Below some shots of 3 fine skulkers taken Saturday, March 28, in good ol' Hanoi.
Pale-footed Bush Warbler, a shy and rarely seen inhabitant of thickest scrub
I finally managed to get some (poor quality...) shots of one individual attracted by playback (with songs recently recorded in the same area), which unfortunately remained in thick cover. A master skulker!
As I wrote in my last post, I found 1,5 week ago several songsters along the Red River, in dense scrubs and tall rank grasslands with scattered scrub in clearings and edges of a small wooded patch.
Today, a "tape-and-wait" session led to the discovery of 4-5 individuals along a 200m section. As I never recorded the Pale-footed Bush Warbler in Hanoi in winter, it would be reasonable to consider them as passage migrants. But I strongly believe that this species is also present in winter. Skulking and silent birds are elusive and easily overlooked. Only singing males reveal their presence.
Today, a "tape-and-wait" session led to the discovery of 4-5 individuals along a 200m section. As I never recorded the Pale-footed Bush Warbler in Hanoi in winter, it would be reasonable to consider them as passage migrants. But I strongly believe that this species is also present in winter. Skulking and silent birds are elusive and easily overlooked. Only singing males reveal their presence.
Asian Stubtail
Striking supercilium with dark eye-stripe as Pale-footed Bush Warbler, but obvious structural differences
Siberian Blue Robin (m)
Not a cryptically colored bird, but secretive and quite difficult to see well
Nice photos Sebastien, especially the Siberian Blue Robin, I had sometimes see it before but can not take a clear shot. Besides, the Asian Stubtail seems to be a very hard target too...
ReplyDeleteThanks Hoang
ReplyDeleteAsian Stubtail hops on the ground, inconspicuous in colors and habit but once you spot it not really hard to photograph (quite tame). The photographer nightmares are definitely Bush Warblers, thickest scrubs-lovers !
Sebastien