wgeoff

Second week of October. The same number of migrant species as last week, but not as many birds.

Autumn migration seems to have affected the number of some resident species – I have seen far fewer Bulbuls and Magpie Robins than usual this month, and no White-eyes at all since September. Are they being forced out of their usual territories by the migrants?

Visible Migration

Early Friday morning I saw 5 flocks of Great Egrets, totally around 150 birds, about 3 miles east of Po Toi heading in a S/SE direction over the sea and directly away from the land. Are they making a direct crossing of the South China Sea, to somewhere in the Philippines? The flight distance of 600 miles would surely be no problem for a fit and well-fed bird, and the wind was light and just behind them. The Grey-faced Buzzards seen migrating last week were on exactly the same course.

Excluding Egrets, I have seen 13 species of migrants either coming into or leaving Po Toi this week, including Black Kite, Kestrel, Japanese Sparrowhawk, Pacific Swift, 3 species each of Pipits and Wagtails, Tree Sparrow and a Yellow-breasted Bunting. Here are some photos of Japanese Sparrowhawk and Pacific Swift leaving Po Toi, and Kestrel and Rock Dove (a regular migrant on Po Toi) arriving on Po Toi.




Migration may be a successful strategy for a species but it’s fraught with danger for an individual bird. Here, a Hair-crested Drongo attempting an early morning flight from Dangan Island to Po Toi, intercepted in the last 100 yards by a pair of Peregrines.




Land Birds

11 new autumn migrants this week, including Japanese Sparrowhawk, Woodcock, Siberian Rubythroat, Scaly Thrush, Mugimaki Flycatcher, Yellow-breasted Bunting and the highlight, Amur Falcon on Friday. Some photos from the week, Amur Falcon, Besra, Hoopoe and imm male Mugimaki Flycatcher.




The observant will have noticed the last photo, a freely ranging and handsome chicken which has taken up residence on the gravesites to the south of the football field. This is the only live chicken I have ever seen on Po Toi and, as I guess it arrived by human hand, I will include it in my Po Toi list as Cat E. It is one of the few birds on Po Toi I can safely say is not a migrant.

I got it wrong

The new construction on the SE Peninsular I thought was a new jetty has now turned out to be three metal tanks, each of different size. Does anyone know what this could be?



[ Last edited by wgeoff at 18/08/2010 16:51 ]

wgeoff

I'm more relaxed if this is just a jetty - we may even want to use it ourselves for HKBWS trips.

Thanks for the response olDcaR, or lkenny as I must now call you. Also tmichael.

wgeoff (previously known as geoff_welch)

wgeoff

Thanks tbob, this is exactly it. But not repair works to the exisiting pier, the construction of a new pier. As I say, maybe HKBWS can use it in future.

Geoff Welch

wgeoff

Third week of October. A quieter week than the last two, with fewer migrant species. But also some interesting birds, and several new for this year (for me at least) on Po Toi.

Bird behaviour

With fewer migrants such as Drongos around, the usual residents like Bulbuls and Magpie Robins were seen more. Drongos are particularly aggressive towards other birds, I have seen them chasing off anything from Sea Eagles to a Whiskered Tern, often working in groups. Are they related to crows?  

Another unrelated item of bird behaviour was to see Mugimaki Flycatchers eating fruit. They were ‘flycatching’ small fruit in their normal flycatching manner, then returning to their perch and swallowing it whole. This behaviour was commented on independently by David Stanton so it must be a regular thing.

Visible Migration

Very little visible migration seen this week, only this Common Buzzard which passed over on Friday and flew out to sea heading SW.



Land Birds

Bird of the week for me was a stunning Emerald Dove which flew up the valley behind the lagoon late on Thursday evening. I wonder if this is a migrant or juvenile dispersal, or has it been there all year?

Two good warblers, a Raddes and a Greenish. I hope I’ve got the ID’s right, no doubt someone will check. Apologies for the quality of the Raddes Warbler photos but they were taken late in the evening in a dark place






Also a week for new ardeids – a female Cinnamon Bittern on Tuesday, a Grey Heron and a White-breasted Waterhen (not quite an ardeid) on Thursday and a juvenile Cinnamon Bittern on Friday. The Grey Heron did what many tourists do on Po Toi, found an island for a spot of fishing, had a walk along the beach and finally got into conversation with a friendly local.





At least two each of Scaly Thrush and Woodcock were present all week, but difficult to photograph.



Finally, sad news for chicken watchers. The chicken reported last week was not seen this week, but some tell-tale chicken feathers at the entrance to the football field may point to where it has gone. So it wasn’t a spiritual re-incarnation from the gravesite where it was living, as suggested by some. It was a mere mortal chicken after all.

[ Last edited by wgeoff at 18/08/2010 16:54 ]

wgeoff

Fourth week in October. This was a transitional week, with most of the insect-eating migrants leaving (Flycatchers, Orioles and Drongos) and the seed and fruit-eating migrants (Thrushes and Buntings) starting to arrive. I guess this was caused by the fall in temperature at the beginning of the week.

Visible migration

More to see this week, with some unusual species early morning each day. On Wednesday, a Grey Heron flew in off the sea, followed on Friday by a Cormorant (Greater presumably). Both are rare on Po Toi. Numbers of Pipits were coming in on both Thursday and Friday, mostly Red-throated but one Pechora from the call. Thursday saw the departure of an Amur Falcon and on Friday at least 5 small sparrowhawks, Japanese I think, flew SW out to sea. Photos of the Heron, Cormorant, a Pipit, the Amur Falcon and one of the Japanese Sparrowhawks.



Most small birds migrate in singles or pairs. Not so the Chinese Bulbul. Chinese Bulbuls started to arrive in numbers on the SE peninsular on Wednesday and by Thursday there were over 300. They were flying around in noisy flocks of 100 or more, and I was very keen to see whether they would migrate in flocks. It happened on Friday morning. A flock of around 200 started flying around in a swirling group, rather like a shoal of fish, gradually moving out to sea. They made three aborted attempts to migrate, each time returning to land after going out to sea. It appeared that, as a collective group, they had difficulty making the decision. But finally at 8.40am they moved out in a SW direction and didn’t come back.



Whilst on the island, the migrants and the resident Chinese Bulbuls remained separated. The local resident birds made no attempt to join the migrant flock, although they did fly around at ground level calling as the migrants were preparing to leave.

Sea Birds

4 Heuglin’s type Gulls flew SW past Po Toi on Wednesday early morning, the first sea birds I have seen since 19th September. 3 Adult or sub-adult and 1 immature bird.

Land Birds

As mentioned above, most of the Flycatchers, Orioles and Drongos had left by Tuesday when I arrived and Buntings, Pipits and Thrushes (a single flock of 8 Blackbirds) started to arrive. Here some photos of the first Daurian Redstart (very early am on Wednesday), a Greenish Warbler and the Blackbirds from Thursday.



Buntings are easy to hear, difficult to see and impossible to photograph. I saw 5 species during the week, Tristram’s (3), Little, Yellow-breasted, Chestnut (5) and Black-faced but only managed to photograph 2, the Yellow-breasted and the Black-faced. The Chestnut bury themselves in bushes or tall grass.



Finally, living on Po Toi will become more difficult from next week with the decision of the locals to stop using their overnight power generator because the cost of fuel has escalated beyond their means. I don’t blame them for this, each family was having to pay a minimum of $300 per month for the fuel and that’s a lot when your income is from fish and dried seaweed. I think we will discuss appeals to various bodies for a fuel subsidy next week.

[ Last edited by wgeoff at 18/08/2010 16:57 ]

wgeoff

The weekly blog from Po Toi.

A short week, with no ferry now on Friday so the week ends on Thursday. Better news on the generator front, PCCW have agreed to subsidise the generator fuel costs with $5000 each month, so we now have overnight power again. Thank you Richard Lee, all is forgiven.

Land Birds

Land bird of the week was the female Bull-headed Shrike which took up residence near the sandy beach at the neck of the SE peninsular and stayed until Wednesday morning.



At last I managed to photograph the elusive Chestnut Buntings, this pair were mostly to be found around the stream leading into the lagoon.



An odd couple this, a White-shouldered and a Red-billed Starling, the only two starlings on the island, and always seen together. Also an early Pallas’s Warbler on Tuesday.



Visible migration

No doubt about bird of the week here, the eagle which flew in off the sea early on Wednesday morning. I thought it was an Imperial Eagle, but the photos show it was a juvenile Bonelli’s Eagle, or so I think, any comments from anyone? This bird was flying north directly into a force 5 wind and, from the timing, I guess it had left one of the Dangan Islands just after dawn for the flight across the sea. This is typical of many of the visible migrants seen from the S point of Po Toi.



Peregrines are no problem for an eagle but they are a major hazard for the smaller migrants attempting the same run in early daylight. Here, an unknown bird has a predictable fate. In sequence, the move in for the kill, a miss, run for cover, knockdown into the sea, swimming, the pick-up, the kill, the take-away. Can anyone identify the unfortunate bird, I think it might be another Hair-crested Drongo?



Other visible migrants included many pipits, including a pair making a ‘tsip’ call just like the Buff-bellied Pipits I saw last winter at Long Valley. Also more migrant Chinese Bulbuls, these on Stanley peninsular and on Po Toi.



Sea Birds

No doubt about seabird of the week, there was only one but what a cracker. A Brown Booby flying NE in the channel between Po Toi and Dangan Island at 6.50am on Thursday morning, just when the wind and waves were at maximum. No photo I’m afraid, it was too far away for my camera but the gannet-like size, shape and flight, dark upperparts with white belly and underwing patch were easy to see even at long range.

Finally, a minor drama with the barge constructing the new jetty on the SE peninsular. In the high winds on Wednesday, one of the two cables holding it to the shoreline snapped, leaving it to drift out only held by a single cable (it has no power of its own) and also stranding three workmen on the shore. I guess it survived, it was not there today (Thursday) so I think it was towed away. Only a half-finished jetty now.



PS In answer to the previous posting, yes, Masked Laughingthrush are resident on Po Toi. But the 7 Black Drongos is a good record, most having left more than a week ago. The best place to hear and sometimes see Chestnut Bunting is the rocks overlooking the small stream which feeds the lagoon next to the restaurant. Go to the far end of the concrete square, there is a path up on to the rocks at the far right corner.

[ Last edited by wgeoff at 18/08/2010 17:02 ]

wgeoff

I have a split week on Po Toi this week, this report is for the first half, Sunday 5th to Tuesday 7th.

Land Birds

This Brambling looked a bit lost sitting on a rock on the SE peninsular on Sunday – I guess it had just arrived.



A battle continues between the two resident Peregrines and an intruder for possession of the SE cliffs. Here the intruder (first photo) comes under attack from the resident female but shows a talent for flying upside down and gets away unscathed (third photo) although you can see a few feathers flying away in the second photo.



The intruder is a larger bird, but can anyone say if it is a different subspecies?

A superb male Mugimaki Flycatcher shows how these flycatchers can catch and eat fruit. I nearly passed this bird over as a Magpie-robin.



A less than superb Yellow-rumped Flycatcher , hardly any yellow or white. A first-winter male according to Robson’s Field Guide to the Birds of Thailand.



Many Blackbirds on the island this week and also at least one Eyebrowed Thrush but it was too wary to be photographed. Instead, one of at least two Tristram’s Buntings, a female or first winter bird I think.



Visible migration

Very little visible migration so far this week, except for flocks of Chinese Bulbuls which continue to migrate south in large and noisy groups. This Little Bunting must have arrived on the very southern tip of the island just after dawn this morning and was much more interested in finding food than worrying about me standing right over it.



Sea Birds

Three Caspian Terns which flew SW past Po Toi early on Monday were the only seabirds. A poor long distance photo, but it does show the size and black under-wing tips of this tern.



I will return to Po Toi on Thursday. Maybe the Lesser White-fronts are there???

[ Last edited by wgeoff at 18/08/2010 17:06 ]

wgeoff

Land Birds

The end of the week had a winter feel about it with numbers of winter residents around – several Siberian Rubythroats, Daurian Redstarts, a male Red-flanked Bluetail, more than 10 Pallas’s Warblers and a flock of 10 Red-billed Starlings. Here the Red-flanked Bluetail and a male Daurian Redstart.



Radde’s Warbler was seen on both Thursday and Friday, possibly different birds. Also the Yellow-rumped Flycatcher from earlier in the week and the Brambling from last Sunday which was refound in the football field area.



Many buntings in the lagoon area including these two Yellow-breasted and a Little.



And a really nice looking Hummingbird Hawk Moth around the jetty.



Visible migration

Yesterday (10th November), quite large numbers of Olive-backed Pipits were passing over early morning, at least one of which was seen later in the central area.

Finally, the barge has returned and work resumed on the new jetty on the SE peninsular.

[ Last edited by wgeoff at 18/08/2010 17:08 ]

wgeoff

Very few photos this week because I managed to break my new Canon 400mm lens into two pieces in a fall on Tuesday.



No injury to me but neither the camera nor I were functioning very well for the rest of the week, compounded by almost a day lost to rain on Wednesday – is this really Hong Kong in November?

Land Birds

As the season moves on, so do the birds on Po Toi. Many of the Pallas’s, Yellow-browed and Dusky Warblers and the Chestnut Buntings moved out on Tuesday night (how do they anticipate bad weather?), these two photos of Asian Paradise Flycatcher and Pale-legged leaf Warbler type were taken before the fall.



Both seem to be in some stages of moulting, as were various other birds on Po Toi, Hair-crested Drongo and some Oriental Turtle Doves were noticeable in having almost no tails.

Thrushes, particularly Blackbirds, were in larger numbers. This Eyebrowed Thrush and an out-of-focus picture of the back end and wings of a Dusky Thrush are all I have to offer, again taken before the fall.



No photos of the Yellow-browed Bunting on Wednesday or the Eurasian Siskin on Thursday. A real loss.

Visible migration

Visible migration from the south point has now more or less come to a halt. With no seabirds also, I’m confining my attention to the land now.
And getting a replacement for my Canon.

[ Last edited by wgeoff at 18/08/2010 17:09 ]

wgeoff

Thanks for all your thoughts, I'm fine. Only my wallet is affected.

The lens was 6 days old! I'm waiting for Canon to tell me how much to repair.

wgeoff

My son on holiday(?) from UK spent the week on Po Toi with me, some of these photos are his.
Another very wet week, most of Tuesday and all of Wednesday spent watching some spectacular lightning and rainfall. Where has the old November in Hong Kong gone?

As the migration season draws to a close, most of the birds on Po Toi are the regular winterers - thrushes, Yellow-browed and Pallas's Warblers, Little and Black-faced Buntings. A real surprise was to see the Orange-breasted Green Pigeon sitting in a single bamboo cane near the football field very late on Wednesday after the rain stopped. Poor photos but (unenhanced for colour) you can just make out the features



Perhaps it will stay for the winter as Mike Turnbull suggested.

Good birds for Po Toi were these migrating Great Cormorants, a Chestnut Bulbul and a tail-less juv male Mugimaki Flycatcher presumably moulting into adult plumage (like many birds on Po Toi at this time). All seen on Thursday.



Even better were the two or possibly three Eurasian Siskins on Tuesday. Two birds seen in the tall pines at the upper school early in the day and a single female scratching around for seeds on the football field after all the rain had stopped. The latter bird has been on Po Toi since last week.



Other birds seen or heard during the week were Brown Shrike, Russet Bush Warbler (at least 2 heard calling from the upper slopes) and a pair of migrant Flowerpeckers, sounded like Buff-bellied and a first record for me this year on Po Toi.

If there are no birds around, you can always rely on the sea to provide something of interest. The US Navy Kittyhawk battlegroup arrived to do battle in Wanchai early on Thursday morning - the aircraft carrier Kittyhawk, 5 destroyers, a submarine and a support ship - more than 8000 sailors ready to boost the Hong Kong economy and anything else within range.



Next week will be my last staying on Po Toi for this year.

[ Last edited by wgeoff at 18/08/2010 17:12 ]

wgeoff

My last week to stay on Po Toi this year. Still no news of repairs to my 400 lens.

The sudden temperature drop on Tuesday brought another changeover in the birds. Most noticeable was Blackbirds, almost all left the island and were replaced by Japanese Thrush with a few Pale and Grey-backed. Here a Pale Thrush and at last a decent photo of one of the two Scaly Thrush which have been there since the middle of October.



Other new birds arriving or passing through were a large flock of Chestnut Bulbul, a Grey-headed Canary Flycatcher, an Asian Sub-tail Warbler and a pair of Fork-tailed Sunbirds, my first on Po Toi this year. Also an over-flying Chinese Grosbeak (no photo).



The Brambling has been there since 5 November, still there on Tuesday and Wednesday at least. Also a pair of Besra since early November, taking a heavy toll of small birds, mostly White-eye's.



Finally, a juv male Mugimaki Flycatcher, the only one to stay the whole week out of 5 birds which were there on Tuesday, and a Japanese Bush Warbler, also there the whole week and possibly all winter.



This is the end for me of Po Tou Autumn 2006. Winter 2006/7 starts next week.

[ Last edited by wgeoff at 18/08/2010 17:16 ]