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Po Toi May 2009 蒲台島春季鳥況直擊(五月)

Po Toi May 2009 蒲台島春季鳥況直擊(五月)

Birds seen at Po Toi and in southern & eastern waters during HKBWS outing of 3 May

Migrants at Po Toi:

Cattle Egret 1
Chinese Goshawk 1
Pacific Swift 8
Blue-winged Pitta 1 seen, possibly another heard
Brown Shrike 4
Arctic Warbler 6
Grey-streaked Flycatcher 1

Birds seen at sea from Geoff Carey's boat (two boats were hired for the outing):

Brown Booby 1
Short-tailed Shearwater 1 (2-3 others from Yu Yat Tung's boat)
White-wqinged Tern 14
Aleutian Tern 29
Common Tern 3
Black-naped Tern 3
Bridled Tern 2
Little Tern 6
Oriental Pratincole 2
Red-necked Phalarope 109

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Thanks to Hey & Chiu for posting photos & a sound recording of this intriguing bird.

It was certainly a very small & slim Cuckooshrike, with blackish upperparts & a narrowish pale rump band which contrasted very strongly when the bird was in flight, and a strange call or song. This was a simple 3-note phrase frequently & without variation for 1-2 hours (as on on Hey's sound recording).

I want to comment especially on voice. I don't recall hearing Black-winged Cuckooshrike vocalising in Hong Kong either on passage or in winter, but I have heard  & recorded on MD one singing in late April at Ba Bao Shan, northern Guangdong, presumably on territory. I don't know how to transfer an MD recording to computer, so here's a verbal description. The main phrase is a fairly loud, rather high-pitched and clearly-separated 2-note whistle "gee-heu", uttered once or repeated 3-4 times. When repeated in a series, each phrase descends in pitch. Also, there is sometimes an introductory phrase - a faster & slightly quieter 3-note "Whi-hi-hi" which preceeds the main phrase, so the whole song is "Whi-hi-hi ... gee-heu ... gee-heu ... gee-heu... gee-heu", which is very different from the Po Toi bird.

Robson's (2009) description of voice of Black-winged Cuckooshrike, whilst matching the Ba Bao Shan bird, does not sound anything like the Po Toi bird: "Series of 3-4 clear, well-spaced, high-pitched whistles: "wii-wii-jeeu-jeeu", "wi'i-wii-wii-jeu", and "witi-jeeu-jeeu-jeeu" etc; slower & more measured than Indochinese (Cuckooshrike)".

So, size, upperpart appearance & voice of the Po Toi bird all seem wrong for Black-winged Cuchooshrike!

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