Long Valley, Hong Kong, Oct 2012

It seemed as though the Hong Kong Transport System was toying with me this morning and I would swear that I spent more time waiting for buses than bird watching. It was already light when I arrived at Yin Kong and the ladies were busy tending their crops, seemingly too busy to point and laugh as is their custom.

 

The approach to the lettuce fields had already brought Red-whiskered Bulbul, Nutmeg Mannikin and an Asian Koel which was strangely subdued this morning. The camera was playing up again and struggling to gain focus. Even using the Live View function with the 10x magnification focussing facility, the pictures were soft and fuzzy. A Light-vented Bulbul, greeting the dawn with a lusty song, looked great in the Bushnells, but proved to be a big disappointment through the Canon.
 

Motacillas were abundant this morning with (White-faced) White Wagtails being the most numerous. I would usually have photographed the pipits for later perusal, but the indistinct supraloral stripe and a relict shade of red on one of them made the identification of the Red-throated Pipit straightforward.
 

It would not help to describe a route through the agricultural plots of Long Valley.

The bunds are higgledy, the paths are piggledy and it is quite easy to lose one’s sense of direction (the area is only small and surrounded by either river or exit, so the chances of actually getting lost are minimal). A large expanse of tall grass had been cut since my last visit and the boggy result was seething with birds. Little Egrets, Chinese Pond-herons and Wood Sandpipers were all greatly outnumbered by wagtails in various plumages. Dusky Warblers "Tchacked" their way through what was left of the standing vegetation at the top end.

 

I hesitate to use the word flock for a group of Oriental Skylarks, as I have never seen them grouped together before. Larks are often referred to as an exaltation, but these birds were sitting quietly on a dry patch in the middle of a boggy mess, not really living up to the billing. The collective term, ‘slump’ came to mind.
 

A Common Snipe was big enough in the frame for the focussing problem to be not too apparent, but the Common Kingfisher felt like a missed opportunity.
 

Deep into the fields is a chain-link fence bordering a couple of fallow ponds.Growth here has overgrown the fence and provided an effective hedge which gave cover to a young Slaty-breasted (Banded) Rail. It lurked in and out of cover, coming out into the open and I was cursing my inability to focus at less than 10 meters.
 

An Oriental Greenfinch stopped by. It was only later that I realised that it might provoke an eBird email, but it would not have made a good picture today. The yellow windows in the wings were clear to see as it flew and the green body with a grey head were enough for me to be sure.

 

I did manage to fix my camera later, by removing the UV filter. It was new and supposedly a genuine Hoya filter, but I have grave doubts about that now. As soon as the filter was removed, focus became sharp again. If only I had thought of it earlier!

 

Birds seen; 37

Little Egret 6, Chinese Pond-heron 15, Slaty-breasted Rail 1, White-breasted Waterhen 4, Little Ringed Plover 3, Black-winged Stilt 22, Common Sandpiper 1, Wood Sandpiper 12, Common Snipe 30, Greater Painted-Snipe 3, Spotted Dove 25, Asian Koel 1, Common Kingfisher 1, Long-tailed Shrike 3, Collared Crow 2, Skylark 1, Oriental Skylark 5, Barn Swallow 6, Red-whiskered Bulbul 8, Light-vented Bulbul 35, Sooty-headed Bulbul 5, Dusky Warbler 20, Common Tailorbird 2, Yellow-bellied Prinia 1, Plain Prinia 1, Japanese White-eye 10, Oriental Magpie Robin 5, Stonechat 12, Crested Myna 40, Western Yellow Wagtail 25, White Wagtail 50, Red-throated Pipit 6, Black-faced Bunting 3, Oriental Greenfinch 1, Eurasian Tree Sparrow 30, White-rumped Munia 20, Nutmeg Mannikin 40.

 

 

To reach Long Valley at Yin Kong, Take Bus 76K from Sheung Shui Rail Station on the East Line. Ask the bus driver for Yin Kong, on Castle Peak Road (Google Earth ref; 22°30'17.11"N 114° 6'39.78"E). If the bus stops immediately after a right turn, you have passed the entrance to the lettuce fields. Retrace your steps for about 400m. If the bus tries to drop you on the edge of a motorway, you are about 200m short of the turn. To access the East Line via the MRT from Hong Kong Island can be a bit convoluted.  Bus N170 runs all night from outside the World Trade Centre in Causeway Bay. Using this bus allows you off the island before the MRT starts up in the morning.

 

Follow the links below for more posts from Long Valley.

http://redgannet.blogspot.co.uk/2011/01/hong-kong-twitching-pt-2-long-valley.html

http://redgannet.blogspot.com/2011/10/long-valley-hong-kong-oct-2011.html

http://redgannet.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/long-valley-hong-kong-march-2012.html

 

Visit the dedicated Asia Page for more from Hong Kong including, Mai Po and Tai Po Kau.

Long Valley, Hong Kong, March 2012

Dawn broke as I waited for a bus at Sheung Shui Station, revealing a misty and murky morning. I had come early in the hope of catching some rails and crakes at Long Valley agricultural area and headed straight to the overgrown ponds at Google Earth Ref; 22 30 27N 114 06 45E. Common Moorhens and a White-breasted Waterhen got my hopes up a couple of times before I caught sight of a flicky tail creeping through the long grass at the top of one of the raised walkways that separate the shallow ponds.

Considering what might have been on offer in a rail infested, weed-choked pond in Hong Kong, it was a slight disappointment to see a Water Rail which I can commonly find within a mile of my home in the UK. It was however a good clear look as it paraded along the bund in full view.

Update;
GL, vigilant as ever, has brought to my attention that Rallus aquaticus has been split from R. indicus leaving the above as a life bird, so wipe the disappointment and get out the red pen. Both Species are still known as Water Rail on my software. The options of European Rail and Indian, Eastern or Brown-cheeked Rail are available for use in conversation or blogging, but the official list still has Water Rail for both.

Chinese Pond Herons were seen in good numbers and I was able to compare them with the very similar Indian Pond Herons from Mumbai last week. I had wanted to show how they change from a drab grounded bird to a bright white bird in flight and then blend into the background again as soon as their wings fold. I had better luck with a landing photo this week.

I was heading to where the snipe are in the north east part of the area. Another birder primed me to be on the lookout for Chinese Penduline Tit and but for his advice, I might have missed them.

Plenty of small seed eating Nutmeg Munias had been feeding from the grasses this morning and I nearly didn’t bother to train my Bushnells on the little birds hanging from the flowers on a small island in the pond at Google Earth ref; 22°30'32.74"N 114° 6'56.41"E.

The shallow ponds here have not been planted with crops. Wood Sandpipers shared them with Black-winged Stilts. I had come prepared to find snipe and to be able to differentiate between the three potential species that might occur here, but I am sure that all the birds I saw today were Common Snipe.

In the taller grasses, Plain and Yellow-bellied Prinias called constantly, vying with the hysterical Asian Koels for supremacy. A dark shrike at the top of a mango tree evaded the camera, but it would have made a good example of the “dusky” form of the Long-tailed (Red-backed) Shrike.

All around the area, electricity and phone lines are held above the ground by slender poles and the Light-vented Bulbul like to use them as vantage points.

Birds seen; 35

Little Egret 6, Cattle Egret 15, Chinese Pond Heron 25, Water Rail 1, White-breasted Waterhen 6, Common Moorhen 12, Black-winged Stilt 14, Common Snipe 40, Wood Sandpiper 60, Spotted Dove 20, Asian Koel 6, House Swift 150, Barn Swallow 60, Red-throated Pipit 15, Grey Wagtail 15, Red-whiskered Bulbul 8, Light-vented Bulbul 35, Oriental Magpie Robin 6, Common Stonechat 6, Zitting Cisticola 1, Yellow-bellied Prinia 12, Plain Prinia 10, Common Tailorbird 1, Dusky Warbler 8, Masked Laughing Thrush 3, Great Tit 1, Chinese Penduline Tit 6, Japanese White-eye 5, Long-tailed Shrike 10, Eurasian Magpie 1, Collared Crow 2, Crested Myna 20, Black-collared Starling 15, Eurasian Tree Sparrow 12, Nutmeg Mannikin 25.

Apple Snail eggs

Using the bus through the cross harbour tunnel saves at least 30 minutes on the journey into the New Territories and enabled me the luxury of a lie-in until 05.30 this morning. Today, the N118 (HK$13.40) was the bus of choice, caught from the stop at Cannon Road outside the World Trade Centre in Causeway Bay, Hong Kong. The bus dropped me at Hung Hom, the first station on the East Rail Line heading towards the Chinese border. Continue to Sheung Shui (HK$8) and cross the road to the bus stop under the footbridge.

Take the 76k and ask the driver for Yin Kong. The agricultural fields will be found to the right off Castle Peak Road, just after the golf club. The bus stop is 500m beyond the motorway bridge at Google Earth Ref;  22°30'10.25"N 114° 6'39.19"E

The workers in the fields here are very tolerant of birders tramping around. Please respect their crops and use the raised walkways.

Long Valley, Hong Kong,

Long Valley, Hong Kong Oct 2011

For once the Asian Koel was quiet. Normally they greet the dawn with loud hysterical calls, but perhaps the longer nights and cooler mornings that the third week of October brings had dampened their spirits. Pale-vented Bulbuls and Red-whiskered Bulbuls were very common on the approach to Yin Kong, but were completely absent from the intensely farmed area known as Long Valley (Google Earth ref; 22 30 18N 114 06 40E) to the Hong Kong birdwatching community.

Workers were already hunched over their crops, weeding or harvesting, oblivious to the birds around them. Business must be good if this lady can afford what appears to be a Hermes headscarf for use in the field. Plain Prinias called from a fallow plot beside the path and a Siberian Stonechat watched from its perch.

I hastened through the rice paddy fields with flocks of White-backed Munia feeding from the seedheads and perching atop some young banana plants. I wanted to get quickly to a spot where a few unused plots formed a reedy swamp, hoping to catch sight of a rallid or two. Dusky Warblers “tchacked” from the reeds and the first Common Snipe of the morning flushed at my approach.

There were no rails or crakes here today, but my timing was rewarded with a Yellow-breasted Bunting instead.

In a previous post about Long Valley, I conjectured that it was probably a dynamic environment where crops are planted, harvested and rotated with some plots being left fallow. However, on this visit, I noted that the same crops were planted on the same allotments as last time with previously fallow areas still left overgrown.

The results are in and the bird in the photograph above has been confirmed as a Grey-headed (Chestnut-eared) Bunting. Thanks to Vicky at HKBWS and please ignore the paragraph below in italics..

Perched on one of the many wires that run up and down the site was what I took to be a Reed Bunting. Only when I arrived home and started writing up did I realise that Emberiza Schoeniclus would make an interesting sighting for Hong Kong. It winters on mainland China in the neighbouring state of Guangdong which left me wondering why its status in Hong Kong is that of a vagrant or accidental visitor. Perhaps my information is out of date. Perhaps it isn’t a Reed Bunting; the conspicuous eye-ring is a worry, but I put the buff colour of the throat and face markings down to the early morning light. Thoughts on a postcard please.

A Peregrine Falcon flew over, half-heartedly chasing a Spotted Dove as it passed through.

Closer to the river is a chain-link fence with a few wet plots beyond it. I was surprised to see a Plaintive Cuckoo perched there at this time of year. A couple of other birders looked sceptically at me as we chatted later, so I include the picture in case it is of any significance.

My favourite recollection of Long Valley is of the numbers of snipe that may be seen there. In the next few plots, they flushed in all directions as I made my way along the bunds. Occasionally one would allow me a clear shot, posing reflectively.

One plot in particular was popular with the waders. Wood Sandpipers stood silently in the shallow water while Black-necked Stilts fed in the deeper spots where Spotted Sandpipers had to up-end like dabbling ducks. Its a shame that I did not have this shot for 'Poop Week'.

More Snipe flushed as I followed the bund along a plot that had held lotus flowers in the warmer weather. One bird darted to the far bank and crouched there rather than flushing. Its posture was distinctive as that of a Greater Painted Snipe and a quick look with the binoculars confirmed the shorter, drooping bill and characteristic eye marking.

Two birds in the same plot both wore the male plumage which is duller than the females’ who take on much of the stereotypical male duties in this family. Note; Painted Snipes are not related to the true snipes such as Common and Pintail Snipe.

Two rivers, Sheung Yue and Shek Sheung, converge at the northern part of the site. Grey Herons were feeding from a mud-bank exposed by a low tide. Black-winged Stilts and Chinese Pond Herons were also seen there. A Common Kingfisher perched on a wire crossing the river and dived in to catch a small fish as I watched. The herons and the kingfisher blanched as a big catfish, over a meter in length, surfaced.

Back in Long Valley plots were being prepared for the next crop. This rotovator is as mechanised as cultivation here gets.

In a taro paddy a snipe sat well and posed for my favourite picture of the day.

The temperature rose to the high twenties as noon approached and a few dragonflies and butterflies were seen.

The Green Skimmer, Orthetrum Sabina,  which can be seen on the wing until the end of December,  proved to be more common and looked to be getting even more prolific than the Common Red Skimmer, Orthetrum pruinosum, which flies until late autumn.

I will have to come back to you with names for the butterflies as it is still a very new discipline for me. If anyone would care to save me a few minutes by suggesting names or where I could look to find them, I would be very grateful.

Species seen;  51

Great Cormorant 1, Grey Heron 15, Great Egret 6, Little Egret 5, Chinese Pond Heron 25, Eurasian Teal 8, Peregrine Falcon 2, White-breasted Waterhen 1, Common Moorhen 2, Greater Painted Snipe 2, Black-winged Stilt 35, Grey-headed Lapwing 1, Little Plover 15, Common Snipe 65, Spotted Redshank 4, Wood Sandpiper 30, Common Sandpiper 1, Spotted Dove 15, Plaintive Cuckoo 1, Asian Koel 3, White-throated Kingfisher 2, Common Kingfisher 2, Richard’s Pipit 1, Red-throated Pipit 1, Olive-backed Pipit 3, White Wagtail 30, Red Whiskered Bulbul 25, Light-vented Bulbul 15, Sooty-headed Bulbul 6, Oriental Magpie Robin 6, Siberian Stonechat 12, Zitting Cisticola 1, Yellow-bellied Prinia 4, Plain Prinia 2, Oriental Reed Warbler 2, Dusky Warbler 8, Red-breasted Flycatcher 1, Japanese White-eye 20, Black-naped Oriole 1, Long-tailed Shrike 3, Black Drongo 6, Eurasian Magpie 3, Collared Crow 3, Crested Myna 15, Black-collared Starling 15, Eurasian Tree Sparrow 20, White-rumped Munia 150, Yellow-breasted Bunting 1, Grey-headed (Chestnut-eared) Bunting 1.

To reach Long Valley take the East Line train to Sheung Shui station. Across the road to the west is a stop for bus no. 76K. Ask the driver to put you off at Yin Kong, just after the golf course. Yin Kong Road is off to the right from Castle Peak Road and the allotments are about 400m along, beyond the public toilets. The local farmers are extremely tolerant of birders here so please respect their crops and bunds. 

For a previous post from Long Valley with extra directions, please follow the link below;
http://redgannet.blogspot.com/2011/01/hong-kong-twitching-pt-2-long-valley.html

Visit the dedicated Asia Page for other posts from Hong Kong and China.

Hong Kong Twitching Pt 2, Long Valley

I must confess to having doubts when the taxi driver dropped me outside the public lavatories in a remote village. Despite his insistence, it seemed unlikely that this would prove to be a birding hot-spot. Some confusion had arisen about the name of the site.

To the ex-pat birders that come here it is known as Long Valley, but the Chinese, who have a proprietorial interest and the advantage of numbers, call it Yin Kong. A Chinese birder that I had met in Tai Po Kau the previous morning had attempted to explain in a foreign tongue and sent me to Long Village, which is a big housing estate with no birds. Don’t go there.

I was still unsure as I took a tiny path that led down through the lettuces into an irrigated agricultural area. Ladies working the fields pointed and laughed (I find women do that a lot. Is it just me?). They cried “Look the birds. Look the birds”. Ahead was a wet paddyfield with Little Egrets, Chinese Pond Herons and Wood Sandpipers feeding in the shallow water. Before I could get my binoculars to my eyes, another birder came round the hut in front of me, putting all the birds to flight.

Another twitch was in progress as Hong Kong’s first ever Red-headed Bunting was reportedly on site, but far from the good-natured camaraderie of yesterday’s watchers, there seemed to be a competitive, edgy atmosphere this morning which did not show the birders at their best. I guess it is a little naïve to expect that with a ‘national first’ in the vicinity, birders would have much time to stop and exchange pleasantries or information. Still, at least I knew I was in the right place now. 

Long Valley is a broad flat plain dotted with irregular allotments growing lettuce, rice and watercress (I imagine that the produce changes seasonally) in well watered sections and the birds seem to love it here. A large flock of White-backed Munia were clinging to the seedheads in a rice field, while Little Ringed Plovers and Red-throated Pipits (PS in the photo above indicates that a bit of ugly scenery has been removed with a Photo-Shop type of software) fed in cleared patches. I caught up with the birds that had been flushed earlier and added Black-winged Stilt to the list as well.

In a section which has been left to go wild, reeds and long grasses held prinias and cisticolas. Plain Prinia was most numerous in the thinner vegetated areas while the Yellow-bellied Prinia preferred the thick cover of the grasses.

A couple of birders were looking very intently at the cisticolas. They were looking for a Bright-capped Cisticola. This bird is different from the far more common Zitting (Fantailed) Cisticola in having a longer tail which lacks white tips and a grey-cheeked, white-throated head with no noticeable eye-stripe. Its black and grey crown may be raised slightly. I had the red crayon ready to mark this one in, but found that I had seen it before under the name of Golden-crowned Cisticola in Papua New Guinea.

I cannot say if this rank area is part of a crop rotation scheme, perhaps it moves periodically. In any case, the higgledy piggledy nature of the plots is not conducive to a commentated tour. Have a look for yourself by copying and pasting the following coordinates into Google Earth; 22° 30’ 18”N 114° 06’ 43”E

A bunting caught my eye as it flew into a field beside me. Could it be the sought-after red-head, I wondered? With chestnut cheeks and a matching band across the breast, it proved to be a Chestnut-eared (Grey-headed) Bunting. It’s not a great picture, but it is a lifer.

Further towards the river, the ponds became bigger and apparently deeper. I suspect that they were for fish and the herons and egrets seemed to bear this out, but a Panoramia photo has Waterflea Pond as its title, anyway, this is where the Grey Heron and Great Egrets like to hang out.

Another battery of big cameras indicated that something exciting had been found and I crept up to join the crowd waiting for a Bluethroat to reappear. A branch had been propped up and baited with mealworms which kept the bird coming back again and again to a fusillade of shutters releasing.

There is a blue streak in the moustacial stripe and a trace of rouge in the otherwise blank spot that makes me assume this individual to be a first winter male ssp svecica.

As the day wore on, the birds became less active. In one small patch of taro (?), I spotted about 15 Common Snipe resting and clumsily flushed a further dozen or so more.

White Wagtails and the eastern, taivana, race of Yellow Wagtails also known as Green-backed Wagtail were active all day, common and conspicuous throughout the allotments. Pipits could be seen if they moved and I stayed still, otherwise, they were too well camouflaged against the earth. One flew over. Bigger than the red-throats, I am going to stick my neck out and put down Richard’s Pipit.

There is no shade or facilities at Long Valley/Yin Kong aside from the public lavatories. Bus 76K from Sheung Shui Station stops about 400m short of the turn off for Yin Kong (about 2kms along Castle Peak Rd). Continue under the footbridge and Yin Kong is signposted to the right. Walk another 400 (ish)m down a most unlikely looking road to the lavatories and find the allotments behind.

Sheung Shui is on the East Line. Buses 102 and 106 leave from just outside the World Trade Centre on Hong Kong Island (starting just after 06.00. For a really early start try the 24 hour bus N122 which runs every 15 mins from the first bus stop on Hennessey Road, opposite Sogo). They run through the tunnel to Hung Hom Station and a chap could be on an East Line (formerly known as the KCR, Kowloon Canton Railway) train heading to China in moments. Using the subway system would involve 3 changes of train to achieve the same result. Returning to the island, the buses run from the first stair off the footbridge out of Hung Hom Station.

Bird species 40;

Grey Heron 2, Great Egret 1, Little Egret 10, Chinese Pond Heron 15, Common Kestrel 1, White-breasted Waterhen 1, Common Moorhen 3, Black-winged Stilt 20, Little Plover 6, Common Snipe 30, Wood Sandpiper 15, Spotted Dove 6, Asian Koel 1, Common Kingfisher 1, White-throated Kingfisher 1, Richard’s Pipit 1, Red-throated Pipit 10, White Wagtail 25, Yellow Wagtail 12, Red-whiskered Bulbul 2, Light-vented (Chinese) Bulbul 8, Sooty-headed Bulbul 3, Bluethroat 1, Oriental Magpie Robin 6, Common Stonechat 3, Zitting (Fantailed) Cisticola 4, Golden-headed (Bright-capped) Cisticola 1, Yellow-bellied Prinia 2, Plain Prinia 2, Common Tailorbird 2, Dusky Warbler 2, Masked Laughing Thrush 4, Long-tailed (Rufous-backed) Shrike 3, Eurasian Magpie 8, Crested Myna 25, Black-collared Starling 12, Eurasian Tree-sparrow 6, White-backed Munia 300, White-headed Munia 2, Chestnut-eared (Grey-headed) Bunting 1.

The land is worked intensively with womanpower being the most apparent driving force. The rows of plants and fertilizer were so straight that I suspect some kind of apparatus was used, but no mechanical aids were seen. I was trying to get a candid picture of this lady working her watercress patch. It might have made a nice picture of traditional working practices if she hadn’t kept stopping to answer her phone.

I must give great credit to the workers who happily laughed and pointed as twitchers tramped through their crops looking for the bunting. They were very patient and accepting with seemingly no qualms about the presence of the birders. While obviously trying to protect their produce, they employed passive deterrents rather than aggressive scaring techniques.