The warm weather continues in Hong Kong, with one of the hottest March’s on record, a phenomenon I’m sure we will continue to see over the next few years.

However it seems the early Spring migration doesn’t seem to be affecting us, with just 10 bird total today, and no passage migrants.

Can’t complain too much though, with this beautiful adult female Japanese Thrush. In all the plumage we can see nice and uniform adult feathers, suggesting an adult bird, and all dull-grey tone. Thus, this must be an adult (3rd calendar year or older) female bird!

Next up was an interesting Japanese Tit. As we’ve mentioned before, Tits moult Summer Complete (adults), summer partial (juveniles), with young birds usually moulting all their GCs, and a moult limit being seen between the GCs and PCs. However, in this bird above, we can actually see a moult limit within the PCs. Upon careful inspection, we can see that the two outermost visible PCs have a more dense and dark structure, with a light blue fringe, in comparison to the more grey-green fringe of the juvenile PCs. Now this is likely an accidental moult, as it is not seen in the other wing (moult should always be symmetrical), but a great way to confirm that this is indeed a young bird (2nd calendar year). Furthermore, the extent of black and iridescence in the head and belly tells us that this is a young male!

A nice, albeit warm, day!

Daily Totals

*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 wilfully 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.*