Terns, Raptors and Patch Birds

Being in a subtropics, July is the one of the hottest months of the year in Hong Kong. This is also the time of the year when birds are least exciting, with only our summer breeders and residents remaining during this time. I had joined a outing in search of terns during mid-july, and I felt that it was generally pretty successful during the trip. We started at Ma Liu Shui, and one of the first terns seen after setting off were a few black naped terns perched on railing. 

Black Naped Tern

Then boat ride towards the breeding tern colony Shek Ngau Chau after that was pretty uneventful, except for a immature Greater Crested Tern perched on some plastic. 

Greater Crested Tern - immature

Once we reached Shek Ngau Chau, we immediately saw large numbers of the breeding Bridled Terns which all flushed up in waves. 

Bridled Terns 

I also got some photos of some terns flying about, and even a few ones with tags and a few chicks!

Bridled Tern - with the tag XV?

Bridled Tern - tagged individual tending to chick

Bridled Tern - inflight

Bridled Tern - chick

After a while, we left the islet and headed out to the open Mirs Bay to looks for some other species of terns. We passed a few flocks of terns including black naped and roseates, but nothing special. 

Black Naped Tern - fishing

Roseate Terns

We decided to do one more loop before heading back to Ma Liu Shui, and I noticed a large raptor flying in the distance. A quick scan revealed the bird to be an Osprey! After the Osprey, we noticed a group of 5 Greater Crested Terns, and they chased our boat for awhile!

Osprey 

Greater Crested Tern

Greater Crested Tern - immature

Greater Crested Tern - adult

Just before we arrived at Ma Liu Shui, we also got a few Bridled Terns chasing our boat.

Bridled Tern

I visited Lion's Nature Education Centre right before typhoon Wipha, the strongest typhoon which hit Hong Kong this year so far. I didn't see much birds, perhaps due to the heat, but I did have a pair of breeding White rumped Shamas and some White Rumped Munias.

 

White Rumped Shama - male

White Rumped Munias 

Over at Sai Kung Harbour, I saw a pair of Peregrine Falcons in the distance, while to local White bellied Sea Eagle soared far out in the mountains and our Black Kites fished on the fish guts thrown out by the fishermen. 

Peregrine Falcon

White Bellied Sea Eagle

Black Kite

Over at my patch, things have been pretty good, with still some breeding and fledging going on. Near the start of the month, the pair of white eyes which had been building a nest for the past month's chicks finally fledged, and over the next few days I enjoyed them being quite low to
the ground with some good photo opportunities.

Swinhoe's White Eye - fledgings with parent

Swinhoe's White Eye - lost balance!

Swinhoe's White Eye - feeding and stretching

Other than that, I have also gotten a new patch bird in the form of a Speckled Piculet, which was following a feeding flock of other common forest species. I also gotten some better photos of the hainan race of Black Throated Laughingthrush.

Speckled Piculet

Black Throated Laughingthrush - hainan race

I also saw a juvenile Red Necked Keelback, likely hunting some of the young frogs which were just appear at this time of year after rains. 

Red Necked Keelback

Summer Heat and Breeding Birds

I haven't been out birding out of my local patch much this month, with the only exception being the Tap Mun Tern Festival on the 28th of June. We visited Shek Ngau Chau, where we were able to see many of the resident breeding Bridled Terns. 

                                                                     Bridled Terns

Other than that, we also had a few Black Napes and a single Roseate sitting on a rock. 

                                                                Black Naped Terns

                                                                       Roseate Tern

On my trip, I also had a jellyfish species which I suspect is a Acromitus flagellatus, seen on the pier of Ma Liu Shui.

                             

                                                                    Acromitus flagellatus

Birds seen at my local patch of Piper's Hill includes the same family of Nuthatches from last month, Black throated Laughingthrush, White Rumped Shama and Blue Winged Minla.

Velvet Fronted Nuthatch

Black Throated Laughingthrush - hainan race

Black Throated Laughingthrush

White Rumped Shama

Blue Winged Minla

Other than that, I also had a Chinese Hwamei singing right out in the open. 

Chinese Hwamei

In terms of other creatures, I have increased my night walks of late, and I had a few good finds. Some examples of this includes a Chinese Gecko feeding on an entire grasshopper, which should have been 1/3rd of the gecko's size. 

Chinese Gecko - feeding on grasshopper

Other interesting non - bird observations which I found was a species from the Wallacidia oculata, this was the first time seeing it and it immediately caught my eye with it's bright colors. With the typhoon passed and the rains ending, the nuptial flight of different species of termites were found, though the one I found the species I could not identify. 

Wallacidia oculata

Termite sp. - king or queen

A brown tree frog was spotted with its eggs during the night, likely protecting and and tending to the eggs, along with an Asian Mantis seen perching on then railing.

Brown Tree Frog - with eggs

Asian Mantis 

The light vented bulbuls have made their second nesting attempt since their fail last time. I would have loved to say that the birds fledged and are now immature birds, but on the 4th day after the bulbuls hatched they all mysteriously disappeared. I looked around, but found not evidence of struggle except the half-broken nest. The photo shown here is the last before the all disappeared.... 

Light Vented Bulbul Chicks - last day before disappearance

On a higher note, another nest of Light Vented Bulbuls which grew up near the same time at my friend's place fledged successfully! Below are the photos of the entire process of the bulbuls growing up. 

Eggs - 17th of June

Chicks - 23rd of June

Chicks - 24th of June

Fully Feathered - 27th of June 

Fledged - 28th of June

Keeping on the topic of fledging birds, I found two fledged Red Whiskered Bulbuls with their parents tending to them. I have suspected them of nesting for quite some time, but I never found their nest. Anyways, it was great to see that the parents succeeded this breeding season.

Red Whiskered Bulbul - fledging being fed

However, not all fledging birds are so luck, and I found a dead juvenile tree sparrow. I do not know what got it, a cat, or just the heavy rain the previous night? 

Eurasian Tree Sparrow