tsheunglai

26th August, 2013 (Mon)

Up to the Top

It was a trial of will that I woke up at five, caught the six am bus, took a good breakfast at MacDonald's and started recording my finds from seven fifteen.

The species grew slowly in number which ended at twenty-three in total. The only migrant I encountered was a Grey wagtail. Had I not resolved to reach the top of Lead Mine Pass, I would have missed it.

The morning was comfortably hot, probably due to the fact that I took physical exercise almost every morning, oftentime a lot exposed to the bright sun.

I found the local birds fairly represented, notably missing from my list were Velvet-fronted nuthatches, Orange-bellied leafbirds, White-bellied yuhinas or erponises and Violet whistling thrushes. It has been long found that Orange-bellied leafbirds are on the decline and Violet whistling thrushes do not appear until late autumn, possibly as a result of extending their feeding territory in colder periods.

Juveniles of Chestnut bulbul were very easily found and some of Mountain bulbul were seen.

In an effort to find migrants I later recalled that I hadn't sat at all until I finished about four and a half hours later on my returning minibus.

S L Tai

[ Last edited by tsheunglai at 30/08/2013 21:43 ]

tsheunglai

2nd Sep 2013

Again to the Top

Whether persistence brings greater reward is questionable, but today surely it did.

Before I reached Pinic Site No. 8 to find some Black-throated laughing thrushes, birdwatching was ordinary bordering on disappointment. Among a flock of predominantly Grey-chinned minvivets there were no Scarletamong them, in spite of some patient searching.

Walking up all along needed few stops for there were virtually no interesting things that came my way. A walk-around the public toilet yielded nothing and I hesitated not but to descend right away. Also with the misgiving generated when I found probably the same Grey wagtail as regards it status of being a migrant or a wintering bird. The Shing Mun reservoir was all flooded exposing no wet yet shallow places for wagtails to feed, hence the presence of the bird near the top.

It was about two hundred metre down that the situation changed abruptly. First there were some Grey-cheeked fulvettas babbling and foraging up and down, followed soon by some Scarlet minivets among Grey-chinned ones. But the area had its first Asian paradise flycatchers was in evidence with a bird displaying its quite typical flight behaviour, flying in deep curves while displaying its milk-mixed brown tail on stopping for a short perch, uttering drongo-like aggressive calls. Not just one but two.

It was easy work to identify an Eastern crowned warbler - longish but graceful with pale green upperbody, thick darkish lateral crown stripes and a purely fleshy lower mandible of a proportionally long bill- delighting me with its short flights, oftentime up and down.

With the last bird heard being a Fork-tailed sunbid, my morning's list stopped at twenty-four, just one more than last Monday's, but givng a lot more satisfaction.

S L Tai

[ Last edited by tsheunglai at 3/09/2013 19:26 ]

tsheunglai

6th Sep 2013 (Friday)

First Sign of Birding Addiction

It was quite naturally that I went again. Autumn is one of the best times to combine walking with birdwatching in the morning. The trip turned out to be cool enough till the time turned towards eleven.

There was doubt whether it was advisable to go twice a week. The only bird along the Reservoir Walk was a Little egret which stopped me to check its toes and bill when it flew and stopped.

The tenth species was a Crested goshawk which flew across the road when I approached. Not too scared to perch out of sight, I found it interesting enough to write down notes to be confirmed just a moment ago with J F and D A C's 'Raptors of the World'. It is thought that notes writing enhances memeory and power of observation especially for details.

Regarded as a matter of course, I walked round the public toilet and returned. No sign of the Grey wagtail, generating in me the question of where it had gone.

This time it was about four hundred metres down that I met my morning's Asian paradise flycatchers. Totally four of them; counted twice to make the number reliable. The whole lot with other birds were intercepted while flying up across the road, strongly suggesting that the flycatchers were not new arrivals but had been there at least from yesterday.

Curiosity about the water level of the reservoir drove me to Picnic Site No. 12, helping me to find two Arctic warblers - bill turning dark towards tip, eye-brow stopping well before bill base, double short narrow wingbars with lesser one shorter than the greater covert's, palest degree of yellow suffusing entire underbody- all helps towards their identity.

The resevoir's level of water brimmed up to the edge of the picnic site, enough explanation of the scarcity of wagtails along my trip.

S L Tai

[ Last edited by tsheunglai at 7/09/2013 19:10 ]

tsheunglai

9th Sep 2013 (Mon)

The Powerful Effect of Weather

While dircection and strength of wind exercise a dominant influence on the arrival of particular migrant species especially concerning rarities and even Hong Kong firsts, the daytime temperature surely determine the day of departure of birds especially flycatchers. Just on Sunday the 8th of September there were five species of flycatchers found on Po Toi, yet there was only one at the Shing Mun/Lead Mine Pass area on the morrow.

It was quite early of the trip, at the location of the first butterfly garden that I saw an Asian paradise flycatcher, funny side of things was that it was among a predominantly Japanese whiteeyes and some other small species.

Five species more, it was an Eastern crowned warbler which was the twelth of the morning.

It was evident that the temperature together with other mild factors of the weather that there were no more  migrants seen all the way to
the top of the pass and on the return downhill walk. It was all summer day outlook again, hot and little wind after ten.

What comforted me a lttle was four Greater necklaced laughing thrushes found on the pass road, qutie amusing to hear its soft bird meowing for such large species.

The total number of kinds of birds recorded was down to eighteen, five short of last Friday's.

S L Tai

[ Last edited by tsheunglai at 9/09/2013 21:04 ]

tsheunglai

16th Sep 2013 (Mon)

Migrants Finding at Its Lowest Ebb

Fresh easterly wind was all there but hot weather made birds retired to inactivity early.

The best bird sen deemed a juv Dark-sided flycatcher among babblers near the end of the Reservoir Walk before it bent to the right towards the fung shui woods.

The walk up to the top was uneventful and down back to the public toilet near Picnic Site No. 6 at last gave me a chanc of seeing my morning's only flock of Grey-throated minivets which yielded me no Black-winged cuckoo shrike which should be around on migration.

The total species seen or heard was low as twenty, the last one being a Blue magpie not seen or heard before this month.

S L Tai

[ Last edited by tsheunglai at 22/09/2013 20:08 ]

tsheunglai

21st Sep 2013 (Sat)

Checking on the Effect of Approaching Typhoon on Migration

Weather forecast indicating Monday being rainy and still in the aftermath of the approaching typhoon, I took to the area two days earlier.

The first bird sight that met my eyes was three Black kites flying towards the north lazily in the morning breeze; a phenomenon that repeated itself. It must be mentioned that I hadn't seen the same all my previous September trips.

I took the habitual checking of the small piece of lawn before the public toilet for ground migrants, the term ground referring to birds feeding almost entirely on the ground. The bird found me first and flew up out of sight, its outline resembling more of a wagtail than other kinds, possibly a Forest wagtail. Seeing that it was not there I crossed the Reservoir Walk and down to the bigger terraced lawn below. Surely on the nearside corner there it was, surely the species of wagtail I supposed it was.

Between Picnic Site No. 8 and 9 I was led to find a birdwave on hearing the call of a Mountain bulbul. Soon the deep curvy dip of a bird helped me find my only Asian paradise flycather of the morning, followed by an Eastern-crowned leaf warbler. Only one other migrant was seen in the form of a juvenile Dark-sided flycatcher.

It was once again very quiet on the top, failing to find and identify two birds looking like cuckoo shrikes which landed on some trees in the distance.

S L Tai

[ Last edited by tsheunglai at 23/09/2013 21:20 ]

tsheunglai

Notice of Corrections of Identification of Birds

Please note that on both 16th and 21st of Sep this week the brown flycatchers seen were Dark-sided flycatchers, both being juvenile. Their key features had been noted on the spot but carelessness of written record in my note-book resulted in wrong reports here.

S L Tai

tsheunglai

27th Sep 2013 (Fri)

More Attempt at Variety

Does higher frequency of visiting the same site producing more variety? The self-imposed question remians unanswered in the affirmative as the morning's birding reveals.

A migratory Long-tailed shrike greeted me first with its calls when I started from Pineapple Dam. It remained unseen though its movements were guided by its intermittent calls which were loud and clear.

While I was checking a mixed flocks of bulbuls predominantly Chestnut ones, an accipiter flew in from behind across the road and perched quite near, obviously failing in a surprise attack on its target bulbul. A quick observation revealed it was not large enough and absent of crest to be a Crested Goshawk. But certainty ended here. The rest of features weighed heavily it being a Japanese sparrowhawk - faint eyebrow, upperbody dull brown paler fringed on some of the wing coverts, upper tail's paler bands wider than dark ones - the date was still several weeks early for its kind. It soon found its backside observer a bit threatening and reacted with a sudden rise and swerved back to disappearance.

The Asian paradise flycatcher of the morning posed no similar identification problem. It was found with two Eastern-crowned warblers as loose companies. An Artic warlber was found in another mixed flock of birds.

It was at Picnic Site No. that I found a bird perching prominently, a behaviour too obvious to be that of a flyctacher, a juvenile Dark-sided with spots on upper wing coverts and thick scales or irregular connected streaks all over its breast.

The morning's finds strongly suggested that I had better try again at variety in a few days' time.

S L Tai

tsheunglai

N.B. to my latest report

On the identity of the single accipiter I saw

After a night's reflection and checking on Japanese sparrowhaws online photos especially OBI's, I've come to the conclusion that what I saw was a Besra on the grounds that its underbody has streaks on upper-breast and barred on the rest, the bars a bit denser and thicker than that of a Japanese. The difference in width between pale and dark tail bands are not pronounced enough to tip the bird towards that of a Japanese too. Last but not least the basic colour of the underbody is not clearly whitish at all.

Probably the accipiter was a immature/juvenile.

S L Tai

[ Last edited by tsheunglai at 29/09/2013 21:17 ]

tsheunglai

1 October, 2013 (Tue)

The Dilemma between Good and Bad Weather
Choice or Chance

The early Monday morning was rainy but weather forecast was in favour of the following day being sunny.
On the faith that rains would keep the birds from leaving the territory and sunlight give sightings a nice treat, I went on today.

The day was certainly good in weather which soon became hot towards nine. At the catchment above Pineapple Dam there were two Grey wagtails, the sure place to find them on migration or feeding on winter days. The water level being deep for feeding on the bottom, they took the labour of sticking to the deep concrete walls to feed on small wet patches. It was interesting to find one having pale orange tinge on the upper breast though the rest of plumage deviate not from normal, a feature which would help me check with its continual presence on individual level. The other one was peculiar in that the left uppermost tertial had white fringe significantly wider than the right one.

It must also be mentioned that a Collared crow was seen on top of the dam. Special attention was paid to its calls which were heard twice, three-noted and more baby-like than Jungle crows', if my auditory faculty did not play me false. Later and not far away three Jungle crows were seen and heard, theirs a little louder and harsher.

The above observations were the only things that kept my spirits from flagging.

I reached the top of Lead Mine Pass a little before ten, reflecting the fact that few things had stopped my steps. The lawn around the Public toilet was quiet. But things changed for the better when I wanted to see if the Lesser shortwing which was heard could be located and seen.

Lesser shortwings at Tai Po Kau usually call when there was a birdwave passing near or above. It was almost in no time found to be the case. Noisy local birds like Rufous-capped babblers and Grey-cheeked fulvettas were passing through trees and feeding in good numbers, anda single Black-winged cuckoo-shrike soon made its appearance. The whole flock moved upwards in the direction of the road that led to the water tanks for fires, a natural course for the cuckoo-shrike to fly over towards Lantau and further in company with the several Eastern-crowned warblers among the rest.

A little below Picnic Site No. 8 another birdwave having Velvet-fronted nuthatches and Grey-throated minivets among local birds looked promising but ended in finding one or two Eastern-crowned warblers to be the only migrants, thus finishing the morning trip with no flycatchers.

S L Tai

[ Last edited by tsheunglai at 3/10/2013 21:19 ]

tsheunglai

7th October 2013

A Gem among Flycatchers

Business as usual like, I started birdwatching from Pineapple Dam at seven fourteen.

It was intriguing to see two Corvus in association, one a Collared crow, the other a Jungle. The former was seen first, but the latter was heard before it was seen, call old men like, causing some confusion of recent learning that Collared ones have a soft or baby tone.

Along the catchment I found the Grey wagtail with orange-tinged upper breast feeding on the wall again, making the likelihood that it would stay greater.

I couldn't help but noticing the presence of Yellow-browed warblers all along the upward leg -counting five times - whose two-note but linked calls of 'tch-weet' would consitute the mainstay tonal element of my mental picture of the area in months to come.

Another obvious change was the presence of Fork-tailed sunbirds whose calls caught hold of my attention when all else was moderately quiet. It was nothing to do with increasing number of flowering plants or trees, explicable only on the ground that lots of them coming to the area from the north.

Around Picnic Site No. 6 I heard an Ashy drongo calling which I failed to see.

I reached the top, this time twelve minutes before ten. I heard the Less shortwing again once but finding no bird wave nearby. The absence of birdwave lasted until I was just several hundred metre before the path levelled with the branch road to the Aboretum.

I heard lots of mixed bird calls. Babblers of several sorts and a single Grey-throated minivet dominated the bird scene that spread before me, but somehow I saw some larger birds were making trough like flights around. I walked down with the flock and retraced my steps to check, finding some Yellow-browed and an Eastern-crowned warblers on the way. At last one large bird was found to be a Mountain bulbul, but it was not dark in plumage. I kept on waiting and searching. Patience at last was rewarded. A gorgeous male Japanese paradise flycatcher was all there - purplish eyering, blackish head and headside topped by a thick but short and slightly raised crest, back glimmering out dark purple tinge and an almost solid black breast - upgrading a morning of mediocre birdwatching by a strong element of satisfaction. A gem among non-breeding flycatchers, I must add.

A single note of a leaf warbler, loud and clear, a Pallass' was heard further down, adding the last bit to my morning's memories.

S L Tai

[ Last edited by tsheunglai at 8/10/2013 22:24 ]

tsheunglai

A Pattern around a Season
What a Cold Front Could Do to a Local Mid-Oct Woods' Scene

It was the first time that I mangaged to catch a six-nineteen Minibus No.82 which I got on at a new location. The result gave me a chance to peep at a cyclical pattern of birds' migration.

First there was the Long-tailed shrike which I only heard on September 27th. It was definitely an early winter visitor. At six thirty-one, it perched on top of a short tree on the side of the slope that led up to Pineapple Dam. It seemed to be purposefully vociferous with the purpose of warning off feeding competitors. I gave it an identification check before I went on.

Along the catchment I missed the Grey wagtail with an orange-tinged upper breast but found the one with left uppermost tertials unusually wide. A stay of about three weeks. This time it was first found feeding on piles of fallen leaves that got trapped on the bottom barely covered by flowing water.

It was the call of a male Scarlet minivet that I started seaching the big tree on the side of the lawn near the road-barrier. First there was an Ashy drongo perching on top displaying its frequent aerial sallies. What a bird-scene that repeated itself when a Black-winged cuckoo-shrike flew up and made short flights around the tree tops. So they were friends of the same stock that flocked together.

Not far away on the Reservoir Walk I got sight of at least five Crest-haired drongos in noisy rapid flight. Yet another piece of autumnal phenomenon.

The cold-front seemed to have aroused local birds to earlier feeding acitivities. It was easy to pick out the four-note calls of a Grey-headed flycatcher which did not make a visual appearance. However, another one was seen well out of the two I met in a birdwave further up the Lead Mine Pass. It was again what the cold-front had brought for the future winter in a month.

It was quite unexplainable that I saw two White-bellied erponis among two different birdwaves, a local species I had been missing all the time, justisfying rightly to change my personal opinion that they were notherners that came to Hong Kong for the winter.

Satisfaction is at the centre of my feeling when I ended my morning's birding; for is there more than being a witness to one of nature's cyclical pattern?

S L Tai

tsheunglai

23th October 2013 (Wed)

A First Bird for Shing Mun/Lead Mine Pass

The 82 Minibus started at six-nineteen punctually and I just managed to catch the driver's notice who opened the door before leaving.

At six thirty-four the Pineapple Dam was quite quiet. The first bird was a Cinerous tit, second a Common tailorbird, the third and fourth being leaf warblers -Yellow-browed and Pallas's - all heard.

However, the number of species recorded came fairly rapidly. The ninth species was a Black kite heard and the tenth -later checked to be around seven - soon flew up from the slope of woods facing Tusen Wan district - looking like a Spotted dove. It perched on a fir-like tree in the shade with sunlight bright from my right. To give it a rountine check -just for the spots on the neck - I came some steps nearer.
To my surprise the underbody was greenish - a bird of the genus Treron. I approached it further with caution and the bird flew straight past me but landed and perched just a dozen of metres away. I made hurry and found the pigeon's bill mainly greyish with blue, head all largely greenish and no big orbital ring, ruling out being a Thick-billed. On another position, the backward half of the flanks and undertail coverts were heavily flecked dark upon otherwise basically off-white. The wing coverts' pale fringes were limited to the median and greater ones. My observation finished when the bird flew on from tree to tree along the catchment and disappeared. It was quite conclusive that the bird, with the help of bird books later on, was a female White-bellied green pigeon, a first record for the area if my memory serves me correctly.

A Two-barred warbler was soon seen as the twelth species of the morning. As soon as I walked past the road barrier birding became most ordinary. An Ashy drongo remained just heard, even the two Grey-headed canary flycathcers were so. All the way until I got on the return minibus the only bird that gave me delight was a male Buff-bellied flowerpecker which was well seen and heard.

S L Tai

tsheunglai

Dear all esp Geoff and Mike

Thanks for your appreciation of my wordy weekly reports. While others rush to hotspots for good finds I take my somewhat different way; I would be mostly birding undisturbed and indeed I become quite fond of the long walk along Shing Mun from Reservoir Walk up to the top of scenic Lead Mine Pass.

Thanks again for all your support.

S L Tai

tsheunglai

31St October, 2013 (Thursday)

The Last Lot of Autumn Migrants

Starting around six-thirty afforded me to witness two Black kites flapping its wings lazily just to keep afloat upon a weak morning wind, towards the same direction - the north.

Warming up to twenty-eight degree Celsius towards midday had a disruptive effect upon birds' activities, resulting in forming merely small-sized birdwaves not in great number of individual species.

Ordinary species continued to appear until I began the beginning part of Lead Mine Pass, with the widest part of a stream about a score of metres down on my right. Bird calls stopped me to check. A bird was seen perching sideways with a near-upright stance, brown head and mantle with a blue fold-wing, slender and shape of a flycatcher. A first-winter male Blue-and-White flycatcher was my quick response to its identity. Never too quick for observation; it's gone in just a look's time, never found again although I lingered on for quite a moment.

An interesting bird was seen preceding to the flycatcher. It was at the same patch of place that I found a Rufous-faced warbler last winter, but this time it was near the ground.

It was flushed from being hidden on my approach. A bunting that was my first reaction. But when it was located nearby again, it was strictly a warbler - creamy eyebrow stopped far short of bill base or rather vague or dull before eye, quite staight before eye but its aft-part was long and twisted up pointedly at the end, lower earcoverts slightly mottled, bill looking short for being a bit thick, quite dark of upper part but definitely not pale on the lower; no bar on a folded wing, upperbody tending towards brownish tinge rather than green. The length of tail a bit short and not round enough for a bush warbler. Underbody light brown tinge palest in its belly centre. Faint but broad pale streaks were discerned on breast and undertail coverts was rusty-buff (colour description quoting Robson's). To help identification the tarsus were found to be pale, thick and longish for a Phylloscopus). A consultation with Robson's later on ruled out Yellow-streaked, for size and call, the latter rather to be a 'chu, chu, chu, with a very short u-vowel sound, low-pitched. So identification on the spot agreed with later-on reference, a Radde's warbler formerly seen several late-autumn times before.

S L Tai

The call of the Radde's is corrected to weak but clear 'chuk,   chuk,   chuk' after a visit to Canto-Xeno. (2nd Nov, 2013, Sat)

[ Last edited by tsheunglai at 2/11/2013 18:10 ]

tsheunglai

6th November 2013 (Wednesday)

Interlude before the Oncoming Winter

According to the Chinese Calendar, today was the day before Winter came, which meant from the day after would be coldness on the increase until the start of Spring again. Local bird scene would mean early wintering birds were already here and species of the wintering lot would continue to increase with occasional irruption of birds like Yellow-bellied tits into the colony from Guangdong and nearby areas.

The early wintering species had well settled and the number of each stabablized. The number of Grey wagtailsalong the section of Shing Mun catchment which I visited on each trip was three to four of which two were recognizable. Ashy drongos - heard and seen - were five largely in agreement with last week's four if allowance was made for an occasional quiet bird or lapse of attention on the part of the observer. The Black-winged cuckoo-shrikes were two, one in the vincinity of the road barrier and one on the beginning half of the Lead Mine Pass. Yellow-browed Leaf Warblers were everwhere and count of them became almost lost for over-freqency of being heard. It was found that Pallas's leaf warblers were few and heard only once in past weeks. Last but not least were the Grey-headed canary flycatchers, which began its arrival in mid-October, remained to be three for the past three weeks

However, it was this morning that an Asian stubtail warbler was first heard and a chat probably a Daurian redstart's call was caught; both species are usually rather heard than seen in the warm beginning of winter until the temperature drops significantly following the arrival of a cold-front.

Wintering thrushes were yet to be waited. Hopefully this winter would be a good one for them, to add a good birding flavour to one's trips in the cold.

S L Tai

[ Last edited by tsheunglai at 7/11/2013 19:39 ]