Well, the warm weather promptly disappeared, with this morning dawning cold and damp. Thankfully, the rains held off as we made our way through the misty forest to camp.

Though it was another slow day, we had some old visitors, with this adult Japanese Tit, originally ringed in 2021! As Tits moult adults- Summer Complete, juveniles- summer partial. Usually, juveniles will moult all of their GCs, therefore, we would look for a moult limit between the GCs and PCs. In this bird, there is no moult limits between the PCs and GCs, and thus, we can conclude that this is an adult bird.

Next up was a gorgeous Silver-eared Mesia! These guys are aged by their iris colour. As seen in the adult above, the adults of this species show a blood-red iris colour, in comparison to the brown iris colour of the juveniles. Therefore, we can conclude this is a 3rd calendar year or older!

Finally, we ended up with a gorgeous young male Grey-backed Thrush. At first glance, this may look like a female, but, again, this is why ageing first is so important. Thrushes, like Tits, also moult adults- Summer Complete, juveniles- Summer partial. However, unlike Tits, Thrushes usually show moult limits in the GCs. In the individual above, 7 GCs are juvenile (brown outermost GCs), and the 3 innermost are moulted (postjuvenile). And we can see that these, alongside some moulted body feathers, are a steely-grey/blue; a colour not found in any young females. Thus, even though the body still resembles that of a female bird, we can determine this individual to be a 2nd calendar year male!

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.*