Some recent pix - Botanical Gardens/Hanoi

Migration in full swing. This week, birding in the city (mostly at Botanical Gardens) was enjoyable but unspectacular, the best being Ashy Minivet, Asian Brown, Dark-sided, Taiga, Yellow-rumped, Verditer, Blue-and-White and Hainan Blue Flycatchers, some female Cyornis unidentified (banyumas or glaucicomans), some leucogenis Ashy and Spangled Drongos, Yellow-browed, Eastern Crowned, “Blyth’s”, “Arctic”, Sakhalin/Pale-legged, Sulphur-breasted Warblers, 3-4 Asian Paradise Flycatchers (of the migratory race incei, with blackish throat contrasting with the grey breast and belly), Burmese Shrikes, 1 Thick-billed Warbler, small flocks of Black-naped Orioles, 2 Black-naped Monarchs, some Seicercus Warblers sp (cf Bianchi’s), 1 Forest Wagtail, 1 Sparrowhawk unidentified.

Hope to find soon something a little more unusual than all this stuff - which is not so bad after all!

Botanical Gardens (Hanoi) : Flycatcher number 18

This week, morning watches of the 3 or 4 city patches has been revealing large numbers of  Phylloscs - among them my first Dusky, Radde's and Sulphur-breasted of the season.

But the best bird of the week was a female Ficedula spotted at the Botanical Gardens, showing a rufescent tail, drooping wings and the peculiar habit of flicking tail constantly.

Other features: rufous-brown wings, mantle and below brownish-buff, paler throat, buffish eye-ring.

The darker pics (when the bird is in shadow) 

show the actual colour more accurately than the bright ones.

After a search on the OBCs image database, I confidently identified it as a female Slaty-blue Flycatcher, a lifer, a patch tick and the 18^th  species* of ‘flycatcher’ (of the genera Rhinomyias, Muscicapa, Ficedula, Cyornis,  Cyanoptila, Eumyias and Culicicapa) being observed in the Botanical Gardens.

These bring the list of species (that I am aware of) being recorded in the 2 biggest downtown parks of Hanoi (Botanical Gardens + Lenin Park) to 115. Another recent patch tick was Common Hoopoe, spotted at Lenin Park by Tom Kompier, a Hanoi-based dragonfly/bird watcher who, hopefully, will post soon his sightings here ;)

The parks in Hanoi can turn up some real surprises in spring and autumn.  It’s not that these places are particularly maintained in any way to attract birds – with all the ‘grooming’, it’s the opposite – but a reflection of the fact that there are so few wooded area in/around the city (and so many birds migrating above it) that these places act as a real magnet for migrants.

* the 17 others are : Brown-chested Jungle Fly, Grey-headed Canary Fly, Dark-sided, Asian Brown, Brown-breasted, Ferruginous, Verditer, Yellow-rumped, Green-backed, Mugimaki, Taiga, Snowy-browed, Slaty-backed, Rufous-gorgeted, Blue-and-White sensu lato, Hainan Blue,  Chinese/Hill Blue (excluded : Fujian Niltava, Asian Paradise Fly, Black-caped Monarch).

The other surprise bird of the week was this Chestnut-crowned Warbler seen in an orchard at Hanoi, the first time I have seen this species so low down and presumably a migrant (altitudinal migrant I think - originating from as close as the mountains of northern Vietnam). A great bird for the city!

Botanical Gardens - Hanoi

Some lunchtime visits at the Botanical Gardens this week ( 19th -> 24th Nov.), my first ones of the autumn’s, produced a nice selection of migrants/winter visitors – maybe I should go there more regularly!

The highlights were 4 Fujian Niltavas (2 females, 2 males), 3 White-tailed Robins (2 males, 1 female), 1 Rufous-tailed Robin, 1 male Himalayan Bluetail, 1 Blue Whistling Thrush, 10+ Japanese Thrushes (some of them very tame, certainly not arrived one day before...), 2 skittish Chinese Blackbirds, 1 Large-billed Crow high in the canopy (patch tick # 111 / this number = Lenin Park + Bot. Garden – List here – If I forgot something, please tell me!).

Other notables included some Grey-headed Canary Flycatchers (the only species of Flys), a flock of 5-6 Silver-eared Mesias, Scarlet-backed Flowerpeckers (probably resident, seen or heard all the year), my first Olive-backed Pipits of the autumn, 1 Grey Wagtail, Seicercus Warblers sp., Yellow-browed Warblers…

Many of these guys were spotted around the toilets, which remains one of the best birding spot of the city centre!

I was very happy to see again many Thrushes in the park. It reminds me this fantastic winter 2010/2011 with sometimes 6-7 species of Thrushes the same day! The winter 2011-2012 was completely disappointed with very few Thrushes seen. I hope this one will be better.

For some of the images below, suggestions/remarks of the Thrushes's experts would be very welcome!

 Female Fujian Niltava

Male Fujian Niltava

It uses the “sit and wait” tactic, dropping down onto preys on the ground from its perch.

Fujian Niltava is a regular sight at Hanoi in winter, but 4 individuals in the same place at the same time it is pretty amazing!

Rufous-tailed Robin.

An inconspiscuous species with few records in the Hanoi area (mostly in November), but likely to be under-recorded.

Male White-tailed Robin.

This species is assumed to be a montane resident, although there is evidence of some movements (not only altitudinal ones) during the non-breeding season.

Female White-tailed Robin

She appeared few seconds in a bushy corner as I was waiting for Thrushes. Shutter speed 1/10s. Even with the help of a tripod, no miracle...

Male Himalayan Bluetail 

Large-billed Crow.
It shows a perfect plumage - especially no wear on the tip of the tail - so I assume it is a genuine bird and not an escapee or released individual.

2 males Japanese Thrush : one with a strong contrast between head and mantle/wings ; the other one (below) with almost no contrast. Why such a difference between 2 full adults individuals ? Different morphs/subspecies ?

"Hmm... let's see if there is not one or two plump worms here"

 I think it is a 1st winter Japanese Thrush

Blue Whistling Thrush of the black-billed migratory race caeruleus (a possible future split). A rather common passage migrant in the Hanoi area.

A bit of video around the toilets (Flycatcher + BIG flies) :

Sébastien Delonglée

Botanical Garden

I met with Wayne this morning to sort out our Fanispan trip this weekend (anyone want to join?) and look at some birds.
Lots of Phyllos around, I was never good with these, and addtionally a bit out of practice, but these ones I thought to have IDed:
Yellow-browed Warbler
Pale-legged W.
Eastern-crowned W.
Two-barred W.

A glimpse of a Taiga Fly and a female flycatcher with plain back and orange breast near the toilets, which I think was a f. Hill Blue, but Wayne may paste photos later and you can look yourself.

Also a Burmese Shrike.

Florian

EDIT: Here are some images from this morning. Firstly the female flycatcher (Hill Blue???). Would love a confirmation. Wayne

And is this a Pale legged leaf warbler???

Botanical Gardens - Hanoi

A walk around the Botanical Gardens yesterday produced some migrants/winter visitors : a single Asian Brown Flycatcher, some Grey-Headed Canary Flycatchers, 1 noisy and very showy male Chinese Blackbird and the usual Yellow-browed Warblers and Olive-backed Pipits. Two Fire-breasted Flowerpeckers also.
It is still poor, but better than few weeks ago !

The Crested Goshawk has gone (confirmation by a coffee shop owner who has followed its "exploits"; particularly, he saw it catching a rat), and the female Fujian Niltava also.

This male Chinese Blackbird is significantly larger-looking and more powerful than our Common Blackbird of Europe. I also read somewhere that this species shows typically yellow "knees" and a bare yellow patch in front of and also behind the eyes. And look at its bill, clearly broader than the one of Merula.

In good light, this bird shows obvious bluish sheen on the coverts. In fact, only the flanks, belly and breast are really black.

In mid-winter/spring, when the plumage is worn, Yellow-browed Warblers lose some of their brightness and become greyer. The grey head contrasts with the green-olive coverts/wings as shown in the photo below.


Olive-backed Pipit. Individuals I encounter in this park are much tamer than elsewhere.

Sebastien

Hanoi Botanical Gardens - 09/02/2012

Hm...hm I think that my Besra was in fact a Crested Goshawk immature. Look at this slight crest. I am a bit surprised, I didn't found this guy particularly large.
Not easy at all those Accipiters...

The raptor attacking sparrows on the ground

Sebastien