Hanoi: Some autumn passage records, 19th Sept.-3rd Oct. 2016

The past 15 days have seen much less migrants passing through Hanoi compared to the 2 first weeks of September. The weather is now probably too good ; many migrants simply passed through without stopping. Unfortunately, no overcast skies, contrary winds or rain in the forecast for the next few days.

The lush microforest at Vuon Nhan yielded both Hill Blue and Chinese Blue Flycatchers, 2 other Brown-breasted Flycatchers (on 20th Sept. and 3rd Oct.), Brown-chested Jungle Flycatchers regularly seen, three species of Drongos (Hair-crested and Ashy D. (leucogenis/salangensis and hopwoodi races) in the wood, Black D. in the open landscape), first Siberian Rubythroat on 2nd October, Siberian Blue Robins often seen/heard (mostly female but also 1 stunning ad. male and 1cy male), the first Orange-headed Thrush of the autumn on 20th Sept., 3-4 individuals on 3rd Oct., first Sulphur-breasted Warblers on 21th, often in mixed-species foraging flocks with Japanese White-eyes, resident Cinerous Tits, Pylloscs ssp. (Arctic, Claudia's, Eastern Crowned...), Amur Paradise Flycatchers...

First Baikal Bush-warbler and Black-browed Reed Warbler of the autumn on 25th. Pale-footed Bush Warbler heard on 3rd October. Seicercus warblers seen at almost each visits - didn’t call and therefore remained unidentified.
1 Black-capped Kingfisher and 1 Dollarbird on 2nd October. The same day, a lone Chestnut-crowned Warbler (excellent bird for the city!) and the first Grey-headed Canary-flycatchers of the season.

Some passage of Black-winged Cuckooshrikes also. A secretive Chestnut-winged Cuckoo noted on 21th, a Nightjar sp. (likeky Grey N.) photographed the 20th by Tuong Bach, 2 Wrynecks and 1 passage migrant Hoopoe on 21th. And another juvenile Malayan Night Heron on 29th.

No sighting of Tiger Shrike anymore (early autumn migrant), and much less Amur Paradise Flycatchers than 2 weeks ago. Few sightings of Yellow-rumped Fycatchers also (in Hanoi, most of autumn records are in the last ten days of August and the first twenty days of September) and none of Asian Koels (regularly seen at the beginning of September).

Mid-September, near Vuon Nhan, the mudflats along the Red River at Vinh Thuy bridge also yielded 90+ Grey-headed Lapwings.
At Botanical Gardens, a gorgeous male Siberian Thrush found on 3rd Oct..

In the same area (Vuon Nhan), Tom Kompier also spotted at least 8 Blue-throated Bee-eaters and 1 Thick-billed Green Pigeon on 24th Sept.- both are interesting records for Hanoi. Sightings of  Treron in the city are scarce (the other one recorded here is Wedge-tailed Green Pigeon). Most green pigeons are noted wanderers so there is always the possibility of encountering vagrants in unusual locations. 

And last but not least, Tom's girlfriend, Kameliya, found 3 Red-necked Phalaropes on 28th Sept. at West Lake, the largest lake of the city. Two individuals (juveniles) were still there on 29th, 30th Sept.and 1st Oct. incredibly tame as usual. At the Phalarope's spot, I spotted on 30th a distant flock of 7 unidentified Terns.

At this time of year, considering the number of bird photographers at Vuon Nhan and other small woodlots, we go out not hoping, but expecting to get interesting records. Recently, we have rarely been disappointed. Hey guys, keep up the great work and don't forget to share with me your data (species, count, location and date)  - and not only beautiful images on Facebook ;) !


Sébastien

Male Siberian Thrush, 3rd Oct., Botanical Gardens

It's been too long since I've seen this Thrush, my favorite one, in Hanoi. What a fantastic bird, both beautiful and elusive. The second Zoothera thrush seen this autumn. Turdus thrushes will arrive later (usually in late Oct.-early Nov.).

Male Orange-headed Thrush (top), Vuon Nhan, 28th Sept.
Female Orange-headed Thrush (below), Botanical Gardens, 3rd Oct.
Like the microforest of Vuon Nhan, the Botanical Gardens is a very effective migrant trap.

Brown-brested Flycatcher, Vuon Nhan. A scarce but regular passage migrant

Pale-legged/Sakhalin Leaf Warbler Phylloscopus tenellipes/borealoides, Vuon Nhan. As is usually the case, because the bird in this photo was not singing (passage migrants can sing in spring), I was unable to identify it beyond the level of Pale-legged/Sakhalin

Juvenile Red-necked Phalarope, West Lake, 29th Sept.
A scarce passage migrant in Vietnam, mostly recorded along the coast in C. and S. Annam, Cochinchina, sometimes in large flocks at coastal aquaculture ponds. Also regularly recorded inland in the Da Lat Plateau. Rarer in the North, recorded at least from Xuan Thuy N.P.

Very tame, most approachable of all waders

Female Black-naped Monarch, Vuon Nhan

Female Siberian Blue Robin, Vuon Nhan

1st calendar year male Siberian Blue Robin, Vuon Nhan

Male Hill Blue Flycatcher, Vuon Nhan

Same individual

1st calendar year Brown-chested Jungle Flycatcher, Vuon Nhan

Same individual, close-up on head

1st calendar year Dark-sided Flycatcher, Vuon Nhan, so weak and exhausted it cannot stand on a perch

Chestnut-crowned Warbler, 2nd October, Vuon Nhan
Scarce migrant (altitudinal I think) in Hanoi, all records in autumn (previous ones: 10th Oct. 2013, mid-Nov. 2014)

Sulphur-breasted Warbler, Vuon Nhan

Claudia's Leaf Warbler, 2nd Oct., Vuon Nhan - a common passage migrant

Black-browed Reed Warbler, 25th Sept., Vuon Nhan 

Juvenile Malayan Night Heron playing hide-and-seek, 29th Sept, Vuon Nhan

Sightings of Jerdon's Bazas in Hanoi

On the morning of 6th April while I was out searching migrant birds 10km west of West lake (Hanoi), I chanced upon a pair of Jerdon's Bazas landing on a tree nearby and got stunning prolonged views of them. Subsequently one maybe two other birds were sighted in the same area. I also spotted the same morning 1 Brown-breasted Flycatcher (my second one this spring, 1st one on 29th March) and 2 Orange-headed Thrushes, among others.

Amazingly, at the same time, 15 km away from here, at the well-known Red River Island, Tom saw also one Jerdon's Baza! He had also 1 Northern Boobook.

Unfortunately I didn't have my camera on me. I think I'm going to regret this a long time, especially for the Bazas which were sighted at exceptionally close range.

Jerdon's Baza is a scarce and (apparently) irregular passage migrant in Hanoi. Previous records (that I am aware of): 12th April 2011, 22th October 2011, 20th December 2011. 
Brown-breasted Flycatcher and Northern Boobook are rather scarce though regular passage migrants (recorded almost every year). Orange-headed Thrush is not uncommon in spring and autumn. 

Sébastien

Thrushes influx

On Wednesday 5th November a brief stroll at Botanical Gardens produced 5-6 Japanese Thrushes of both sexes, 1 skittish Chinese Blackbird, 3 Orange-headed Thrushes, 1 Blue Whistling Thrush.

It is great to welcome Japanese Thrushes back to the park and their arrival comes at roughly the same time as previous years. This timeliness never ceases to amaze me. Heard them (thin high-pitched tseeeee contact calls) before sighted them.

female Japanese Thrush

female Japanese Thrush

male Japanese Thrush

male Orange-headed Thrush
To describe the back as grey makes it sound very drab, but in good light it takes on a bluish hue.

I think that the migrant Orange-headed Thrushes seen in northern Vietnam belong to the southeastern Chinese race melli with a white wing-bar and two vertical facial dark lines - one below the eye and a second on the auriculars.

                                                                      female Orange-headed Thrush, with olive back

Hanoi : Phylloscs "influx"

HANOI – Some sightings at 4 wooded/scrubby city patches last week (17^th - 23^th Sept) during noon strolls.

On the phylloscs front, Eastern Crowned Warblers seems less abundant than one week ago. Some Arctic and Yellow-browed Warblers, but few compared to Sulphur-breasted Warblers and "Blyth’s Leaf Warblers", flitting everywhere around. The carambola orchard at Gia Lam was full of warblers (especially Sunday 16^th Sept, a fantastic day) fluttering through all levels, many times at eye-level - excellent opportunities of photo! Concerning the undergrowth-dwellers, Pale-legged Leaf Warblers were spotted in the 4 patches + a glimpse of a Dusky Warbler. More experienced birders would have probably added to this list some rarer Warblers not easy to ID such as Hume’s and Two-barred Greenish.

On the flycatchers front, the best were:

- 1cy Brown-chested Jungle Fly spotted Sunday morning 16th Sept. by the dream team JHJ (Jonathan-Hung-John), seen by me at 15 pm the same day (1 hour and half in the orchard : 2 brief views. Hard job !) and again by Hung the 18th

- 1 Brown-breasted Fly

- 1 (supposed) Klossi Blue-throated Fly

Also the first Taiga Flys of the autumn (1st sighting the 16^th Sept, now present in all the 4 patches).
Yellow-rumped, Asian Brown, Hainan Blue, Hill/Chinese Blue Fly, Black-naped Monarch, Asian Paradise Fly still hanging around (in all the 4 patches), + Dark-sided Fly in only 1 patch.

Other migrants included my first Drongos of the autumn (Ashy, both leucogenis and mouhoti races, and Spangled), some Sparrohawks non ID, Siberian Blue Robins (2 seen + other individuals heard), many Seicercus sp. (cf Bianchi’s), 1 Forest Wagtail, 1 Black-capped Kingfisher, Black-naped Orioles (in the 4 patches), 1 Thick-billed Warbler, 2 Orange-headed Thrushes...

As Hung wrote, we have to share the Gia Lam patch with many hunters. I thought they were after Drongos, Black-winged Cuckooshrikes or Orioles, but in fact they shoot absolutely everything - even flycatchers. I asked a guy who just killed a Hainan Blue Fly : “why do you shoot so tiny birds?”, he answered: “cho vui thôi!” (“for fun!”); and “what will you do with this bird?”, he said : “cho meo an” (“I will give it to my cat”). Pathetic..
Sharing a birding patch with hunters is tragic. Nevertheless let’s stay optimistic, guns are much “better” than mist nets - at least for passerines !

 Pale-legged Leaf Warbler

 Sulphur-breasted Warbler - many sightings recently

 "Blyth’s Leaf Warbler" - also one of the phylloscs the most frequently encountered the last days.
Many of them show a very grey head

 Asian Paradise Flycatcher

 1cy Brown Shrike

 Male Chinese/Hill Blue Flycatcher

The very pale breast and the throat-triangle recalls the race klossi of Blue-throated Flycatcher, but this taxon is confined to southern Indochina!

Last April, I photographed a very similar bird, at Lenin Park (photo below).

 male Yellow-rumped Flycatcher

 male Black-naped Monarch

 1cy Taiga Flycatcher with the beak wide open (still hot here).
Browner than the adults, buffy greater covert/tertial tips.
Photographed at a rubbish dump as you can see. What a nice perch!

 Eating a worm

 An interesting male Hainan Blue Flycatcher with a white throat-triangle

 Brown-breasted Flycatcher, 23^th Sept.

Other sightings at Hanoi : 27^th August 2010, 9^th September 2010, 16^th October 2010, 27^th March 2012. Regular, but scarce passage migrant.

female Orange-headed Thrush ssp aurimacula (white median covert tips, dark ear-bars), 23^th Sept. A fabulous looking species! She was in a very dark area, I had to set the ISO to 3.200, with a speed of… 1/20s. I steadied my camera against a tree trunk, took a deep breath... and the result is not so bad.

The same bird in better conditions

I also spotted this male the same day, at another place (yes, still hot here..).

Morning in Ba Vi

Arriving at Ba Vi to a fine sunny morning, we were quick to head up the top track towards the temple.  We were back 30 minutes later, as it was just too windy up top.  Pretty much the only bird we had seen was a female Small Niltava, which thankfully was a lifer for both of us.  Later, we added a male as well.  We slowly birded down the road (amongst the multitude of weekend traffic, cars and bikes) and added a few birds.  These including an Orange-headed Thrush, a couple of Dark-sided Flycatchers, two Gray-throated Babblers, four species of Bulbul (Black, Black crested, Puff-throated and Red-whiskered).  Mid-morning a flight of 6 Oriental Honey Buzzards went over.  We had a lovely morning, and we were back in Hanoi in time for lunch.

Puff-throated Bulbul

Dark-sided Flycatcher

Wayne Hodgkinson and Falk Wicker