This month was technically the end of our regular surveying for this autumn. However, this site proved to have a lot of overwintering visitors, so we carried out a couple of session in December to see what we might find!
And this proved to be a super interesting month, including the capture of a beautiful adult male Pale Thrush! This is just the 6th Pale Thrush caught by the HKBWS team, and the 2nd adult male, making this bird incredibly important to our research!
Pale Thrushes carry out the same moult strategy as other thrushes- Summer Complete (adults) and summer partial (juveniles). This bird showed a gorgeous, uniform, adult wing, with broad, dense coverts. Unmistakeably, an adult male!
Other thrushes in the area included these Japanese Thrushes! First up was a beautiful female, showing 3 juvenile outer Greater Coverts which were browner and looser than the glossy, dense, olive inner GCs. Thus, this must be a 1st calendar year bird. The lack of black/white/steel grey indicative of a male tells us this must be a 1st calendar year female!
Our 2nd bird showed off the beautiful plumage of the male Japanese Thrushes! Here, we can see a uniform, dark and dense plumage across the wing and tail. So, he must be a 2nd calendar year male!
A nice month with the weather finally taking a turn for the better. Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and see you next year!
Daily Totals
| Species | Original | Recapture |
| Asian Stubtail | 1 | 0 |
| Common Emerald Dove | 2 | 1 |
| Fork-tailed Sunbird | 1 | 0 |
| Grey-backed Thrush | 5 | 1 |
| Japanese Thrush | 11 | 0 |
| Pale Thrush | 1 | 0 |
| Red-whiskered Bulbul | 1 | 0 |
| Rufous-tailed Robin | 1 | 0 |
| Scaly-breasted Munia | 3 | 1 |
| Swinhoe’s White-eye | 3 | 0 |
| Yellow-bellied Prinia | 0 | 1 |
| Grand Total | 29 | 4 |
*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.*
