subbuteo

Large Hawk Cuckoo has been calling here since the 3rd March so it must be spring. Koel has only just started calling here this morning although I have heard it calling in Sai Kung village for a couple of weeks now.

The small marshy area in front of the village still holds the female Grey Bushchat and it was joined this morning by a Stejneger's Stonechat.  A few Grey-backed thrushes are still about.  Grey Treepie seems to hang around the edge of the village, it is hard to see but noisy enough to pick up most days.  Also lots of Red-billed Blue Magpies here which is very different from Lam Tsuen.  Very few starlings, I only ever seem to have two black-collared starlings.  Over the other side of the bay towards Wu Kai Sha there are many starlings and mynahs.  They don't seem to cross over.

Now that I've started visiting the shore regularly I have been picking up Great Cormorant, up to four, and had one black-headed gull last week.  This morning there were seven Barn Swallows flying over the sea.

This morning:

Grey Treepie 2
Collared Crow 1
Barn Swallow 7
Grey Bushchat 1
Stejneger's Stonechat 1
Grey-backed thrush 4
Brownish-flanked Bush Warbler 1
Mountain Tailorbird 2
Tristram's Bunting 3


Dylan

[ Last edited by subbuteo at 16/03/2014 13:49 ]

subbuteo

17th March 2014

Brownish-flanked Bush Warbler - Singing
Striated Heron

Dylan

subbuteo

21 March 2014

The Grey Bushchat seems to have moved on I'll keep checking but I haven't seen it in the last four visits.  However, the latest two visits have flushed a woodcock.

Dylan

subbuteo

I camped overnight at 22/23 April Cheung Sheung.

[Hodgson's Hawk Cuckoo 1 (now thought to be a Large Hawk Cuckoo variant call)]
Large Hawk Cuckoo 4
Crested Serpent Eagle 1
Besra 1
Hartert's Leaf Warbler 3
Thrushes- quite a few about but none seen, from calls I would say Grey-backed

Wild boar and barking deer were seen too!

Dylan

[ Last edited by subbuteo at 4/04/2014 23:23 ]

subbuteo

Savanna Nightjar calling last night along with three Scops owls.

Dylan

subbuteo

I have just heard Hodgson's Hawk Cuckoo calling from the camphor tree beside my house- I am now not confident of the earlier record (23 April) as this call was much higher pitched than the call I heard before.  I think it may have been a Large Hawk Cuckoo with a two note call?  Also today, three Olive-backed Pipits and a pair of Masked Buntings which have been very few and far between since December.

Dylan

subbuteo

4 April 2014

Slaty-legged Crake calling at the front of the village, along with Hodgson's Hawk Cuckoo and Collared Scops owl.  A possible Grey Nightjar calling too but drowned out by barking dogs and aeroplanes and not heard again!  Most annoying as it would have been bird number 114 for the village, I've been listening out for it.

Dylan

cgeoff

Here at Pak Sha O, I've had Grey Nightjar since 24th March and Hodgson's Hawk Cuckoo since 27th March. Also Brown Fish Owl calling on 24th March and 1st April. An extremely low-pitched call that would be easy to miss among the noises of the forest. No Koels here, though I did have Plaintive Cuckoo this morning, my first record here. The first Large Hawk Cuckoo this year was on 14th March.

GeoffC

subbuteo

I got the grey nightjar last night.  I need to walk down to the waterfront to get away from the village noise; I think Pak Sha O would be substantially quieter than here!  Yung Shue O is a small but fairly dense village with far more than its fair share of yappy dogs.

I haven't picked up the Brown Fish Owl calling at all.  Have you had Great Barbet at Pak Sha O?  I heard one calling here yesterday.

Dylan

subbuteo

All a bit quiet in terms of migrants but recent new records from Yung Shue O include Chestnut-winged Cuckoo and Peregrine Falcon.  I saw a Common Sandpiper at the shore this morning.  I am surprised by how few waders are about given the amount of mud exposed at low tide.  There is no shortage of shellfish in the mud, people often collect a bucketful from the mud when there is a particularly low tide.  Hodgson's Hawk Cuckoo is still calling; it is mostly calling with the two-note call but recently I've heard it use a rising then falling chuckle like this recording from xeno-canto.

Dylan

cgeoff

I've had two records of Great Barbet here, one last autumn and a male in song on 15 March this year. I'd imagine that your bird may well be the same individual given how rare they are in this part of HK.

There are three Hodgson's Hawk Cuckoos in song here and at PSO Ha Yeung, which is just down the road. It's been much poorer spring than last year, and I've had few migrants.

GeoffC

subbuteo

Hi Geoff,

The barbet is calling right now (1pm, 18/4/14)). I have heard it  now three times.  It is calling from the Jacob's Ladder valley just now, previously it was calling in the forest by the Pak Tam trail.  I have only seen one flycatcher (Hainan Blue) and little else!

Dylan

subbuteo

Yung Shue O, HK-
20-Apr-2014 06:30 - 08:00
6.0 kilometer(s)
Comments:     22C Bike ride to Sham Chung and back.

37 species

Crested Serpent-Eagle (Spilornis cheela)  1
Slaty-legged Crake (Rallina eurizonoides)  1     Calling by the path near the restaurant.  In scrubby forest near a stream.
Common Greenshank (Tringa nebularia)  2 on exposed mud at YSO
Chestnut-winged Cuckoo (Clamator coromandus)  1
Red-whiskered Bulbul (Pycnonotus jocosus)  4
Light-vented Bulbul (Pycnonotus sinensis)  6
Blue Rock-Thrush (Monticola solitarius)  1
Richard's Pipit (Anthus richardi)  8 On grass at Sham Chung
Olive-backed Pipit (Anthus hodgsoni)  1

Dylan

subbuteo

Recent news:  Grey-tailed tattlers at the shore; Brown shrikes in the grassland areas in front of the village.  Slaty-legged crake has been calling from several locations (morning and night) but I have never heard more than one at a time.  Grey nightjar is still calling.  Hainan Blue Flycatcher is singing along the access road, I haven't counted but there are at least four males singing.  Great barbet is still singing around back of the village.  I am finally seeing Crested Serpent Eagle more, it calls often but never seems to be in sight.  Grey Treepie is regularly heard but I need to be wary of the black-throated laughing thrushes who do an excellent imitation.  Chestnut-winged cuckoo still calling; Hogdson's Hawk Cuckoo was calling early this week from the Sai Sha Road entrance to Yeung Shue O.  

I have had two groups of birds pass over the Cheung Sheung ridge. A tight group of four and a second pair the next day, both groups in late afternoon.  All dark, at least crow sized.  They had very deep wing beats interspersed with glides.  I would like to think Black Baza but I am not sure, first group were very high and gone before I got binos from home, second pair were very distant even with binos.  I just didn't get enough on them.  I shall keep looking, it's a species I have long looked for.

Dylan

kmike

Sounds wonderful Dylan

Cheers
Mike

subbuteo

Mike, it is a very nice place, a bit out of the way but I'm fine with that!  

More migrants today, 3 Pacific Swifts and an Asian Brown Flycatcher.  Hodgson's, Large Hawk Cuckoo and Chestnut-winged Cuckoo.  

My first Velvet-fronted Nuthatch but only on call.  A possible Bay Woodpecker this morning along the road. Slow deliberate drumming on wood, hard solid knocks, grouped in short runs.  Too firm and loud for something like a Great Tit, it sounded like a woodpecker but unfortunately I couldn't see it.  It was near the 600 marker along the catchment. Drumming heard a second time just at village bridge about twenty minutes later.

Dylan

[ Last edited by subbuteo at 1/05/2014 20:39 ]

ddavid

Dylan

The drumming is intriguing but it won't be a Bay Woodpecker as this species is not known to drum. It would be interesting to know what species it was!!!

David

subbuteo

Knocking would probably have been a better word for me to use, sorry.  There's a video ofa Bay Woodpecker feeding on YouTube and a of recording on Xeno-canto here. It sounded like a woodpecker hammering away at wood.  I heard it as I approached (I was on a run with my dog, no binos).  I stopped and it continued knocking until my iphone beeped as I tried to record it.  

I will be looking for it this weekend!

Dylan

ddavid

Good luck with pinning this one down!

David

subbuteo

I'm optimistic as ever! I have not heard any birds repeatedly knock at wood like this one did (other than the BW in TPK), it really did sound like a woodpecker but until I see it I won't convince anyone.  Even then...  

I was back there this morning but strangely no luck. :-)

Dylan

sdavid

Good luck Dylan. Just as a fyi, the Speckled Piculet was drunning away (admittedly on Bamboo) at TPK on Tuesday morning.

Grip, don't dip!

subbuteo

A walk along the Yung Shue O road this afternoon 2-4.30pm, 6 May 2014.

Bonelli's Eagle 1
Black-naped Tern 3 - around the fish farms
Hodgson's Hawk Cuckoo 1 (possibly two as I heard it again about 1 km out of the village)
Chestnut-winged Cuckoo
Brown Shrike 1 lucionensis
Grey-streaked Flycatcher 5 - one pair and three singles
Hainan Blue 3 singing
Arctic Warbler 2 together in acacia

Another mystery bird as well but I will spare you the details...

Dylan

subbuteo

Plenty of migrants about this morning following all the rain.  A walk down tot he shore and mangrove.


Striated Heron 1
White-winged Tern 73+  swirling around over the fish farms low to the water then rapidly gained height and flew over Sai Sha Road and through the gap towards Sai Kung.
Black-naped Tern 4
Grey-tailed Tattler 1
Dollarbird 2
Brown Shrike 5
Chestnut-winged Cuckoo 1
Grey-streaked Flycatcher 1
Brown Shrike 5
Arctic Warbler 6
Black-browed Reed Warbler 4

Also Black-capped Kingfisher

Dylan

subbuteo

Yung Shue O, HK-
05-Jun-2014 17:20 - 18:00
Protocol: Traveling
2.0 kilometer(s)
Comments:     30C humid- walk to the waterfront.

25 species

Little Egret (Egretta garzetta)  1
Black Kite (Milvus migrans)  2
White-bellied Sea-Eagle (Haliaeetus leucogaster)  1     flew from Sham Chung direction over fish farms and through to Sai Kung side.
Slaty-breasted Rail (Gallirallus striatus)  1 calling from mangroves
White-breasted Waterhen (Amaurornis phoenicurus)  1
Spotted Dove (Streptopelia chinensis)  2
Hodgson's Hawk-Cuckoo (Hierococcyx nisicolor)  1     calling from along YSO road.
Asian Koel (Eudynamys scolopaceus)  1
Greater Coucal (Centropus sinensis)  2
Pacific Swift (Apus pacificus)  2     in flight catching insects along with upwards of 20 swallows (no House Swifts though)
Large-billed Crow (Corvus macrorhynchos)  1
Barn Swallow (Hirundo rustica)  20     maximum count but probably higher; newly fledged young and adults.
Japanese Tit (Parus minor)  2 (Cinereous Tit is listed as Japanese Tit on eBird)
Red-whiskered Bulbul (Pycnonotus jocosus)  10
Light-vented Bulbul (Pycnonotus sinensis)  4 (Chinese Bulbul on eBird)
Common Tailorbird (Orthotomus sutorius)  2
Yellow-bellied Prinia (Prinia flaviventris)  1
Japanese White-eye (Zosterops japonicus)  1
Masked Laughingthrush (Garrulax perspicillatus)  2
Chinese Hwamei (Garrulax canorus)  2
Oriental Magpie-Robin (Copsychus saularis)  2
Blue Whistling-Thrush (Myophonus caeruleus)  1
Scarlet-backed Flowerpecker (Dicaeum cruentatum)  1
Fork-tailed Sunbird (Aethopyga christinae)  1
Tree Sparrow (Passer montanus)  2

Nice to see the WBS Eagle, full adult plumage.  I'm glad to have pinned down the Slaty-breasted Rail's call, I now hear it regularly.  Slaty-legged Crake was calling again on the edge of the village (2/6/14) and I saw a very late Chestnut Bunting on the 28 May, according to Geoff the latest record by 12 days.

Mudskippers have made an appearance on the mudflats and are causing my dog a lot of confusion.

Dylan

PS Slaty-legged Crake calling again this evening 8pm, heard from the start of the Pak Tam trail off YSO road.

[ Last edited by subbuteo at 5/06/2014 20:38 ]

subbuteo

It is rather quiet but still the occasional bird of interest.  Slaty-legged Crake calling again yesterday evening 8pm, heard from the start of the Pak Tam trail off YSO road.  Over the weekend, Hodgson's and Large Hawk Cuckoo were still calling but less frequently and away from the village now.  I heard Chestnut-winged this morning.  Slaty-breasted Rail calling most mornings at the moment from the mangrove by the Sham Chung path but I am yet to see it.

Dylan

subbuteo

26 June 2014.

This afternoon Great Barbet was calling and I saw a Treepie perched on the powerlines beside the Sham Chung path.  The treepie had a short tail, one feather much shorter than the rest.  Could this have been a fledgling bird?  I couldn't see any sign of gape- the bird was panting open beaked while perched on the power line.  A second bird was calling from the foliage.

This evening Slaty-legged Crake, Chestnut-winged cuckoo, Collared Scops Owl and a B-c Night Heron were calling at the Pak Tam trail entrance.

Dylan