A very nice start to the year at Mai Po today:
As I sat down in the Tower Hide a Great Bittern took off and flew low over the reedbed a couple of times before dropping down again in Pond 7. Up to 11 have been seen going to roost here (I had five at dusk on 21st Dec) so its a great place to look out for them. This whole area was alive with birds - Grey Herons and Black-faced Spoonbills were loafing on the island and an immature Imperial Eagle loomed from a dead stump in the back left corner, while an Eastern Marsh Harrier quartered and a juvenile Purple Heron landed with customary awkwardness on a bush.
My favourite bird of the day was undoubtedly the Dalmatian Pelican which showed well at about 120 metres from the new Boardwalk hide until about 12:30. I was in there with about a dozen photographers, and when it yawned the sound of all ten cameras firing five frames a second was like ten chains of New Year firecrackers all going off simultaneously (but quieter, obviously) - a worthy celebration of this fantastic bird!
Other birds on show at the rising tide included three dusky juvenile Black-tailed Gulls among the Heuglins, Black-headed and Saunders' Gulls and three Caspian Terns dropped in at the edge of the water. A big cloud of Dunlin and Kentish Plover swirled about as a couple of Peregrines and another Eastern Marsh Harrier went looking for for lunch, and there were also 100-strong flocks of Golden and Grey Plovers and double that number of Eurasian Curlews. Close in by the hide Little Ringed Plovers, Temminck's Stints and a solitary Long-toed Stint were picking their way along the edge of the creek and an Intermediate Egret with a mud-smeared bill showed no sign of stage fright, even when a group of 30 visitors entered the hide and continued to stare intently into the mudskipper holes. Just for good measure the Imperial Eagle flew over.
Down at Pond 20 the female Scaup was dozing amongst a flock of Tufties and a pair of Mallards - another good year tick - took it in turns to drift in and out of the grass with a trio of Chinese Spotbills and a female Wigeon. It was pretty quiet, but another Imperial Eagle, this time one the of the full-blown adults - complete with a full golden mullet - drifted over, but high enough not to scare any of the ducks.
On the way out a hepatic Plaintive Cuckoo gave me a start when it flipped across the path on the edge of my vision and my first thought was a Rufous Woodpecker - fortunately, remembering I'd seen I'd seen a normal adult Plaintive Cuckoo on the way down to the Boardwalk restored my equilibrium.
The last bird of the day turned out to be the rarest - an adult female(no red throat patch, no wing bar) Red-breasted Flycatcher showed well where the boardwalk through the mangroves comes out at the edge of the Wildfowl Collection. In good light and poor it showed a pale base to the lower mandible, little contrast on the breast and throat, and eventually after ticking away for a good five minutes eventually called, giving the distinctive slower call that separates Red-breasted from Taiga (Red-throated) Flycatcher.
Cheers
Mike K
