Aquila sp. on Red River 20 km north of Hanoi

At 16h27 on Sunday 22 January 2012 I flushed an Aquila sp. from a sand bar on the Red River, c.20 km north of Hanoi. On the ground I provisionally identified it as A. clanga but once airborne it showed a longish tail, not typical of this species. It was very windy that afternoon and the bird struggled against the head-wind. This made photography very difficult as I chased it on my motorbike across the island, snapping shots whenever I could. Could it be Aquila heliaca?

Scaly Thrush, owls - Tam Dao

Hi all,

I can only agree with what Sebastien has sad earlier - thrushes seem to stay away from traditional sites this winter. There's very little activity regarding them here in Tam Dao.

One unlucky bird however flew into a fence nearby, a beautiful Scaly Thrush - poor bird.

Owl activity on the other side has increased again with Asian Barred Owlet and Brown Hawk Owl being very active around the Bear center.

Cheers,
Falk

Pictures taken by Nguyen Tam Thanh

Vulture found in Son La

According to news on local online newspaper, a "strange bird" was found the 20th January in Lọng Đán village (along Đà river reservoir) Chiềng Bằng commune, Quỳnh Nhai district, Sơn La province. Mr. Trai of Birdlife said this could be a White-rumped Vulture (juvenile) - currently classified as Critically Endangered.

It is said that the bird was found famished, but is now being fed with meat and vegetable, and villagers enjoy watching it.

Ha Hoang

BirdLife Vietnam

Hanoi Botanical Gardens - 02/02/2012

A short noon stroll at the Botanical Gardens produced two interesting birds, and both turned out to be patch ticks. The first one was a raptor, an accipiter-type, that sat in a tree for 5 minutes allowing me to get some pictures, good enough I think to clinch the ID. It was indifferent to the humans around, so I presume it was in the park for quite a while. A newly arrival bird should have been much more skittish.
I think it is a female Besra; but not sure at all :(
Any comments on those pictures gratefully received !

Its throat showed a mesial stripe.

The sparrowhawk was observing attentively the ground and didn't pay much attention to the flocks of Red-wiskered Bulbuls hanging around. I had confirmation of its culinary preferences 15 minutes later. I sat in a coffee shop, 50 meters from the tree, and started talking with the owner who is interesting by birds and know me. He had noticed the raptor (he called it "chim cat" = falcon) for a week already, and just the day before, he saw it catching a rat right in front of him !

The second tick was a Flowerpecker. I heard a sharp tsik...tsik and thought it was a Scarlet-backed, a species I encounter from time to time in the park. But I was surprised to spot through the bins a male Fire-breasted, a bird I didn't expect to see here !

Sebastien

PS : This winter, in this park, I haven't seen a single Thrush yet ! Last year, I remember, we had here some crazy days with 4-5 species at the same time. That's quite strange isn't it ?

Agricultural fields - Hanoi

Noon photo stroll at the Red River Island - I focused on the cultivation - produced some interesting birds, the "highlights" being :

- 1 flock of 15-20 Grey-capped Greenfinches
- 1 Siberian Rubythroat male
- 1 Bluethroat male
- 1 Pied Harrier male
- 1 Wryneck
- 1 flock of 3-4 Little Buntings in a dry corn field - almost at the same place we saw some individuals in March 2011
Those pics of Bluethroat could have been good... Unfortunately, in the morning, I tested the highest ISO settings of my camera (which is a "bridge", not a DSLR) and I forgot... to change them before going in the field. Those 2 photos suffering a common malady, called "High ISO noise".
Big deception because this guy was not skittish at all, and allowed me to approach less than 10 meters.
With its solid blue/black/red throat/brest, this male is still in breeding plumage. It's quite strange, we are in January !

Grey-capped Greenfinch - In flock, easily identifiable by their twittering call

A Plain Prinia... yeahh

A stunning butterfly flying in the cold air of the terrible Hanoi's winter

A tiny orchid found at the edge of the woodland. Is there a botanist among us ?

Sebastien

Hanoi Botanical Gardens

I quick walk around this morning with the little guy with only the usual sparrows, magpie-robins, ground pipits, fantails and tailor-birds. I saw the guys in the images below, as I was walking out, which saved my morning.

The blurry images of the first bird showed purple on the side neck (which I did not notice in the field (no bins), so a female Fujian Niltava. I did not make out any neck colouring at all on the bird in the second image. It took me about 8 more hours to realize that it is (I think) the same species - I think we may have two female Fujian Niltava in the HBG.

Wayne