WWF Mai Po

Cuckoo Call Dates : Spring 2012

Thank you to those people who provided dates for cuckoo calls in the last few years  <   Previous Postings  , 2010 Postings , 2011 Postings >

For the coming 2012 spring period it would be great this practice continues and so once again please can members kindly report dates of first heard cuckoo calls on the BBS. Please note it is only the date of the first call in Hong Kong for each species which is needed; Common Koel, Plaintive Cuckoo, Large Hawk Cuckoo, and Hodgson's Hawk Cuckoo. i.e. there's no need to post up the 2nd/3rd.... call for each species.

Same as before, if any member can dig out call dates for any of the years between 1990 to 2003 it would be much appreciated.

Many thanks,

The Mai Po Team

lkatherine

A couple of basic graph is plotted with the above data.








These graphs are only very early draft and include ALL calling dates (include “warm-up” calls?) for these 2 species.

Conclusion is yet to be made but continuous collection of data would give us more clues.

Katherine

lkatherine

16-Jan-12 Koel @Hunghom

kkitty

20-Jan-12 Koel @ Yuen Long

louislee

2012.01.27

Common Koel

Kwun Tong

lalan

20/1/2012        Indian Cuckoo        茅坪

subbuteo

6 March 2012, Lam Tsuen

6.15 am

Large Hawk Cuckoo x 2

9Wi

Common Koel at Fanling 12:30 on 2012-03-06.

ajohn

Plaintive Cuckoo singing at Sha Po 13 March 2012.

The report of Indian Cuckoo is interesting. These are not usually present until April - the latest bird report gives the earliest date on record as 10 March, so a January record would be exceptional. I've heard Black-throated Laughingthrush mimicking this speciesa few times - would that be a possibility in this case?

cgeoff

John,

I think you mean 10th April for the earliest Indian Cuckoo record in the latest HKBR.

But you're right. A January Indian Cuckoo is unprecedented. I've heard laughingthrushes imitate the calls of a number of Cuculus species in HK, and I would imagine this is what happened in this case.

GeoffC

ajohn

Actually Geoff, I did mean 10 March; I was referring to the earliest on record in the introductory text for the species. Even this seems exceptionally early to me. You are correct that the earliest recorded in 2007-08 was 10 April, which is a more typical date for the first record.

kkitty

plaintive cuckoo @ fanling, 14 mar 12

irenewong

17 Mar 2012 Tai Po
Large Hawk Cuckoo

kamfai

17-3-2012 LV
Large Hawk Cuckoo

subbuteo

Plaintive calling in Lam Tsuen this morning, 18 March, at least three.  Mike Kilburn may have heard them before but these are the first I have heard calling properly.

Dylan

kamfai

18-3-2012 LV
Large Hawk Cuckoo
Plaintive Cuckoo

ckwan

Plaintive cuckoo

@Lau Fou Shan on 24 March 2012
@Yuen Long on 28 March 2012

brendank

31 March 2012 - TPK

2 Large Hawk Cuckoo calling

Ronaldo

4 Large Hawk Cuckoos calling in Tai Tam yesterday early morning (with 2 Collared Scops Owls)
1 Large Hawk Cuckoo calling in Pat Sin Leng and 2 in West Buffalo Hill today

subbuteo

Hodgson's Hawk Cuckoo, Tin Liu Ha, Lam Tsuen 7.15pm 11 April 2012

Dylan

ddavid

Indian Cuckoo - heard Mai Po - April 11th
Chestnut-winged Cuckoo - heard Yuen Leng Village, Tai Po - April 11th

David

kamfai

9th April
Long Valley
Chestnut-winged Cuckoo
Plaintive Cuckoo
Large Hawk Cuckoo