Christmas Wishes Come True - Eared Grebe, Glossy Ibis, Goldcrest and more...

 December had seen a great number of new birds and winter migrants, with a few rarities too! I tried for the goldcrest on Po Toi reported late last month, but before we got there we got a confiding pacific reef heron.

Pacific Reef Heron

Once we got to the island, we got great views of the goldcrest, which came within a few meters of me while foraging!

Goldcrest

Other birds in Po Toi includes a few red flanked bluetails and an out of season female narcissus flycatcher. There was also a migrating chestnut bulbul and a female daurian redstart.

Red Flanked Bluetail

Narcissus Flycatcher - female

Chestnut Bulbul

Daurian Redstart

Over at San Tin, barn swallows are really abundant, and you can usually find a few sand martins (bank swallows) mixed in with the flock of swallows. I was lucky to find a few. 

Barn Swallow

Sand Martin

Other confiding birds include oriental turtle dove, white throated kingfisher, white breasted waterhen, black headed gulls, red throated pipit and little grebes. 

Oriental Turtle Dove

White throated Kingfisher

White breasted Waterhen

 

Black headed Gull

Red throated Pipit

Little Grebe - feeding

Keeping on the topic of grebes, near the end of the month an eared grebe showed up, we get this species only once in a few years, but for me was a lifer and a HK tick. 

Eared Grebe - lifer

Other than the grebe, other birds of note include a pair of oriental storks which flew over us while we were observing the grebe. 

Oriental Stork- soaring

Over at Mai Po, a pair of northern lapwings have been seen lately on the 8b pond, and in the sunlight, their colors really show.

Northern Lapwing

There has been a influx of eastern spot billed ducks at the 8b pond of late, with a personal high count of 12 birds in one pond. 

Eastern Spot Billed Duck

Other birds on the same pond included a single oriental stork, black faced spoonbills, pied kingfisher, eastern marsh harrier, great bittern and a black crowned night heron. 

Oriental Stork

Black Faced Spoonbill

Pied Kingfisher

Eastern Marsh Harrier

Black crowned Night Heron - juvenile

Great Bittern - record shot, bird on upper right 

Near the education centre, I picked up a pair of greater scaups from the tufted ducks. 

Greater Scaup

Another interesting find that I got was a flyover of a tundra bean goose. Thanks to Matthew Kwan who helped me identify and confirm the ID. This was the same bird originally from Long Valley last month, but I weirdly saw it fly over by the border fence. 

Tundra Bean Goose - flyover

I paid a visit to Shan Pui River for the glossy ibis, which was a lifer and HK tick for me! 

Glossy Ibis

Near the end of the month, I got a chance to hike Tai Lam Country Park, to try for the Japanese Robin report the previous week. Though I missed them I did get a compromise in the form of a lifer chestnut-flanked white eye mixed in a swinhoe's white eye flock!

Chestnut-flanked White Eye

Other than that, the other birds included a few velvet fronted nuthatches, pallas leaf warblers, inchochinese yuhina, brownish-flanked bush warbler and many more without photos.

Velvet-fronted Nuthatch

Pallas' Leaf Warbler

Brownish-flanked Bush Warbler

Indochinese Yuhina

The usually skulky ground birds on this hike were particularly friendly, with a pygmy cupwing approaching just 50 centimeters from my feet (I had to step away to fit it in my frame)! Other than that, I also got around half a dozen asian stubtails. 

Pygmy Cupwing

Asian Stubtail

Late November- a good number of migrants

Late November had a good influx of both late autumn and early winter migrants, which made for more birds, including a few that was new for my HK list! I had tried for the Daurian Starlings at Lai Chi Kok, but only got a few dozen white shouldered starlings instead. The usual common kingfishers were present too. 

White Shouldered Starling

Common Kingfisher

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

Mixed duck species- Northern Pintail, Garganey...

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

Old Blog

 You can find my old blog here:

Chester's Hong Kong Birding Blog

Thanks,

Chester