11 May 2023

"Twitching" here and there.....

Brown-eared Bulbul - (Microcelis amaurotis) 

On Saturday, 22nd April we got the ferry to Po Toi Island, in the hope of seeing a "Hong Kong second record" Brown-eared Bulbul that had been reported a few days earlier.

It appeared briefly, but briefly was enough.   This species winters in east China, and this one has got a bit further south than most of the others.

Around on the hills of Po Toi, were a good few typical Po Toi migrant species....
 

Brambling - (Fringilla montefringilla)

Dollarbird - (Eurystomus orientalis)

Swinhoe's Minivet - (Pericrocotus cantonensis)

A boat trip to southern HK Waters followed on April 23rd.  

Boat Trips can be a bit of a lottery, but it turned out to be a good day. 

Brown Booby was a "HK Tick" for us, a complete surprise...

Brown Booby - (Sula leucogaster)

Aleutian Tern - (Onychoprion aleuticus)

Great Crested Tern - (Thalasseus bergii)

Black-tailed Gull - (Larus crassirostris)

Red-necked Phalarope - (Phalaropus lobatus)

Red-necked Phalarope - (Phalaropus lobatus) 

Sadly, plenty of rubbish in the water. But the phalarope seem attracted to flotsam in the waves.

Short-tailed Shearwaters - (Ardenna tenuirostris)



Short-tailed Shearwaters - (Ardenna tenuirostris)


On another boat trip on May 10th 2023, we found that the Red-necked Phalarope were in more advanced breeding plumage than the ones we had seen three weeks earlier.

Red-necked Phalarope - (Phalaropus lobatus)

Red-necked Phalarope - (Phalaropus lobatus)


And, today, off to Sai Kung for the second time for another rarity, Japanese Waxwing.....hanging around near some fruiting trees - but not the tree this barbet claimed possession of.


Great Barbet - (Megalaima virens)

Vagrant or escape ? Only time - or the HK Birdwatching Society Records Committee - will tell !

Japanese Waxwing - (Bombycilla japonica)


4 May 2023

Spring Waders at Mai Po - end April - early May 2023

The precarious existence of waders is demonstrated in real-time by their numbers seeming to be down in Hong Kong compared to previous years.


Common Redshank - Tringa totanus

Terek Sandpiper, Broad-billed Sandpiper and Red-necked Stints

Gull-billed Tern and (mostly) Curlew Sandpipers

Red Knot (Calidris canutus)

Broad-billed Sandpiper (Calidris falcinellus)

Red-necked Stint (Calidris ruficollis)

Ruddy Turnstone (Arenaria interpres)

Curlew Sandpiper (Calidris ferruginea)

Mongolian Sand Plover (Charadrius mongolus)

Greater Sand Plover (Charadrius leschenaultii)

Asian Dowitcher (Limnodromus semipalmatus)

Still, it's an annual pleasure to view the waders in passage from the boardwalk hides at Mai Po.

Something never to be taken for granted !