This morning we arrived to the ringing site before dawn had broken. In the cool darkness, we were immediately greeted by the whimpering calls of Great Barbets around us. Though the thought of capturing them seemed too incredulous, it was a fleeting hope that ended up becoming a reality…
Not long after we set up the nets, we were indeed lucky enough to come back to one of these absolute beauties! This young bird appeared to have a completely juvenile tail, but with at least some moulted body feathers. It also happened to be extremely angry, and, with an incredibly strong bill, we thought it would be best to have protection for all ringers, hence the gloves.
As the morning drew on, and the adrenaline from this beautiful bird died down, we came back to the nets to find yet another juvenile Great Barbet! This one appeared much like the first (and just as angry). These two are just the 2nd and 3rd Great Barbets ever caught at HKBWS (with the first ever being caught in 2019).
Within the same round, we also ended up with this beautiful little bird! There are quite a few warblers with these features, however, due to the restricted amount of grey in the crown, the unbroken golden eye-ring and amount of white in the outer tail feathers, we concluded that this is an Alström’s Warbler! We used the skull to determine that this is a juvenile bird!
Next up we caught a nice adult Streak-breasted Scimitar Babbler! Regardless of the fact that this bird is a recapture from December 2018 (and therefore, must be an adult), we can also use the iris colour to determine the age. Below you can see a comparison of a juvenile type iris (left) and the adult type, caught today (right).
As the afternoon wore on, it seemed that the birds had finally left. However, this wonderful day was not done with us yet! As we were taking down the nets, we received a lovely surprise of a Tiger Shrike! This is also the 2nd ever caught by HKBWS, and was a juvenile, in complete scaly juvenile plumage.
A fantastic day!
Daily Totals
| Species | Original | Recapture |
| Alstrom’s Warbler | 1 | 0 |
| Great Barbet | 2 | 0 |
| Huet’s Fulvetta | 1 | 0 |
| Pale-legged Leaf Warbler | 4 | 0 |
| Red-billed Leiothrix | 1 | 1 |
| Rufous-capped Babbler | 1 | 2 |
| Streak-breasted Scimitar Babbler | 1 | 1 |
| Tiger Shrike | 1 | 0 |
| Yellow-cheeked Tit | 0 | 1 |
*Please note that all wild birds, their nests, and eggs are highly protected (under Wild Animals Protection Ordinate, Cap. 170) in Hong Kong. It is an offence to willfully disturb, take, remove, or injure wild birds or their nests/eggs. The actions described here were undertaken by trained professionals holding the necessary licenses and permits issued by the AFCD.*
