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Subject: Po Toi Spring 2012 - April [Print This Page]

Author: wgeoff Time: 6/04/2012 06:27 Subject: Po Toi Spring 2012 - April

First Week in April

A new thread this week to start the new month.

The week on land started very quietly with nothing new at all on Tuesday. But a few migrants started coming in on Wednesday and Thursday morning was good for flycatchers, four different male Narcissus, two Ferruginous and one male Blue-and-white, all just before the rain started

Also at least four Ashy Minivets and a Pale-legged Leaf Warbler

Many of the wintering species still remain, with at least six Japanese Thrush, the Black-naped Monarch and Red-tailed Robins singing from everywhere, at least ten.

The scrub clearance has opened up many areas previously unknown, my favourite is the river valley up to the upper reservoir and the surrounding areas to the north of the sister’s café. In the reservoir this week, a Burmese Python waiting for unsuspecting birds coming down to drink.

It had caught at least one Spotted Dove, judging by the feathers left behind.

At sea, a few Great and Little Egrets, Cattle and Pond Heron are now starting to move past, also another Grey-faced Buzzard, at least two Oriental Pratincoles and four large waders, probably Curlew.
For seabirds, the week belonged to Red-necked Phalarope with a spectacular passage of 2,490 in two hours early on Thursday morning in almost continuous flocks of 20’s and 30’s, the largest 140. Here a flock of over 70

Also a few Great Crested and Aleutian Terns with at least one Common Tern

This should be a good weekend following the rain. There is a good ferry service from today (Friday 6th) right through to Saturday 14th April when the Festival ends – for details see elsewhere. Ferries will start at 8.15am and return at 6pm every day except perhaps Saturday 7th, you’ll have to phone Tsui Wah on 2272 2022 to find out what the service is on that day.

[ Last edited by wgeoff at 6/04/2012 19:25 ]

Author: brendank Time: 6/04/2012 18:30

6 April 2012

Excellent birds but poor weather. Photography was almost impossible.

probable Fairy Pitta (seen behind sisters cafe, flushed and seen in flight. I saw the blue wings and green back in flight and thought I might have seen some rusty brown color on the crown and pale supercilium)
2 Brown Hawk Owl
1 Grey-faced Buzzard
1 Japanese Quail (flushed on the way back from South Peninsula)
1 Japanese Yellow Bunting (female)
7 Ashy Minivet
2 Pale-legged Leaf Warbler
3 Blue-and-white Flycatcher (2 male, 1 female)
2 Narcissus Flycatcher
2 Asian Brown Flycatcher
1 Mugimaki Flycatcher
1 Black-naped Monarch
34 White-winged Starling
2 Chinese Pond Heron

From the ferry
1 Long-tailed Jaeger
2 Greater Crested Tern
1 Kentish Plover

Tried seawatching for a while but the weather closed in and it was just impossible to see anything at sea.

Image Attachment: jaeger.JPG (6/04/2012 18:30, 48.99 KB) / Download count 592
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Author: kmike Time: 6/04/2012 18:46

In addition to the birds Brendan has noted the following were also seen:

Red-necked Phalarope - 20 from the ferry near Po Toi

Brown Hawk Owl - one more

Two more Narcissus Flycatchers, one of which was rather green-backed (anyone going tomorrow please look out for one looking rather like owstoni) it was just below the reservoir.

Chinese Pond Heron - 2
Cattle Egret - 1

Silver-Backed Needletail - 1

Grey Wagtail - 4

Rufous-tailed Robins - 14 singing

Red-billed Starling - 1

Brown Shrike - 1

A very good day!!

Cheers
Mike

Image Attachment: DSCN9804 Brown Hawk Owl .jpg (6/04/2012 18:46, 127.5 KB) / Download count 595
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Author: brendank Time: 7/04/2012 20:58

7 April 2012

East wind made for great seawatching today. From 1420 to 1700 I had

13 Streaked Shearwater (in one group)
8 Long-tailed Jaeger
2 Parasitic Jaeger
9 Heuglin's Gull
11 Greater Crested Tern
7 Oriental Pratincole
9 Bar-tailed Godwit
510 Red-necked Phalarope
2 Black-crowned Night Heron
1 Kentish Plover (perched on the rocks)

On the island 9 species of flycatchers were seen but not all by me.

The bird I originally identified as a first year Rufous-gorgeted Flycatcher had the wrong tail pattern for that species. The only thing I can think of is a female Hainan Blue although the the head and back were extremely grey for that species. Still I can't think of any other possibilities.

On the ferry home a Peregrine Falcon was seen harassing a group of 12 Black-winged Stilts near Aberdeen.

Author: lrichard Time: 8/04/2012 10:24

Quite a few birders and photographers on Po Toi yesterday (7 April). Some of the birds I saw or heard about:

Brown Hawk Owl 1
Grey-faced Buzzard 2
Japanese Sparrowhawk 1
Chinese Pond Heron 2
Cattle Egret 1
Ashy Minivet 20
Brown Shrike lucionensis 2
Japanese Paradise Flycatcher b/p male
Black-naped Monarch 2
Blue-and-white Flycatcher 4
Narcissus Flycatcher 4
Japanese Thrush 1
Red-tailed Robin 3+
White-cheeked Starling 1
White-shouldered Starling 35-ish
Pale-legged Leaf Warbler 4+
Eastern Crowned Warbler 2
Yellow-browed Warbler 6+

From the ferry on the way back:

Little Tern 1
Common Redshank 2
Curlew Sandpiper 2
Red-necked Phalarope 30+
Oriental Pratincole 3

Author: fatchun Time: 8/04/2012 19:38

8-4-2012 9:30-15:30
Quite a long time did not watch bird and today I have chosen a right place to go.

On the way to Po Toi:
Red-necked Phalarope 80+
Aleutian Tern x4 (one or two of them may be a Common tern, but too far to be comfirmed)

On island:
Grey-faced Buzzard x 2
Chinese Pond Heron x 1
Pacific Swift x 1
Cattle Egret x 1
Ashy Minivet x 10
Japanese Paradise Flycatcher male x 1
Black-naped Monarch female x 1
Narcissus Flycatcher x 2
Rufous-tailed Robin
Asian Subtail
Japanese bush warbler
Lesser Frigatebird

A great day for my precious holiday!

Author: Ronaldo Time: 8/04/2012 20:42

Additions to the list for today:
on the island
Asian Brown Flycatcher x1
Blue-and-white flycatcher x1 male (very nice but very shy, just briefly seen in early morning)
Hainan Blue Flycatcher x1 female (not seen by me, but Allen has some nice pics)
Chestnut-flanked White-eye x2 (seen by Meiling)
Red Turtle Dove x1
For Geoff's counting: the Ashy Minivets were certainly more than 10, and split in two groups (probably 15+), Pacific Swifts at least 2, and Narcissus Flycatchers 3, Blue Rock Thrush x2, Siberian Rubythroat x1 (female seen briefly), Yellow-browed Warbler x3, Brown Shrike x1 (heard briefly)

at sea
over 300 phalaropes in morning, 15 at lunch time in south peninsula, at least 25 on the way back
aside from the terns, which should include at least one common tern (reddish bill, not black trail to secondaries on my pictures), a group of 10 cattle egrets was going from HK island towards Po Toi in the afternoon. We also had a glimpse at three brownish looking birds, flushed by the boat, which flew just over it while we had just left Po Toi. May be small skuas, without visible tail? possibly juveniles or moulding birds.

Author: brendank Time: 8/04/2012 21:06

8 April 2012

Didn't spend much time for landbirds but seen at the seawatch from 1140-1710.

1 (maybe 2) Lesser Frigatebird
12 Streaked Shearwater
5 Long-tailed Jaeger
2 Parasitic Jaeger
7 Greater Crested Tern
12 Little Tern
3 Wood Sandpiper
1 Eastern Curlew
202 Red-necked Phalarope
40 Cattle Egret
1 Black-crowned Night-heron

I first saw the frigatebird at 1400 when I got a message from Ivan about it. Peter and Michelle then saw it over Mat Chau at 1600. Then at 1628 I had the (or perhaps another?) Frigatebird 1 km out in the Dangan channel headed north-east and I watched it until it disappeared. Then at 1700 the Lesser Frigatebird was right over my head at the seawatch. If it was the same bird, it must have looped around the entire island.

One White-breasted Waterhen was on the beach at the south peninsula. An exhausted migrant?

[ Last edited by brendank at 8/04/2012 21:24 ]

Author: Ronaldo Time: 9/04/2012 20:54

9 April
Boat to Po Toi at 8.15
about 100 Phalaropes, essentially between Aberdeen and Stanley and near the Po Toi shores
Lesser Frigatebird from the boat just before arriving at destination

morning visit to South Peninsula (very quiet at sea from 9.30 to 11.00)
Grey Wagtail
Possible rubythroat flushed
about 50 phalaropes in small groups
a group of 20 golden plovers
seen by others far at sea (with scope) 3 skuas (inc. one long tailed, one arctic and a non-determined)
3 rock thrushes and 1 whistling thrush

other areas
1 Japanese Paradise Flycatcher (male)
3 Narcissus Flycatchers (all males) seen +1(?) reported in bamboos near helipad (may be the same as the one seen at the river)
1 Hainan Blue female
2 Black-naped Monarch (females) reported by other birdwatchers

Japanese Thrush, Rufous-tailed Robin, Mandchurian Bush Warbler still around
Yellow-browed warblers (6+)

1 Brown Hawk-Owl flushed while going to the dam was seen by other birdwatchers
1 Grey Nightjar
4 Pacific Swifts
2 Ashy Minivets

Afternoon spent in the south peninsula, with just a few phalaropes (Brendan will report more than that). and back with 4.30 ferry, about 45 phalaropes and one unidentified skua.

Author: AjaA Time: 9/04/2012 21:10

Po Toi seawatch 9 April 10-12.30 from the south point:

Red-necked Phalarope 191 going east, 283 going west
Unidentified large gull 1 east
Long-tailed Skua 1 east
Arctic Skua 6 east
Unidentified skua 4 east
Unidentified tern 2 east
Cattle Egret 8 east
Little Egret 2 east, 1 north
Unidentified white egret 8 east
Oriental Pratincole 3 east
Whimbrel 1 east

Peregrine 2
Blue Rock Thrush 1 male philippensis 1 female
Chestnut-eared Bunting 1

Brendan can continue from here as he spent the rest of the day at the south point. We spent some time elsewhere.

[ Last edited by AjaA at 9/04/2012 21:13 ]

Author: brendank Time: 9/04/2012 21:26

Later on in the day the sea was very quiet as well

4 Parasitic Jaeger
1 Long-tailed Jaeger
1 Heuglin's Gull
1 Black-tailed Gull
121 Red-necked Phalarope
4 Whimbrel
4 Eurasian Curlew
6 small terns which were possibly a mix of Common and Aleutian
1 Common Buzzard

[ Last edited by brendank at 9/04/2012 21:35 ]

Author: wgeoff Time: 12/04/2012 13:52 Subject: Second Week in April

Events over this Easter showed a typical sequence of how land bird migrants arrive and depart from Po Toi in spring under the effects of the weather.

A small depression but with heavy rain passed through Hong Kong on Thursday 5th April. Migrants started to arrive on Po Toi on the Thursday just before the rain, their numbers reaching a peak over the weekend and then tailing off as the weather improved and the skies cleared, the wind swung round to the south east and they were able to continue their journey north. They were nearly all gone by Wednesday 11th.

I’ve pieced together the numbers for 15 species over the period 5th to 11th April, taken from the website and my own records, and they look like this

You can see how the numbers peaked from Friday to Monday and then fell away as soon as the weather improved. The only surprise is that there were not more Grey-faced Buzzards. Normally these conditions in early April will bring in some good-sized flocks.

This is not to mean that birds only migrate when it rains – they are migrating all the time, but in good weather most will pass overhead without landing on the coast and probably land in good habitat somewhere inland, maybe overflying Hong Kong altogether. But they don’t like flying into a north-east wind particularly when it rains, so when this happens, they just drop down at the first available location which is the coastline. Many must arrive on the outer Dangan Islands but the habitat is not so good for feeding so they make their way into Po Toi from there. Po Toi has those great Fung Shui trees to keep them fed and protected until they are ready to move on.

Early April is very unpredictable – some years we get three or more of these weather sequences in quick succession, e.g. 2007, which is great for the birdwatchers but not for the birds. Some years there is only one, it seems like this year there will only be one because nothing more is shown in the 7-day weather forecast. The second half of April is more predictable and the migrants should be back on Po Toi by then.

This was Festival Week, my least favourite week of the year on Po Toi, and with no birds and too many people I ran away early. Many of the wintering species had also left on Monday night, there were no Japanese Thrush and many fewer Red-tailed Robins calling on Tuesday and Wednesday. I have no photos of land birds but it was interesting that some daytime migration could be seen on Wednesday – a flock of Large-billed Crows and another of Chinese Bulbuls, both setting off from the Lighthouse area, plus some large flocks of Pacific and House Swifts presumably feeding off insects flighting in the warm weather, and a single Pacific Reef Egret flying north east far out in the channel between Po Toi and Dangan. I’ve seen this species doing this in other years at this time and it’s obviously some sort of migration or dispersal of a species normally considered resident. The local male took off immediately (it must have good eyesight) and flew out to chase the intruder away.

At sea, the calmer south-east winds of Tuesday and Wednesday are not so good this early in April (it doesn’t matter so much later in the month) so I only had a few terns, Aleutian, Common and Great Crested plus four early Black-naped. But also 5 Ancient Murrelet decided the winds were ideal to set off for Japan, one single and two pairs, here

Next week may be quiet but things should warm up afterwards

[ Last edited by wgeoff at 12/04/2012 15:28 ]

Author: brendank Time: 12/04/2012 21:12

12 April 2012

I took advantage of the festival week ferry schedule to do some sea-watching this afternoon but it was quite slow just a single Greater Crested Tern, three Common Terns and a very distant jaeger.

[ Last edited by brendank at 12/04/2012 21:13 ]

Author: brendank Time: 14/04/2012 21:44

14 April 2012

Seawatching 1340-1710:

1 Ancient Murrelet
3 Parasitic Jaeger
3 Long-tailed Jaeger
1 Pomarine Jaeger
1 Heuglin's Gull
2 Aleutian Tern
5 Common Tern
12 Greater Crested Tern

Amazingly not even one Phalarope from either seawatch or ferry.

On the island it was very slow but I understand some people saw a Greenish Warbler.

Around 1530 I noticed a large 12 foot wave approaching. As the see was very calm today and I couldn't see any boats nearby making a wake, I couldn't figure out what had caused. A nearby small fishing boat seemed dangerously close to being tiped over. A rather strange occurrence. Photo of the wave below

[ Last edited by brendank at 17/04/2012 14:57 ]

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Author: wgeoff Time: 20/04/2012 06:53 Subject: Third Week in April

Wow, what a rain.

From Monday 5pm through to Tuesday 12noon and then again from Thursday 11.30am to 2pm, Po Toi was deluged by huge storms. Paths turned into rivers, rivers turned into raging torrents, the columbarium was completely flooded (bye-bye grandma's ashes) and the Thursday ferry birders spent almost the whole time sheltering in the cafe next to the ferry pier.

And the birds - they didn't like it too much either. A good selection of species but nothing really unusual.
Amongst the better records, single Grey-faced Buzzard, Chinese Goshawk, Besra, a Grey-tailed Tattler on the rocks, a probable Swinhoe's Snipe in the columbarium valley (the hard blocks were good stepping stones until they eventually also went under the water), Chestnut-winged, Hodgson's Hawk and Indian Cuckoo, a lonely Collared Scops Owl (the only bird Thursday day-trippers managed to see), two Blue-tailed Bee-eaters on Tuesday, the Two-barred Greenish Warbler calling (singing?) loudly, Grey-streaked and Asian Brown the only flycatchers, a White-cheeked Starling and Black Drongos now returned together with two Hair-crested.

A few photos from a week when taking photos was nearly impossible

The Two-barred Warbler photo above was actually taken a few weeks ago, when I had to ask Paul Leader to ID it because it looked so odd, but I think it's the same bird as now which has started calling loudly. Here is a recording of the call, sounds like a sparrow

http://www.geoffwelch46.com/TWOBARREDGW21.mp3

So, why no flycatchers or rarities given the amount of rain? I've been pondering this and can only suggest 'the wrong type of rain'. The rain was coming from storms which drifted along the coastline, not going out to sea. The birds above are mainly south China migrants, coming round the coast, none of the usual migrants coming from across the South China Sea. That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it. Maybe Sunday will be a better day for birds.

At sea, nothing exciting again. A late Black-tailed Gull, two Caspian Terns plus Aleutian, Common, Black-naped and 23 Greater Crested on Thursday morning. A good flock of terns from the ferry coming back, Common, Aleutian and a few Whiskered.
Here a Caspian Tern, which is rare on Po Toi

Short-tailed Shearwaters next week?

P.S. In case any of you out there still think it's a holiday for me on Po Toi, I was bitten again by one of those giant centipedes. It's not much fun waking up to find one of those huge things creeping all over you. They come out because the rain makes it too wet under the ground.

[ Last edited by wgeoff at 20/04/2012 09:23 ]

Author: tsheunglai Time: 20/04/2012 19:46

Dear Geoff

It's pretty much the old Chinese village days being experienced by you again. Hoping the centipede hadn't
scared you so much as to shorten your stay on the island this spring.

By the way, the record of the two-barred greenish warbler is very interesting. It sounds like a low-pitched 'twi, twi, twi, twi, twi' to me from my experience of standard English (British) pronuciation.

Thank you for all your ornithological studies.

S L Tai

[ Last edited by tsheunglai at 21/04/2012 21:26 ]

Author: thinfor Time: 21/04/2012 00:45

Hope you're fine, Geoff, the giant centipedes seem to love you so much to kiss you!

BTW, any repellents for centipedes?!

Author: wgeoff Time: 21/04/2012 06:24

Thanks Mr Tai and Manson.
I kissed the centipede also, with the bottom of my shoe. I don't think he liked it.

Repellant - I tried spraying all around the bed with Baygon cockroach spray, but it didn't work. Anything stronger than that would do me more harm than the centipede.

Following this sort of incident, I do sit there wondering what life must have been like in the village 50 years ago. No electricity, very little water, self-dependent on food, exposed to typhoons in the summer - I don't think we, who take all these things for granted, would survive very long.

Author: kmike Time: 21/04/2012 07:07

Life may have been tough, but you'd have a pretty good Po Toi list from spending your whole life on the island or on a fishing boat nearby!

Author: lrichard Time: 21/04/2012 20:21 Subject: Boat trip into southern waters 21 April 2012

Big thanks to John & Jemi for arranging this boat trip, the first on which two species of murrelet were found. Hopefully some great photos to come ...

Japanese Murrelet 1
Ancient Murrelet 2
Greater Crested Tern 4
Aleutian Tern 7
Common Tern (all red-legged) 16
Aleutian/Common Tern 18
Black-tailed Gull 1
Red-necked Phalarope c 250
Cattle Egret 2

Author: Ronaldo Time: 21/04/2012 21:06

Also one Eurasian Curlew (and a few Barn Swallows) :-)

Author: brendank Time: 21/04/2012 21:29

Actually in the photo that one looked like a Whimbrel.

Author: ivantse Time: 22/04/2012 18:49

22 April 2012

White-throated Needletail
Pale Martin
Pacific Swift
Indian Cuckoo
Chinese Goshawk
Black-winged Kite

[ Last edited by ivantse at 22/04/2012 18:53 ]

Author: Ronaldo Time: 22/04/2012 19:43

Quote:

Original posted by brendank at 21/04/2012 21:29
Actually in the photo that one looked like a Whimbrel.

Not quite sure...
Here is my picture. Seems too bulky for whimbrel.

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Author: wgeoff Time: 22/04/2012 20:05

Black-winged Kite is a good record - I've only ever seen two single birds before.

Author: thinfor Time: 22/04/2012 21:09

Quote:

Original posted by lrichard at 21/04/2012 20:21
Big thanks to John & Jemi for arranging this boat trip, the first on which two species of murrelet were found. Hopefully some great photos to come ...

Japanese Murrelet 1
Ancient Murrelet 2
Greater C ...

From the other post, the Japanese murrelet was close enough to be differentiated from ancient murrelet! That was very nice indeed!

[ Last edited by thinfor at 22/04/2012 21:11 ]

Author: brendank Time: 22/04/2012 21:29

Seawatching today from 1320 to 1715 was exceptionally slow--just one Common Tern and 15 Whimbrel in 2 groups.

The bird above is a Whimbrel. In addition to the long bill, Eurasian Curlew shows cleanly white underwing coverts in flight.

[ Last edited by brendank at 22/04/2012 21:34 ]

Author: bigfaihk Time: 25/04/2012 04:36

22-04-2012 po toi
灰紋鶲 - Grey-streaked Flycatcher.

Author: wgeoff Time: 27/04/2012 06:57 Subject: Fourth Week in April

Where are all the migrants this year?

Even the change of wind on Wednesday didn't produce much (we had no rain on Po Toi) and my score of 31 non-resident land bird species over the week is 20 below expectation for the last week in April. No Brown Shrike, Yellow Wagtail, Grey-streaked Flycatcher or Arctic Warbler!

So just a few photos to show - Intermediate Egret on the fishponds, Striated Heron in the lagoon and a Chinese Goshawk

The only other species of note was a single Dollarbird on Thursday.

At sea, very few seabirds but at least one Short-tailed Shearwater, on Wednesday evening, seen by my guests for the week, Annika and Antero, but not me as I'd given up by then. Another all-dark shearwater seen distantly by us all earlier in the day did not look like Short-tailed but it's academic - it was well outside HK waters.

Best birds at sea were the waders, some large flocks of Whimbrel heading north east before the storm, totalling 320 including these flocks

So, a very poor week for my guests.

On another subject, I hope you are all supporting the 'Po Toi for Country Park Campaign' being so well organised by Beetle - see here

http://www.hkbws.org.hk/BBS/view ... 6395&highlight=

The columbarium is crumbling under the effects of rain, water and nature but we still need protection to prevent this happening again

[ Last edited by wgeoff at 27/04/2012 08:34 ]

Author: AjaA Time: 27/04/2012 13:03

Pics of Short-tailed Shearwater and Dollarbird. A big thanks to Geoff for letting us stay with him. Quite an experience in many ways! We enjoyed it very much indeed.

[ Last edited by AjaA at 27/04/2012 13:07 ]

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Author: ajohn Time: 27/04/2012 17:15

Does anyone else think that Short-tailed Shearwater looks longer-tailed than usual? Or am I just showing my lack of experience with Hong Kong seabirds?

Author: wgeoff Time: 27/04/2012 17:49

It does look rather long, although sometimes it can look long because their feet stick out - see here

I know Annika has more, maybe we can see them all.

Geoff

Author: AjaA Time: 27/04/2012 17:54

Here are a few more dark pixels of the shearwater.

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Author: wgeoff Time: 27/04/2012 18:30

Both these look good for Short-tailed - here some comparison photos

Author: brendank Time: 28/04/2012 21:07

28 April 2012

Best day I have had seawatching in Hong Kong. Fantastic numbers of birds from 1340-1710.

1 Red-throated Diver
9 Short-tailed Shearwater
177 White-winged Tern
108 Aleutian Tern
29 Common Tern
9 Greater Crested Tern
3 Bridled Tern
3 Least Tern

I had the Red-throated Diver in the scope for about 25 seconds. After which I tried to get a photo and by then it was much further than when I originally saw it and that coupled with the fact that I only had my shorter lens today made the results were pretty unsatisfying. You can see below:

I did get some nice photos of this very close for seawatching (350 meters) Short-tailed Shearwater. It's interesting because unlike Streaked Shearwaters, Short-tailed Shearwaters always seem to come through one at a time, never in big groups. And unlike terns, they are very irregular in their position. Some are close, some are far and some are even farther when they pass by the south point.

On land it was more quite. I saw a late Rufous-tailed Robin, an Arctic Warbler, 3 Grey-streaked and 5 Brown Shrikes but not the massive fallout I was hoping for. Other people had Grey-faced Buzzard and Chinese Goshawk I believe.

[ Last edited by brendank at 28/04/2012 21:10 ]

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Author: lrichard Time: 29/04/2012 17:38

Thanks to Tung & Bettle for co-ordinating today's boat trip (29 April).

Birds at sea:

Lesser Frigatebird (should be some great photos)
Greater Crested Tern 1
Aleutian Tern 8
Common Tern 5
Bridled Tern 29
Black-naped Tern 3
Red-necked Phalarope 72

Birds on Po Toi island (may be some more):

Striated Heron 1
Cattle Egret 1
Chinese Pond Heron 3
Black-crowned Night Heron 1
Narcissus Flycatcher male
Grey-streaked Flycatcher 5
Japanese Leaf Warbler (split from Artctic Warbler) 5

Author: AjaA Time: 29/04/2012 19:11

The singing Arctic Warbler close to the upper school seems to really have been an Arctic Warbler, borealis (not examinandus or xanthodryas) - based on both song and call. The attached recordings are of poor quality, because of much other noise and because the bird sang very quietly, but still the call can be heard to be very sharp and the song consists of very similar syllables repeated many times.

Comparison recordings can be found here:

http://www.slu.se/sv/centrumbild ... lers-vocalizations/

and the article seen here:

http://www.nrm.se/download/18.63 ... c+Warblers+IBIS.pdf

[ Last edited by AjaA at 29/04/2012 19:22 ]

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Author: wgeoff Time: 29/04/2012 20:08

These call recordings are very useful, thanks Antero. I can compare them with my past recordings of Arctic Warbler calls.

In spring, I regularly get birds which use both double and single 'dzzzt' call notes (same bird). In autumn, I only get single call notes. Is this significant?

Author: tsheunglai Time: 29/04/2012 20:52

Geoff

I'm very interested in calls/songs of warblers, particularly leaf warblers.

Post your recordings and you'll get truly thankfulness from me.

S L Tai

Author: AjaA Time: 30/04/2012 07:54

Our personal experience of autumn mingrating Arctic Warblers is very restricted. But in this species the call is often a part of the song. It could be possible that the double call is "more song", uttered by individuals with breeding activity coming. In young of some Phylloscopus warbler species autumn calls are sometimes different from the normal ones, but this seems not to be the explanation here.

Author: lmichael Time: 30/04/2012 09:08 Subject: AjaA shearwater of 27th April

This looks like a good candidate for Wedge-tailed Shearwater to me and Paul Leader who I have just discussed it with. The tail is not just rather long but there is proportionately more of the bird 'behind' the wings than in front compared with Short-tailed; also compare the tail length with the wing width. The real pointer for me, however, is the very long wings with the 'arm' held slightly forward and a bend at the carpal. To me the bird has a slender, rangy appearance, different from the rather compact cigar shape of Short-tailed.

I certainly think it would be worth submission to the RC for further consideration.

Mike Leven

Author: wgeoff Time: 30/04/2012 12:28

OK, I'll arrange for a URF

Author: brendank Time: 30/04/2012 19:22

These photoes of the closest of the 9 shearwaters I saw Saturday. I would say this birds shape matches Annika and Antero's photo pretty well. Perhaps this is a Wedge-tailed Shearwater too but then why couldn't be a Bulwer's Petrel? I don't have any experience with these birds so I am not sure what to say about them at this point.

[ Last edited by brendank at 30/04/2012 19:25 ]

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Author: wgeoff Time: 30/04/2012 20:07

In my opinion, this is a Short-tailed Shearwater. If it's not, then I have many of photos of birds looking just like this. I think the tail appears long because the feet are sticking out.
I think AjaA's bird is also a Short-tailed although I do admit the first photo is bit odd for tail length, but the second and third are pretty much spot on. We'll let the RC argue it out.

Bulwer's Petrel both looks and flies differently. It's wings are even longer relative to the body size, and the body is very slender and front-ended. It does not fly with stiff wings but with wings which angle down at the carpal joint with both tips almost touching the water simultaneously, mostly gliding along with only the occasional wing beats. You will know you have something different if you see one.

Here are two photos of a 'Bulwer's Petrel' which I had in 2007, unfortunately not accepted by the Records Committee (it would have been a First Record)

These photos are taken one second apart. As you can see, the appearance of this species can change quite fast

[ Last edited by wgeoff at 30/04/2012 20:38 ]

Author: ajohn Time: 30/04/2012 21:34

Listening to the recordings linked by Annika, I still think the warbler was Japanese Leaf, xanthodryas.

To me, the song was a series of about 7-8 notes with a 'pumping' quality. This is similar to some of the phrases on the website link (especially in the first xanthodryas recording). This song reminds me a bit of Dusky Warbler in pace (but with slightly different structure of notes). The recordings of borealis comprise a longer series of more musical notes, the pace and quality reminding me of Lesser Whitethroat (I have also thought this when I have heard them on breeding grounds)
I acknowledge that most phrase in the recordings of xanthodryas include some slightly different notes, but this does not always seem to be the case. The song of the bird on Sunday was very similar to the birds recorded in Hong Kong last year, which were considered to be xanthodryas.

The call also fits closer to the call of xanthodryas, seeming to be more of a 'squelch' containing distinct strophes, slightly slower and lower in pitch than the call of borealis.

I hope this makes sense. I find it difficult to describe the differences in call/song. The bird was very close and calling/singing frequently when I saw it - perhaps I should have tried to get a recording then, as it seemed to be further away and more retiring when I returned a bit later.

Author: AjaA Time: 1/05/2012 14:43

Alström et al 2011, The Arctic Warbler Phylloscopus borealis – three anciently separated cryptic species revealed, Ibis (2011), 153, 395–410:

about the song of examinandus:
"It was easily distinguishable from the songs of borealis and kennicotti by the pumping rhythm, which resulted from the presence of usually two different syllable types (A and B) arranged in phrases (usually AAB)"

and about the song of xanthodryas:
"The song resembled that of examinandus, but generally sounded slower, lower-pitched and less sharp and harsh, and the rhythm was clearly different as a result of additional A syllables (e.g. AAAB), or the presence of more than two syllable types in the phrases"

So the main distinction between songs of borealis and examinandus/xanthodryas seems to be that borealis has only one type of syllable in its song, the other two have two or more types.

Song 1. Borealis. Bolshoye Betyu, Komi Republic, Russia 23 June 2006.
Note the syllable structure AAAAA...

Song 2. Xanthodryas. the first song example of Per Alström's web page ("semi-randomly" 1,7 sec of the recording). The syllable structure is AAAABAAB

Song 3. The Po Toi bird. The syllable structure is again AAAAA...

Note also how much faster the Russian and Po Toi birds are (15 and 17 syllables respectively in 1,7 secs) compared to the xanthodryas example with 8 syllables

It should be remembered that the migrants in the earlier stages of spring migration quite often do not sing full songs (their songs are softer than full territorial songs, not fully crystallized). Very good examples in Hong Kong are the singing Dusky Warblers, which have a variable but generally clearly different song compared to Siberian ones. In this case the main distinction seemed to be that the Po Toi bird sang very quietly.

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