"Wader Week" at Mai Po Nature Reserve, Hong Kong

Actually, any week in April could be considered a "Wader Week" at Mai Po, and here are a few shots taken during the first week of April.

Due to the dry weather there seem to be fewer migrants around in this peak migration season, but still plenty to look at besides rarities like Spoon-billed Sandpiper mentioned elsewhere on the blog.

From the new hide, with barge and Shenzhen in the distance 

 Mostly Curlew Sandpipers.....

 ......with the odd Greater Sandplover mixed in.

 A lot of breeding plumage on display

Pacific Golden Plover near the tideline

We itinerant birders will be on the move until May, so apologies in advance for irregular postings here !

Green-winged Teal at Mai Po Nature Reserve, Hong Kong

The bird was first seen on  February 20, 2011 from boardwalk, Mai Po Nature Reserve, and seen again on the following day 

These were the first sightings of this species in Hong Kong for twenty years.  However the bird proved very elusive and a lot of people missed it in February.

On April 4th I found this beast again, at Pond 20, Mai Po.  After a couple of phone calls there was a a bit of a "Twitch".

Green-winged Teal  Anas carolinensis

The bird was seen by more people again today, April 5th.

Who dares to take my Mudskipper?

Grey Plovers at Boardwalk, Mai Po Nature Reserve
April 4, 2011

The "One that Got Away" - edited

Ten years ago this month, in March 2001, Mike Turnbull and I were in the HKBWS Boardwalk hide on a hazy Saturday afternoon.   The tide had receded and a Lesser Frigatebird was harassing all the other birds in Deep Bay.  It was the focus of our attention - as you might expect.

Out in the middle of the bay, 300 to 400 metres away, the Frigatebird disturbed another bird from the surface of the water.  Not another Shoveller, not even a duck, it flapped languidly in our general direction on long dark wings. Mike exclaimed    " It's a Gadfly Petrel  !! " with possibly an expletive or two.  I knew I'd seen some members of this family in New Zealand, but was also acutely aware that I knew practically nothing about Pterodroma petrels.

I had about six frames of slide film left in the camera and, with a 1.4 converter on the old 600mm Pentax I was focussing manually.  I was desperate to get a record shot, but knew the bird might come closer, too.  Grab a shot now, or wait till later ? Suppose it just flies away ?  In the end, I took only three shots, and this is the sorry "best" of them.

Mystery Pterodroma 

The "Pterror" came to with 100 metres and crossed the line of mangrove to  our left and was not seen again.

Mike T. circulated  the photos and a description to solicit opinions on identification  overseas, especially to Australia and NZ experts on pelagic birds. However no consensus could be reached and the record languished, the bird not identified to species, although there seemed to be agreement that it was a Pterodroma petrel of some sort, and eventually the HKBWS Records Committee accepted it as such.

For a birder the key point is that ANY member of this family is a "First" for both Hong Kong and mainland China.

In one of my Japanese photo books  I saw a photo of Providence Petrel (Pterodroma solandri), and thought "That's it !"  (Not very scientific, I know.)   And after ten years no-one else seems to be convinced. 

In 2007 I got a copy of "Albatrosses, Petrels and Shearwaters of the World" by Derek Onley and Paul Schofield.  Looking at Plate 16 - Dark Pterodroma Petrels of the Pacific - I have become an "instant expert".  A lack of white shafts on the upperside of the primaries should eliminate Kermadec petrel and Kermadec and Providence seen most likely on range.  BUT  other Pterodroma petrels may be possible, too, such as Murphy's and Herald.

In the Dec 2010 edition of the ABA magazine Birding there is a mention of this interesting vagrant petrel in British Columbia:-  http://oregonseabirds.blogspot.com/2009/10/solanders-petrel-in-british-columbia.html

But are mystery petrels really vagrant, or are we just not spending enough time looking in the right places ?

We can't alway identify everything we see and it is a pity that we couldn't really nail this one down. But Identification criteria are certainly improving all the time, especially with the widespread availability of digital photographs. 

Who knows, perhaps one day we'll be able to work this one out.  For now,  - like a fishing story - it is   "The Big One That Got Away "  !

(Added 1st April 2001)  -  but I'm not fooling !

David James has kindly taken the trouble to comment on the photo above on the Oriental Bird Club internet news group as follows : -

"John Holmes has posted a photo of a Pterodroma on his blog that was photgraphed in Deep Bay 10 years ago. http://johnjemi.blogspot.com/
This bird is clearly a Herald Petrel, P heraldica. Only 5 petrels show a dark crescent in the white underwing flash (formed by the dark tips to the primary coverts). Solander's Petrel and Henderson Petrel never show a white belly or throat. Trinidade Petrel has dark lores. Kermadec is the most likely alternative, but its best feature, white primary quills, is not visible in ventral views. Other important details on the inner underwing are not clear.
However, the shape fits only Herald Petrel (and Trinnidade): a long and slim tail, and a skinny looking head. This is quite wrong for Solander's and Kermadec.

It is an intermediate morph bird, although there is little difference between pale and intermediate.
 If you have Harrison's 1987 photo guide, look at p 56. If you have Onley & Schofield look at Plate 20, image 2c.  

David James
Sydney"




For the record, then here are scans of all three photos I took in March 2001.

Mystery Pterodroma - Upperside

Mystery Pterodroma - Underside

Mystery Pterodroma - rear view

(the white visible is on the underside of the right wing)

On the Move

Along the casuarinas at Mai Po last Wednesday (23rd March) there were a few Black-faced (formerly "Masked") Buntings Emberiza spodocephala.

Most Masked Buntings winter in Hong Kong, but these came and went so quickly, they must be early passage migrants.

Blacked-faced Bunting (Emberiza spodocephala)

Elsewhere, there seemed to be a few more White-shouldered (formerly "Chinese") Starlings around than there have been in previous weeks.  They must be coming up from SE Asia. A few will breed here, but most will breed further north in China.

White-shouldered Starling (Sturnus sinensis)

And a few Oriental Pratincoles, behaving like newly-arrived and very tired on some fishpond banks near Mai Po Nature Reserve.

"Strange human !  Why are you lying in the road ?"

"Just trying to get a better angle...."

Some of my clothes were due for a wash, anyway.

Grey day at the Boardwalk, Mai Po

Wet and a bit hazy out at the boardwalk this morning, but you know

"A bad day birding beats a good day in the office..." etc.

Black-tailed Gull (L.crassirostris)

"Caspian" Gull (L.c.mongolicus)

This ID of "Caspian" - formerly "Yellow-legged" or "Mongolian" Gull - is based mainly on colour of mantle and legs.  BUT all the neck-streaking should be indicative of VEGA Gull, so I could hedge my bets and say it is a hybrid of some sort.  Need I add that I'm vaguer about Vega s.

"Heuglin's" Gull (L.f.heuglini)

Saunders's Gull (C. saundersi)

Dunlin (C.alpina)

L - Nordmann's,  R - Common Greenshank

Nordmann's Greenshank  (T.guttifer)

Grey Plover (P.squatarola)

Black-tailed Godwits (L.l.melanuroides)

Broad-billed Sandpiper (L.falcinellus sibirica)

Redshank (T.totanus)

Curlew Sandpiper (C.ferruginea)

So, a selection of late winter/early spring Mai Po birds.

Most of the leg-flagged waders were flagged in Hong Kong, the engraved flags came into use last August (2010).   

The bottom bird  - the Curlew Sandpiper, - will have been flagged in Kyushu, Japan.  I don't think I've seen this particular flag combination in Hong Kong before.

East Asian Flyway flagging protocol

(Edited on Sunday 20th March)

I stand corrected.  Thanks to YU Yat-tung and John Allcock - and Heather Minton of the Australian Wader Studies Group.

The exotically-flagged Curlew Sandpiper above was flagged in Bohai Bay (up near the Yellow Sea in NE China).

"Thank you for recording the details of the flagged wader that was

recently sighted. We appreciate your action in reporting this

information, which will contribute to our understanding of the migration

of birds in the East Asian-Australasian Flyway.

Please check the information given below and advise me if any details

appear incorrect.

A Curlew Sandpiper Calidris ferruginea was sighted by John Holmes at:

Mai Po, Hong Kong (China) 22deg 29min 0sec N, 119deg 14min 0sec E  on

19/03/2011 with flag(s) as follows:

     LEFT leg: nothing/unknown on tibia (upper leg) above

nothing/unknown on tarsus

     RIGHT leg: blue flag on tibia (upper leg) above yellow flag on

tibia

This bird was flagged in Cangzhou, China, approximate co-ordinates 38deg

9min N, 117deg 30min E, which uses the flag combination

Blue/Yellow(cut), since 2009.

The resighting was a distance of approximately 1750 km, with a bearing

of 174 degrees, from the marking location."

I have promised Tung and John I'll try harder to interpret the leg flags properly myself next time.

Meanwhile I have slapped myself on the wrist.