Attached are two photos from Mr C W So of the Black Redstart? seen on Po Toi this week.
It is clearly a redstart (red sides to tail, red rump and under-tail coverts) and not a Daurian (no white on wing and too dark generally on the body). I believe it is a female Black Redstart but I leave it to the experts to confirm.
These photos were taken at about 9.30am on Tuesday morning, just after the ferry arrived. At that time the bird was on the football field. Mr So showed great presence of mind to take a number of photos of the bird and I thank him for his generosity in making his photos available to us. Fortunately, he showed me the photos when I saw him later that morning and I was able to confirm it was a very rare bird.
After that time, the bird became very difficult to locate, partly no doubt because of the number of people crossing the football field to go to gravesites. Fatchun and friend saw the bird independently in the early afternoon behind the sister's cafe and recognised it was a rare redstart. After a lot of searching, I saw it myself briefly near the football field but was not able to take any photos. I also saw it yesterday but not until 6pm, this time near the ferry terminal and it was seen again today around the football field by a few people with one photograph by Jennifer Leung.
So, it is still there today around the football field but very elusive.
