wgeoff

Another good week on Po Toi following an excellent Easter. Also very wet again, which no doubt contributed to the bird list but made it more difficult to see what was there. My thanks to Peter and Michelle Wong for keeping me in touch with all the birds seen, many of which I missed myself.

I only managed one seawatching session due to the rain. This was Wednesday morning, with strong easterly winds and mist, just the right conditions for Streaked Shearwater off Po Toi - and I was not disappointed. Also the start of Greater Crested Tern migration and a single Ancient Murrelet



Migrating over the sea, this pair of Grey Herons and a single Striated Heron, with a few Little and Cattle Egrets and the first Chinese Pond Herons



But most of the excitement was on land. Grey-faced Buzzards were passing through regularly, with the highest count on Thursday of 18. Also single Japanese Sparrowhawk and Besra.
My best find in the week was an Oriental Cuckoo which was much more obliging for photographs than any I have seen before.



Some of the Grey-faced Buzzards were very pale on the underside - this species appears as variable in colour as other raptors.

The Hoopoe was still around, this week mainly at the Temple, and Ashy Minivets were present all week with at least one Swinhoe's mixed in the flock. But the week really belonged to flycatcher and buntings plus Brambling.

Eight species of flycatchers seen during the week, not all by me - Asian Brown, Ferruginous, Narcissus, Mugimaki, Red-breasted, Blue-and-white, Hainan Blue and Japanese Paradise - here two seen by me



A very wet looking Ferruginous.

Buntings everywhere, mostly Black-faced but also Tristrams, at least four, Little, Yellow-browed, Yellow-throated, two until Wednesday when they seemed to leave, and Chestnut. This is the third spring out of eight I have seen Yellow-throated Bunting on Po Toi, so I guess they are not as rare as past records suggest.



And Bramblings, record counts for Hong Kong, seven in one tree easily seen from the Ferry Pier as we arrived on Tuesday morning, but probably at least ten in total through the week.



I saw five Bramblings fly off north from the South Peninsular on Wednesday, I wonder if these were the five reported at Mai Po that day.

So, a great week except for the rain. But probably, a great week because of the rain

[ Last edited by wgeoff at 5/04/2013 08:38 ]

wgeoff

Hi Ivan

Don't forget - my report covers the whole week, or at least three days, and includes species seen by others, and there were many on Po Toi on Tuesday and Thursday.
Your list is quite a good one for one afternoon - it also includes the first Black-naped Oriole reported on Po Toi this year (to my knowledge)

There are very few seabirds around at the moment, you would be very lucky to see any on the way to Po Toi or even on a trip around the island. The best seabird times are from the third week in April to the second week in May.

wgeoff

Another fascinating week watching migration in action.

The best place to see migration in action is from my seawatching station on the south tip of the South Peninsular. Here you can see not just migrating seabirds but also waders, egrets and land birds.
For seabirds this week, more terns - another three Great Crested following the first two last week, also two Gull-billed and two Little, plus the first signs of migration from Red-necked Phalarope which have been later than usual this year



Also waders, Grey Plover, Whimbrel, Greenshank, Wood Sandpiper, Ruddy Turnstone as well as the Red-necked Phalarope (which I count as a seabird) - Greenshank and Wood Sandpiper here



All the main egrets can now be seen migrating, Great, Little, Cattle Egret and Pond Heron, often in mixed flocks, plus this week a single Swinhoe's Egret and a Black-crowned Night Heron



Raptors, this week another Osprey and on Thursday several flocks of Grey-faced Buzzard including this one of 12 (only nine in the photo)



Small landbirds are difficult to see over the water, mostly seen when they land on the rocks beside me - here a tschutschensis Yellow Wagtail, a forerunner of many more over the next few weeks



One of the many hazards faced by land birds on migration is predation by larger birds. Peregrines are always present at migration time, living off Red-necked Phalarope and small land birds, also Black Kites. Land birds flying over water are particularly vulnerable because they have nowhere to land, I have seen Black Kites take a tired Brown Shrike several times - but a Barn Swallow? - impossible ... or so I thought until I witnessed it myself



It seems a Barn Swallow does not have enough wing-power to move quickly when trapped over the sea.

So, a good selection of what makes seawatching so interesting in spring.

On land, another wet week but with good birds. Tuesday was easily the best day, many birds seemed to leave on Tuesday night. Bird of the week was the Rustic Bunting found near the Ferry Pier just as the Tuesday return ferry was leaving and photographed here and elsewhere



This bird had just arrived and was desperately searching for food.
Mostly flycatchers, Ferruginous, Narcissus, Mugimaki and Blue-and-white, and buntings, many Little and Black-faced, also Tristram's and Yellow-browed, but also two White-breasted Waterhen, a Brown Hawk Owl, the hepatic Oriental Cuckoo all week together with seven Ashy Minivets with one Swinhoe's and three Brambling but on Tuesday only. Here some flycatchers and buntings and the Oriental Cuckoo, photo thanks to Mei Ling Tang



As we move into the second half of April, 'colourful' flycatchers will be replaced by Asia Brown and Grey-streaked, Chinese Goshawks will replace Grey-faced Buzzards, Brown Shrikes will start arriving, and maybe some exotics - Malayan Night Heron or Fairy Pitta would be good

[ Last edited by wgeoff at 13/04/2013 08:08 ]

wgeoff

Herman - no list numbers please, just

Swinhoe's Minivet
Mugimaki Flycatcher
Asian Brown Flycatcher
Black-Naped Monarch
Narcissus Flycatcher

I can then copy them directly into the Records Sheet.
If you want to record the number of each species, just add the number after the name e.g.

Swinhoe's Minivet 2

Thanks

wgeoff

Thanks Herman, please obey instructions from now on  

Another wet week with showers and longer periods of rain, this week accompanied by fog.
Except for Monday night, which was dry and clear with light southerly winds, a perfect combination for migration. Many of the weekend birds left that night, a few remained and were joined by new arrivals during the week, no doubt brought in by the rain. So it was a good week, although not perhaps up to the standard of the previous three.

I had a new arrival too - a shadow by the name of Benjiman Li, website alias fai584, who spent the week following me taking photographs, of me and birds. So some of the following belong to him - I think you can tell the difference.

Rain and fog, a combination which isn't great for seawatching. But this spring has been very poor for seabirds whatever the weather and all I had was 4 Greater Crested Terns in six hours plus a few migrating waders. Benjiman was not impressed by seawatching.

But without the seawatching, we wouldn't have seen the best bird of the week, a (female-type) Green-backed Flycatcher which was in the gully at the South Peninsular on Tuesday afternoon, clearly having just arrived



(last photo by Benjiman). This bird had a much more distinct green colour than these photos show.

Other new arrivals (for me) during the week included Indian Cuckoo and Tree Sparrow on Tuesday, Stonechat and Grey-streaked Flycatcher on Wednesday and Cinnamon Bittern (Benjiman's photo), Common Redshank, Black-capped Kingfisher, Dollarbird, Arctic Warbler and Black Drongo on Thursday - here three of these



Old favourites still present - more than one male Chestnut Bunting still very popular (one photo each from me and Benjiman), the Rustic Bunting still to be seen occasionally, and a flock of three Swinhoe's Minivets which I think are different to those seen about two weeks ago, no Ashy Minivets with this group



Finally, a migrant which has been around now for two weeks but not had much publicity, this Taiwan Racing Pigeon all the way from Taiwan and now in a foreign country dreaming about it's homeland



I think it's lost the race by now

More of the same weather next week it seems. Maybe some Chinese Goshawks, Brown Shrikes and more Arctic Warblers

[ Last edited by wgeoff at 19/04/2013 12:24 ]

wgeoff

A week with the usual ups and downs of spring birding on Po Toi.

The cold front which passed through HK last Sunday brought a brief influx of Chinese Goshawks into Po Toi on Tuesday morning - birds which I guess had arrived on the Dangan Islands on Sunday and Monday and were starting their northward migration again. We probably missed most of the movement either on Monday or early on Tuesday morning.

The ferry arrived at the same time as a few flocks of Chinese Goshawks and one flock of Grey-faced Buzzards passed through - I counted 40 Chinese Goshawks and 4 Grey-faced Buzzards. Also brought in were Brown Shrikes and Arctic Warblers - together with Chinese Goshawk making the big three of late April migrants



plus a few surprises, three different and quite late Ferruginous Flycatchers, all together above the Upper School



Also two Brown Hawk Owls, a Blue-and-white Flycatcher and a Pale-legged Leaf Warbler.

All these gradually declined in numbers as the week went on, with good migration weather overnight on Tuesday and Wednesday. So it was a surprise to find the bird of the week on Thursday, another 'female-type' Green-backed Flycatcher near the helipad.
I lost all my Thursday photos when my memory card became corrupted so I'm grateful to my shadow Benjiman Li for this photo of the Green-backed



I think this is a different bird to the one the previous week.

Also around during the week, two Minivets which I didn't get to see closely but which sounded like Swinhoe's, and a Japanese Bush Warbler singing near the Sister's Cafe. Plus two new breeding records for Po Toi, White Wagtail and Great Tit.

At sea, the first Short-tailed Shearwaters



also seven species of tern, Whiskered, Gull-billed, Greater Crested and the first Common, Aleutian, Black-naped and Bridled Terns of the year plus a Greater Sand Plover lost in the fog on Thursday, photo thanks to Benjiman



Other visitors of the non-flying variety during the week, Vaughan Reed, a regular migrant from UK who pretends to be working here but really seems to have a lot of spare time, Neil Pfifer, a vagrant from Mai Po, Beetle Cheng, a vagrant from Wetland Park, and Gary Taylor, a real rarity from Yorkshire in UK who spends most of September and October on a very remote Scottish island called Foula looking for American birds! - who said the British aren't mad!

If it rains a lot today (Friday), then the weekend may be good on Po Toi.

Please note that next week is Festival Week all week, Monday to Friday, with a special daily ferry service. Not my favourite week and I probably won't stay until Thursday so don't expect a report until the weekend. Unfortunately I can't tell you what the ferry service is because Tsui Wah haven't yet published the schedule but it's usually every two hours from Aberdeen to Po Toi. Wednesday is Dragon Boat Day - thousands of visitors, no space in the restaurant but it doesn't usually affect the birds

[ Last edited by wgeoff at 26/04/2013 06:10 ]