More pix of migrants (+some residents) - Hanoi

No busy migration any more, things have slowed down. Nevertheless, I hope to pick up some interesting migrants before the summer break.

Just can’t finish with the migration images, there’s so much left to edit… No time to write too much about it, unfortunately. Just enjoy! The following were taken in April and the 1st week of May, mostly in 2 patches along the Red River.

Watch this space for new stuff in the next days and maybe weeks.

                                                             full adult males Yellow-rumped Flycatcher

 second calendar-year male Yellow-rumped Flycatcher showing an interesting transitional plumage.

The flight feathers appear brown, worn and contrasting with the glossy black wing coverts and the upperparts. Some grey-brown patches are still visible on the nape and the mantle. Moreover the throat is less vividly orange than in breeding-plumaged adults.

                                      Another second calendar-year male Yellow-rumped Flycatcher

note the "bristling appearance" of the nape

full adult male Mugimaki Flycatcher

second calendar-year male Mugimaki Flycatcher, transitioning into full adult plumage

a fine male Taiga Flycatcher - Botanical Gardens

male Hill Blue Flycatcher

male Hainan Blue Flycatcher 

Pale-legged/Sakhalin Leaf Warbler

Eastern Crowned Warbler

Yellow-browed Warbler
During one session at the Botanical Gardens, songsters were literally everywhere.

Below a songster recorded the 4th April 2015 (lots of  Y-BW calls on xeno-canto but very few songs, quite surprising... This one is the southern one of the database !) :

a gorgeous male Siberian Rubythroat, which stopped singing as I approached it
The last few weeks I heard and spotted many singing males

A male singing in the open. Maybe to give itself courage to continue its long journey to Siberia.
How many kilometers this tiny creature will have to fly over the next few weeks ? Five, six, seven thousands kilometers? Just amazing...

Rufous-tailed Robin - unobtrusive, keeps to floor or low vegetation in dense shady patches of forest, Shivers tail energetically, which helps to spot it!

a fine male Citrine Wagtail, a fairly common passage migrant at Hanoi
Photographed at a terribly polluted channel along the Red River, but my best spot for this species so far!

Forest Wagtail

Eurasian Wryneck - regular passage migrant but in small numbers

A poor shoot of an Accipiter sp., but enough details to ID confidently an adult male Chinese Sparrowhawk : dark eyes, pink wash on breast and, especially, orange-yellow cere (lemon-yellow in male Japanese S.).
This species in known to migrate in flocks, but this male was apparently alone.

Dollardbird - scarce passage migrant but 3 (together) this spring

a smart male Asian Paradise Flycatcher

another one, of the migratory race incei (grey breast and belly), from China

female Siberian Blue Robin

Mr & Mrs White-throated Rock Thrush
At Hanoi, a classic passage migrant in late April/early May ; it is obviously peak time for them to be passing through this part of Vietnam.

a lovely male adult Tiger Shrike
 This species is a skulker, typically perches inconspicuously in trees/bushes.

 female Blue-and-White Flycatcher

with a huge breakfast...
My patches are good refueling stops, the best restaurants in the city!

Cinereous Tit Parus cinereous collecting nesting material

A common resident bird in open woodlands, parks and gardens, one of the 3 splits of  Great Tit Parus major s.l. (with Great Tit Parus major s.s. and Japanese Tit P. minor)

The usual race present in northern Vietnam and SE China is commixtus, and has a plain grey back without any green tones. This is currently treated as Cinereous Tit. But some authorities treat commixtus as a subspecies of Japanese Tit. It seems that the true taxonomic position of this taxon is not fully resolved.

Asian Barred Owlet visits Botanical Gardens (4th May 2015) - patch tick, #145
Amazing to spot this species right in the heart of the city!