lchunfai

2/10 birding around the lagoon area

Dollarbird and Black Naped Oriole
Brown Shrike
Kestrel
Verditer Flycatcher
Yellow-browed Bunting
Forest wagtail
Rosy Starling
Pale-legged Leaf Warbler
Varied Tit
(Possible)Malayan Night Heron

and Koel spotted a large, plain bunting.

wgeoff

Another good week with lots of birds and different species to be seen. This has been an excellent autumn so far, up there with the best in my previous records. Let's hope it can continue.

Bird of the week was the Rosy Starling found by Allen Chan on Monday, but I was lucky to see it. I arrived late on Tuesday and was walking round to my house when I saw it flying around the lagoon area, at one point landing at the top of a tree for several seconds. It was larger than a White-shouldered and the brown colour and particularly the yellow bill were easy to see even at quite a distance. I hadn't unpacked my camera by then, I thought, it's OK, I'll get a photo later. No such luck, I never saw it again and it seemed to leave on Tuesday night.

There were so many birds around. On Wednesday, I totalled 41 non-resident species, well above my 'expected' number of 28 for 3rd October and only the 14th time I have scored over 40 non-resident land bird species in a day. New species for autumn included Black-crowned Night Heron, a juvenile near the helipad, Chinese Goshawk over-flying, Eurasian Woodcock, Oriental Turtle Dove, Olive-backed Pipit, Blackbird and many Dusky Warblers.

Eurasian Woodcock is one of most precise migrants of any species - always arriving in early October and leaving by mid-November, as the attached chart of daily counts by year shows



Other more unexpected species included the Forest Wagtail, both Pallas's Grasshopper and Black-browed Reed Warbler, the latter quite rare on Po Toi, Yellow-browed and Chestnut Buntings together around the helipad and an Orange-headed Thrush, I guess the same one as reported at the weekend. There were also high counts of Dollarbird (at least four daily), Black-naped Oriole (at least eight daily) and Hair-crested Drongo, a record count of 19 on Thursday.

Here some photos of these and others including some species not yet mentioned, Ashy Minivet, Eastern Crowned Warbler, Blue-and-white Flycatcher, the Varied Tit and a treefull of Hair-crested Drongos



  


One species conspicuous by it's absence was Japanese White-eye. When I first started counting bird numbers on Po Toi in 2006, I believed Japanese White-eye was resident so I didn't count it. I gradually realised it was not a resident, but appears in two 'waves'. The main one starts in mid November with peak numbers before the year end, then gradually falling to zero by the end of May. Then another wave from late August through to mid October, but only in some years. Late October to early November and the summer are usually blank for Japanese White-eye - see this chart showing daily counts from 2009 onwards



I guess the early autumn arrivals are breeding bird dispersals whereas the winter birds may be a northern population - winter arrivals are mentioned in Avifauna.

Anyone going to Po Toi this weekend, please report the Varied Tit if you see it. It has been seen daily since it's arrival on 16 September but was not seen on Thursday, maybe just an odd event but it could have gone.

[ Last edited by wgeoff at 5/10/2012 08:01 ]

thinfor

Many thanks for your report, Geoff.

May I ask your opinion on the reasons contributing the excellent autumn records so far in PT this year?  Any related to the recent nice (or bad?) weather in Southern China?

ajohn

It's not just Po Toi - all of Hong Kong seems to have very good autumn passage this year, especially over the last few days. And it's not just birds - the populations of migratory butterflies also seem high this autumn. At Mai Po this week there has been very obvious movements of migrating drongos, pipits, bee-eaters and butterflies.

I'm not sure of the reasons. It may be that many species have had a good breeding season further north. I think the weather this week has also helped - the fine weather with moderate winds from the north or north-east has provided ideal conditions for migrants moving south through China. The downside is that it may not force birds to stop, so many birds can be expected to only be seen for a short time (as with the Rosy Starling on Po Toi). Similar weather looks set to continue for the next few days, so there will hopefully be more birds around over the coming few days.

wgeoff

I agree with John, it's probably a combination of a successful breeding season and the spell of northerly winds, which bring more migrants into the Hong Kong area.

thinfor

Thanks, John and Geoff.  I also thought of the downside John has mentioned, that the weather might be too good for migration.  But so far it looks like that the good is more than the bad!  

wgeoff

It's not just the direct arrivals. The northerly winds drive some migrants further south than they would usually go. If they reach the coast east of Hong Kong, they will continue around the coast into Hong Kong. That's why we get more birds with northerly winds and it often takes a few days after the start of the northerlies before they reach Hong Kong.

[ Last edited by wgeoff at 6/10/2012 07:47 ]

wleepoin

7th October, 2012

Blue & White Flycatcher
Grey-streaked Flycatcher
Dark-sided Flycatcher
Asian Brown Flycatcher
Yellow-browed Warbler
Pale-legged Leaf Warbler
Dusky Warbler
Oriental Dollarbird
Black-naped Oriole
White-shouldered Starling
Great Tit
Hair-crested Drongo
Brown Shrike

Also a friendly Snake:






Cheers
PWMK

brendank

Also a Japanese Quail (on the south peninsula) and Red-throated Flycatcher.

I saw the same snake last week.

[ Last edited by brendank at 7/10/2012 22:45 ]

ddavid

Indo-Chinese Rat Snake Ptyas korros I think (but could be wrong!!). Non-venomous. Common throughout the territory including many islands.

Friendly enough if you keep your distance, but when caught will bite vigorously.

Information from Hong Kong Amphibians and Reptiles.

David

thinfor

Nice shots!  And thanks Geoff for your elaboration on the impact of the weather to migrants!  

wgeoff

Another great week this week, a very high total of 61 different non-resident land bird species with 46 on Thursday alone, my fourth highest ever daily total. I'm now ahead of all previous autumn species counts up to 11 October, although that probably won't last as I will not be staying on the island next week. Unfortunately most of the birds were seen after the Tuesday ferry left and before the Thursday ferry arrived so the daily punters were not so fortunate.

Bird of the week was the Alstom's Warbler on Tuesday, now confirmed by Paul Leader.



No, it's not a mistake, I found the Alstrom's near the upper school at 2pm on Tuesday after Herman told me there was a Grey-headed Flycatcher there, which there was as you can see. The two birds seemed to be together.
Note the similarity in colour of these two birds - I've previously noted in these pages (autumn 2009 I think) how a Bianchi's Warbler seemed to spend all it's time with a Mountain Tailorbird which again is bright yellow below. It may be just co-incidence but ??? - anyway, they both left Po Toi on Tuesday night and were not seen afterwards.  

Although we only have a few records to go from, it seems that, amongst the Seicercus warblers, Alstrom's passes through in September/October whereas Bianchi's and White-spectacled are November/December and winter species. Given the way almost all autumn migrants including leaf warblers follow a precise time pattern, it would not be surprising if Seicercus warblers also had one.

Another good bird was a small cuckoo very early on Thursday morning which I think is a Lesser Cuckoo - although I didn't get very good front views, it looks very much like the one last year



Also passing over on Wednesday and Thursday early mornings, two Amur Falcons and a single Eurasian Hobby



Many leaf warblers this week, Yellow-browed and Arctic in good numbers plus a few Greenish, Pale-legged and Eastern Crowned. Also very many Dusky and a single Radde's, seen at long distance over the lagoon. Plus Yellow Bittern, more Woodcock, a Collared Scops Owl calling at night, a Minivet which might have been Swinhoe's, a few early Siberian Rubythroats calling, two Lanceolated and one Pallas's Grasshopper Warblers in the South Peninsular grasslands, the Orange-headed Thrush seen daily at the Upper School, a Chestnut Bunting, the only one identified from several buntings heard calling, large numbers of Black-naped Orioles (single flocks of 12 and 7 seen migrating) and, not least, Blue-and-white and two Japanese Paradise Flycatchers



As I mentioned above, I won't be staying on the island next week as I have visitors. But I may manage a single day visit.

[ Last edited by wgeoff at 12/10/2012 09:19 ]

Ronaldo

Saturday 13th October:
1x Eurasian Siskin
1x Blue & White Flycatcher (immature)
1x Mugimaki Flycatcher (female)
1x Dark-sided Flycatcher
2x Asian Brown Flycatcher
1x Black-winged Cuckooshrike
2x Black-naped Oriole
1x Stonechat
1x White-rumped Munia
1x Yellow-breasted Bunting
1x Chestnut Bunting
1x Yellow Wagtail (juvenile)
1x Arctic Warbler
1x Brownish-flanked Bush Warbler (heard only)
plenty of Hair-crested and Black Drongos
plenty of Yellow-browed and Dusky Warbler

Anyone saw the Varied Tit this week? Is it gone?

brendank

14 October 2012

2 Dollarbird
8 Black-naped Oriole

1 Mugimaki Flycatcher (not seen by me)
1 Blue-and-white Flycatcher (not seen by me)
2 Hainan Blue Flycatcher (I saw a female by the reservoir and some one got a photo of a stunning male. Rather late for these)
1 Japanese Paradise Flycatcher

1 Pale-legged Leaf Warbler
1 Two-barred Greenish Warbler

3 Chestnut Buntings

4 Bright-capped Cisticola (south peninsula)

lyatming

And also Daurian Redstart

brendank

16 October

1 Japanese Paradise Flycatcher
1 Mugimaki Flycatcher
1 Verditer Flycatcher

4 Yellow-browed Bunting
4 Chestnut Bunting

brendank

18 October

Two boar were up at the reservoir giving me quite a surprise when happened upon them. They didn't appear to notice my presence at all. Lots of activity today--wish I had more than 3 hours.

1 Painted Snipe (flushed from south peninsula--first Po Toi record)

1 Golden-spectacled Warbler (not seen by me)

1 Chinese Goshawk (not seen by me)

1 Asian Paradise Flycatcher

25+ Chestnut Bunting
1 Black-faced Bunting
2 Yellow-browed Bunting

2 Two-barred Greenish Warbler

5 White-shouldered Starling

bf_bunting.JPG (22.08 KB)

18/10/2012 16:57

chestnut_bunt.JPG (35.49 KB)

18/10/2012 16:57

yellow_browed bunting.JPG (30.94 KB)

18/10/2012 16:57

boar.JPG (19.84 KB)

18/10/2012 16:57

iherman

18-10-2012

Add
1 Dollarbird
1 Black-Naped Oriole
1 Blue Rock Thrush
1 Red-Throated Flycatcher
1 Dark-Sided Flycatcher

brendank

20 October 2012

12+ Eurasian Siskin (near the lagoon, more finches to come this winter?)

2 Blue-and-white Flycatcher

50+ Chestnut Bunting (absolutely everywhere today)
2 Black-faced Bunting
1 Yellow-browed Bunting

5 Black-naped Oriole

siskins.JPG (42.07 KB)

20/10/2012 18:12

Ronaldo

21 October
1 Japanese Sparrowhawk
1 Kestrel
1 Blue&White Flycatcher
1 Mugimaki Flycatcher
5 Asian Brown Flycatchers
2 Black-naped Orioles
4 Siskins
2 Bramblings
1 Blackbird
10s of Chestnut Buntings
10s of Black-faced Buntings
3 Daurian Redstarts
1 Great Tit
1 Varied Tit seen by others

Beetle

21 October
In addition to Ronaldo's list I can add the following migrants

Woodcock x1 (seen by my HKBWS outing group members)
Dollarbird x1
Oriental Turtle Dove x1
Brown Shrike x1
Two-barred Greenish Warbler x1
Pallas's Leaf Warbler x1 heard

There may also be one Tristram's Bunting but I cannot confirm the id (no photo could be taken).
near sunset some others reported that there were 10+ siskins, probably the same group reported by brendan yesterday.

[ Last edited by Beetle at 21/10/2012 21:02 ]

fai584

varied tit 21-10-2012 po toi

wgeoff

Wow, it's still there!

Where was this photo taken?

brendank

Or could it be a different bird?

Beetle

The tit was seen inside the trees around the toilet/lagoon area.

wgeoff

I think it's the same bird but a photo from the other side would show better

Jonathmartinez

I tried to find some differencies yesterday, but as I suspect the bird from september was moulting it is not very easy things and plumage differencies are not reliable and both are on the same age. So I guess will never now. What it should be interesting to know is how long the bird haven't been seen and what have been the coverage of the island during this time. I guess it is not an easy bird to miss.

All the best,

Jonathan

wgeoff

It has been reported occasionally but with no photo support.

Jonathmartinez

match the poor destiny of many star birds, loose birdwatchers attention after a wild...:-)
So now have to find two birds together to affirm this is a new one.

All the best,

Jonathan

fai584

Today i'd to po toi again,i saw the varied tit again.But i'd not take a photo of it.

wgeoff

Another good week this week with lots of interest and some unexpected species, although perhaps not quite as many birds as a few weeks ago. The early autumn birds have mostly left as the weather cools down and the late autumn species have yet to arrive.

I arrived late on Tuesday as I usually do on public holidays so I missed the Tuesday birds but heard reports and saw some photos. The Varied Tit was seen in the large trees behind the restaurant, a Green-backed Flycatcher was around the helipad and just one of the Siskins was also still around the helipad. All these birds were missing for the rest of the week, I believe the Flycatcher and Siskin left Po Toi on Tuesday night but the Varied Tit was off to wherever it's been hiding for the last two weeks. Weekend visitors please report if they see it.

Another and perhaps even more unexpected returnee was the Rosy Starling from September. I saw it poking it's head out of a rubbish pile early on Thursday morning but only a fleeting view. I put it down on my list, then ten minutes later thought - are you really sure? So I crossed it off. One hour later Allen Chan (again!) came up to tell me he'd photgraphed it - see here

http://www.hkbws.org.hk/BBS/view ... 7212&highlight=

Where has that been for the last four weeks?

(PS - having studied photos of the first (October 1) http://www.hkbws.org.hk/BBS/view ... ;highlight=starling and second Rosy Starlings (October 25), I think these are different birds. The head pattern and bill are different. And this week's bird has a very ragged tail, which suggests it might be an escape)

Another great bird but regrettably without a photo was a female/immature? Japanese Robin in the gully on Green Pigeon Lane. I was attracted to this bird by its call - a fast group of 'tuck tuck' notes which made me think it was a flycatcher - until I saw it's bright red tail. It was sitting very low down in a bush and flying down to the ground intermittently to feed. But it was moving through and by the time I knew what it was, it was off into some impenetrable jungle.

Other new birds for autumn (for me) were Common Buzzard, Brownish-flanked, Japanese and Russet Bush Warblers, Radde's Warbler, Daurian Redstart (in high numbers this year, mostly males), Red-billed and White-cheeked Starlings and Little and Black-faced Buntings. Buntings are everywhere on Po Toi at the moment, mostly Chestnut with Black-faced, Little, at least one Yellow-browed and a Tristram's reported on Tuesday. They are their usual frustrating self, incredibly difficult to see for long enough to ID with photos almost impossible. Here a Black-faced with male and female Chestnut



Also two Bramblings near the sister's cafe, rather easier to photograph. Brambling is a very beautifully feathered species, as you can see from this close-up.



Finally, two commoner species on migration - Black-crowned Night Heron, usually seen in migrating flocks flying around the harbour at dusk and dawn, and Chinese Bulbul, now in large flocks everywhere but particularly the south peninsular



Rain is forecast for next week - much needed on Po Toi, the reservoirs are running dry.

[ Last edited by wgeoff at 26/10/2012 09:20 ]

brendank

27 Saturday 2012 - rather slow

6 Eurasian Siskin (not seen by me)

2 Two-barred Greenish Warbler

2 Chestnut Bunting
4 Black-faced Bunting

lyatming

Quote:

Original posted by wgeoff at 23/10/2012 10:59
I think it's the same bird but a photo from the other side would show better

Hi geoff, here is a photo toke on last sunday.

brendank

28 october

4 Tristram's Bunting
20 Chestnut Bunting
5 Black-faced Bunting

1 Japanese Sparrowhawk

[ Last edited by brendank at 28/10/2012 19:49 ]

Ronaldo

adding to Brendan's list:

1+ Asian Brown Flycatcher
1 Dark-sided Flycatcher
1 Little Bunting

and a python sunbathing in helipad area

kmike

Any pix of the python?

Cheers
Mike

Ronaldo

Here is one. Also forgot to mention White-throated Kingfisher.

Cheers