Kit & Herman Year 2

[PeterHG]

Wow, lots of striking additions again! That shiny Large Niltava, to me, is the most beautiful of the lot.

[TonyQ]

Excellent additions. I agree about the NIltava

[Kitsafari]

Thanks @PeterHG and @TonyQ . 

 

Just two more from Fraser's Hill.

 

257/FH11: Fire-Tufted Barbet

 

A striking large barbet. This species is only found in Malaysia and Sumatra. As in most of the species, its population is believed to be declining in these two countries in line with habitat destruction. But any decline is bad as the barbet is found in such limited range. 

Only one turned up for us, but it was a reward for our patience. it resolutely refused to turn around and showed us only its back. what a stunning bird. 

 

 

 

[Kitsafari]

258/FH12: Streaked Spiderhunter

 

For @Soukous who has professed a liking for the name spiderhunter!

 

This is a noisy and certainly not shy bird. Far larger in size than the Little Spiderhunter, the yellow and very streaked bird is distributed eastern Himalayas, northern Bangladesh to southern China and much of Southeast Asia, including peninsular Malaysia but excluding Indonesia and Borneo. Usually found singly or in pairs. we saw it twice and each time it was alone. 

 

 

[Kitsafari]

oh I missed out one more! I thought I had it filed but here it is: 

 

256/FH10: Spectacled Laughingthrush

 

Also known as the chestnut-capped laughingthrush, this is a gregarious and noisy bird found in groups. It is medium in size,  and was formerly considered a sub-species but it is now moved to the ressurected genus of Pterorhinus. 

The species is found in Sumatra and the Thai-Malay Pensinsular, and prefers the subtropical and tropical moist lowland forests or montane forests. Not only does it face habitat destruction, the pretty bird is also a major target for the caged bird trade such that it is now listed Near Threatened on the IUCN list. 

 

[xelas]

Singapore - Malaysia - Thailand in one go, what a birding trip that would be! Full of colourful birds and tasty food. With Air Asia I assume even the flights between the countries would not be that expensive??

 

Keep them comin' (birds), @Kitsafari and ST birders will start coming also .

[Soukous]

48 minutes ago, Kitsafari said:

258/FH12: Streaked Spiderhunter

 

For @Soukous who has professed a liking for the name spiderhunter!

 

 

Absolutely. I almost feel like going out and acquiring something just so I can give it that name. 

[michael-ibk]

Great additions. While not the most spectacular bird you presented here I particularly like the Flycatcher, just looking at it made me smile.

[Kitsafari]

@xelas it'll be a very long road trip! but certainly doable with a number of budget airlines out here with good connections from Singapore to KL to Bangkok or even parts of Malaysia and Thailand. 

 

the next section is from Hong Kong, which may make @Soukous regret his compliments since the the photography skills were definitely lacking on a grey wet day in Mai Po Nature Reserve.

I was in Hong Kong for a business trip in late February, and like all good bird-mad photographers do, I extended my stay so that I could check out the local birdlife and find my target - the migrating Black-faced Spoonbill. Mai Po  part of Deep Bay, right at the border with Chinese province Shenzhen. In fact, you can see the latter's ever expanding skyline sitting from hide facing the river. The marshes are actually part of a shallow estuary, at the mouths of Sham Chun River, SHan Pui RIver and Tin Shui wai Nullah. This has been listed as a Ramsar site since 1995, and  is managed by the WWF with entry quite restricted, understandably to protect some 55,000 migrating birds. This includes the Saunders' gulls, and a quarter of the world's black-faced spoonbills. You need an entry permit to enter, which is free, and can be found online. My friend in HK applied for me, and my Singapore's Nature Society membership smoothed the quick approval. 

There had been huge concerns when Shenzhen embarked on an aggressive development programme that muddied and polluted the waters in Deep Bay. Local residents say the number of migrating birds in Mai Po have been declining sharply, and the flocks we saw that day were nothing compared with years before. 

 

 

 

 

turn up the volume to hear the birds. 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited June 7, 2019 by Kitsafari

[Kitsafari]

259/HK1: Pied Avocet

 

This is a common migratory bird to Hong Kong from northern Asia, a beautiful bird that also likes to hang around black-winged stilts when I saw them a year ago.  The Hong Kong birders have a saying about the avocet, that when you see the species, you know the waters are not the cleanest and healthiest. I don't know how true that is, but that was based on the increasing numbers after the Deep Bay waters were heavily polluted. They were in abundance in the Mai Po shores - a long thick line of them out in the waters. It was pretty cool to watch them as they swished their thin upcurved bills left to right to look for food. 

 

 

 

Edited June 7, 2019 by Kitsafari

[Kitsafari]

260/HL2: Light-Vented Bulbul

 

Also known as the Chinese bulbul or the white-vented bulbul, this is found mainly in central and southern China, Taiwan and northern Vietnam. They are abundant in Hong Kong where they prefer woodlands and forested areas, while its cousin the red-whiskered bulbul has adapted very well in the urban areas. 

 

 

 

[Kitsafari]

38/HK3: Red-whiskered Bulbul

 

Already counted in the Singapore list. Widespread in the city centres of Hong Kong. this bulbul is so habituated to pedestrain traffic here, and is found in most parks. They are rarely seen in Singapore and very shy of humans. 

 

[Kitsafari]

261/HK4 : Eastern Buzzard

 

An EBC! it was circling backlit in the sky light in quite a distance from us. we saw it dive once but came up empty. Also known as the Japanese buzzard, the bird is a medium to large sized raptor. A bit of disagreement has been ongoing to whether it is a subspecies of the common buzzard but some scientists have treated it as a distinct species since 2008. The Eastern buzzard is resident in Mongolia, China and Japan and some northern offshore islands, and winters in Southeast Asia. 

 

 

 

 

 

[Kitsafari]

262/HK5 : Great Cormorant

 

This was in such abundance! an estimated 10,000 Great Cormorants winter in Hong Kong,  many of them at Mai Po. That estimate represents about 8%-10% of the regional population which means HK is one of a very significant wintering sites for this species. The species is native to western Europe through central Asia to eastern Russia, India and CHina but the winter visitors to HK come mainly from Mongolia and northern Russia.

 

[Kitsafari]

263/HK6: Collared Crow

 

Crows are such a common sight and are seen as garbage birds, but the collared crows are gaining super status among birders as they are on the Vulnerable list of IUCN. Population is estimated at 2,500-9,999 and is thought to be rapidly declining due to a change in agricultural farming in China which reduced their food sources, and the use of pesticide. They are found mainly in China, Hong Kong and Vietnam. 

 

[Soukous]

Gorgeous shots of the Fire-tufted Barbet. I've never seen one in the wild and I would love to.

 

Let me know when the road trip is on @xelas

[xelas]

17 hours ago, Soukous said:

Let me know when the road trip is on @xelas

 

I will. Would you join it?

[Soukous]

1 hour ago, xelas said:

 

I will. Would you join it?

 

That obviously depends on when it takes place, but in principle, 'yes' I am very interested.

[Kitsafari]

@xelas @Soukous

 

And if you come to Singapore, I could spend a day or two as safaripal!

 

heck, i may even join you in malaysia  or thailand!

Edited June 10, 2019 by Kitsafari

[Soukous]

16 hours ago, Kitsafari said:

@xelas @Soukous

 

And if you come to Singapore, I could spend a day or two as safaripal!

 

heck, i may even join you in malaysia  or thailand!

 

woo hoo! a local guide, sounds great. 

Edited June 11, 2019 by Soukous

[xelas]

Duly noted, @Kitsafari .

[Kitsafari]

More grey and sombre birds coming up. 

 

264/HK7: Eurasian Curlew

 

IUCN ranked this species as near threatened, with global population estimated at 835,000 - 1.31m individuals. A widely distributed species, the bird comes in huge flocks to winter in HK. 

 

I watched this single bird for a long time and I did not see a second leg throughout even though it moved while I wasn't looking. If it is really a one-legged curlew, I'm so amazed it survives despite the handicap. 

 

[Kitsafari]

265/HK8: Eurasian Collared Dove

 

Found mainly in Europe and Asia, and introduced to North America. The eurasian collared dove or Eurasian collared-dove is not migratory but disperses very well. It is closely related to the African collared dove and is slightly larger to it. 

 

 

 

[Kitsafari]

4/HK9 Spotted Dove, Tsuen Wan

 

Already counted in my Singapore list, the spotted dove in HK was fluffed up and looked fat, which made its small head so disproportionate to its body. I assumed it was all fluffed up as February is still cold in HK, compared to the constant 30 degrees in Singapore. The bird was in good numbers  - about 8-10 overall  in a small park next to the hotel I stayed in. 

 

 

 

 

 

[Kitsafari]

266/HK10: Tufted Duck

 

I am not a great fan of ducks but this is a really pretty duck with its bright yellow eyes peeking out of a black plumage with a little short tail/crest at the back of its head, and white underwings and belly.  These are winter visitors to Hong Kong from northern Eurasia (including Russia and northern Europe). 

 

Edited June 13, 2019 by Kitsafari