Some other winterers in the capital

HANOI (10th -> 17th December) - Last week, I bumped into a small flock of migrant Red-rumped Swallows hawking insects over the channel of the Red River. They were flying low and straightish over the water. I snapped more than one hundred of shots but got only... 1 decent one!

Striated Swallows are very similar to Red-rumped, and differ from them in having heavier streaks on the underparts and rump, less red on the ear coverts and a dark rather than rufous nape.

In this flock I photographed individuals with almost complete nuchal collar but also some with solid dark nape (shot above). The amount of fine streaking was also variable. But I assume they were all Red-rumped.

According to David Bakewell, an experienced birder based in Malaysia (http://digdeep1962.wordpress.com), "in any case, the nape colour is not an altogether reliable indicator. Many migratory Red-rumped in Malaysia show a dark nape and no paler nuchal collar (such as this bird, initially identifed by me as Striated) seen in northern Peninsular Malaysia in March".

Last Saturday's better weather inspired me to try to "improve" on the Swallow shots I'd taken a few days earlier. No Swallows any more but some Swiflets were zipping around, which posed me some identification problems. Germain's and Himalayan look very alike and are not easy to tell apart in the field - for me at least.

According to Robson (2005), Himalayan has darker underparts, deeper notched tail and browner rump than Germain's. But I'd be a bit careful about trying to clinch any ID on my pictures (the colouration of a photo is not always the exact colour of the actual bird).

Upon searching on the net, I discovered that 1/ the depth of the tail notch is not a reliable feature - Germain's tail can also appear very forked ; 2/ Himalayan can show light underneath on throat and belly.
So this has given me more doubt. I could only state that based on the images captured (in particular the pale rump), these Swiftlets displayed pro-Germain's characteristics. Any help of experienced birders would be much appreciated!

A very worn individual

Spotted also 3 Riparia which turned out to be Grey-throated Martins (R. chinensis) : no breast-band, throated and breast greyish.

A smart Citrine Wagtail was also hanging around and I could not resist to snap it...

 picking something at the water surface...

1st winter Eastern Marsh Harrier

female Daurian Redstart - already a handful of sightings this season at Hanoi (this is not so bad). Found in open or bushy wooded areas or along the margins of agricultural fields.

Quite a few activity in the city parks last week, best stuff was :

Crested Goshawk

male Eyebrowed Thrush - my 8th species of turdid in the city this season (after Scaly, Japanese, Grey-backed, Orange-headed Thrushes, Chinese Blackbird, Blue Whistling Thrush, White-throated Rock Thrush). I am now waiting for some "VIP guests" (Black-breasted T. would be the icing on the cake!).

Chinese Blackbird

This species is significantly larger-looking and powerful than the European Blackbird. It shows also a light patch behind the eye, the tail appears longer. The calls are also very different from those of Turdus merula.

This obliging female Fujian Niltava seems to have taken up winter residence at the Botanical Gardens. She likes particularly to perch on the statues. Week after week I see her becoming more and more confident. Flush distance actually : 5 meters. Will she perch on my shoulder in March ?

a female type Red-flanked (or Hymalayan?) Bluetail.

Is it possible to tell the females Red-flanked and Hymalayan apart ? 

female type Mugimaki Flycatcher - a late migrant

catching a caterpillar on the ground

A ghastly shot but an interesting bird (for the city) : male Fire-breasted Flowerpecker.

This species is assumed to be a sub-montane and montane forest resident, although there is evidence that some short-distance movements take place in some areas (in the north of its range only?) during the non-breeding season. This is not the first time I have seen this little fellow in winter at the Botanical Gardens. Frequent the tops of trees, not easy to photograph - its tiny size does not help. Fortunately it's very vocal so easily detected.

At the Botanical Gardens, the Large-billed Crow appeared one month ago is still hanging around, high in the canopy. It has become the Public Enemy Number 1 for the park staff after it added to its menu some young unfledged domestic pigeons - captured directly in the nest box! For the moment, all attempts to eliminate it have failed.

Pallas's Squirrel (Callosciurus erythraeus), also known as the Red-bellied Tree Squirrel, is the other species highly protected by the park staff. All the other creatures can be captured or killed without encountering opposition from anyone!.. except from me sometimes, but soft opposition - my self-defense skills are very limited ;)

Hanoi : spring passage still in progress

Hi all,

Below a list of some migrants seen last week (23th -> 28th April) during morning or noon strolls, at my 2 favorite patches: Lenin Park - LP and the Red River Island - RRI (not in the main wooded area but in a  ½ ha garden near farms - surprisingly very birdy).
Still a good spring passage. Much less flycatchers than 3-4 weeks ago but still good stuff. And new guests...

- Taiga Flycatcher (1 in RRI)
- Asian Brown Fly (2-3 RRI + 1 LP)
- Asian Paradise Fly (1 RRI + 1 LP)
- Dark-sided Fly (1 LP)
- Yellow-rumped Fly (2-3 LP + 1 RRI)
- Olive-backed Pipit (1 RRI, late migrant)
- Forest Wagtail (2 RRI)
- Oriental Reed Warbler (1 LP - Patch tick !)
- Spangled Drongo (1 LP + 2 RRI)
- Ashy Drongo (2-3 LP + 2 RRI)
- Siberian Blue Robin (LP + RRI, at least 1 each)
- Chestnut Bunting (1 RRI)
- Black-naped Oriole (1 RRI)
- Brown Shrike (4-5+ LP)
- Burmese Shrike (5+ LP)
- White-throated Rock Thrush (1 LP + 1 RRI, females).
- Eyebrowed Thrush (1 LP)
- Arctic Warbler (many : LP + RRI, including a number of singing males)
- Radde’s Warbler (2-3 LP)

But the show will be over soon ( 2 weeks more?). Let's enjoy it before the long birdless days :( of the summer! 

Sebastien

Asian Brown Flycatcher

Asian Paradise Flycatcher female

Forest Wagtail in a banana tree plantation - RRI

Brown Shrike

All the Brown S. I spotted recently belong to this ssp. (superciliosus ?)

Ashy Drongo ssp. leucogenis

White-vented Myna (LP, patch tick but probably escapee)

Eyebrowed Thrush female

Yellow-rumped Fly male

Yellow-rumped Fly female

Oriental Reed Warbler, a rather unexpected bird for the Lenin Park list!

This guy was singing in dense scrub

White-throated Rock Thrush female (28th April - LP)

Previous sightings :  2010 : 21th April LP, 22th April BG, 6th May RRI 

2011 : 24th + 28th April RRI

Dark-sided Flycatcher

 Arctic Warbler singing

Radde's Warbler

Lenin Park - 19/04/12

Did the patch this morning with David Walsh, a visiting birder from UK.
Things began not too bad with 1 Spangled Drongo, 3 Ashy Drongos, 1 Pale-legged Leaf Warbler, 1 Taiga Fly, 3 Thrushes together (1 male Eyebrowed IDed), some Dusky Warblers and, more interesting, 1 Boobook (pach tick).
At 09h00, I had to go to work, and David added to the list Burmese and Brown Shrikes, Black-capped Kingfisher, Blue Whistling Thrush, female Yellow-rumped Fly, Lesser Coucal (patch tick), 2 Siberian Blue Robins, 1 Seicercus Warbler.

At noon, I went back and played hide and seek one hour with the Boobook. Finally, I managed to get some decent shots.

On the way back, I remembered a blog post of David Gandy, a birder based in Bangkok (Bangkokcitybirding.blogspot.com, September 2011). He wrote : "According to Philip Round, it seems that Brown Boobook (the common resident species in Thailand/Vietnam also) can be separated from Northern Boobook in the field - it was previously though to be separable only on biometrics (most notably, wing length) and call. The key in-the-field feature is the shape of the markings on the bird's lower breast and belly: Brown Boobook shows obvious heart-shaped spots whilst Northern shows tear-drop shaped spots".
Read also an article of P. Round in The Babbler number 40/February 2012, pp14-15.

This bird show drop-shaped spots, longer than broad, on the underparts and so I think it is a Northern Boobook, a species which breeds in eastern Russia, Korea, Japan and China, and winters in the Philippines and Indonesia. Note also that this guy has been spotted in a big city park, so it is more likely to be the passage migrant than the resident Boobook - nearest population is at least 40-50 km from here. Thoughts/suggestions/confirmation welcome !

Sebastien Delonglee

Lenin Park. April 9th

A lovely morning at Lenin Park. After meeting Sebastian for the first time, I spent about two hours around the toilets, as I really wanted to see the Orange-headed Thrush. No joy, but I saw all the other birds he did, as well as an unidentified flycatcher that may well be a female Narcissus flycatcher, although I really am not sure (see bottom two images).

Wayne

Grey-backed Thrush in the botanical gardens

A good morning in the botanical gardens today with:
Grey-backed Thrush (female)
Japanese Thrush (male and female)
Eye-browed Thrush (male)
Chinese Blackbird (four)
Ashy Drongo (one)

Simon

More thrushes

Morning visit to the botanical gardens:

Japanese Thrush 10 + (1st winter m and f, adult f)
Grey-backed Thrush 2 (?) 1st winter f
Eyebrowed Thrush 1 f
Siberian Thrush 1 f
Scaly Trush 1

Simon and Florian

Some great thrushes in the botanical gardens

This morning there were at least 20 thrushes in the botanical gardens. Since I was in a rush I concentrated on identifying the easy ones:
Japanese Thrush adult male 3
Japanese Thrush adult female 2
Japanese Thrush 1st winter male 4
Black-breasted Thrush adult female 1
Chinese Blackbird 2 (male and female)

I left all the 1st winter females....

Florian then visited shortly afterwards and found an adult male Black-breasted Thrush!

Simon

• At noon there, I saw also :

Grey-backed Thrush female adult 1
Grey-backed Thrush 1st winter 1-2
Eyebrowed Thrush male adult 1
Siberian Thrush 1 (without tail !)
Orange-headed Thrush 1
Rufous-tailed Robin 1

Videos will follow !

Sebastien

Eyebrowed Thrush male (the shiest of all the Thrushes there)

Siberian Thrush... with a little problem

Grey-backed Thrush female. Compared to the Black-breasted female : brownish bill, slightly marked on breast, paler brown-olive tinged upperparts (Robson).

Grey-backed Thrush female (in the background/no spots on the rufous flanks, slight streeks on breast) and - I suppose - a Grey-backed Thrush 1st winter

This supposed Grey-backed Thrush 1st winter : flanks largely orange with spots, heavily marked on breast than adult female.

Black-breasted Thrush male adult