Kit & Herman Year 2

[Kitsafari]

267/HK11: Eastern Imperial Eagle

 

after seeing several black kites in the wetlands, my friend was telling me how uncommon it was to see the Eastern Imperial Eagle. 10 minutes later, one obligingly flew by but against the grey cloudy skies, I was bound to fail with my photos. At best, an EBC, at worst, I won't win any prize for the best EBC! 

there is good reason why it is uncommon - the Eastern imperial eagle is listed as vulnerable on the IUCN red list which says there is less than 10,000 individuals left. Each winter, only a handful of individuals fly to HK - it varies in numbers from just a pair in a year or sometimes 5-6. So we were incredibly lucky that it was gliding above us, never mind the quality of the photo! about the size of the white-bellied sea eagle, the imperial eagle is attracted by the vast numbers of migratory birds to HK's wetlands. 

 

 

 

[Kitsafari]

268/HK12: Greater spotted Eagle

 

A better EBC than the imperial eagle! the great spotted eagle was far in the distance, attempting to fly into a flock of greater cormorants and snag a juicy meal but it didn't succeed while we were watching. The photo doesn't show its distinguishing mark but my fellow birders took to their bins and vaguely made out a light crescent on the primary feathers on its wings. Another raptor that is on the vulnerable list and also a winter visitor to HK from northern Asia and Eurasia, including Mongolia. I kinda like its latin name: Clanga clanga

 

[Kitsafari]

148/HK13: Great Egret

149/HK14: Little Egret

 

Both are already in my Botswana count, although some taxonomists count the Asian sub-species of the Great White Egret Ardea modesta or Eastern great egret as a full species. the Asian/Australasian species is the smallest of the four sub-species. 

 

Great egret 

 

with little egrets

 

[Kitsafari]

269/HK15: Gargeny

270/HK16: Eurasian Teal

 

A migratory bird to HK, from northern Europe/Asia, the gargeny likes to socialise with the other ducks on the mudflats of HK.

we watched this bird hanging around and fishing with Eurasian/Common Teals the entire hour we were in the hide. 

 

The Eurasian or common teal look very similar to the green-winged teal except that the latter is found in northern America. The Eurasian teal is also a winter visitor from northern Eurasia. quite a good looking male bird. 

 

 

Gargeny

 

eurasian/common teals

Edited June 13, 2019 by Kitsafari

[PeterHG]

Excellent eagle sightings, ecxiting moments, undoubtedly!

[Kitsafari]

271/HK17: Black-tailed Godwits

 

The black-tailed godwits glowed as the sun peeked out for a short while before we got rained on again. but with the light on them, the godwits looked good. This is a near threatened species, wintering in southern asia. there was a nice flock of them not at the sea but in one of the inner ponds. 

 

[Kitsafari]

Thanks much @PeterHG - it was quite thrilling to see eagles against an open sky versus seeing them against man-made structures in Singapore but I shouldn't complain. it's already quite incredible to see how eagles have adapted in our urbanised city-state. 

 

 

67/HK18: Little Grebe

already counted and I had better photos of it in Botswana, but I include it in for the HK list. They seem to be everywhere!

 

[Kitsafari]

272/HK19: Common Greenshank 

 

a well distributed species. 

 

[Kitsafari]

273/HK20: Black-headed Gull

 

a migratory bird to HK, the species was in a very large flock congregating in the middle of the tiered bird groups in the shores. These were non-breeding birds that came from northern CHina and Japan. 

 

[Kitsafari]

274/HK22: Saunders's Gull

 

Named after British ornithologist Howard Saunders, this species is resident in Eastern Asia, Russia, and Vietnam. 

It's listed as vulnerable with an estimated 14,440 individuals left and declining as habitat loss - coastal shore reclamation and development - continues.  It's also known as the Chinese black-headed gull.

 

[Kitsafari]

275/HK22: Eastern Marsh Harrier

 

This is a migratory raptor (except the Papuan sub species which is sedentary) which is breeds in northeast China, Mongolia, Southeast SIberia and can be found in northern Japan as well. It winters in southern China to northeast India and Bangladesh and Southeast Asia including Borneo and Sumatra. 

 

 

 

[Kitsafari]

164/HK23: Grey Heron

 

Already counted in Botswana and also thriving in Singapore. in Mai Po, the grey herons were mixing with the egrets and spoonbills. 

 

[Kitsafari]

68/HK24: Chinese pond Heron

 

Counted in the Singapore list, where it is a migrant. In HK, the chinese pond heron is a regular native in the wetlands. 

 

[Kitsafari]

276/HK25: Black Kites

 

Black kites were the bane of my Mai Po visit. They were all over flying above me, black things with wings against that awful grey cloudy sky. Never good with BIFs,  but better with EBCs, here are some of them. this is one of the most abundant bird of prey with some 6m individuals flying around the world, so it's unsurprising that they are on the least concern list. Although they are called black kites, their plumage is actually dark brown. They are migratory to Hong Kong but many stay on to breed. They do well on urbanised Hong Kong island.

 

black kite on the hunt

 

finally a vaguely decent one

[Kitsafari]

277/HK26: Common Magpie, Mai Po

Also known as the Eurasian magpie, the bird refused to come out into the open so this was the only shots I had of it. The magpie is well distributed in Europe, northern and central Asia, Laos and Myanmar. I saw a photo of it on the wings, and when the wings were spread out, it looked like  a beautiful bird with a willowy tail. 

 

 

[Kitsafari]

85/HK27: Scaly-breasted Munia

 

In the Singapore count. 

 

[Kitsafari]

278/HK28: Crested Myna

 

The crested myna has a rather small distribution core area in CHina, Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam and Taiwan., although they can be found in Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines and Singapore with the latter two countries where there were instances of breeding. 

 

[Kitsafari]

279/HK29: Western Osprey

 

Another EBC of a black blot out in the open sea which I had to lightened a fair bit but still a total fail. initially, the flocks of birds were so intense that we didn't notice this black blob on top of a pole out in the sea. only when some of the birds had flown off did we notice this blob bending often to feed. the other birds seemed to feel pretty secure that it wouldn't hunt them since this raptor eats mainly fish. its meal looked like a fish . 

A fairly large raptor the western osprey is one of the rare species whose population is on the increase. It is also known a sea hawk, river hawk and fish hawk. 

 

 

 

[Kitsafari]

280/HK30: Little Ringed Plover

 

I had to crop this a lot to show the yellow ring around the eye in this fuzzy photo. My friend's (very young and keen) eyes spotted this tiny bird moving among the brushes on a narrow land bar in the ponds. The little ringed plover is a common migrant and passage migrant through HK's wetlands. It spots the yellow eye-rings during the breeding season. 

 

[Kitsafari]

281/HK31: Plain Prinia

 

A tiny warbler with a long tail,  the prinia was a tricky subject to take as it hopped from one reed to another. it builds nests on the reed stems in spring. It looks like the yellow-bellied prinia except for its brown head. The species is also called the plain wren-warbler and  breeds in Pakistan and INdia to southern China and Southeast Asia.  I couldn't crop much more!

 

 

[Kitsafari]

282/HK32: Common Redshank

283/HK33: Marsh Sandpiper

 

 

Common redshank 

 

 

Common redshank and marsh sandpipers among them

 

 

Marsh sandpipers in the front line, eurasian curlews in the mid-section and black-tailed godwits behind. 

 

Edited June 16, 2019 by Kitsafari

[Kitsafari]

284/HK34: Daurian Redstart

 

A rather Asian bird found in temperate Asia from northern India/Bhutan through eastern Asian, Mongolia, Eastern Asian Russia down to Indochina, including Thailand. 

 

only a female appeared flitting between branches above a small pond. It is considered an old world flycatcher

 

 

[Kitsafari]

84/HK35: Oriental Magpie Robin. Tsuen Wan

 

[Kitsafari]

285/HK36: Curlew Sandpiper

 

The curlew sandpiper is on the near threatened list. It's a migratory bird from eastern northern Russia, Mongolia, northern China, Koreas to Africa, coastal areas of Southeast Asia and AUstralia. It is thought to be in quick decline given the vanishing shorelines in Asia. In Australia, the population is estimated to have fallen over 80% over three generations (the bird lives an average 7.6 years).

 

the curlew sandpipers are the tiniest birds here 

[Kitsafari]

286/HK37: Northern Shoveller