Today brought not so many birds, but a nice variation of species to our nets, including 3 more Hainan blue Flycatchers!

What is interesting here is that the juvenile birds’ partial post-juvenile moult is now in full swing! We can compare the above and below individuals with the juveniles caught less than a month ago in Forest Ringing: A Family of Flycatchers. In comparison, these individuals have begun to moult their body feathers, and some coverts (the bird below shows only one retained juvenile GC, while the rest are beginning to grow).

These two young birds are juvenile males. Interestingly, these two tails look completely juvenile, suggesting that juvenile male Hainan Blue Flycatchers already have a completely blue tail after the fledge (leave the nest). This needs double-checking, but if this is the case, it means we can for certain say that any Hainan Blue Flycatchers with a brown tail (like those in the aforementioned post) can be sexed as females, as they never show blue in the plumage!

Another interesting bird today was an adult female Hainan Blue Flycatcher. But this is not just any Hainan Blue Flycatcher; she is the same bird as caught last month! Now she is really in the middle of her Summer Complete moult, with many of the feathers newly grown or growing (fresh and dark), while the outer primaries, PCs and secondaries not yet moulted (so are worn and bleached). You can compare her wing now, compared to a month ago (link above). Soon she will show a uniform and fresh wing, with all feathers moulted.

Next up we had a Blue-winged Minla! This is only our second individual of the year, and a recapture. This individual was first ringed in 2020, making it an adult. In the wing, we can see the bird is in a Summer Complete moult, with primary 9 &10 (red arrow) moulted. These contrast to the moult, more bleached and worn primaries and secondaries.

As the day wore on, the afternoon brought more nice birds, including two Orange-headed Thrushes! The first individual was a male (due to the slate-grey back and wing coverts). in its 2nd calendar year. We can see this by the retained juvenile GCs (outermost 5 in the picture above). This individual is also in the middle of its Summer Complete moult, having dropped it’s inner primaries and outer tertials.

Our second individual was a juvenile (1st calendar year), showing a nice, fresh and uniform wing with all juvenile feathers.

Finally, we caught a Streak-breasted Scimitar Babbler! This was a young individual, showing a uniformally juvenile wing and tail. Another way of ageing this species is by the iris colour (with caution). Below we can see the difference between an adult (left), with a red iris, vs the juvenile caught today (right), which shows a more brown hue.

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.*