kmike

After a winter with plenty of good birds Spring has arrived!

This morning I heard both Large Hawk Cuckoo and Lesser Coucal singing and at 5am this morning the large owl was giving its three note call.

Another sign of spring was the White-browed Laughingthrush coming into the grassland close to Ping Long

I also heard Savannah Nighjar last night for the fourth day in a row.

Cheers

Mike K

kmike

Signs of passage at Lam Tsuen - three Red-rumped Swallows were flying around my house at Ping Long yesterday afternoon, and Large Hawk Cuckoo was calling first thing this morning.

There was also a Savanna Nightjar calling last night - its been around for a week now.

Winter visitors still around include 2 Siberian Stonechats, a female Daurian Redstart, a couple of Chinese Blackbirds, the small gang of Olive-backed Pipits and a Dusky Warbler.

Cheers

Mike

[ Last edited by kmike at 7/03/2010 06:36 ]

kmike

The Black Bulbul flock is still in residence at Tai Om Shan, and there were three Black-winged Cuckooshrikes in the big tree at the lower edge of the graveyard.

Cheers
Mike K

kmike

A female Grey Bushchat, a Daurian Redstart  and the Bull-headed Shrike were on the lower fields at Tai Yeung Che this morning, and Dylan had the Riverchat in the car park.

Cheers

Mike K

kmike

Another good patch bird today - an Oriental Pratincole was over the trashed land at about 1:45 The nearest a bird has come to Lam Tsuen is one seen from KARC a few years ago.

Other good birds included the flock of 25 Black Bulbuls still at Tai Om Shan, female Bull-headed Shrikes at Tai Yeung Che and the fields south of the She Shan Road, and a Common Rosefinch and Daurian Redstart at the same spot.

The Brown Wood Owl called again last night shortly after midnight and the Savanna Nightjar was going strong tonight

Cheers
Mike K

[ Last edited by kmike at 18/03/2010 23:44 ]

kmike

What is probably the last cold front of winter made for a very pleasant visit to the woods on the NE edge of the patch. An old army road winds up to a lovely patch of woods in a steep ravine which held a Red-flanked Bluetail, Pallas' Leaf, Yellow-browed and singing Mountain Bush Warblers.

There were also three or four thrushes , of which at least one was a first summer Grey-backed Thrush and a flock of Greater-necklaced Laughingthrushes were also of interest.

The Black-faced Buntings and Olive-backed Pipits remain and one of the Chinese Pond Herons was pretty close to full breeding plumage. After having the colony in the village obliterated by freak winds last year I very much hope they breed here again.

Cheers

Mike

kmike

The first day of the holiday when the fog lifted I headed up the valley to try my hand at digiscoping some of the forest birds and, after a long quiet  couple of hours, had nowt to show but dodgy pix of an Ashy Drongo and a Scarlet Minivet.

It was not until I headed down past the stream that I found a female Blue-and-white Flycatcher that was perched on a bamboo and reshuffling its feathers after a wash - my first flycatcher of the year in the valley.

On the way back down I jammed into a male Japanese Paradise Flycatcher at the bottom row of graves.  It flipped out to catch an insect and then showed very well for about an hour, and even allowed me to get a couple of shots. To add icing on the cake a male Narcissus Flycatcher appeared a couple of times in the same trees, and a few minutes later a Black-winged Cuckoo-shrike showed well and sang briefly.

The day before 5 White-shouldered Starlings were in the village both first thing in the morning and in the afternoon, and a White-cheeked Laughingthrush posed briefly on the edge of the veggie patch.

Cheers
Mike K

kmike

Thanks Mr Tai!

Cheers

Mike

kmike

A Slaty-legged Crake was calling in Ping Long when I came home this evening.

Anyone else had one yet this year?

Cheers
Mike

kmike

Yesterday there were 2 Grey-streaked Flycatchers and 2 Chinese Goshawks ( a male and a female) around Ping Long/ Tai Om Shan. There was also a Chestnut-winged Cuckoo and a Hainan Blue Flycatcher, a Collared Crow - my first in Ping Long - and late Dusky Warbler.

Earlier in the week there was a Cattle Egret on Thursday morning.

Cheers
Mike

kmike

Top bird today was a pristine male Eye-browed Thrush, which I eventually saw high up under the canopy above Tai Om Shan Village. Not a great view, but my first in Lam Tsuen for a while so it was a nice way to finish what has been a poor winter for thrushes.

The male Chinese Goshawk was still about, and  had 3 Crested Serpent Eagles in the air together, and saw Besra doing its plunging display flight on a good day for raptors - no surprising given the sunshine.

DSCN1388 Chinese Gos bf.jpg (151.32 KB)

2/05/2010 21:51

There was also a Dusky Warbler in the orchard next to my house, and two Chinese Starling flew past in the early morning.

However most memorable moment of the day was hearing a sliding behind me and watching a Chinese Cobra sliding away from about 18 inches behind me. Good job I didn't take a step back!  However it was my first for Lam Tsuen, so a patch tick!

Cheers

Mike

kmike

I also had a Little Bunting yesterday morning.

Over the weekend I also found the nest of the White-rumped Munia and watched it pluck grass heads like the one in the photo above to form the structure of the nest.

Cheers
Mike

kmike

Today between Ping Long and She Shan

6 Dollarbirds
15 Cattle Egrets
1 Black Drongo
1 Oriental Turtle Dove
1 Richard's Pipit
1 Chestnut-winged Cuckoo (h)
3 Large Hawk Cuckoos - all seen!
1 falcon sp - Hobby most likely

+ 1 White-headed Munia (escape)

Cheers
Mike K