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-Hanoi : migration in full swing!

New sightings of migrants at Lenin Park during 3 visits : last Monday with John Parr & Family and Falk Wicker + 2 solo noon strolls on Tuesday/Wednesday. Most of the birds have been spotted in the area near the northern gate - a part, the best one, is outside the park (i.e. on the other side of the barrier) and accessible by Le Duân Street. In total, not more than 2 ha of birding playground mostly occupied by small trees, scrub and bushes.

- 1 White-shouldered Starling *
- 1 Spangled Drongo
- 1 Ashy Drongo (ssp mouhoti)
- 1 Wryneck
- 2 Siberian Stonechats
- 2 males Hainan Blue Flycatchers
- 1 Taiga Flycatcher
- 1 male Yellow-rumped Flycatcher
- 1 female Blue-and-White Flycatcher
- 1 Chinese/Hill Blue Flycatcher
- 1 Grey-headed Canary Flycatcher
- 2 Siberian Rubythroats
- 1 Manchurian Bush-warbler
- 1 Dusky Warbler
- 1 Seicercus Warbler
- 1 Blue Whistling Thrush
- 1 Chestnut Bunting
- 1 imm Pied Harrier headed north *
- 15 Black-crowned Night Herons *
- 1 Chestnut-winged Cuckoo *

* Patch tick (now ca 110 species spotted in the 2 main Hanoi’s parks)

John, Falk, did I forget anything ?

This stunning male Chestnut Bunting, not yet in breeding plumage, was foraging in low scrub


Manchurian Bush-warbler. Piles of dead branches are an excellent playground for this skulker. And the game it like best is hide-and-seek!

Male Hainan Blue Flycatcher with a strange throat/upper breast pattern (normaly, it is dark blue)

Taiga Flycatcher enjoying luxury perches

Wryneck

Siberian Rubythroat

Female Chinese/Hill Blue Flycatcher

Spangled Drongo

Blue Whistling Thrush of the black-billed migratory race caeruleus (a possible future split)

Chestnut-winged Cuckoo moving slowly from branch to branch high up in the tree canopy. A rare passage migrant in the Hanoi area - another sighting the 16-04-11 by Falk & Simon (Red river Island)


Black-crowned Night Herons (5 individuals on Monday, 15 on Tuesday) flying around Bẩy Mẫu Lake

Sébastien

Three more pics from me (Falk)

A well-camouflaged Scaly-breasted Munia,

A very showy Plaintive Cuckoo,

And one of those Flys - Chinese or Hill Blue?

Chestnut Bunting Botanical Garden 25/4

Some good birds during a short lunch time stroll:

Between the lake and the street in the east of the garden:

- Chestnut Bunting (male, not yet breeding plumage)
- Eyebrowed Thrush

Toilet corner:

- White-throated Rock-thrush
- Burmese Shrike

Cheers,

Stephan

Red River Island - 24th April

Hi all,

Photo stroll at the woodland of the Red River Island. Spotted some nice birds including 1 tame White-throated Rock Thrush male, a small flock of 4-5 Chestnut Buntings with 1 stunning adult male, 2 Spangled Drongos, 4 Asian Paradise-Flycatchers...

Sebastien

Chestnut Bunting in the botanical gardens 14/04/11

A lunch time stroll around the botanical gardens produced a male Chestnut Bunting, feeding on the ground next to the sculpture of the woman with massive breasts. There were loads of migrants about, including perhaps 100 Yellow-browed Warblers, and also: Yellow-rumped Flycatcher 1 stunning male Brown Flycatcher 1 Hill Blue Flycatcher 1 male Taiga Flycatcher 8, including many adult males Eastern Crowned Warbler 1 Pale-legged Warbler 1 Radde's Warbler 1 Dusky Warbler 3 Seicurcus warbler sp. 1 Olive-backed Pipit 2 Simon

Lenin Park 7th April 2011

Visiting birder Pieter Lojtmeijer went to Lenin Park in the afternoon and found the following:

Rufous-tailed Robin (1)
Bianchi's Warbler (two different individuals)
Eastern-crowned Warbler (2)
Blyth's Leaf Warbler (3)
Dusky Warbler (1),
Yellow-browed Warbler (ca. 25)
Chinese/Hill-blue Flycatcher (a male and a fem.)
Asian Brown Flycatcher (1)
Grey-headed Canary Flycatcher (at least 6 exx.)
Maroon Oriole (a fem.)
Blue Rock Thrush (a fem.)
Chestnut Bunting (a first spring male)
Grey-headed Greenfinch (4)
Plantive Cuckoo (2 males)

The next day along the edge of West Lake and at the small temple on the island there he saw 3 Grey-headed Lapwings and 3 Yellow-rumped Flycatchers; and in the botanical gardens there was a Forest Wagtail.

Tam Dao Bear Center, 6-3-11

Hi all,

Quick update on the Chestnut Bunting - there's now 2 of them.
Other notable sightings:
- Common Stonechats moving through in numbers
- 1 Dusky Warbler

Cheers,
Falk

Tam Dao Bear Center, 05-04-11

Hi all,

Quite some movement at the moment with lots of Phylloscs putting in an apperance (majority being Y-browed and Eastern Crowned) as well as Drongos (Ashy, Spangled).

Other birds of note today,
- 1 Dollarbird
- 2 White-breasted Kingfishers
- 1 Striated Grassbird (addition to the TD bird list!)
- 5 Pale-footed Bush Warblers
- 1 Manchurian Bush Warbler
- 1 Chestnut Bunting
- 2 Collared Scops Owls + 1 Brown Hawk Owl seen well last night (owls generally very active now)

Not bad at all!
Cheers
Falk

Botanical Gardens - Chestnut Bunting, 'Green-backed Flycatcher', Manchurian Bush Warbler, Sulphur-bellied Warbler

Hi all,

This morning Simon and me tried to relocate yesterday's challenges - thrushes, bush warbler and flycatcher.
After finding the juvenile female Grey-backed Thrush we moved on and quickly found the presumed elisae-Flycatcher (Narcissus Flycatcher, for the lumpers amongst us).
Pictures were taken later today and some research based on internet (OBC-Images, birdskorea.org) suggest juvenile female Green-backed Flycatcher.







Images give an idea of the bird only. Very helpful are the notes on identification of Narcissus Flycatchers
http://www.birdskorea.org/Birds/Identification/ID_Notes/BK-ID-Narcissus-Flycatchers-types.shtml.

The bush warbler showed itself after a while and gave good looks - Manchurian Bush Warbler!

At around 10am a bunting was seen feeding on the ground at the opposite side of the pond near the big banyan tree. It had a yellow, unmarked belly, a very obvious pinkish-rusty rump, streaky back , a white moustache, a grey beak and while feeding on grass seeds showed some habit unknown to the observer: It stretched its neck and let its wings hang down. On OBC there's one image of a male Chestnut Bunting indicating this habit

http://orientalbirdimages.org/search.php?Bird_ID=1924.

The combination of features led to Chestnut Bunting.
The bird took off after 15 minutes or so, being flushed by a Red-eared Slider(!) not to be seen again.

At lunch Simon found a Sulphur-bellied Warbler.

Other birds of note included 2 Taiga Flycatchers, 1 female-type Black-naped Monarch, 1 Asian Brown Flycatcher and 1 Orange-headed Thrush plus 1 more possible bush warbler near the toilets.
Grey Wagtail and Common Kingfisher put in an appearance, too.

What a Tuesday!

Cheers,
Simon, Falk


Edit: Forgot to mention
4 Olive-backed Pipits and a bunch of Palm Swifts and (Germain's) Swiftlets soaring overhead.
Falk