The Magic Roundabout (1 Viewer)

[MKinHK]

An unexpectedly free lunch paid dividends today as I added four more birds to the list for the quarter.

First up was the tricky one. The White Wagtail pictured below is either lugens or ocularis, but telling them apart in winter plumage is not exactly straightforward. Any thoughmost gratefully received. At present I tend towards lumens based on the good definition of the black eyestripe in front of the eye and the absence of any hint of dark centres to the coverts. There may also be a dark blotch on the left wing above the coverts. Any thoughts most gratefully received.

It was in company with a more straightforward leucopsis White Wagtail on the same patch of lawn as a Richard's Pipit and in the same area the three Little Ringed Plovers were again on their usual patch of waterlogged lawn, A Dusky Warbler called a couple of times and a Chinese Blackbird flipped away across the road.

I was delighted to find a pandoo Blue Rock Thrush lurking in a tree out between the fairways on the golf course, but even though the light was poor a zoomed-in photo confirmed the all blue face and underparts.

From the seawatch point I picked up a couple of first winter Heuglin's Gulls, while three Grey Herons and a couple of Great Egrets were again on the jetty for the landing lights. I'm hoping that a few Black-tailed Gulls might show up next week as they did this time last year.

The small flock of Spotted Munias were again on the Western Tangle - lunchtime must be their current drinking and washing time - and the Eastern Tangle hosted a juvenile Black-crowned Night Heron and the briefest views of a female Siberian Rubythroat - my first January record.

Cheers
Mike

 

[thrush]

An unexpectedly free lunch paid dividends today as I added four more birds to the list for the quarter.

Congratulations especially on pandoo Blue Rock Thrush and Siberian Rubythroat!

 

[MKinHK]

Thanks Craig - a nice way to equal my previous best score for this quarter!

No new additions to the species list today but a second Grey-backed Thrush, this time an adult male, and the Pale Thrush were again on the Core Area, while the original Grey-backed Thrush was on the Western Tangle and a second Pale Thrush joined the first on the Northern Edge.

I also had a rather dull-looking Japanese Bush Warbler on the Eastern Tangle between the thorns and discarded plastic bottles and a Dusky Warbler lurking by the water sprinkler in the flowerbed close to the garbage truck park.

Who says birding here is not filled with romance and beauty!

Cheers
Mike

 

[MKinHK]

Two more good days on the roundabout this week:

Thursday 29th January

. . . started well as I picked up a Magpie carrying a stick up towards a tree near the Cathay Pacific complex from the bus, which strongly suggested they would breed this year. At lunchtime two Reef Egrets were on the silt curtain along with 130-odd mostly Little Egrets and two Hair-crested Drongos were in the trees next to the golf course.

I again found the lugens (not lumens as I was autocorrected last week) White Wagtail close to the filling station, and then added to the theme by finding the leucopsis x alboides White Wagtail over on the Northern Edge, where I also picked up a solitary Heuglin's Gull from the sea watch point, along with the three Grey Herons in the pic below.

A Japanese Bush Warbler was lurking on the Eastern Tangle and the Core Area provided a good finish with a calling Asian Brown Flycatcher (I always try to string this call for Red-breasted Flycatcher), a fine male Daurian Redstart and the long-staying male Pale Thrush, which disappeared at high speed.


Friday 30th January

. . . also started well with 40-odd Silky Starlings probing the waterlogged grass near the bus station. The lugens White Wagtail was again foraging at the roadside along with a couple of ocularis White Wagtails and OBPs. The top bird of the week was a Buff-bellied Pipit (136) in the waterlogged grass where the Red-throated Pipits and LRPs have been hanging out. I had wondered last week if there might have been one lurking in the flock of Red-throated Pipits, so I was delighted to get some reasonable views and a few confirmatory pix (see below). The taivanaB]Yellow Wagtail was again present here, as were the regulation Richard's Pipits.

I also had a better look at the female Pale Thrush that lurks in the trees close to where the Chinese Blackbirds (there were two again today) hang out. Its so small that every time it pops up into the shadows under the canopy of a huge bouganvillea, showing little more than the white in the outer tail feathers I wonder (briefly) if it's a bulbul, but today's view of pale pinky-peach flanks, super and moustachial stripe plus a rich brown back was much more satisfying.

The Japanese Bush Warbler and the Kestrel were again in the trees on the edge of the golf course, along with a female Daurian Redstart, but the Tangles were notable mostly for the thrushes that didn't show, although the male Pale Thrush was typically vocal in it is evasiveness.

Cheers
Mike

 

[GusHawk]

Great to see you've got another one on your increasingly Magical Roundabout!! A great bird too

 

[MKinHK]

A quiet Monday was followed by a much better Friday when two Japanese Thrushes, two Grey-backed Thrushes, the male Pale Thrush and a pandoo Blue Rock Thrush headed a decent list of birds that also included the Wryneck on the Western Tangle, the Asian Brown Flycatcher, three Pallas's Leaf Warblers and the male Daurian Redstart on the Core area and what, judging by the amount of white in the wing was a male lugens White Wagtail that flew up from the Grassy Verge before I could get a decent look at it.

Cheers
Mike

 

[johnjemi]

Grey-cheeked Thrush ? Shurely shome mishtake ?

Just trying to prove I'm paying attention.

 

[MKinHK]

If only they were Grey-cheeked John! Your attention has been noted and brownie points awarded as appropriate.

They were of course Grey-backed Thrushes.

Cheers
Mike

 

[MKinHK]

Today's highlights were finally getting reasonable views and dodgy pictures of the overwintering female Pale Thrush on the Core Area and doubling the high count of Hair-crested Drongos from two to four as I found a group in the beautifully flowering coral trees on the far side of the golf course.

Other bits and pieces included the pandoo Blue Rock Thrush, and a Scaly-breasted Munia on the golf course, the Asian Brown Flycatcher on the Core Area, seven OBPs on the Grassy Patch and the first winter male Grey-backed Thrush on the Western Tangle.

Cheers
Mike

 

[MKinHK]

Having played hard to get for the whole winter the Pale Thrush popped up again in the Core Area and posed for another shot. I also had a Chinese White Dolphin from the Seawatch Point - although the views were not a patch on those from a boat trip out to Sha Chau last weekend.

A Barn Swallow flying steadily East - my first migrant of the spring - and a couple of Heuglin's Gulls heading west out of the harbour were the highlights of an other wise routine winter day.

Cheers
Mike

 

[Frogfish]

Today's highlights were finally getting reasonable views and dodgy pictures of the overwintering female Pale Thrush on the Core Area and doubling the high count of Hair-crested Drongos from two to four as I found a group in the beautifully flowering coral trees on the far side of the golf course.

Other bits and pieces included the pandoo Blue Rock Thrush, and a Scaly-breasted Munia on the golf course, the Asian Brown Flycatcher on the Core Area, seven OBPs on the Grassy Patch and the first winter male Grey-backed Thrush on the Western Tangle.

Cheers
Mike

How much did you have to pay the Drongo to sit next to that lovely red flower for you

 

[MKinHK]

What do you mean Kevin - she was trying to seduce me!

On Monday an extended walk to the saturated grassland to th south of the golf course revealed a single adult White Cheeked Starling and the same lugens White Wagtail (the pic shows the diagnostically messy back) I saw a couple of weeks ago - but this time without a good portion of its tail - again hanging around the filling station with two male leucopsis White Wagtails, and on the same patch of grass as eight OBPs and a Richard's Pipit.

Back on the edge of the golf course the Bush Warbler showed for the first time in a couple of week and two Hair-creseted Drongos tried to hide in the foliage of the larger trees, while the long-staying Eurasian Kestrel was again perched on one of the trees between the fairways and the alboides x leucopsis White Wagtail was wandering about the carpark with a a new leucopsis friend, while a female Japanese Thrush and the dark-faced male Pale Thrush and the Asian Brown Flycatcher were in their usual spots on the western Tangle and the Core Area.



Cheers
Mike

 

[MKinHK]

Just one lunchtime (Monday)on the roundabout this week, with five Heuglin's Gulls migrating east from the seawatch point and my first Pacific Reef Egret from the roundabout proper. -all helping to strengthen case for recognition as a subprime sea watch point. The male Pale Thrush showed nicely on the Eastern Tangle and also had brief views of the male Japanese Thrush, a Grey-backed Thrush and a flyover Blue Rock Thrush. The female Eurasian Kestrel was again perched high above the golf course and the Eastern Buzzard was again perched on the sea wall

Cheers
Mike

 

[MKinHK]

Last week I was away in Paris for a conference and although I didn't even take my bins I did see a few birds that would be new to the thread. The best bird was a Eurasian Woodcock rather improbably seen flying alongside the road from the airport close to dusk, while more expected fare included Eurasian Blackbirds waking me up singing in the middle of the night, Woodpigeons all over the place, a Moorhen in the Tuileries Gardens, Great Cormorant, Mallard,Herring and Black-headed Gulls on the River Seine and both Blue and Great Tits in a park I walked round before a meeting on Tuesday lunchtime.

Today I was back on the Roundabout for the first time since the end of February, and the humid foggy weather of spring is very much upon us. Doing the extended route that includes the waterlogged grassy patch close to eastern end of the south runway I was surprised to find no waders, but just a single taivana Yellow Wagtail and a Richard's Pipit, plus a pandoo Blue Rock Thrush that looped away from a hidden perch on top of the giant billboard.I did also have a White-shouldered Starling in a stand of fruiting banyans that also held a couple of Silky Starlings.

A look out over the sea to check how many egrets were on the silt curtains was the decision of the day, as a sweep that delivered very few egrets (8 Great , 22 Little and 6 Grey Herons) also revealed an elegant long-necked bird bobbing on the waves - Great Crested Grebe - a totally unexpected 137th addition to the patch list! It was pretty distant, as the photo shows, but they all count.

The rest of the patch also produced a few birds and I ended up with a creditable, if not outstanding 27 species showing over lunchtime.

52 Japanese White-eyes - a new high count - were in the trees by the golf course (45) and the Northern Edge (7), a first winter male Grey-backed Thrush posed beautifully right under the flyover between the Tangles, but four other thrushes called and zipped away unseen. The over-wintering Wryneck was the sole, and very welcome, addition on the Western Tangle, A White-throated Kingfisher was on the golf course and an unusually singleton Scaly-breasted Munia was in the trees by the petrol station.

Four Olive-backed Pipits were on the Grassy Edge and two Richard's Pipits on the golf course were lingering vestiges of winter, while a couple of Barn Swallows zooming east were genuine early migrants.

With the meelia trees now starting to bloom I'm expecting the first flycatchers of spring in the next week or so - and hoping for (ok dreaming of) a spanking male elisae Narcissus as the star prize.

Cheers
Mike

 

[MKinHK]

Nine Oriental Pratincoles, briefly seen in flight from the airport approach road around midday, were a fine confirmation of the arrival of spring.

 

[MKinHK]

. . . and today a terrific 28 Oriental Pratincoles circled over the golf course during lunchtime, with a Swintail Snipe and a Yellow Wagtail on the waterlogged lawn, 58 Little Egrets, 29 Great Egrets, 9 Grey Herons and a new high count of 3 Pacific Reef Egrets were on the silt curtain in the bay.

Other good birds included the adult male Japanese Thrush, and a Pale Thrush on the Core Area, a couple of calling Yellow-browed Warblers and a dozen or so Silky Starlings on the fruiting banyans on the South Roundabout. 3 Sooty-headed Bulbuls also put in a brief appearance.

Cheers
Mike

 

[johnjemi]

It's ALL good. Spring is hotting up !

 

[MKinHK]

It is all good John!

Today I had a further six Oriental Pratincoles on the golf course, bringing the total for the year to 38, and two newly arrived Wood Sandpipers hunched by a puddle were a good start south of the filling station, along with the same taivana Yellow Wagtail, while the same male Chinese Starling remained among the banyans with about 30 Silky Starlings.

Other migrants in the clear conditions included a passage of 25 Barn Swallows,a the first Dusky Warbler for several weeks, and a new male Japanese Thrush, while long-stayers included the leucopsis x alboides White Wagtail on the golf course, five Richard's Pipits, two Yellow-browed Warblers, the male Pale and Japanese Thrushes , plus the Wryneck and a couple of Olive-backed Pipits.

I also had two small groups of ten or so Scaly-breasted Munias, but these may have been the same birds.

Still no flycatchers here , but I'm still buzzed on the Red-breasted Flycatcher at Tai O on Saturday, so I'm happy to do without. At least for now . . .

Cheers
Mike

 

[MKinHK]

The first flycatchers of spring on the roundabout were a superb male Narcissus Flycatcher on the Northern Edge shortly after an Asian Brown Flycatcher called and showed briefly, and had I been a decent photographer I might have got a couple of shots as it seemed happy to sit still, flashing a gorgeous orange throat, yellow belly and supercilium and a fluorescent white wing bar in the shady understory.

Down the end of the Northern Edge a gribbling in the trees was the first there of a fine flock of thirty White-shouldered Starlings, my highest count at the Roundabout.

Cheers
Mike

 

[MKinHK]

Tuesday was the last day of the quarter, and two female Red Turtle Doves on the Golf course left me with a record 64 species for the first three months of the year (compared to 42 in 2013 and 51 in 2014). Other signs of migration were the Asian Brown Flycatcher count increasing to two, a couple of Yellow-browed Warblers, a single White-shouldered Starling, which may have been a remnant of the previous day's record flock, while the six Richard's Pipits was the highest for several weeks.

The highlights of the month were the three new species - Buff-bellied Pipit, Fork-tailed Sunbird and the totally unexpected Great Crested Grebe - the splendid run of Oriental Pratincole records (38 birds over three days), my first Narcissus Flycatcher of the spring and the long staying Wryneck and the Pale, Japanese and Grey-backed Thrushes. And probably the best of all was the utterly unexpected record day count of 39 species on 10 January.

Less spectacular but still noteworthy were a new high counts of Pacific Reef Egret (3), Hair-crested Drongo (4), Red-throated Pipit (7) and Japanese White-eye (52).

The record for the next quarter is 54 species . . .

Cheers
Mike