Tristram's Bunting at Red River Island (Hanoi) and Raptor Migration over Tam Dao (by Tom Kompier)

Last week Red River Island went through a "pimp-my-island" episode - NOT. People have been digging at the soil quite a bit over the years, but recently activity has increased substantially. What is more, the little forest patch towards the northern side has been decimated and the reedy grasslands have been turned into banana plantations. But migrants still turn up. Many of them actually end up in traps and nets, but even so, birding can be pretty good still. Here a few records of interest from the recent past:

Baikal Bush Warbler was a nice addition to my Vietnamese list on April 2. After a sighting by Dom this spring and the Chinese Bush Warbler seen by Sebastien I was ready to see a Locustella (besides the rather common Lanceolated Warbler, that is).

Short-eared Owl was another great bird on April 2. I hope it survived, as several local bird-catchers were actively pursuing it.

Apparently a good bird in Hanoi was the male Tristram's Bunting on April 4, the first time I saw 3 species of bunting on the island on a single day (the others being Yellow-breasted and Little). 

April 6 I saw a Northern Boobook and a Jerdon's Baza. The latter was carrying a lizard and showed very well. Both were new for me in Vietnam. 

Chinese Penduline Tits have been around regularly, with sightings on March 26 (1), April 2 (2), and April 4 (3). 

++++++

On April 10 finally a sunny day seemed to be truly happening, a rare event in springtime Hanoi and even rarer for it to be on a weekend. I know that Tam Dao can be pretty good for raptor migration, but it is very much dependent on the cloud cover (even on good days Tam Dao can be locked in cloud and mist) and the wind. After a spell of pretty bad weather raptors are eager to circumnavigate the higher mountains on their way to the north. I have seen good migration at various points, notably Pia Oac in Cao Bang, and Tam Dao. Pia Oac seemed a bit far for a day outing, so I opted for Tam Dao. When I reached the hill station at 9 AM it was shrouded in mist, but the sun peeked through it vaguely and soon I started seeing the mountains over a sea of cloud. Because the mist returned I went a little higher up the town and found a spot with good views. Between 10 AM and 4 PM I saw around 280 raptors migrating. No big flocks, irrespective of the seemingly good weather. Maybe they passed already the last few days, or maybe the lack of wind was not good. 

Accipiter species were out in good numbers. Many could not reliably be identified, but the more striking Chinese Sparrowhawk clocked 40, Japanese Sparrowhawk 13, Eurasian Sparrowhawk 7, and 46 I left unidentified. So, 106 Sparrowhawks in total, not bad.

I was very surprised that Jerdon's Baza, allegedly a resident species that does not occur to the north of Vietnam, nor around Hanoi for that matter, was migrating in considerable numbers. I had only seen my first reliably last week at Red River Island (on the same day that Sebastian saw several close to Hanoi), so I had dismissed what looked like it yesterday in Sa Pa as probably something else. Here in Tam Dao I again dismissed several pairs and singles mixed in with Crested Serpent Eagles. I though my eyes were playing tricks on me and that they just had to be immature Oriental Honey Buzzards. Even when I saw two singles that I positively identified, I still could not bring myself to accept that the others had been Jerdon's too. Until at the end of the afternoon I saw 6 together. These too were obviously Jerdon's, so I dashed to the car and took out my camera to shoot some proof. In the end I tallied 10, but there must have been at least 15-20 passing.

The other Baza, Black Baza, passed in small numbers. Only one small flock of 5 and a few singles, for a total of 8.

I saw 6 Eastern Marsh Harriers, 4 males and 2 females. I was hoping for Pied, but that did not happen.

Crested Serpent Eagles can be quite numerous at Tam Dao, but today I only saw 64, with the largest group 15.

I counted 51 Oriental Honey Buzzards, but if we deduct some misidentified Jerdon's Baza, then there were little over 40 passing.

Grey-faced Buzzard was scarce, with only 11, and now flocks to mention (largest number together 3). Disappointing. Maybe they passed through already.

A single Black-eared Kite, a single Eastern Buzzard, and a single Osprey added some spice, as did single Kestrel and Amur Falcon.

Local Crested Goshawks completed the picture. 6 Raptors I did not identify at all.

Below some pics of Jerdon's Bazas:

Ba Vi National Park

A day trip to Ba Vi (60 km west of the capital city) last week produced a short list of 30-35 species, but with some goodies (and a lifer!).

I focused around the restaurant area (ca 600m a.s.l.), mostly secondary growth and scrub. At higher altitudes, it was just too foggy - this is the big problem when birding Ba Vi in winter.

I observed amongst others : 1 Tristram’s Bunting, 2 Chestnut Bulbuls, 1 Bradypterus Bush Warbler sp. (this is the lifer, unfortunately not yet ID, so please help me, thanks!), Blue-throated, Golden-throated and Green-eared Barbets, 1 Fujian Niltava, 1 Rufous-gorgeted Flycatcher, 1 small flock of delightful Red-billed Leiothrix, 1 Red-flanked Bluetail, 1 Manchurian Bush Warbler, 1 Pallas’s Leaf Warbler, Crimson and Fork-tailed Sunbirds, 3 White-browed Piculets, 1 Silver-breasted Broadbill…
Surprisingly, not a single Thrush in this list!

 1st winter/female Tristram's Bunting

Silver-breasted Broadbill perched motionless high up in the canopy.

Chestnut Bulbul (at Ba Vi, resident or winter visitor ?).
White throat contrasting with chestnut face and black crown are diagnostic.

 Golden-throated Barbet

Rufescent Prinia- everywhere in grass and scrub.

 Striped Tit Babbler, the commonest babbler there.

 White-browed Piculet

 Red-billed Blue Magpie
Very noisy, conspicuous and usually in small parties. A common but gorgeous bird.

And a mysterious Bradypterus Bush Warbler to end with.

It was skulking in a thick bush and I  had to use manual focus to get these shots. At that time I had no idea what the bird was.
These images from different angles are pretty good (with this kind of guy I am not hard to please), so I was confident to clinch the identification quickly. But...

Major features :

-dark-brown above and flanks

-pale brown-speckled throat, darkish speckling on upper breast

-plain brownish undertail-coverts

-pale lower mandible

-no supercilium

4 species of Bradypterus Bush Warblers have been recorded in Vietnam : Brown, Chinese, Russet and Baikal. And only the latter 2 are speckled on throat or breast.

But my bird refused to be shoe-horned into either Russet and Baikal, both unmistakable with their dark undertail-coverts with whitish tips.

Need some experienced birders help please!

Tristram's Buntings for Christmas

Hi all,

One day trip to Mount Ba Vi last Sunday (26th December).
In winter, this mountain can be very foggy and birding impossible. Sunday, the weather was nice, cold for sure but no mist, and the 3 famous peaks were perfectly visible as the photo shows (foreground : Đồng Mô lake):

I focused on the degraded forest and thickets around the restaurant area. Surprisingly, I saw many interesting species that we encounter generally in good forest, mixed with birds of more open habitats and forest edges. Many fruiting trees yielded flocks of Thrushes and other good birds.

Highlights : 2 Tristram's Buntings, 1 male Fujian Niltava and 1 Chestnut Bulbul (hard to believe I know, but good views...)

Seen also, among many others : - Barbets : Great (heard only), 1 Green-eared, 1 Blue-throated

- Thrushes : 1 Black-breasted, some Grey-backed and Scaly

- 1 Verditer Flycatcher

- 1 Stripe-Tit Babbler

- 1 Oriental Turtle Dove

- Flowerpeckers : 1 Scarlet-backed and 2 Fire-breasted feeding on the same fruiting tree

- very showy Orange-bellied Leafbirds, male singing and female

- 1 Chestnut-flanked White-eye in a flock of Japanese ones.

- Sunbirds : 2 Crimson, 1 Fork-tailed

- some Orange-flanked Bush Robins

- 1 Green Magpie sp
Tristram's Bunting. I flushed 2 birds, non identified. One of them, more curious, reappeared in the thickets in which they had just disappeared, and observed me during long et nice seconds.
Fire-breasted Flowerpecker male

Fire-breasted Flowerpecker female

Gorgeous Crimson Sunbird male

Blue-throated Barbet. I saw this bird 500m after the cactus garden, so at low altitude (300m). Each time I go to Ba Vi, I stop at this place which offer panoramic view on the valley and I have generally a contact with this species, moving in a degraded open forest. I don't understand why this bird which don't seems to have narrow habitat requirements (I mean good forest) is so rarely spotted elsewhere.

Scaly Thrush

A Japanese Thrush which seems to hesitate : Hmm, which one to choose ?

On the way back to Hanoi, I came across a flock of 20-30 Grey-capped Greenfinches at Đồng Mô lake, along the dyke (the northest one), feeding over grasslands grazed by cattle and perching sometimes on eucalyptus trees. Difficult to approach.

A nice birding trip with 2 lifers in the pocket (the Greenfinch and the Bunting), exactly one year after I began to interest myself in the vietnamese avifauna and twitched my very first local bird, it was a Robin Magpie...

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone !

Sebastien