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Bird news from Vietnam, from Vietnam's resident and visiting birders.

5 April 2012

Lenin Park-Hanoi : migration in full swing!

New sightings of migrants at Lenin Park during 3 visits : last Monday with John Parr & Family and Falk Wicker + 2 solo noon strolls on Tuesday/Wednesday. Most of the birds have been spotted in the area near the northern gate - a part, the best one, is outside the park (i.e. on the other side of the barrier) and accessible by Le Duân Street. In total, not more than 2 ha of birding playground mostly occupied by small trees, scrub and bushes.

- 1 White-shouldered Starling *
- 1 Spangled Drongo
- 1 Ashy Drongo (ssp mouhoti)
- 1 Wryneck
- 2 Siberian Stonechats
- 2 males Hainan Blue Flycatchers
- 1 Taiga Flycatcher
- 1 male Yellow-rumped Flycatcher
- 1 female Blue-and-White Flycatcher
- 1 Chinese/Hill Blue Flycatcher
- 1 Grey-headed Canary Flycatcher
- 2 Siberian Rubythroats
- 1 Manchurian Bush-warbler
- 1 Dusky Warbler
- 1 Seicercus Warbler
- 1 Blue Whistling Thrush
- 1 Chestnut Bunting
- 1 imm Pied Harrier headed north *
- 15 Black-crowned Night Herons *
- 1 Chestnut-winged Cuckoo *

* Patch tick (now ca 110 species spotted in the 2 main Hanoi’s parks)

John, Falk, did I forget anything ?

This stunning male Chestnut Bunting, not yet in breeding plumage, was foraging in low scrub


Manchurian Bush-warbler. Piles of dead branches are an excellent playground for this skulker. And the game it like best is hide-and-seek!

Male Hainan Blue Flycatcher with a strange throat/upper breast pattern (normaly, it is dark blue)

Taiga Flycatcher enjoying luxury perches

Wryneck

Siberian Rubythroat

Female Chinese/Hill Blue Flycatcher

Spangled Drongo

Blue Whistling Thrush of the black-billed migratory race caeruleus (a possible future split)

Chestnut-winged Cuckoo moving slowly from branch to branch high up in the tree canopy. A rare passage migrant in the Hanoi area - another sighting the 16-04-11 by Falk & Simon (Red river Island)


Black-crowned Night Herons (5 individuals on Monday, 15 on Tuesday) flying around Bẩy Mẫu Lake

Sébastien

Three more pics from me (Falk)

A well-camouflaged Scaly-breasted Munia,

A very showy Plaintive Cuckoo,

And one of those Flys - Chinese or Hill Blue?

4 comments:

  1. I miss this stuff! Great photos. Do you have any more pics of the odd Hainan Blue - an interesting bird.

    Simon

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi Simon, I have only this pic. I realised that this guy was `special` once back home. It show a clear demarcation between blue and white, and a sort of `V` white patch on the throat. Strange...

    Sebastien

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hi all,

    I think the 'Hainan Blue' is a Blue-throated Fly of some ssp. There is a shiny-blue shoulder patch visible which I would not expect that clear in a Hainan Blue.

    What do you think?

    Falk

    ReplyDelete
  4. The cyornis is a klossi Blue-throated to my eyes, they often look like this, big too...

    James

    ReplyDelete