Spring Migration : Some Hanoi Stuff

Spring migration is in full spring, and Hanoi’s parks & wooded/scrubby patches are great places to experience this. In large forests, things are much more “diluted”, I must say... Any park or garden can provide a stopover point for migrating birds and as the city continues to swallow up patches of greenery, these oases of habitat will become ever-increasingly important to passage migrants, making it even more likely that rare migrants can be found....

3-4 strolls (7-10 April) produced a nice selection of migrants/winter visitors, among them 2 lifers*, with highlights being (all at Bãi đá sông Hồng, northern tip of the Red River Island):

-1 male Narcissus Flycatcher (PM)

-1 Hodgson’s Hawk Cuckoo (PM)*

-1 Chestnut-winged Cuckoo (PM)

-1 Ruby-cheeked Sunbird (? Status uncertain but certainly not R)*

PM : passage migrant

W: winter visitor

R: resident

And all the usual stuff at this period of the year:

-Blue Whistling Thrush (PM+W), Eye-browed (PM) and White’s Thrushes (PM+W). Wintering Thrushes numbers have mostly decreased rapidly since mid-March

-Small flocks of Ashy and Spangled Drongos (both PM), Ashy Minivets (PM)

-Black-naped Monarch (PM), in mixed flocks with many phylloscs (“Blyth” (lato sensu), Eastern-crowned, Yellow-browed...)

-In the understorey, some Radde’s, Dusky Warblers, Pale-legged/Sakhalin Leaf-Warblers

- Yellow-rumped (PM) and Mugimaki (PM+W) Flycatchers at all the patches. Numerous Taiga Flycatchers (PM+W), males in summer dress. Surprisingly very few Asian Brown (PM+W) and Hill/Chinese Blue Flycatchers.

-2 Large Hawk Cuckoos (PM) (with the Hodgson’s, nice surprise – 1st sighting for me at Hanoi! Much more difficult to see and photograph in forest!)

- 1 Dollarbird, certainly (scarce) PM here.

- In the open fields, a surprising Indian Roller around Vinh Thuy Bridge (rare sight in East Tonkin), flocks of Red-throated Pipits (PM+W), lone Burmese Shrikes (PM).

- Around water bodies, numerous Black-browed Reed-Warblers (PM), nice males Citrine Wagtails (PM+W) in summer dress et Eastern Yellow Wagtails (PM+W).

Black-browed Reed Warbler

Spangled Drongo

showing its erectile crest

 Black-naped Monarch, male

  Black-naped Monarch, female

 Dollardbird - scarce passage migrant at Hanoi (my 2nd record)

Eastern-crowned Warbler showing well its yellow vent

 Pale-legged/Sakhalin Leaf-Warbler

 Hodgson’s Hawk Cuckoo

 Large Hawk Cuckoo

 Asian Brown Flycatcher

A juicy male Yellow-rumped Flycatcher - Botanical Gardens. 

better background...

 Ruby-cheeked Sunbird

 Eye-browed Thrush

Ashy Minivet

Another highlight of my strolls was this mating pair of Atlas moth (Attacus atlas) found in a carambola orchard.

This species is interesting for two reasons: first, it is listed (as Rare) in Vietnam's Red Data Book of threatened species (Vietnamese: Sách đỏ Việt Nam). Secondly, it is a magnificent creature with a wingspan of around 25-30 cm! It is the world's biggest moth, not by wingspan but by wing surface area. This mating pair was an amazing sight. To have an idea of its size, click here.

The caterpillars feed on the leaves of a wide range of trees, from the carambola to cinnamon, lime, pomelo, rambutan, guava, citrus fruits.

The wing tips are hooked and some say resemble a snake's head complete with eye, to scare off predators!

Its name in Vietnamese is Bướm khế (= carambola tree butterfly).

First Paddyfield Warbler in Vietnam

Note: we have edited this post after the discussion about the Paddyfield Warbler (see also comments section)

At the morning of the 6.4.2014, Sebastien Delonglee and I (Florian Klingel) looked for birds at Red River, in the cultivations and along the channel between Hanoi and the Island, near the Sofitel

We found a rather plain Acrocephalus at one of the small ponds between Hanoi and the Red River Island. For its short white supercilium and lack of a black supercilium, and considering range information, we concluded intially that it is a Blunt-winged Reed-Warbler A. concinens. However, after consulting several experts (Thanks a lot to Phil Round, Paul J Leader and Peter Kennerley for their detailed answers, which can be read down in the comments section) we are now convinced of the bird being a Paddyfield Warbler Acrocephalus agricola. A first for Vietnam!

A thin black line above the supercilium can clearly be seen in this shot. And upper half of lower mandible appears to be blackish.

Besindes the morning with Sebastien at 6.4., I've done some more birding around Hanoi the same week:
- Two morning visits to the Botanical Gardens
- A morning at the Red River around the northern tip of the island and in the small tree plantation at Bai Da (the wedding couples photo shooting place)


The Botanical Gardens had a lot of Phyllos Warblers giving me a hard time especially after a 2 years break of visting Vietnam. The ones I could more less confidently identify were: Yellow-browed, Arctic and Pale-legged. At the Red River there were in addtion one Sulphur-breasted and a few Eastern-crowned.

The hill at the Botanical Gardens was teeming with Grey-headed Canary Flycatchers, must have been at least 30 or so. Also interesting was a flock of Chestnut-flanked White-eyes. Quite a few Taiga Flycatcher were around, a single Asian Brown, a female Yellow-rumped and a nice male Blue-and-White Flycatcher at (there was also a male and female BW Fly at the Red River Island).

The little forest at Bai Da had a few Red-breasted Parrakeets, a Large Hawk Cuckoo (another one seen this morning as well) and several Black-naped Monarchs. The out of place song of a Mountain Tailorbird there irritated me quite a bit, but I found it and it really was one.

The northern tip of the Island rewarded me with nice views of the Black-shouldered Kites and a nice male Pied Harrier, always great to see those.

This morning with Sebastien was also quite good. Apart from the interesing find of the Paddyfield Warbler, there were several Black-browed Reed-Warblers about, lots of Critrine and Yellow Wagtails, the channel hat many Pond Herons in breeding plumage, a nice Black-capped Kingfisher, a White-browed Crake and a Moorhen, several Yellow Bitterns and a fly-by Crake, which we think was Ruddy-breasted, but we couldn't relocate it to get better views and confirm.

Once again, surprisingly good birding for a big city.

Below some pictures (apologies for not being up to the usual standard of quality for this blog, perhaps Sebastien will add some better ones later) and the full list.

Cheers, Florian

 Red-breasted Parakeet, Bai Da

 Black-naped Monarch, Bai Da

 Pied Harrier, Red River Island (northern tip)

Chestnut-flanked White-eye, Botanical Gardens

Yellow Bittern, Channel between Hanoi and RR Island

White's Thrush, Channel

Large Hawk Cuckoo, Channel

 Swinhoe's Minivet, Red River Island

Blue-and-White Flycatcher, Red River Island

List:

Yellow Bittern

Grey Heron

Chinese Pond Heron

Black-shouldered Kite

Pied Harrier

White-breasted Waterhen

Ruddy-breasted Crake (probable)

White-browed Crake

Moorhen

Little Ringed Plover

Common Sandpiper

Wood Sandpiper

Snipe sp.

Large Hawk Cuckoo, 2

Plaintive Cuckoo

Greater Coucal

Common Kingfisher

Pied Kingfisher

Black-capped Kingfisher

Red-breasted Parrakeet

Swinhoe’s Minivet

Black-winged Cuckooshrike

Burmese Shrike

Ashy Drongo

White-throated Fantail

Black-naped Monarch

Barn Swallow

Grey-headed Canary Flycatcher

Japanese Tit

Red-whiskered Bulbul

Sooty-headed Bulbul

Mountain Tailorbird

Dusky Warbler

Yellow-browed Warbler

Arctic Warbler

Pale-legged Leaf Warbler

Eastern Crowned Leaf-Warbler

Sulphur-breasted Warbler

Paddyfield Warbler (see also discussion in comments)

Zitting Cisticola

Common Tailorbird

Yellow-bellied Prinia

Plain Prinia

Chestnut-flanked White-eye

Japanese White-eye

Asian Brown Flycatcher

Oriental Magpie-Robin

Blue-and-white Flycatcher, 3

Taiga Flycatcher

Yellow-rumped Flycatcher

female Cyornis Flycatcher
Mugimaki Flycatcher

Siberian Stonechat
Bluethroat

Blue Rock Thrush (roofs in Hanoi)

White’s Thrush

Eastern Yellow Wagtail

Citrine Wagtail

White Wagtail
Richard's Pipit

Olive-backed Pipit

Tree Sparrow

Scaly-breasted Munia