wgeoff

A typical week for the first week in September - 29 non-resident species although nothing unusual for this time.

Best bird - a Forest Wagtail on Tuesday which unfortunately did not stay the week.



Other species of interest - single migrant Great and Little Egrets, a juvenile Striated Heron in the lagoon, a Grey-tailed Tattler which completely ignored me when I was seawatching from the southern rocks, a cuculus cuckoo which I suspect was Indian, although no HK records exist for this species in September, several Dollarbirds around all week, migrant Barn Swallows, Yellow Wagtails and a single Grey Wagtail all heading south-west from the south peninsular, several Brown Shrikes around all week, Bright-capped Cisticolas back in the grasslands, a single Plain Prinia at the helipad, Asia Brown Flycatchers all week, Great Tit and White-rumped Munia which are both regular early autumn species and a few Black Drongos still around.

Here photos of the Tattler, a Brown Shrike and an Asia Brown Flycatcher



At sea, only Red-necked Phalarope and two local Bridled Terns. A bit disappointing.

The columbarium workings have now been reclaimed by nature, as these February and September photos show



but of course they will return if they are given permission.

Work on the Helipad continues at a very slow pace - nothing much has really been done since last May



- nothing new for Government-funded projects.

Things should start to warm up next week (not the weather, I hope - just the birds).

[ Last edited by wgeoff at 7/09/2012 08:24 ]

wgeoff

A quiet week, but with some surprises. Hot days, clear nights and light winds are not good weather conditions for seeing migrants and certainly not for birdwatchers. But at least the night sky was spectacular and the International Space Station blazed across it early on Wednesday morning.

Dollarbirds were present all week, with six on Tuesday although four left on Tuesday night. All three species of wagtail were around, with migrant Yellow Wagtails flying down the east coast every morning, also one Grey Wagtail and two Richard's Pipits. New arrivals this week included Black-naped Oriole and Blue Rock Thrush now back on the south peninsular, Hair-crested Drongo and a single male Purple-backed Starling on Thursday morning which flew around looking for some company and then seemed to fly off.

Here four of the Tuesday Dollarbirds in their favourite trees with the Black-naped Oriole



Arctic Warblers and Asia Brown Flycatchers were around all week, with five Asia Brown on Thursday



The surprises - a White-throated Kingfisher which arrived on Wednesday afternoon and was the first for two years, and a Siberian Blue Robin on Thursday (correction to earlier draft, thanks Peter and Michelle Wong)



Also an early record, two Black-tailed Gulls which passed my sea-watching point early on Wednesday morning



Terns were also moving on Wednesday but they were too far out to identify. All I managed was one Bridled and three Aleutian, with three Red-necked Phalarope from the Tuesday Ferry. Autumn egret migration has started, flocks of Great and Little flying out to sea on Thursday



Perhaps the best news from the week - I lost two pounds in sweat. Probably put it back on already.

PS - please see the previous message by Beetle Cheng

[ Last edited by wgeoff at 14/09/2012 09:05 ]

wgeoff

A good week this with lots of birds around and a total of 64 different species, a high count for the third week in September. Also a lot cooler which helped.

Bird of the week was a Fairy Pitta which I disturbed from the ground early on Thursday morning just before reaching the upper reservoir on green-pigeon path. ‘Odd place for a Crested Myna’ I thought, which is not the first time I have mistaken the white wing patches on a flying Pitta for a Crested Myna. A superb view through binoculars as it landed on a branch about 10 metres away was enough to change my mind, unfortunately not long enough for a photo before it flew off. I heard it making a soft ‘chup chup’ alarm call around me for the next few minutes but I didn’t see it again and left hoping I could come back and find it after the ferry arrived. Unfortunately that was not to be and Herman, Aquagras and I couldn’t relocate it when we went back up there later in the morning.

This is the third Fairy Pitta over the last four years in exactly the same location, a real hot-spot for Fairy Pittas. Hope for the weekend?

If I could believe it will be accepted as Cat I, bird of the week would otherwise be the Varied Tit found last Sunday and present throughout this week in the large leafy trees around the pier or just before the sister’s café.




This bird is best located from its call

http://www.geoffwelch46.com/VTITSOUND20.mp3

A beautiful bird and well worth the visit to Po Toi even if it is Cat III

Many other species seen for the first time this autumn are all regular arrivals in late September. A single Crested Goshawk, Red Turtle Dove, Oriental Cuckoo, Pacific Swifts, Common and Black-capped Kingfisher, Yellow-browed, Pale-legged and Eastern Crowned Warblers, Grey-streaked and Dark-sided Flycatchers with at least two each of Blue-and-white and Yellow-rumped, a few Purple-backed Starling in the White-shouldered flocks and three species of Drongo, Black, Hair-crested and Ashy, all added to the Dollarbirds and many Black-naped Orioles from last week.

Here some photos




Migrants seen at sea included Great, Little and the first Cattle Egrets with several flocks of Chinese Pond Heron and two tern species, a Whiskered which flew through the harbour and three Greater Crested migrating south-west.
This Brown Shrike which flew into the south peninsular on Thursday morning looks like a cristatus whereas this one seen 30 minutes later is more like a lucionensis or confusus – all very confusus





A more unfortunate visitor was this six-foot Burmese Python which the couple living next to the pier found inside their house on Thursday morning. It was probably after their dogs and cats, not them, but they were scared sufficiently to kill it.





Good luck to the weekend visitors – I hope all these birds stay around for you. I have visitors next week so I will probably not stay on the island.

[ Last edited by wgeoff at 21/09/2012 07:37 ]

wgeoff

I can only manage a one-day visit this week, yesterday, with visitors from now through the weekend.

Not many birds on view yesterday, many from the weekend appear to have left. Two new birds, an Ashy Minivet and an Eastern Crowned Warbler.

Plus the Varied Tit still there. I'm interested in John's comments above. I think the 'missing feathers' are just where the left leg attaches to the body, there are other photos that appear normal

http://www.hkbws.org.hk/BBS/view ... &extra=page%3D1

but the suggestion that the bird may have arrived by boat is valid - I'm sure this happens, I've seen pigeons fly off boats several times so other birds can do it. The Varied Tit acts quite naturally and seems to be able to survive well in the wild. Most obvious cage birds on Po Toi don't stay more than one day, this one has already been with us for 10 days.

The Town Planning Board assessment of the Representations it has received about the status of Po Toi has been issued prior to the public meeting on Friday. This is quite positive. It restates the intention 'to preserve the natural landscape from encroachment from undesirable change of use' and suggests that the Columbarium development is in breach of lease conditions and 'may conflict with the intention' stated above - about as far as a Government Department can go in public I guess. So far so good.

I always regret making predictions but still do. I'm hoping the northerly winds due towards the end of this week will bring a flush of new migrants for the weekend and early next week, just in time for the Public Holiday. Please note, the Sunday Ferry service applies to both Monday and Tuesday next week - ferry leaves Aberdeen at 8.15am and returns at 6pm on all three days from Sunday to Tuesday.

[ Last edited by wgeoff at 26/09/2012 07:36 ]

wgeoff

Thanks Owen, that's an interesting observation.
Although the Kingfisher may just have been an ordinary migrant using the ship as a convenient 'island' to fish from. I've seen Reef Egrets fly out to ships and do the same thing.

The interesting thing to me is - if the Varied Tit arrived by ship, is it still a 'wild' bird? I think it is.

[ Last edited by wgeoff at 26/09/2012 08:29 ]