"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)