A skulkers day

Below some shots of 3 fine skulkers taken Saturday, March 28, in good ol' Hanoi.

Pale-footed Bush Warbler, a shy and rarely seen inhabitant of thickest scrub

I finally managed to get some (poor quality...) shots of one individual attracted by playback (with  songs recently recorded in the same area), which unfortunately remained in thick cover. A master skulker!

As I wrote in my last post, I found 1,5 week ago several songsters along the Red River, in dense scrubs and tall rank grasslands with scattered scrub in clearings and edges of a small wooded patch.

Today, a "tape-and-wait" session led to the discovery of 4-5 individuals along a 200m section. As I never recorded the Pale-footed Bush Warbler in Hanoi in winter, it would be reasonable to consider them as passage migrants. But I strongly believe that this species is also present in winter. Skulking and silent birds are elusive and easily overlooked. Only singing males reveal their presence.

Asian Stubtail 

Striking supercilium with dark eye-stripe as Pale-footed Bush Warbler, but obvious structural differences

Siberian Blue Robin (m) 

Not a cryptically colored bird, but secretive and quite difficult to see well

Lenin Park

Yesterday a noon stroll with John Parr & family produced some good birds :

- 1 Black-capped Kingfisher
- 1 juicy male Yellow-rumped Flycatcher
- 1 male Taiga Flycatcher in breeding plumage
- 1 male Hill/Chinese Blue Flycatcher
- 1 Burmese Shrike
- 1 male Siberian Rubythroat
- 1 male Siberian Blue Robin (photo above)




Sebastien

Lenin Park / 6-10th October

Hi all,

Everyday noon/morning strolls at the Lenin Park, from 6th to 10th October, produced the following, amongst others (of course the numbers of birds seen are the maxi for 1 stroll) :

Nota : I focused on 3 mozzies areas : behind the toilets (A), scrubs around the vegetable garden (B) and the disused orchid garden (C).

Ashy Drongo
Spangled Drongo : 3-4
Orange-headed Thrush : 3+ (A, B, C)
Hill Blue Fly : at least 1 male, some females
Hainan Blue Fly : at least 1 male
Verditer Fly : 2 (male & female)
Asian Brown Fly
Taiga Fly : 1
Grey Headed Canary Fly : 1
Black-naped Monarch : 1
Seicercus Warbler (at least 1 everyday)
Siberian Blue Robin : (seen every day, at least 2 at the same time, B)
Grey Bushchat : 1 (C)
Siberian Rubythroat : 1 male (B)
White-tailed Robin : 1 male the 4th (B), 1 female the 9-10th (B)
Thick-billed Warbler : 1 (B)
Dusky Warbler : 1
Pale-legged Warbler : 1
Asian Stubtail : 1 (A)
Blue Whistling Thrush : probably 2 (A, B, C)
Black-naped Oriole : 2
Accipiter sp : 1
Black-capped Kingfisher : 1
Brown Shrike : 2-3
Grey Wagtail : 1

White-tailed Robin

Asian Stubtail

Grey Bushchat

Dusky Warbler

Blue Whistling Thrush (seen every day, shy, feeding in the vegetable garden early in the morning, with Orange-headed Thrushes)

Thick-billed Warbler

Siberian Blue Robin

Verditer Fly

Hainan Blue Fly

Spangled Drongo

Hill Blue Fly

Black-naped Monarch

Orange-headed Thrush (best place : the muddy thickets around the vegetable garden). Not so shy I thought. Secretive but confident bird. Many close-ups.

Video of the Asian Stubtail

Lenin Park, Hanoi

Hi all,

Just want to share 2 pics taken this morning at the Lenin Park.
I wish you a good weekend !

1st winter male Siberian Blue Robin, skulking on the ground, at the foot of bamboo thickets beside vegetable gardens.

A cute 1st winter Dark-sided Fly

Sebastien

Brown-chested Jungle Flycatcher - Lenin Park, Hanoi

Hi all,

a late morning / lunchtime visit today (21st September) produced some excellent birds around the toilet area, Lenin Park.


1 Brown-chested Jungle Flycatcher: This bird took some efforts to be identified correctly. Luckily, after a call Simon came over and we followed the bird together for about 30 - 40 minutes after we concluded it must be BCJF. It had no obviously hooked bill (only very slightly) but pretty much all of the other features looked good for this species - including behaviour!


Other birds of note were:

- 1 female-type Siberian Blue Robin

- 1 female Mugimaki Flycatcher

- 1 female Yellow-rumped Flycatcher

+ couple of Asian Brown Flycatchers, Arctic Warblers and Brown Shrikes.

No sign of yesterday's Phylloscopus armada.

Cheers,


Simon, Falk

Sibe Blue Robin in the botanical gardens

Today, 21/09/2010, I had the following in the botanical gardens between 8 and 9 am:
Siberian Blue Robin 1 adult male
Hainan Blue Flycatcher 1 male
Pale-legged Leaf Warbler 1
Arctic Warbler 3
Brown Shrike 1

A good morning!

Simon

Plus 1 Oriental / Eurasian Cuckoo up high in the trees and 1 Red-billed Blue Magpie. Didn't find the Blue Robin (at about 10.30).
Falk