As the seasons begin to change, and the rains draw in, our ringing becomes a little more complex to carry out. The morning started, dark and grey, threatening rain, but we blessed the clouds for hiding the scorching sun.

We started off with one of our resident Chinese Bulbuls. As before mentioned, we don’t know much about ageing these guys, but what we can see in the wing here is a lack of moult limits on a fairly worn wing, potentially because all feathers were moulted in in a Summer Complete moult (making them now almost a year old). Note the colour ring which will teach us more about this specie’s ecology, habitat use and short-distance movements.

We had our first Yellow-bellied Prinia babies (1st calendar year) today! This individual is in complete juvenile plumage, and therefore lack most of the key plumage characteristics that separate the Yellow-bellied Prinia and the Plain Prinia.

In comparison, above is an adult Yellow-bellied Prinia, with the defining grey head and neck and completely black bill.

Below we have a comparison of the two species in juvenile plumage; Yellow-bellied Prinia to the left, and Plain Prinia to the right. Though both plumages are pretty similar (and vary slightly between individuals), we can still separate them based on the thickness of the bill. The Yellow-bellied Prinia has a much finer bill, compared to the chonkier bill of the Plain Prinia.

Finally, we caught a Cinnamon Bittern! These are always nice to see, but this individual was even more exciting, as it was a recapture bird! This bird was originally ringed in 2018, making it now at least in its 4th calendar year! We can also determine this bird to be a female, due to the streaky plumage.

Daily Totals

*Please note that all wild birds are protected under Hong Kong Law. All ringing activities are conducted with the necessary permits issued by the AFCD. Handling and processing of birds is only carried out by experienced individuals.*