Year ending 2018

A Black-winged Cuckooshrike at the Chinese University campus (not a rarity, but a first for that location) on the last day of 2018 brought up my 500th observation on i-Naturalist, while the White-tailed Robin at Lung Fu Shan was my 50th bird species at this small but rich country park. So there are some excuses for celebrating the New Year with my first journal entry.
The female White-tailed Robin was so tame as to look like an escaped cage bird, but it turned out to have been fed by some of the photographers surrounding it. Interestingly, it is already described as a 'confiding' bird -- like the European Robin, but unlike the skulking Rufous-tailed Robin. The HKBWS guide notes that there are a few records from HK every winter in suitable habitat. According to Craig Robson in 'Birds of Southeast Asia', White-tailed Robins make local movements, presumably moving downhill and/or southwards from their breeding grounds in winter. Towards the eastern end of their breeding range, there are some populations in northern Guangdong province which could be the source of our winter visitors. So this individual may well have been a wild bird -- at least until tamed by feeding. My main concern with such baiting is that a small bird which is a sitting duck for photographers is also a sitting duck for the ubiquitous feral cats, as well as natural predators such as the resident Crested Goshawks. It was sad to see the habituated robin waiting still for its mealworms long after the photographers had moved on.
Also at the end of 2018 it was good to see Red-flanked Bluetails back in residence at Lung Fu Shan after a couple of mild winters in which they were scarce. Chestnut Bulbuls have also been more abundant than usual, reflecting an influx of winter visitors on top of the resident population in the New Territories.

Julkaistu tammikuu 1, 2019 02:50 AP. käyttäjältä