Not just birds

2019年11月9日星期六

Mai Po and Long Valley 9 Nov 2019 - Chinese Grey Shrike

Still two weeks to go, and today was very likely to be my last full day birding day before the election.

I could finally make my twitch for the Chinese Grey Shrike, which was found few days ago. I didn’t have much hope at first as this individual was told to be elusive (quite atypical for a true shrike) and only appeared in early morning. Luckily and thanks to Graham, we got this lifer without long waiting and the shrike showed three rounds to give everyone excellent views!

In the same spot, we also saw 10 male and female Mallard (my personal highest count in hk), 8 Chinese Spotbill, a single female Ferruginous Duck, Western Osprey, Eastern Buzzard, Black-winged Kite, Eurasian Kestrel, flocks of Chinese Penduline Tit, and many Black-browed Reed Warbler.

We spent our midday birding in Long Valley, nothing really special, resulted Red-rumped Swallow, Chinese Penduline Tit and several Yellow-breasted Bunting.

Then we headed back to the shrike spot, ended with a Greater Spotted Eagle and the same Black-winged Kite and Chinese Grey Shrike.

Checklist 1: https://ebird.org/checklist/S61284805
Checklist 2: https://ebird.org/checklist/S61286809
Checklist 3: https://ebird.org/checklist/S61287897

My 2019 HK Big Year is 275.

Black-winged Kite - hovering

Black-winged Kite

Chinese Grey Shrike - our first view.... so far

Chinese Grey Shrike

Chinese Grey Shrike - the second round which was the closest, but little bit blocked

Chinese Grey Shrike - hovering, I haven't seen any friendly shrike as before

Chinese Grey Shrike - hovering

female Ferruginous Duck

Ferruginous Duck

Ferruginous Duck with 5 Little Grebe

Chinese Grey Shrike - the third round

Chinese Grey Shrike

Chinese Grey Shrike - it was singing.... what a hot day

lazy cat in Long Valley

Black-winged Stilt

Yellow-breasted Bunting

Chinese Pond Heron - hunting

Red-throated Pipit

Eastern Yellow Wagtail

Chinese Penduline Tit

nice herbal tea before going back to shrike spot

Chinese Grey Shrike

Chinese Grey Shrike - wire and green background but far

Chinese Grey Shrike

Chinese Grey Shrike - close enough to ID from other grey shrike

Chinese Grey Shrike - anyway a nice lifer

Chinese Grey Shrike

Chinese Grey Shrike - sometimes it moved so far away

Pied Avocet

Chinese Grey Shrike - in flight, the wing pattern is also an ID feature from other grey shrike

Chinese Grey Shrike - in flight

Chinese Grey Shrike - in flight, the wing patch is rather large

Chinese Grey Shrike

Black-winged Kite

Black-winged Kite - landing

Black-winged Kite

Black-winged Kite - sadly it was far and not enough light

Chinese Grey Shrike - last shot of today

2019年11月3日星期日

Telford and Tai Lam 3 Nov 2019 - 3 weeks to go

Still 3 stressful weeks to go, so I just treasured any time I have for birding and having fun with my friends.

We visited Telford in the morning first and saw a Lesser Shortwing and a Black-browed Reed Warbler, sadly not a single Locustella before having a good lunch.

After tea, the next destination is Tai Lam, mainly for better photos of Brown Wood Owl, which came at 17:25 and the lighting was not really good for photos. Anyway, before the owl, we did see two bird waves in a single spot, species such as Speckled Piculet, Black-winged Cuckooshrike, White-bellied Erpornis, a Japanese Paradise Flycatcher, full of Phylloscopus include Yellow-browed, Pallas's, Eastern Crowned, Arctic, Sulphur-breasted and Hartert's Leaf Warbler goodsoni, Verditer Flycatcher and a well seen male Fire-breasted Flowerpecker.

HK 2019 Big Year is 271, not really sure I can get to 300 this year lol.....

Checklist of Telford: https://ebird.org/checklist/S61135543
Checklist of Tai Lam: https://ebird.org/checklist/S61138518

Lesser Shortwing

Lesser Shortwing - front view with the tiny white brow and throat. This maybe another split after the White-browed Shortwing complex, especially the male of subspecies carolinae in HK is not blue at all.