Lenin Park - Hanoi

Hi all,

Recent sightings of migrants in the park (near the northern gate) :

- 1 Orange-headed Thrush
- 1 Seicercus sp
- 1 Verditer Flycatcher
- 2-3 Hill/Chinese Blue Flycatchers
- 1 male Mugimaki Flycatcher
- 1 male Hainan Blue Flycatcher
- 1 Manchurian Bush-warbler (heard)
- 2 Black-naped Monarchs
- some Grey-capped Greenfinches
- 1 Spot-necked Babbler (not a migrant of course!)

Spotted this nice male Mugimaki Flycatcher last Sunday with John Parr and his family. Probably a one day bird, no recent sighting.

Noisy and nervous Spot-necked Babbler seen this morning (29th March). Obviously "escapee" is everyone's first thought. But I think it's too easy to put every "incongruous sighting" in the category "escaped" (or "released", but it is much harder to imagine, here !) . In any case a great looking bird !

How many captive Black-throated Laughingthrushes at Hanoi ? Hundreds, more probably thousands ? But how many sightings of this species in the 2 main Hanoian's parks ? For me it is very simple : not a single one. I could say the same thing about other common "cage birds" : Mynas, White-crested Laughingthrush, Hwamei (only 2 sightings in two years)... Have you ever seen a single Spot-necked Babbler in a cage here ?... Just to say there is higher probability that it is a genuine vagrant, even if it is hard to believe. Just my opinion!

Male Black-naped Monarch

Verditer Flycatcher

Sebastien

Cuu Thac - Tu Son / 17-12-2011

Scarlet Minivet male

A solo motorbike trip to Cuu Thac - Tu Son. I found again the elusive "Indiana Jones trail". According to local people, it leads to a pass which marks the entrance of Thuong Tiên Natural Reserve (4 hours walk from the car park - we can add one hour for us). The trail is great. It follows the river and offers unobstructed views of the forest which, you can imagine, get better and better as we climb. I didn't found any kind of forest which we could call "relatively untouched" ; I just saw secondary-growth, but with more and more massive trees. Very promising !
Birds I saw :

-Golden, Grey-throated, Buff-breasted, Spot-necked Babblers
-a lone Coral-billed Scimitar Babbler exploring the trunk folds of a banana tree
- a Green Magpie heard and seen (just a glimpse as usual) around the... VIP restaurant. My 3rd observation of this bird, but each time I cannot clinch the ID between Indochinese/Common. Very frustrating. They can share the same habitat, can't they ?
-Many Silver-eared Mesias often in mixed-species foraging flocks with Golden/Grey-throated Babblers, White-bellied Yuhinas
-2 males Fujian Niltava
-1 Blue-winged Minla
-1 male Black-throated Sunbird, spotted at 1m50 (!), attracted by pishing (an another bird easily attracted is the Buff-breasted Babbler, a good candidate for the price of "the most curious guy of the forest" !)
- 2 Seicercus Warblers, many Yellow-browed Warblers, Puff-throated Bulbuls, some Slaty-backed Forktails, 1 White-capped Water Redstart, a flock of Japanese Thrushes, Grey-headed Canary Flycatchers, mouhoti Ashy Drongos, Scarlet Minivets...

Sebastien

Scarlet Minivet female

Tam Dao Bear Center, Raptor migration, babblers, 22/03/11

Hi all,

An exciting morning produced 2 big flocks of raptors (approx. 300 individuals totally) and needletails and hirundines.
- Oriental Honey Buzzard
- Black Baza
- Sparrowhawk sp. (too high)
- possible Grey-faced Buzzards
- 1 Hawk-eagle sp.
- lots of Silver-backed Needletails and Asian House Martins (possibly Nepal as well?)

Also around the center were,
- 4 Buff-breasted Babblers
- 2 Spot-necked Babblers
- 2 Puff-throated Babblers
- 1 Manchurian Bush Warbler

Cheers,
Falk

Tam Dao Bear Center, 21/03/2011

Hi all,

Spring - is all I can say! Here some of the more noteworthy birds:

- 2 Spot-necked Babbler
- 1 Puff-throated Babbler
- 1 Harrier sp.
- 5 Japanese Sparrowhawks
- 2 Crested Serpent Eagles

Very promising...

Cheers,
Falk