Izumi City, Kyushu, Japan - a Crane spectacle
John's Hong Kong Birding
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1M ago
Japan has two well-known "Wintering Crane" spectacles - the Red-crowned Cranes in Hokkaido in the northeast of the country and the Hooded Cranes on the island of Kyushu in the southwest. Hokkaido has more snow, but Kyushu has more cranes, - many MANY more cranes. In fact over 12,000 in recent winters. I was reminded of this recently when thumbing through Mark Brazil's "JAPAN - The natural history of an Asian Archipelago".   Kagoshima is a modestly-priced three hour direct flight (HK Express UO846) from Hong Kong, and is only 80km from the cranes.  Visitor Centre at Arasaki ..read more
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Pallas's Gulls at the Mai Po boardwalk hides
John's Hong Kong Birding
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3M ago
 On 26th November 2023 I was in the boardwalk hide at Mai Po and had a record (I think) total of seven Pallas's Gulls (Ichthyaetus ichthyaetus) I couldn't get all seven in one shot, but anyway... ......looking at "The King of Gulls" beats trying to identify those difficult large white-headed ones ..read more
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End of a sultry Autumn.....
John's Hong Kong Birding
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3M ago
Apologies for a paucity of posts in recent weeks, I had technical issues uploading images to "Blogger". After manfully fiddling with the settings, things appear to be working again... here's a selection of what you've been missing....   Toodle Pip ..read more
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Autumn ? Really ?
John's Hong Kong Birding
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6M ago
The hottest mid-autumn festival ever - they say, but there's no HK Observatory announcement yet.   The mudskippers at Mai Po are vying with crabs for space on Mai Po's mudflats.... and there are a few birds around Black-winged Cuckoo-shrike White-shouldered Starlings Whiskered Terns are passing through HK, both year birds and adults losing their breeding plumage ..read more
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"Dragon Boat" races, breeding terns, Hong Kong - 22 June
John's Hong Kong Birding
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10M ago
 Feels like high summer now..... "Tuen Ng Jit" and breeding terns, seen from the Tap Mun Ferry Black-naped Tern - Sterna sumatrana  Roseate Tern - Sterna dougallii Roseate Tern - Sterna dougallii Black-naped Tern - Sterna sumatrana Viewed from Sai Kung Pier ..read more
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"Twitching" here and there.....
John's Hong Kong Birding
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11M ago
Brown-eared Bulbul - (Microcelis amaurotis)  On Saturday, 22nd April we got the ferry to Po Toi Island, in the hope of seeing a "Hong Kong second record" Brown-eared Bulbul that had been reported a few days earlier. It appeared briefly, but briefly was enough.   This species winters in east China, and this one has got a bit further south than most of the others. Around on the hills of Po Toi, were a good few typical Po Tai migrant species....   Brambling - (Fringilla montefringilla) Dollarbird - (Eurystomus orientalis) Swinhoe's Minivet - (Per ..read more
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Mid-April at the Mai Po Boardwalk hides
John's Hong Kong Birding
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1y ago
 Most of the usual suspects have been on view..... Red-necked Stint (Calidris ruficollis) Common Redshank - (Tringa totanus) Mongolian Sand Plover - (Charadrius mongolus) Great Knot - (Calidris tenuirostris) Curlew Sandpiper - (Calidris ferruginea) Chinese Pond Heron - (Ardeola bacchus) Terek Sandpiper - (Xenus cinereus) Plus a couple of surprise "fly-bys" on Friday 14th April Black-legged Kittiwake Lesser Frigatebird - (Fregata ariel) Lesser Frigatebird - (Fregata ariel) Just s ..read more
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Look who's here - Mai Po at the end of February
John's Hong Kong Birding
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1y ago
Might as well enjoy the Oriental White Storks (Ciconia boyciana) while we've got them We had a trip out to the Pearl Delta on the 19th February, on the HK Dolphinwatch boat.  Apart from the incomparable Chinese White Dolphins (Sousa chinensis)...  ......there were about two hundred migrating gulls on the water, including about seventy Black-tailed Gulls (L. crassirostris). And gulls at the Mai Po boardwalk, too -  Pallas's Gull (l) and Black-headed Gull (r) "Heuglins" Gull - Larus fuscus heuglini "Heuglins" Gull - Larus fuscu ..read more
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Some mid-winter birding in Hong Kong
John's Hong Kong Birding
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1y ago
Black Stork - Ciconia nigra Mid-December - a Black Stork was the birding surprise of our winter so far, using a tree near a busy Sheung Shui junction as an overnight roost. But only for two nights that we know of. A short walk from home, there was (were ?) a variety of winter visitors, active on the colder mornings.   Common Rosefinch - Carpodacus erythrinus Yellow-browed Warbler - Phylloscopus inornatus Pallas's Warbler - Phylloscopus proregulus Dusky Warbler - Phylloscopus fuscatus Further afield, the woodland of Pat Sin Leng ..read more
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We three "Kings" at the Mai Po Boardwalk - Christmas 2022
John's Hong Kong Birding
by
1y ago
Actually, there have been up to six Pallas’s Gulls (the “King of Gulls”) at the Mai Po boardwalk this month ..read more
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