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White Shouldered Starling |
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On a visit to Mai Po, we got quite a few good birds, including the a quartet of Graylag Geese, which showed nicely, but they remained far away.  Graylag Geese Other birds include a single asian brown flycatcher hawking for insects by the footpath, along with a scaly breasted munia by the footpath.  Asian Brown Flycatcher  Scaly Breasted Munia Some other interesting birds included a Eurasian Wryneck and a male and female daurian redstart. In addition to that, there was a nice purple heron and collared crow.  Eurasian Wryneck  Daurian Redstart - male  Daurian Redstart - female  Collared Crow  Purple Heron Amur stonechats and black drongos were common all around, hawking for insects and white throated kingfisher perched up on a snag.  Amur Stonechat  Black Drongo  White Throated Kingfisher Eastern Marsh Harriers are now back, and they continue to terrorise the smaller waders. On a faraway perch, I spotted two black winged kite perched on the same snag. Black faced spoonbills are now numbering in their dozens, and in the midst of them, I found a few Eurasian Spoonbills. Another interesting find was a gray headed lapwing resting on the scrape. Eastern cattle egrets pecked at the bugs kicked up by the water buffalos.  Eastern Marsh Harrier  Black Winged Kite  Black Faced Spoonbill  Eurasian Spoonbills mixed in with BFSs  Gray Headed Lapwing  Eastern Cattle Egret Over at the rice paddies, there was a flock of yellow breasted buntings, which showed pretty well. There was a oriental turtle dove which flew past. Keeping on the topic of doves, I finally got a chance to photograph a eurasian collared dove and a few red collared doves, as usually I just flush them or they are too far out.  Yellow Breasted Bunting  Oriental Turtle Dove  Eurasian Collared Dove  Red Collared Dove - male Temminck's stints were common around the reserve, and most of our wintering duck species are back. Dusky Warbler were heard all around the footpath, one finally popped up in the reeds. A gray wagtail was present on the footpath.  Temminck's Stint  Dusky Warbler  Gray Wagtail I encountered lots of pied kingfishers, and on my outing to Mai Po, I counted no less the 8 different individuals! Another species which seemed I had luck with was the common snipe, which I encountered over 10 in one pond! The local party of yellow fronted canaries are still hanging round the front entrance, and I bumped into them on the way out.  Pied Kingfisher  Common Snipe  Yellow Fronted Canary Over at Long Valley, the species were mainly the same as Mai Po, but some birds that I there I did not see in Mai Po. These birds include little ringed plover, black winged stilt, wood sandpiper and long tailed shrike.  Little Ringed Plover  Black Winged Stilt  Wood Sandpiper Although I missed the and reed bunting, (I went before and after) there was still some good birds, such as American pipit, red throated pipit, alexandrine parakeet and oriental pratincole. The cherry on top was a eastern yellow wagtail which perched up on a lotus leaf nicely.  Eastern Yellow Wagtail  American and Red Throated Pipit  Alexandrine Parakeet  Oriental Pratincole Although I missed the reed bunting, I still got the tundra bean goose, which was completely unafraid of anyone and allowed some close approach.  Tundra Bean Goose A hike in Tai Po Kau didn't provide much birds, the only good bird was a dark sided flycatcher which showed nicely, accompanied by a yellow browed warbler.  Dark Sided Flycatcher  Yellow Browed Warbler On a fruitful outing at Tai Sang Wai, I got all of the new species, including a trio of munias. Two were white headed, and the last one was a chestnut munia.  White Headed Munia  Chestnut Munia There was a low flying eastern buzzard just above the path, and in the ponds were little grebes, common as usual. I found one single whiskered tern which flew a lap around the fishponds before disappearing from view.  Eastern Buzzard  Little Grebe  Whiskered Tern On the way out I got good views of a long tailed shrike by the footpath, a chestnut eared bunting which perched by the footpath and a flushed oriental reed warbler.  Long Tailed Shrike  Chestnut Eared Bunting  Oriental Reed Warbler |
