Subject: Po Toi Christmas Quiz 2011 [Print This Page] Author: wgeoff Time: 20/12/2011 13:05 Subject: Po Toi Christmas Quiz 2011
It’s that time of the year again. But this year, a quiz with a difference – one that requires some birding skills.
Below are 10 graphs showing the numbers and dates of my daily records of 10 regular Po Toi species during each of the years 2006 to 2011. The 10 species are five leaf warblers and five flycatchers.
You just need to name the species. Easy.
Here are the leaf warblers
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
and here are the flycatchers
6)
7)
8)
9)
10)
Note, these are only my records so you can't cheat by finding your own records. Also, I don't always follow the Records Committee with species splits etc.
As usual, the Grand Prize is a free night on Po Toi in January (excluding meals at the restaurant) and the prestigious title ‘Bird Brain of Po Toi’.
Since these are all quite easy, I anticipate several fully correct entries so I have added one graph here from a different species altogether as a tie-breaker.
11)
Good luck, answers next week.
[ Last edited by wgeoff at 20/12/2011 18:06 ] Author: gary Time: 22/12/2011 21:32
So quiet, let me kick it off.
1. Arctic Warbler
2. Pale-legged Leaf Warbler
3. Pallas's Leaf Warbler
4. Two-barred Warbler
5. Yellow-browed Warbler
I skip the flycatchers; and I would like to have a wild guess on last one.
11.) Barn Swallow Author: wgeoff Time: 23/12/2011 06:42
Good effort Gary.
If you try the flycatchers, you may win the prize. Author: bittern Time: 23/12/2011 19:50
Tiebreaker:Tree Sparrow
But that's all I know(looking at your articles) Author: wgeoff Time: 24/12/2011 07:24
That's correct.
Still one warbler (Gary's number three is wrong, the others are correct) and five flycatchers to go.
I'm off to China today so you're on your own until next Tuesday. Author: John Holmes Time: 24/12/2011 08:16 Subject: Po Toi Christmas Quiz
My selection is:
3) Dusky Warbler
6)Ferruginous Flycatcher
7)Dark-sided Flycatcher
8)Asian Paradise Flycatcher
9)Asian Brown Flycatcher
10) Narcissus Flycatcher
As for (11) I refuse to believe the Quizmaster that it's Tree Sparrow.
I nominate Hartlaub's Touraco !
John Author: wgeoff Time: 24/12/2011 08:23
John's got five out of six correct but I'm not telling you which one is wrong.
Hartlaub's Touraco is an absurd guess - it's a resident on Po Toi. Author: subbuteo Time: 24/12/2011 17:26
Given the good head start from Gary and broad hints from Geoff, I'll have a go:
Right, these are my guesses.
I'm trying to be honest and not cheat by looking at other answers.
1. Arctic Warbler (including Japanese etc.)
2. Pale-legged Leaf Warbler (presumably including Sakhalin)
3. Dusky Warbler
4. Two-barred (Greenish) Warbler
5. Yellow-browed Warbler
6. Ferruginous Flycatcher
7. Dark-sided Flycatcher
8. Mugimaki Flycatcher
9. Asian Brown Flycatcher
10. Narcissus Flycatcher
Bonus: Tree Sparrow
Good quiz Geoff! Author: subbuteo Time: 24/12/2011 22:32
Can I change my number 3? I was looking at the wrong graph... honest.
Dylan Author: HFCheung Time: 26/12/2011 12:20
Here is my original guess, and I don't have HK Avifauna at hand and so I have not checked.
1. Arctic
2. Pale-legged/Sakhalin
3. Dusky
4. Greenish
5. Yellow-browed
6. Narcissus
7. Yellow-rumped
8. Mugimaki
9. Asian Brown
10. Grey-streaked
11. Chinese Sparrowhawk
I’m back from China, here are the answers and some graphs for other suggestions
1) Arctic Warbler (not split).
2) Pale-legged (and Sakhalin) Leaf Warbler
3) Dusky Warbler. Gary had Pallas’s Leaf Warbler, it’s interesting to look at this and compare the three, Dusky (number 3), Pallas’s (below) and Yellow-browed (number 5). Here is Pallas’s Leaf Warbler
Fewer in numbers than Dusky (3) and Yellow-browed (5) but more importantly, it doesn’t show such obvious migration peaks in either autumn or spring, unlike Dusky which shows a peak in autumn but not in spring, and Yellow-browed, which shows peaks in both autumn and spring. These results are reflected in the Avifauna graphs but I don’t know why these three species with apparently similar distributions should show such different timings – anyone offer any suggestions?
4) Two-barred (Greenish Warbler) – can be seen throughout the winter and spring but note the concentration of birds passing through in late October
5) Yellow-browed Warbler. Note the red dots showing numbers in early 2008. This was the coldest winter for 40 years with a very cold spell in late January/early February. Yellow-browed Warbler disappeared from Po Toi at this time, in fact I think all the birds died in the cold weather. Unlike both Dusky and Pallas’s which didn’t seem too much affected. Obviously more hardy species than Yellow-browed.
6) Ferruginous. A spring only species, genuinely rare in autumn. Avifauna lists two autumn records and there have been three since, including this one in 2008.
7) Dark-sided Flycatcher. An autumn only species, the last official spring record was in 1994. Ho Fai suggested another autumn species Yellow-rumped which is very close to Dark-sided, the graph is below, but usually finishes autumn migration by the end of September and second half October and November records are very rare. It also has three recent spring records (plus one in Avifauna), including this one in 2006
8) Mugimaki Flycatcher. John Holmes suggested Asian Paradise but that species is much earlier in autumn and rarer in spring. Here is Asian Paradise
9) Asian Brown Flycatcher
10) Narcissus Flycatcher – similar to Ferruginous but more regular in autumn in recent years, at least on Po Toi
Tie-breaker – Tree Sparrow, a migrant on Po Toi with no birds over the winter. Gary suggested Barn Swallow, which has a similar pattern but is earlier in spring with most records in March. Here is Barn Swallow
Here are graphs for some other species mentioned, Eastern Crowned Warbler (honestly)
Grey-streaked Flycatcher
and Chinese Sparrowhawk.
I’ve had to cut off the highest counts of the last species, which were 780 (16 April 2006), 53 (22 April 2009) and 1440 (15 April 2010), otherwise you couldn’t see the smaller numbers.
Prizes – well, John Allcock got them all right but he had a lot of help from earlier respondents so I’m going for the early birds, Gary Chow and John Holmes, as joint winners of the First Prize, a free night on Po Toi in January. In fact, it’s good to have two winners, what better way to keep warm on a cold winter’s night than sharing a bed. Just let me know which day you want to be there and I’ll make the arrangements.
‘Bird Brain of Po Toi’ – I think the title has to go to the one who correctly guessed the tie-breaker, bittern. So next year, you’ll have to follow the English proverb ‘Once bittern, twice shy’ (I've been wanting to say that for ages).
[ Last edited by wgeoff at 28/12/2011 13:23 ] Author: yyattung Time: 28/12/2011 10:43
Thanks Geoff!! This is very interesting! Author: kmike Time: 28/12/2011 15:08
Thanks for clarifying the status of Hartlaub's Turaco - I've been wondering about that for ages.
Records Committee please take note
Mike Author: ajohn Time: 28/12/2011 16:59
In answer to Geoff's comment about the difference between Dusky, Yellow-browed and Pallas's seasonality:
I think that Pallas's, unlike the other two, is geniunely a winter visitor with little passage. Note that the arrival in autumn is later, and departure in spring earlier than for the others. Hong Kong lies more-or-less at the southern end of the wintering range for this species so there is little passage through HK to locations further south.
The reason for the difference between Dusky and Yellow-browed is less obvious. The passage of Dusky in Deep Bay is also very obvious in autumn but less so in spring. I wonder whether this represents a difference in migration routes, with Dusky taking a more inland route than Yellow-browed in spring (rather like the 'continental' autumn migrants such as Yellow-rumped Flycatcher). Author: wgeoff Time: 29/12/2011 07:17
Thanks John, I agree with your assessment.
There are similarities on spring migration patterns between Yellow-browed and some other species e.g. Little Bunting as here
a pattern which appears in Avifauna also. These species must use a coastal migration route in spring, perhaps as well as the more normal inland route which, as you say, by-passes Hong Kong
[ Last edited by wgeoff at 29/12/2011 07:21 ] Author: brendank Time: 30/12/2011 00:20
Am I right in reading that the maximum count of Eastern Crowned Warbler is only 1? I find this a bit strange. While the avifauna states they are uncommon passage migrants, I have always thought they were rather fairly common in late August and September at places like Lung Fu Shan or Tai Po Kau. I would have expected some larger counts from Po Toi. Author: ajohn Time: 30/12/2011 10:40
The fact that the high count was 4 was the main reason I didn't choose Eastern Crowned for graph no.2. I'm slightly surprised there aren't any counts of 2 or 3 on Po Toi, but in my experience it would be unusual to get more than that. Author: wgeoff Time: 3/01/2012 01:36
I don't seem to get that many at Po Toi, only singles. Maybe others have more but I don't think more than two, maybe three.
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