OLD BLOG REPOST : Quiet Summer….

In June 2024, I joined two pelagic trips, one at the start of the month and one in the end of the month.

On the first pelagic, we were mainly looking for migrating terns, and we got quite a few different species, such as Common Tern and Greater Crested Tern.

Greater Crested Tern

Common Tern

We also visited the breeding tern colonies of Castle Rock near Po Toi and Wang Chau, where we got the classic three species.

Bridled Tern

Rosate Tern

Black -Naped Tern

On Wang Chau, we saw the only breeding colony of Pacific Swifts in Hong Kong, which came and went from a crevice in a cave.

Pacific Swift

Of course, no pelagic trip is completed without paying a visit to the local pair of White – bellied sea eagle near Aberdeen. We struck luck, as we got one preying on a fish.

White – Bellied Sea Eagle

As we neared the port, we got a really confiding Pacific reef heron, which looked much lighter in colour than the ones that we see out at sea.

Pacific Reed Heron

On the second trip, it was on the last day of the month, organised by the government, for Tap Mun tern day. We were going to visit the two breeding tern colonies near Tap Mun, Kung Chau Island and Tuk Au Chau ( latter ??? I think )

But as we headed out from Tap Mun, we suddenly got ourselves into a strong storm, with rain pouring down through the sides and coming through the sides and soaking us. Through the worst of it, I managed a few bridled terns which flew over and got a few photos.

Bridled Tern – under heavy rain

Luckily, we soon sailed out of it, and we got view of Tuk Au Chau out of the rain, and there were lots of terns there!

Tuk Au Chau with mixed terns

Over at Kung Chau, there were mainly black naped terns breeding, though there were still a few bridled terns.

Bridled Tern

Black – Naped Tern

On a visit to Lion’s Nature Education Centre, breeding birds are in full swing, even though I could not find the Chestnut winged cuckoo, I still managed to find a family of hair crested drongos.

Hair Crested Drongo – feeding young

Other than the drongos, other notable birds included a lot of red billed blue magpies and a blue whistling thrush.

Red – Billed Blue Magpie

Blue Whistling Thrush