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        Discussion Area 討論區 >> Birding Reports & Tips 觀鳥報告及心得 >>  Long Valley 塱原的過境旅客
        
(Message started by: M Kilburn on Sep 12^th, 2004, 1:54am)

Title: Long Valley 塱原的過境旅客
Post by M Kilburn on Sep 12^th, 2004, 1:54am

Just two good birds at Long Vally this afternoon:

Long-toed Stint
Pallas' Grasshopper Warbler

Cheers
Mike

Title: Re: Long Valley
Post by Koel_Ko on Sep 12^th, 2004, 7:04pm

Dear Mike,
Which was the favourite 'patch' in long valley for the warblers from your observation, and are there any coming through in late october?
Thanks.

Title: Re: Long Valley
Post by M Kilburn on Sep 13^th, 2004, 8:14am

Hi Koel

It depends which warblers you want to find at Long Valley.

I saw the Pallas' Grasshopper Warbler in the pond full of tall grass near the middle of LV, but you might find them in almost any part where there is grass or reeds or other vegetation!

This means that you may have to walk along a lot of small paths among grass and weeds (but make sure not to walk on any crops!) to find warblers such as Pallas' Grasshopper Warbler, Dusky Warbler, Oriental Reed Warbler, and Black-browed Reed Wabler and Zitting Cisticola over the next few weeks.

Yellow-browed Warbler and Pallas' Warbler (from November) are more likely to be found in the feng shui woodland, but especially Yellow-browed may also be found in taller growth in the valley itself. You could also be alert for Arctic and Pale-legged Leaf Warbler in feng shui. Greenish Wabler is rarer, but I have seen it in the feng shui at Tsung Pak Long.

Now we have had 3 days of N and NE winds I would expect Dusky and Oriental Reed Warblers to begin arriving (especially Oriental - I was surprised not to see one, or even hear one, yestarday), and Pallas' Grasshopper has already been found twice this year - September is the best month for passage for the latter.

Last October I found a Yellow-streaked Warbler at LV on a day when many warblers were present, by walking around the diferent habitat types. This the time when passage becomes strong for Dusky and Lanceolated (much rarer). At this time and into November you may also look out for Radde's Warbler and Manchurian Reed Warbler, but take care as both a difficult to identify unless you are very familiar with Dusky (for Radde's) and BB Reed Warbler (for Manchurian).

For more detailed info check out the graphs in the Avifauna to check when is a good time to maximise the chance of finding good warblers, but also get as familiar as you can with the common species (this is one of the hardest groups of birds to identify in Hong Kong - we all make lots of mistakes in building up our experience). By doing this you start to see how much variation there can be among different individuals of the same species, and you will have greater confidence in claiming a rarer species.

I have not addressed identification here, but some of these species were discussed last year on the BBS along with some very good photos - why not have a look back to those postings for a refresher course!

Cheers
Mike