Blue Whistling Thrush...

Word seems to be out in the avian community that this is the place to pose. More excellent shots. The hyperactive sunbirds in particular are very hard to pin down. The challenge now is to get one of those colourful males glistening iridescent in the sunlight.

For Nancy's thrushes - the most common by far are the grey-backed. They do have to arrive some time so they could have been the group you saw, but as Guy says they typically skulk out of sight in the leaf litter and are very hard to see in the open. The Chinese blackbird flies around in groups but of course they are black. There are some similar species like the eye-browed thrush which are American robin-like and do fly in small groups too, but they are very much less common.

I think they were grey-backed thrushes after looking at other possibilities. They were thrushing around in the leaf litter in a fairly dense forest and I only saw them because I startled them and they flew across the cable road. American robins will fairly commonly feed in small groups. I have always thought it was like cattle egrets and cows. They benefit from getting insects the others stir up.

Question for Zep or Guy or another of our experts ... I've been noticing quite a few collared crows (crows with a white or lighter patch around the neck/back) on the island these last few months. Is this a new development, or have they always been around? There also seem to be less magpies about.

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Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears.

Welcome back, Guy ! You bring back lots of nice shots !

Daurian Redstart

Just noticed Marc Anthony's query - yes, I think there are more collared crows around than usual - see photo a couple of pages back. There are still plenty of magpies flying around in Tai Peng, though.

Meanwhile, this little chap was feeding on the ground and occasionally flying up to a low perch in the garden this afternoon - most untypical of Asian brown flycather behaviour, but the HKBWS experts tell me that this is what it is. It's a bit grainy due to the very low light levels in the late afternoon.

Asian brown flycatcher

Nice capture Zep...... although with the right software you could probably clean it up a little.
Fancy photographing a Wild Boar sometime.

In the meantime another shot of the Pallas' Leaf Warbler from a sunnier day not long ago...

Was trying to get a Little Pied Flycatcher (without success).... then this chap happened along.... Stub-tailed Warbler...

Great shot of a very elusive little bird (not as elusve as a little pied flycatcher, though).

Verditer Flycatcher ...... perhaps it is the same one passed by Lamma on last Nov.

Nice - another very elusive bird

Some very common birds .....

Barn Swallow







Red-whiskered Bulbul



Greater Coucal

Nice pics - good that the swallows are back. The koels also seem to think its spring and have started calling again.

These are 2 a penny in England...., but over here........, sometimes seen, but very difficult to get a halfway decent photo.
Blackbird (Male)....

And another Blackbird..... possibly a female....

Red-flanked Bluetail

This Rufous-tailed Robin & one other come in at least twice a day to bathe....

Pretty sure she is a female Japanese Thrush...... taken yesterday in very bad light ....



Date Shot: 2010/03/12 08:50:30.08
Nikon D3 w/Nikkor 500mm F/4D
Focal Length: 500mm
Focus Mode: AF-C
AF-Area Mode: Single
Aperture: F/4
Shutter Speed: 1/125s
Exposure Mode: Manual
Exposure Comp.: -0.7EV
Metering: Matrix
ISO Sensitivity: (ISO 2200)

I think it is - the Japanese has more spots down the flanks, while on the grey back the posts are more confined to the breast. These photos show this very nicely - great shots.

Thanks Zep.

Daurian Redstart (female)