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| Ijima's Warbler - P. ijimae
Found by YAM Wing-yiu when he examined his photos of an unidentified phylloscopus warbler from a day out on Po Toi on Sunday 29th March.
He thought it was "Ijima's.." and it looks like the tide of opinion is with him on this one, see photos on the HKBWS website:-
The news broke on Monday, so various "Twitchers" hired boats to get to Po Toi early on Tuesday. Your faithful correspondent got the public ferry and arrived around 10:45hrs. Very late in the day, really, but - perhaps with mist preventing the bird from moving on, the warbler was still there, in the same line of trees Ah Yiu had seen it two days earlier.
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| Po Toi Island, Hong Kong |
Ijima's Warbler has been considered a "possible" addition to the HK list for a while, so I think formal acceptance will be swift.
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| Ijima's Warbler - P. ijimae |
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| Ijima's Warbler - P. ijimae |
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| Ijima's Warbler - P. ijimae |
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| Po Toi Island, Hong Kong |
Ijima's Warbler breeds on small islands to the south of Japan, and is believed to winter in the Philippines, migrating through Taiwan. The few Taiwanese records are also end March/Early April.
On the subject of Taiwan, here's a Marsh Sandpiper (at Mai Po last week) , with Taiwan leg flags... This individual was also noted in Hong Kong in spring 2014 and autumn 2013.
The Mai Po mudflat waders are starting to show some variety now.
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| Curlew Sandpipers, Great Knot |
The gulls, all winter visitors, will be gone soon.
As will this Northern Shoveller...
Greater Sand Plovers are passing through now, and one or two are being decidedly "frisky" with each other...
And just room for another Black-capped Kingfisher...
Because I like them !
How exciting for everyone! I really like the Sand-plovers though as we'd never see them looking like that around Melbourne.
ReplyDeleteThanks Sonja, I saw my first Victorian leg-flagged wader of our season yesterday, actually a Greater Sand Plover !
DeleteThat's amazing! There are some regularly on Mud Islands in Port Phillip Bay, but they're difficult to access if you don't own a boat. I think maybe far east Gippsland gets them too.
DeleteVictoria bird flags are regularly seen here, but I'm not sure where in Vic. the programme is carried out.
DeleteCongrats on the warbler, I've never been to those offshore islands where it breeds. Waders building up nicely..............
ReplyDeleteThe weather's very hot and dry now, so wader migration has been poor in the past few days - but a cyclone is coming !
DeleteGlad you managed to see (and photograph) this warbler - stunning Sand-plover pics!!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Jeremy - they were obligingly close !
DeleteCongrats in your "lifer". As usual, the images from Mai Po are just beautiful.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Mun - it's been clear weather - good for action shots but bad for "stopping" the migrants...
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