We’re back in the forest today as the weather has finally settled into a warm and…somewhat dry clearing!
First up was one of our less common catches to the forest nets- a Swinhoe’s White-eye. We know the drill with most of our resident species by now- they breed throughout most of the year and develop very quickly with Summer Complete moults, making ageing them pretty difficult in Spring. Therefore, we aged this individual as a 2nd calendar year or older!
We found ourselves in a very similar situation with our next gorgeous catch- a Fork-tailed Sunbird! Other than saying that this is very clearly a male, we can only age this bird as a 2nd calendar year or older. A nice bird nonetheless!
And finally we ended the day with two of our breeding thrushes. Thankfully, Orange-headed Thrushes moult the same as the rest of the Thrush species, with summer partial moults in juveniles. In both of these individuals, we can see the juvenile outer GCs (3 in the top individual, 6 in the bottom), contrasting to the nice, broad and glossy moulted postjuvenile GCs (black arrows). In the top we can see that the moulted feathers are a nice steely blue, indicating this is a 2nd calendar year male, while in the bottom they are a dull-brown of a young female!
A nice day!
Daily Totals
| Species | Original | Recapture |
| Chestnut Bulbul | 0 | 1 |
| Fork-tailed Sunbird | 1 | 0 |
| Orange-headed Thrush | 2 | 0 |
| Swinhoe’s White-eye | 1 | 0 |
| Grand Total | 4 | 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 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.*
