bad thing!). This area also produced a White-throated Kingfisher, a couple of Blue Rock Thrushes and a female Daurian Redstart, while the Northern Edge held a more confiding Pale Thrush, the Western Tangle a first winter Grey-backed Thrush and the Taiga Flycatcher and the Eastern Tangle my second Siberian Rubythroat of the quarter. The Eurasian Kestrel was also back on the golf course today - along with a male Stejneger's Stonechat, my favourite leucopsis X alboides White Wagtail, and the usual range of phylloscs and bush warblers.
Cheers
Mike
thrush
Craig Brelsford (大山雀)
More great work, Mike. Again enjoy your Hong Kong perspective. It's a bit like reading reports from the Shanghai region from 6 to 8 weeks ago--some of the stuff you're seeing now has long since passed through here. For ex., we had but 1 Stejneger's Stonechat on Chongming Island yesterday--and I was surprised to find even that lone individual so far north at this time of year.
MKinHK
Mike Kilburn
Thanks Craig - it is good to get a sense of the timing of passage as Tom's birds appear in Shanghai and Nanchang and then trickle down to us in HK.
I've been out of action for the past week with a pulled hamstring that has put me on a strict diet of no walking or birding, so I was pleased to pick up what I presume is the same Northern Lapwing I saw over the golf course almost six weeks ago on the same patch of grass that hosted the Grey-Headed Lapwings back in March. This was a drive-by sighting but thankfully nothing except Spinifex Pigeon has that head profile - and these are few and far between in Hong Kong!
Cheers
Mike
I've been out of action for the past week with a pulled hamstring that has put me on a strict diet of no walking or birding, so I was pleased to pick up what I presume is the same Northern Lapwing I saw over the golf course almost six weeks ago on the same patch of grass that hosted the Grey-Headed Lapwings back in March. This was a drive-by sighting but thankfully nothing except Spinifex Pigeon has that head profile - and these are few and far between in Hong Kong!
Cheers
Mike
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That's too bad. Hope it doesn't put a crimp in your Christmas plans. Wishing you a Joyous Noel!
MKinHK
Mike Kilburn
A belated Merry Christmas to you too Gretchen!
The month, and the year, has petered out completely as I am now stuck at home making sure our new puppy doesn't burst her stitches after getting "fixed" on Monday. In this time I've missed out on twitching a lifer Japanese Night Heron (the first for more than 20 years in HK), and today a female White-tailed Robin (more records and one I'm more likely to claw back at a later date) and just a few minutes ago a first HK record of Black-browed Barbet has also been reported while I lie chained to the sofa, Tilly, and her head cone.
As a result I have not been into work this week and therefore not got to the Roundabout. How weird it is to be missing work!
Anyway this quarter has not matched either the Naumann's Thrush of my first year, or the high diversity of my second year, but has nonetheless been enjoyable for the fine run of new species throughout October and November. 73 species is really not bad considering I lost two crucial weeks in October/November (suffering terribly on holiday in Sri Lanka!), and all but four birding days in December.
Best wishes to everyone for the New Year!
Cheers
Mike
The month, and the year, has petered out completely as I am now stuck at home making sure our new puppy doesn't burst her stitches after getting "fixed" on Monday. In this time I've missed out on twitching a lifer Japanese Night Heron (the first for more than 20 years in HK), and today a female White-tailed Robin (more records and one I'm more likely to claw back at a later date) and just a few minutes ago a first HK record of Black-browed Barbet has also been reported while I lie chained to the sofa, Tilly, and her head cone.
As a result I have not been into work this week and therefore not got to the Roundabout. How weird it is to be missing work!
Anyway this quarter has not matched either the Naumann's Thrush of my first year, or the high diversity of my second year, but has nonetheless been enjoyable for the fine run of new species throughout October and November. 73 species is really not bad considering I lost two crucial weeks in October/November (suffering terribly on holiday in Sri Lanka!), and all but four birding days in December.
Best wishes to everyone for the New Year!
Cheers
Mike
Attachments
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MKinHK
Mike Kilburn
After almost a month away I finally got back on the patch three times this week.
The highlights were:
Tuesday 5th January
. . . started well as I picked up twenty-odd Silky Starlings close to the Dragonair Building and three or possibly four Chinese Blackbirds feeding on the waterlogged lawn south of the golf course from the bus on my way in to work.
The Roundabout itself delivered many of the usual suspects, with added colour from the male Daurian Redstart, male and female Japanese Thrushes and a Crested Bulbul that posed nicely by the path on the Western Tangle where half a dozen Scaly-breasted Munias, which is an occasional autumn/winter wanderer, dropped in for a drink.
Thursday 8th January
. . . again started well as a Common Sandpiper, which I somehow contrived to miss last quarter, was on the south Roundabout and the first of the Fork-tailed Sunbirds turned up on the nectar-rich red bottlebrush (my name for it) on the Western Tangle shortly before I had a record nine Grey Herons from the sea watch point.
Over by the golf course one of the heavy Bush Warblers challenged convention by posing long enough on a bare branch for me to grabs a few shots and the Scaly-breasted Munias posed high in a bare tree and as I walked back a Swintail Snipe that had been hunkered down invisibly in the grass flipped up and away.
Friday 9th January
This morning a Little Ringed Plover was on the first patch of waterlogged grass as I ant past on the bus and the Chinese Blackbirds were again on the same patch at the farther end.
At lunchtime the strip alongside the golf course was quieter so I carried on south and was delighted to pick up 20-odd Red-throated Pipits, a couple of Richard's Pipits, a taivana Yellow Wagtail, and not one but three LRPs at the far end. Now that there is a gap in ht fence around the construction site for the HK-Zhuhai Macau Bridge I was able to get a count of the ardeids on the silt curtain out in the bay - 180!
On the way back the four Chinese Blackbirds were again out on the lawn, a White-throated Kingfisher fled from the treeline and a second and different female Fork-tailed Sunbird - this one showing a pale lower mandible - was in another bottle brush, along with a Dusky Warbler and a Wryneck hunting for ants around the roots of a tree allowed a very close approach.
As I headed for the Northern Edge the leucopsis x alboides White Wagtail was on the roadside verge with a leucopsis White Wagtail, the Kestrel was as close as I've seen it and the bush warbler scuttled, grumbling, away.
The elevated sea watch point revealed the Eastern Buzzard perched on the sea wall and a Black Kite on the landing lights jetty and I picked up a male Daurian Redstart on the way past. A female Japanese Thrush was too curious to fly away when it should have and a flash of yellow in the thicket by the water-clogged leaves eventually succumbed to my pishing and revealed itself as a lovely Mountain Tailorbird, just as the regular Common Tailorbird appeared on a branch above it! The Pale Thrush chakked and chattered, but did not show, unlike my second Wryneck of the day, while the Taiga Flycatcher zipped off before I could get bins on, but did at least have the grace to call.
All the regular resident birds put in an appearance, helping the list to an absolutely amazing 39 species!
Its good to be back!
Cheers
Mike
The highlights were:
- a new species - two different Fork-tailed Sunbirds (135), which appeared yesterday on the Eastern Tangle and today close to the filling station at the other end of the golf course;
- my second record of Mountain Tailorbird, which appeared close to the remaining water in the drain on the Western Tangle;
- an astonishing count of 39 species seen today - by far my most ever in a single day - with Tree Sparrow requiring a swift stroll across to the taxi rank just before close of play being the last; This total is amazing as I managed just 42 or 43 species in three quarters in my first year on the patch and I'm already on 42 for this quarter after just three visits!
- four Chinese Blackbirds, a pair of Japanese Thrushes and a very flighty Pale Thrush spread across the patch;
- finding two Wrynecks on the patch on the same day;
- photographing one of the Japanese/Manchurian Bush Warblers.
- counting some 180 mixed ardeids on the silt curtain in the bay, just after 20 Red-throated Pipits flew away from a patch holding three Little Ringed Plovers and a taivana Yellow Wagtail
Tuesday 5th January
. . . started well as I picked up twenty-odd Silky Starlings close to the Dragonair Building and three or possibly four Chinese Blackbirds feeding on the waterlogged lawn south of the golf course from the bus on my way in to work.
The Roundabout itself delivered many of the usual suspects, with added colour from the male Daurian Redstart, male and female Japanese Thrushes and a Crested Bulbul that posed nicely by the path on the Western Tangle where half a dozen Scaly-breasted Munias, which is an occasional autumn/winter wanderer, dropped in for a drink.
Thursday 8th January
. . . again started well as a Common Sandpiper, which I somehow contrived to miss last quarter, was on the south Roundabout and the first of the Fork-tailed Sunbirds turned up on the nectar-rich red bottlebrush (my name for it) on the Western Tangle shortly before I had a record nine Grey Herons from the sea watch point.
Over by the golf course one of the heavy Bush Warblers challenged convention by posing long enough on a bare branch for me to grabs a few shots and the Scaly-breasted Munias posed high in a bare tree and as I walked back a Swintail Snipe that had been hunkered down invisibly in the grass flipped up and away.
Friday 9th January
This morning a Little Ringed Plover was on the first patch of waterlogged grass as I ant past on the bus and the Chinese Blackbirds were again on the same patch at the farther end.
At lunchtime the strip alongside the golf course was quieter so I carried on south and was delighted to pick up 20-odd Red-throated Pipits, a couple of Richard's Pipits, a taivana Yellow Wagtail, and not one but three LRPs at the far end. Now that there is a gap in ht fence around the construction site for the HK-Zhuhai Macau Bridge I was able to get a count of the ardeids on the silt curtain out in the bay - 180!
On the way back the four Chinese Blackbirds were again out on the lawn, a White-throated Kingfisher fled from the treeline and a second and different female Fork-tailed Sunbird - this one showing a pale lower mandible - was in another bottle brush, along with a Dusky Warbler and a Wryneck hunting for ants around the roots of a tree allowed a very close approach.
As I headed for the Northern Edge the leucopsis x alboides White Wagtail was on the roadside verge with a leucopsis White Wagtail, the Kestrel was as close as I've seen it and the bush warbler scuttled, grumbling, away.
The elevated sea watch point revealed the Eastern Buzzard perched on the sea wall and a Black Kite on the landing lights jetty and I picked up a male Daurian Redstart on the way past. A female Japanese Thrush was too curious to fly away when it should have and a flash of yellow in the thicket by the water-clogged leaves eventually succumbed to my pishing and revealed itself as a lovely Mountain Tailorbird, just as the regular Common Tailorbird appeared on a branch above it! The Pale Thrush chakked and chattered, but did not show, unlike my second Wryneck of the day, while the Taiga Flycatcher zipped off before I could get bins on, but did at least have the grace to call.
All the regular resident birds put in an appearance, helping the list to an absolutely amazing 39 species!
Its good to be back!
Cheers
Mike
Attachments
Mike, some excellent quality there. Congrats on managing to capture a Japanese/Manchurian Bush Warbler. I think photos like this are the most accurate of birds in habitat. It gives people a real sense of how the bird was seen and at least demonstrates you weren't using meal worms on a fixed prop! It is also nice again to see some flora that is still green. Love the picture of the Wryneck with the stripe on its back showing clearly. Sounds like a few wonderful outings in the most watched airport patch on the globe. Over 130 species on an airport patch? I believe you are the candidate for Hong Kong's first ever Steller's Sea Eagle!
MKinHK
Mike Kilburn
The sunbird is common enough in HK Kevin, so I'm a bit surprised its taken so long for them to show up. They are of course well worth looking at - this is about the right time for Gould's sunbird - one of those on the roundabout would realy be something!
No chance of any 'tog jiggery pokery (to use an excellent Scottish expression) from me Tom. Deliberately ttracting birds is definitely contra-indicated (to use a fine piece of American bureacratese) for a patch at an airport!
Frustrated not to get out today. A big cold front came through - rainy and windy yesterday followed by cold sunny blue skies today . . and the bins are at home where they're no use to man, beast or budgie!
Cheers
Mike
No chance of any 'tog jiggery pokery (to use an excellent Scottish expression) from me Tom. Deliberately ttracting birds is definitely contra-indicated (to use a fine piece of American bureacratese) for a patch at an airport!
Frustrated not to get out today. A big cold front came through - rainy and windy yesterday followed by cold sunny blue skies today . . and the bins are at home where they're no use to man, beast or budgie!
Cheers
Mike
Hey Mike, I've been following your Magic Roundabout for a wee while now, and despite not commenting before, I love it. It's so interesting reading about what's common in a completely different part of the world and what's not. Anyway, I was wondering if you upload your pictures to somewhere like Flickr?
Hope you get out birding soon!
Gus
Hope you get out birding soon!
Gus
MKinHK
Mike Kilburn
Many thanks Gus.
Even in HK terms the Roundabout is a pretty unusual patch - the location is determined by the fact its the only place I can get to from my offfice during the week, and the fact that it's probably one of the very few regularly covered patches anywhere in the world that is actively managed to discourage birds!
The flip side is that this makes the rewards allthe sweeter when they do appear.
I put a few pix on my Facebook site as well as here on BF, but I'm a birder first and photographer second, so the pix are less of a priority. Having said that I take many more pix that I display, and try only to post pix of a reasonable quality - except when documenting a new species (e.g. the recent pic of the Fork-tailed Sunbird).
I enjoyed a quick look at your blog - seems like a nice area, with the added benefit of offering the potential to attract some really good birds.
Cheers
Mike
Even in HK terms the Roundabout is a pretty unusual patch - the location is determined by the fact its the only place I can get to from my offfice during the week, and the fact that it's probably one of the very few regularly covered patches anywhere in the world that is actively managed to discourage birds!
The flip side is that this makes the rewards allthe sweeter when they do appear.
I put a few pix on my Facebook site as well as here on BF, but I'm a birder first and photographer second, so the pix are less of a priority. Having said that I take many more pix that I display, and try only to post pix of a reasonable quality - except when documenting a new species (e.g. the recent pic of the Fork-tailed Sunbird).
I enjoyed a quick look at your blog - seems like a nice area, with the added benefit of offering the potential to attract some really good birds.
Cheers
Mike
You certainly do well if it's a place that birds are deterred from! Cheers for the feedback about my blog.
And re photos, fair enough. I need to do that more. Just enjoying the birds rather than looking at them through a camera lens, although I have just bought a digiscoping adapter so I will be taking quite a few photos at the moment.
And re photos, fair enough. I need to do that more. Just enjoying the birds rather than looking at them through a camera lens, although I have just bought a digiscoping adapter so I will be taking quite a few photos at the moment.
MKinHK
Mike Kilburn
I found digiscoping a good compromise between birding and photography for many years, and only made the switch a year ago as neither of my patches really required a scope.
A look in my old patch thread - Ng Tung Chai, which is also on the China local patch page - will give you some idea of what I managed. Now I've made the transition to the Canon SX50 I can't sing its praises highly enough - amazing quality for such little cost and weight. There's another thread on BF that shows exactly what the really hardworking and talented can do.
Anyway . . . back to the Roundabout:
I had two and a half sessions this week (and hopefully one more tomorrow). It has been nothing like as spectacular as last week's day of mega diversity, but new birds for the quarter included a fine first winter male Grey-backed Thrush yesterday on the Western Tangle, a Magpie from the bus this morning, some 40 Heuglin's Gulls out on the sea beyond the North Runway landing lights yesterday and Tuesday,and a Blue Rock Thrushes being locked off the golf course floodlights yesterday by the long-staying Eurasian Kestrel.
Other good records this week include a male lugens White Wagtail, a Hair-crested Drongo and last quarter's Hoopoe. All were seen on the golf course by Geoff Carey on Monday.
I also had seven Red-throated Pipits, a Yellow Wagtail a Richard's Pipit and three Little Ringed Plovers on the lawn near the South Runway on Tuesday, along with a Common Sandpiper and just 20 Heuglin's Gulls, which had drifted a lot further out, from the Seawatch Point.
Monday's thirty minute sprint also added the Pale Thrush and an Asian Brown Flycatcher on the Core Area, while the Fork-tailed Sunbird was again present on the Eastern Tangle on both Monday and Tuesday, and the half-dozen-strong flock of Scaly-breasted Munias flew over to the Eastern Tangle for a drink on Tuesday.
Cheers
Mike
A look in my old patch thread - Ng Tung Chai, which is also on the China local patch page - will give you some idea of what I managed. Now I've made the transition to the Canon SX50 I can't sing its praises highly enough - amazing quality for such little cost and weight. There's another thread on BF that shows exactly what the really hardworking and talented can do.
Anyway . . . back to the Roundabout:
I had two and a half sessions this week (and hopefully one more tomorrow). It has been nothing like as spectacular as last week's day of mega diversity, but new birds for the quarter included a fine first winter male Grey-backed Thrush yesterday on the Western Tangle, a Magpie from the bus this morning, some 40 Heuglin's Gulls out on the sea beyond the North Runway landing lights yesterday and Tuesday,and a Blue Rock Thrushes being locked off the golf course floodlights yesterday by the long-staying Eurasian Kestrel.
Other good records this week include a male lugens White Wagtail, a Hair-crested Drongo and last quarter's Hoopoe. All were seen on the golf course by Geoff Carey on Monday.
I also had seven Red-throated Pipits, a Yellow Wagtail a Richard's Pipit and three Little Ringed Plovers on the lawn near the South Runway on Tuesday, along with a Common Sandpiper and just 20 Heuglin's Gulls, which had drifted a lot further out, from the Seawatch Point.
Monday's thirty minute sprint also added the Pale Thrush and an Asian Brown Flycatcher on the Core Area, while the Fork-tailed Sunbird was again present on the Eastern Tangle on both Monday and Tuesday, and the half-dozen-strong flock of Scaly-breasted Munias flew over to the Eastern Tangle for a drink on Tuesday.
Cheers
Mike
