kmike

A rather quiet morning in Tai Om Shan, with nothing like the impressive 45 species that Dylan racked up yesterday.
Black-winged Cuckooshrike

Rubythroat (h)
Red-flanked Bluetail (h)

Grey-backed Thrush
Chinse Blackbird

Russet Bush Warbler - 2 (one photographed and filmed : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3taxGMtnxg)
Brown Bush Warbler - "probable"
Asian Stubtail (h)
Pallas' Leaf Warbler - 5

Mountain Tailorbird - 2

Verditer

Black-faced Bunting - 3

Cheers
Mike

[ Last edited by kmike at 19/12/2010 20:52 ]

kmike

Frost on the ground in the valley and a perfect clear blue sky offered plenty of promise, and Richard and I got it right fist time checking out the small pond and farmland just next to the She Shan feng shui woodland where the baicalensis White Wagtail was seen a couple of months ago.

The first bird to show was a fine female Grey Bushchat perched on an overhead wire.  A couple of minutes later a large yellow-bellied bunting landed on another wire - a stunning male Red-headed Bunting!  There are plenty of excellent photos on the Red-headed Bunting page:

Here's a short video of the bird http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J202WBEXHXc

Other birds around today  included four Little Buntings, four Daurian Redstarts, two Red-throated Flycatchers, a couple of Bright-capped Cisticolas and at the end of the day a Wryneck at Pak Tin Kong and a fine male Chestnut-eared Bunting on the dumped land across the river from the Red-headed Bunting.

Cheers
Mike K

kmike

This looks like a female Black-faced Bunting to me - although I would love to see a Yellow-throated Bunting in Lam Tsuen!

Cheers
Mike K

kmike

First thing this morning . . .

a Dusky Thrush called a couple of times and then showed for a few seconds at the top of a bare tree between Ping Long and Pak Tin Kong at about 0715 this morning.

Cheers

Mike K

[ Last edited by kmike at 10/01/2011 18:07 ]

kmike

The Dusky Thrush was again perching high on a bare tree early this morning.

Tai Om Shan also held several Grey-backed Thrushes and the long-staying Greenish Warbler.

Cheers
Mike K

kmike

This morning at Tai Om Shan . . .

Crested Serpent Eagle

Chestnut Bulbul - 5

Siberian Stonechat - 1
Red-flanked Bluetail - 4
Grey-backed Thrush - 4

Greenish Warbler - 1
Asian Stubtail - 1
Mountain Bush Warbler - 1

Pygmy Wren Babber - 1
Striated Yuhina - flock of c. 15
Greater Necklaced Laughingthrush - 1

Hair-crested Drongo - 10

Tristram's Bunting - a fine male
Black-faced Bunting - female

Cheers
Mike K

kmike

This morning started well with a fine male Black-naped Oriole in the big camphor tree by the Ping Long carpark. I then went to Ng Tung Chai where I had the following  - a decent mix of winter birds:

Mountain Bulbul -2
Black Bulbul - 20
Black-winged Cuckooshrike -1

Red-flanked Bluetail - 4
Rufous-tailed Robin - 1

Blue Rock Thrush - 1 male philippensis
Grey-backed Thrush - 1
Japanese Thrush - 1 female

Blyth's Leaf Warbler - 2
Asian Stubtail - 1
Mountain Bush Warbler - 1 h

White-browed Fantail - 1

Tristram's Bunting - 2

Cheers
Mike K

kmike

White-browed Fantail has long been tarred with the "escape" brush. One returned to Ng Tung Chai for three consecutive winters a few years ago, and this is the first since then.

It was in the stream bed which the path crosses just past the big ornamental gate next to the little orchard.

Escape or not its a terrific bird, and there's lots of other birds in NTC to make a visit worthwhile, especially as I forgot to include a very briefly seen Spectacled warbler sp. in my previous post

Cheers
Mike K

kmike

Richard's right  - I meant White-throated Fantail.

Cheers
Mike

kmike

Hi Bittern

Ng Tung Chai is a village at the SW corner of Lam Tsuen. To get there either catch a 64K KMB or 25K green minibus from Tai Wo.



This morning in Lam Tsuen between Ping Long and She Shan

Pale Thrush - 3
Wryneck - 1
Red-throated Flycatcher - 1
Ashy Drongo - 3

and later in the morning near Chai Kek . . .

Grosbeak sp. - 1
Crested Serpent Eagle - 4

Cheers
Mike K

kmike

There was a single Japanese Grosbeak in a flock of 20-odd Chinese Grosbeaks in the trees along the ridge above Tin Liu Ha today between 11:45 and 12:30.

Other birds seen include a Pale Thrush and a White's Thrush at She Shan.

Cheers
Mike

kmike

What a beauty ! great stuff Dylan

Cheers
Mike

kmike

A male Japanese Thrush  a first winter male Grey-backed Thrush and a Common Blackbird, were joined on the veggie patch near my house in Ping Long by a male Red-flanked Bluetail, a female Daurian Redstart, a Siberian Stonechat and a Yellow-browed Warbler.

Last weekend 50 Chinese Grosbeaks and 2 Japanese Grosbeaks landed briefly in a tree near my house

Cheers
Mike K

kmike

More quality birding in Lam Tsuen today. The highlight was finally getting a photograph of the Japanese Grosbeak  - once again two were in a flock of 20-odd Chinese Grosbeaks at Tai Om.

There were also good numbers of thrushes:

Japanese Thrush - the same male as yesterday in the veggie patch
Pale Thrush - 3  one on a nearby veggie patch, plus two inthe forest at Tai Om
Grey-backed Thrush - 4  two from home, and two in the forest at Tai Om
Chinese Blackbird - 2

The other interesting birds between Ping Long and Tai Om were this Crested Serpent Eagle that posed well, a Tristram's Bunting, an Ashy Drongo, Mountain and Russet Bush Warblers, Red-flanked Bluetail and Daurian Redstart, and a Blue Magpie  (which is rather rare in Lam Tsuen).

Finally, a phyllosc sp. in the veggie patch showed a clear crown stripe, but only very faint pale fringes to the tertials. I guess this could be an old and rather worn Yellow-browed Warbler, but any other opinions would be most welcome.

Cheers
Mike

kmike

This morning at 0820 this Hawfinch was in the top of a bare tree in Ping Long for about 5 minutes.

Unfortunately I did not see in which direction it flew off, so I can't offer anyuseful hints about where to look except that the local Chinese and Japanese Grosbeaks often feed in Chinese Hackberry trees.

Great to have a third big finch in the valley this winter!

Cheers
Mike