HK Wetland Park 31 May 2018 - juvenile Hawk Cuckoo

On this hot final day in May, I went out for an hour. Best of the day is no doubt the juvenile Hawk Cuckoo. The bird was firstly mobbed by Black Drongo, which maybe due to its Accipiter jizz, but I quickly found out this is a cuckoo species. Hudgson's Hawk Cuckoo is always a species I want to get a better view, but I have never heard and even seen this species here during migration in both fall and spring or in summer.

Identifying cuckoo into species can be difficult but after some better view in seconds, this bird is clearly large in size, showing a larger head and cleaner body (Hudgson's shows more compact body shape and more rufous streaks, also they prefer more woodland habitats), hence can be identified as Large Hawk Cuckoo. As this bird is still a juvenile and was making some 'begging call', I waited to see its host, and found out to be Masked Laughingthrush. According to the HBW Alive, it is not uncommon to see laughingthrush species, like Masked Laughingthrush, to be the host of  Large Hawk Cuckoo.

Anyway, still my first time to observe a juvenile Large Hawk Cuckoo and its host in HK, a reward in a 34 degree lunchtime. The full checklist as here: https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S46175483

the first view of the hawk cuckoo

juvenile Large Hawk Cuckoo - one of my best view of a Hawk Cuckoo!

as see here, Large Hawk Cuckoo with a Masked Laughingthrush, which is its 'parent'

Gear Review - Xpower Lightning Cable 1.2m

We are iPhone users, the phone can assist birding in many ways like sound recording, searching location on map, ebird APPs etc. (Well an android smartphone can do the same thing but I think Apple is more user friendly, especially to macbook users like us).

However, as my phone is getting old, the battery efficiency is poorer than before and charging is always needed. And sadly my Apple cable was broken (the poor design), and my third party one is no longer usable (as no MFI), I need to change a new one.

Xpower cable, first time to try this brand, this 1.2m cable costed me $88 HKD

the MFI license is key, and that's the reason why it costs higher than other third party cable. More about the MFI (https://developer.apple.com/programs/mfi/)

a faster charging time, maybe

this design is good, both sides can be inserted to the USB plug

as Wing Tung recommeded before, bought this cord reel for the cable in Aeon Lifestyle, costed $12 HKD, but the 1.2m cable is too long...

HK Wetland Park 29 May 2018 - short notes on Masked Laughingthrush

On this day no owl was seen. I heard a gang of crazy laughingthrush and thought they were mobbing the owl family, but found they were mobbing nothing. Some birds in the group were carrying food and some other were fighting each other. This looked like two different group of Masked Laughingthrush were having a 'war' and competing for the food or a better feeding patch for the youngster. The laughingthrush is a social species and probably co-operative breeder so it is not surprised to see such behavior, but still my first time to see something like a 'group intraspecific' competiton of bird (usually occurs in mammals like monkey) in Hong Kong.

a video the fighting (?) of Masked Laughingthrush

Besides, one Black Drongo and one Masked Laughingthrush nest were found, in the same woodland where the scops roost.

Red-whiskered Bulbul incubating

Masked Laughingthrush nest

Black Drongo nest with chick

HK Wetland Park 27 May 2018 - scops again

As I didn’t bring the camera yesterday, I couldn’t get any ‘good photos’ of the owl (typical case for me). So, I brought my camera today and, missed the owl in morning (again very typical, like the barred owlet chick). A very hot morning, I just spent around 30 mins and didn’t see any owl at the same spot, but ‘refound’ the Tufted Duck which I couldn’t see yesterday.

Because of the super hot weather, I gave up going out in lunchtime; instead, going to search for the owl again in late afternoon. And this time I succeeded, the Collared Scops Owl family were roosting in a different spot nearby, just sadly the view was all blocked. Anyway, I finally got some better photos of Collared Scops in this park, and my first time to find a daytime roosting owl faster than bulbul or white-eye in this park too!

After the owl, I heard a gang of crazy Masked Laughingthrush, definitely mobbing something which was close to the ground floor. My initial thought was a ground-roosting Eurasian Eagle Owl (clearly I think too much) or Savanna Nightjar but turned out to be a 2m+ long snake (no idea about the snake species, we are birder but not snaker).

my first view of the two chicks, I could not believe my eyes I could really find the birds

the view of adult Collared Scops Owl

this is the best view of the third chick

late to home today because of the owls, this was not a celebration but just trying to improve my cooking skill for my beloved

the mobbing call of Masked Laughingthrush can be listened here:
https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/102167871?__hstc=60209138.842e412552a6f4945bd2eaa00c63e00a.1485919191142.1527340651272.1527424912158.406&__hssc=60209138.4.1527424912158&__hsfp=2639022205

HK Wetland Park 26 May 2018 - birding with birders from New World

Still a very hot day, while two birders Lili and Allen from Texas come to Hong Kong and wanna do some birding here, and they wish to visit the Hong Kong Wetland Park so I 'worked' as a bird guide here. Welcome to HK!

This is not a good season to bird in HK, but still some residents species may be new to New World birder, we managed to see around 40 species in one morning. Sadly we dipped the Pied Kingfisher (we would see that if we had more time to wait, the family must still be there), and missed the Collared Crow (they are common here, but when you wanna find one here, it is always hard).

However, we got some unexpected species, like White-breasted Kingfisher Halcyon smyrnensis (according to the HBW this is different to the White-throated Kingfisher Halcyon gularis which is found in Philippines), a species I haven't seen for weeks, there were at least two juveniles and one adult today; a flying Indian Cuckoo (not always easy to see in the park); and the best of the day - Collared Scops Owl (A common owl species in HK but usually heard only or seen at night, we did see 3 juveniles in fantastic view in daytime! And again the bulbul found us the birds!).

It should be a better time to come to HK for birding in autumn and winter. So welcome to find us next time :D

The whole checklist is as here, photos are digiscoped with iphone 6 plus: https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S46027246

a sleepy chick - Plain Prinia

White-breasted Kingfisher, some authors split the one in Philippines as an endemic species as the white throat is more restricted, as White-throated Kingfisher. For this bird, you can see the color of the bill is black, a feature for immature. The bill color for adult is red.

my second time to see Collared Scops Owl here. They were first mobbed by Red-whiskered Bulbul and so I could find the owls!

Hokkaido 4 Mar 2018 (Day 10)

Here came to Day 10, and nearly the end of our trip. We just repeated the birding spots as Day 2 and Day 9.

breakfast first

Hokkaido's milk is perfect!

and we came to the cliff again

gulls

watching gulls can be relaxing

Steller's Sea Eagle, my bird of the trip

Slaty-backed Gull

another Slaty-backed Gull

Sea Otter again

White-tailed Eagle, a nesting site?

Glaucous Gull

a flyby Peregrine Falcon, why not a Gyr Falcon

the otter would become Spotted Seal sometimes

Red-necked Grebe

a Carrion Crow pair

the commonest crow in Hokkaido - the Carrion Crow, maybe split as Oriental Crow one day?

Japanese Cormorant, the only time we saw in this trip

a digiscoping shot of the Japanese Cormorant

Black Scoter

male Common Goldeneye

not a lifer, but we found something unusual in Hokkaido (not really rare but still good birds) - the Pine Bunting

there were three Pine Bunting, one male and two female!

there were two records in HK, I only saw once, and no good photos

Pine Bunting

the male is quite handsome!

but the female is more friendly

more Black Scoter, their call is funny

more Kamchatka Gull Larus canus kamtschatschensis

and a few Black-tailed Gull, not common in this time of the year, with a Kamchatka Gull

more Kamchatka Gull Larus canus kamtschatschensis

Eurasian Coot

Harlequin Duck, a female

Common Goldeneye

two male duck, Black Scoter and Harlequin Duck

Black Scoter

Common Goldeneye

a Whooper Swan

some grebes around, mostly Black-necked, but there was one different, which was a Horned Grebe! our lifer!

and you can see this Black-necked Grebe, they have different head pattern and bill shape

snack before lunch

we saw a lifer on the way, a Goldcrest

but this tiny bird is very active

and you know why it is called Goldcrest

 we had lunch in a a local noodle restaurant 

inside the restaurant

a lovely cup, Tung must love it

and a super delicious noodle!

After lunch, we just went birding in nearby.

Kamchatka Gull Larus canus kamtschatschensis

Slaty-backed Gull

take more Slaty-backed Gull before back to HK

Greater Scaup

Eurasian Coot, they are much friendlier than their friends in HK

Kamchatka Gull Larus canus kamtschatschensis

a winter plumage Kamchatka Gull Larus canus kamtschatschensis

Steller's flying

Northern Pintail

some more duck, a wigeon showing whitish-grey axillaries, I will go for a hybrid wigeon, like the HK bird

Eurasian Wigeon, the underwing is less cleaner

I love Hokkaido, a peaceful place

and life in Hokkaido is easy, snacks then bird, bird then snacks

a young Steller's, sometime they will prey on mammals

and we were back to the Crane Village!

all are Red-crowned Crane

and the same Common Crane

a close up Red-crowned Crane

Crane

a Crane pair

more crane

this one is an immature

Red-crowned Crane is always elegant

adult with immature

and they are still Endangered species

we could enjoy crane dance here

Red-crowned Crane

evening time

as we planned to visit Otowa Bridge in the next morning for the view, we had a quick dinner this night

Yoshinoya is also 'my cup of tea', and is much more delicious than HK one (also cheaper!)

snacks after dinner

and don't forget ice cream

we had nothing to do this night, except watching TV or editing photos, or wandering around, near the Kushiro Station

crane everywhere

and back to room early to watch TV

also beer

and noodle