Not just birds: 3月 2019

2019年3月31日星期日

Tai Sang Wai 31 Mar 2019 - problematic Yellow Wagtail again

Aaron and Brenda needed the ‘possible Western Yellow Wagtail’ so we made a short visit....

Waited for awhile, and the bird showed for awhile. To me the Whiskered Tern (a common spring migrants) would be a better highlight.

My 2019 Big Year is 200 and the checklist as here: https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S54401154

Richard's Pipit - note the pale lore and strong bill

Collared Crow molting in flight

problematic Yellow Wagtail, love that yellow

not easy to take a photo

sunny and windy, so the problematic Yellow Wagtail was hiding for long

back of problematic Yellow Wagtail, the wingbars are broad

Black-headed Gull

two Black-headed Gull

there were many Black-headed Gull feeding bread

Black-headed Gull

Whiskered Tern

back of Whiskered Tern

some were showing blackish bill

4 Whiskered Tern

more Whiskered Tern - they were feeding small fish but not bread

2019年3月30日星期六

The Peak 30 Mar 2019 - false alarm

We made a twitch for Zappey's Flycatcher but finally turned out to be a Blue-and-white Flycatcher intermeida....... Though, we still dipped...

We only saw a female Blue-and-white Flycatcher and (also female) Orange-bellied Leafbird.

https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S54360368

thanks Brenda for the bins, I really need a lighter one for future works...

2019年3月28日星期四

Tai Sang Wai 28 Mar 2019 - yellow wagtail species

I received the news of Western Yellow Wagtail right before my first aid exam this morning (an easy exam haha)! Being a birder, we decided to make a twitch even the photos looked a bit strange to me.

Thanks to David and John, we saw the bird right after arrival.

The final identity? I have no idea, but I don’t think this is a straightforward Motacilla flava leucocephala. The bird we saw showed whitish head (with some grey tinge) and broad wing bars, these two features seem to be good for leucocephala. However, I would expect a male leucocephala (this is a male because of the bright yellow lowerpart) should show more whitish head, chin and moustache. The nape is too dark, also showing a 'blackish lateral crown'. And further checked in computer, we found more anti-leucocephala features as below....

For the call, we tried to record when flushing the bird, showed an Eastern sonogram eventually.

From my opinion, this is not a leucocephala, or any 'pure' Western Yellow Wagtail mainly of the pro-Eastern Yellow Wagtail call (though the broad wingbar). I cannot have a solid conclusion of its ID and its better to wait for expert like Per Alstrom to give us more lights on it.

By the way, the checklist today,
nothing else interesting: https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S54299465

the Yellow Wagtail

a heavily cropped shot - you can see the very dark uppertail, dark nape, the crown is bit black too. The broad wingbars are interesting. Two tones in greater coverts, proved this is a first-summer bird?

the wingbars are very distinctive

the plumage is strange rather than matching leucocephala

as John Allcock suggested, the white feathering on tibiae is interesting too, not seen in typical Yellow Wagtail in HK. The length of hind claw can be a good feature to tell (like Richard's VS Blyth's Pipit), Eastern should show longer but hard to see or compare in this photo.

we tried to listen but really could not hear any Western call in field

my personal thought is a partial leucistic Eastern Yellow Wagtail, with uncertain subspecies (thought the greyish tone on head may rule out taivana. As seen here, there is yellow feathering on its head, should be good enough to rule out (pure) leucocephala

call of the 'white-headed' wagtail - probably still Eastern

https://www.hbw.com/ibc/sound/eastern-yellow-wagtail-motacilla-tschutschensis/probably-partial-leucistic-individual-or

typical Eastern Yellow Wagtail taivana molting

no lifer but anyway still an interesting lesson to learn.

2019年3月24日星期日

HK Wetland Park 24 Mar 2019 - spring is on

Some spring migrants already arrived my place but not anything rare... Broad-billed Sandpiper, several new Black-browed Reed Warbler and an influx of Turdus (none IDable). Also naughty Bluethroat, quiet otherwise...

Flycatchers where are you?

AM: https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S54159321
PM: https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S54161570

Daurian Redstart with problem on feet

Stejneger's Stonechat - ringed

a pair of Garganey

male Garganey

best bird of the day - a rail, but dead one.

Anyone has idea? maybe a Brown-cheeked.

2019年3月23日星期六

Long Valley 23 Mar 2019 - dipping the glossy

Some of my friends in mainland came to HK today for the Glossy Ibis, surprisingly we dipped......
Not seen at all for whole day.. Its also hard to believe the best bird of the day should be Common Kestrel.......

Full list of today: https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S54122534

male Black-winged Stilt

two male Black-winged Stilt

Common Kestrel - bird of the day?

no ibis but still beer lol

2019年3月22日星期五

HK Wetland Park 22 Mar 2019 - two Long-billed Dowitcher

An influx of Curlew Sandpiper and two Long-billed Dowitcher (one should come from Mai Po) in my place today, but most of them were sleeping......

two Long-billed Dowticher inside - both sleeping.......

2019年3月21日星期四

Mai Po and Long Valley 21 Mar 2019 - a glossy twitch

We received the news of Glossy Ibis and I had a rest day today so we went to Mai Po for a try. Sadly no joy, but we still had a good time in Mai Po especially the tide was not bad. We saw many Caspian Tern, a more active Long-billed Dowitcher, Red Knot, Bar-tailed Godwit, Far Eastern Curlew, single Black-tailed Gull, plenty Vega Gull mongolicus, and the highlight - two responsive Styan's Grasshopper Warbler!

a quiet 16/17 without any ibis....

only a Purple Heron - digiscoped by noctivid

Deep Bay was much better, with lots of waders

Styan's Grasshopper Warbler Helopsaltes pleskei, a change of genus. First time for Chelsea and my second year to spot a responsive molting bird

(musical nuclear weapon is waiting us 😎)

Mai Po checklist: https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S54064918

You can never predict what will appear next in birddom! We received the Glossy Ibis news in Long Valley (Long Valley, I said that!!!!) right after arriving Yuen Long...... So an immediate twitch was done and luckily two immature Glossy Ibis showed super well! What a day for us! 😄 (7 lifers for Chelsea lol)

once we got off from taxi, we saw the two ibis took off........ we immediately took our bins and ticked first, then photoed next

Glossy Ibis in flight

Glossy Ibis - they loved feeding on Apple Snails here

Glossy Ibis and White Wagtail

two immature Glossy Ibis - adult will be much more colorful (hence glossy)

Glossy Ibis

Glossy Ibis is a monotypic species which is globally distributed, and a wanderer. Nomadic behavior makes them come here for no reason. Ibis is usually a comparatively adaptive species group, so we may see more and more Glossy Ibis in East Asia in short future.

Glossy Ibis with Black-winged Stilt

Glossy Ibis - we also need the Black-headed Ibis especially the eastern population, which should be an uncommon winter visitor in HK but now is vagrant because they declined dramatically......