24 Apr 2017

Late April - grey days mean good birding

Friday, 21st April 2017 

I cycled out for a couple of hours in the boardwalk hides at Mai Po.  The tides were pretty low, but I wanted to see whether there were many birds on the moss in front of the outermost hides.

The answer, obviously, is "Yes" - but the birds were distant.  The first three comprise the pick of the bunch...

Citrine Wagtail - Motacilla citreola

Little Stint - Calidris minuta

Little Stint - Calidris minuta (right) - with Red-necked

Chinese Egret - Egretta eulophotes
Fifty-or-more Black faced Spoonbills still around...


Black-faced Spoonbill - Platalea minor

Kentish Plover (f) - Charadrius alexandrinus

Red-necked Stint - Calidris ruficollis

Terek Sandpiper - Xenus cinereus

Saturday 22nd April 2017

A nice grey day for a trip to Po Toi Island



Po Toi is a flycatcher magnet....

Blue-and-white Flycatcher - Cyanoptila cyanomelana

Grey-streaked Flycatcher - Muscicapa griseisticta

Comparing pretty well with April 13th on Po Toi, which was also a "two flycatcher" day.....

Ferruginous Flycatcher - Muscicapa ferruginea

Asian Brown Flycatcher - Muscicapa dauurica

Back at Aberdeen Promenade, a migrant Blue Rock Thrush greeted us from one of the parked (Sorry "moored") boats.

Blue Rock Thrush - Monticola solitarius
23rd April 2017

Back in the New Territories, a bash around San Tin Fishponds turned up a very nice male Yellow-breasted Bunting.  They have been upgraded to Endangered and are difficult to find these days...well, I find them difficult, anyway.

Yellow-breasted Bunting - Emberiza aureola

Yellow-breasted Bunting - Emberiza aureola

And, - always a morale raiser on a grey day - a group of exactly TEN Blue-tailed Bee-eaters nearby.

Blue-tailed Bee-eater - Merops philippinus

Blue-tailed Bee-eater - Merops philippinus

April - the month when anything might turn up.



4 comments:

  1. You are right, John. Poor weather for humans often means great weather for birding. Interesting and varied species with great pictures as always.
    Best regards,
    David

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    1. Thanks David - happily more lousy weather but good birds this week, too.

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  2. We've had great weather recently.............but not so many birds.

    The YN Bunting is very rare in Japan now, I've only ever seen one and it was about 100 meters away!

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    Replies
    1. Thanks, Stu - I'm hoping for more surprises this spring.

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