badesc

12 to 16 March

As the last day we’ve done seawatching was on 20 May 2023, I was as excited as ever to get to a seawatch point again. I choose this five-day period mainly because most days were forecasted to be cloudy, leading to suitable light conditions for seawatching. After all, we’re mainly looking to the south, so sunny days result in bad light from roughly 10AM to 2PM. Apart from the first day it was cloudy indeed.

So the weather on 12 March was bright and sunny, with northeasterly winds decreasing from force 4 to 3. It turned out to be a very quiet start of the survey. After having arrived with the ferry, I seawatched from 11h50 until 17h00.

Seabirds:
1 Ancient Murrelet

Egrets and herons:
2 Black-crowned Night Herons

Gulls:
15 gulls spec.
5 Black-tailed Gulls
40 Heuglin’s Gulls

Swift(lets), swallows and martins:
3 Barn Swallows

Checklist on eBird: https://ebird.org/checklist/S165462860
Count on Trektellen: https://trektellen.nl/count/view/3323/20240312

Apart from a bit of early sunshine on 13 March the skies turned cloudy. With the clouds, the typical spring fog was also present, but visibility was reasonable in the morning and about 4km by mid-afternoon, which is okay. Winds came from the northeast with force 5, turning to east, and with up to force 6 around noon. Seawatching was done from 06h40 until 15h00. The earlier finish was due to an almost complete lack of any migrants after noon.

Seabirds:
9 Red-necked Phalaropes
1 Parasitic Jaeger
4 Ancient Murrelets
2 Red-footed Boobies

Gulls:
11 gulls spec.
4 Black-tailed Gulls
3 Vega Gulls ssp.
47 Heuglin’s Gulls

Swift(lets), swallows and martins:
2 swifts spec.
12 Barn Swallows

Checklist on eBird: https://ebird.org/checklist/S165463625
Count on Trektellen: https://trektellen.nl/count/view/3323/20240313

14 March was a great day, with migration in full swing! Winds were blowing from the northeast with force 5 and decreasing to 4 in the afternoon. Less wind meant more birds, even more seabirds. We counted from 06h40 until 17h10. Yes, on this day it was worth to stay longer.

Seabirds:
6 Red-necked Phalaropes
11 jaegers spec.
6 Long-tailed Jaegers
10 Parasitic Jaegers
1 Pomarine Jaeger
7 Ancient Murrelets

Ducks:
5 Garganeys

Gulls:
97 gulls spec.
1 Black-legged Kittiwake
43 Black-tailed Gulls
1 Vega Gull ssp.
276 Heuglin’s Gulls

Terns:
2 Greater Crested Terns

Swift(lets), swallows and martins:
16 Barn Swallows

Checklist on eBird: https://ebird.org/checklist/S165465600
Count on Trektellen: https://trektellen.nl/count/view/3323/20240314

And the next day, 15 March, was again quite good. The weather remained cloudy, as on the previous days, while winds also continued to blow from the northeast to the east, with force 4 to 5. We watched for a full day again, from 06h35 until 16h55.

Seabirds:
46 Red-necked Phalaropes
8 Parasitic Jaegers
3 Ancient Murrelets
14 Streaked Shearwaters

Waders:
1 Siberian/Tibetan Sand Plover

Gulls:
15 gulls spec.
23 Black-tailed Gulls
1 Vega Gull ssp.
1 Vega Gull
1 Mongolian Gull
425 Heuglin’s Gulls

Terns:
7 Greater Crested Terns

Swift(lets), swallows and martins:
7 Barn Swallows

Checklist on eBird: https://ebird.org/checklist/S165466258
Count on Trektellen: https://trektellen.nl/count/view/3323/20240315

Good days don’t continue indefinitely, so it was quite normal that 16 March was an off-day. The main reason was probably much more mist, with visibility ranging from merely 1 to 3 km. Winds were blowing from the northeast with force 4. We counted (few migrants) from 06h40 to 10h15 only.

Seabirds:
6 Red-necked Phalaropes
2 Parasitic Jaegers
3 Ancient Murrelets

Waders:
1 wader spec.
1 Oriental Pratincole

Gulls:
1 Vega Gull ssp.
13 Heuglin’s Gulls

Terns:
3 Greater Crested Terns

Swift(lets), swallows and martins:
1 Barn Swallow

Checklist on eBird: https://ebird.org/checklist/S165467066
Count on Trektellen: https://trektellen.nl/count/view/3323/20240316

Remarks:

This was a good survey. Compare this survey with the one last year, from 12 to 14 March: http://www.hkbws.org.hk/BBS/view ... mp;page=1#pid89235. There was hardly any migration back then, even with more or less similar weather conditions. But maybe a subtle difference could have made 2024 so much better than 2023?

[ Last edited by badesc at 18/04/2024 13:29 ]

badesc

March 2024

Let’s wrap-up March, using data from Trektellen. We’ve done just one survey, with 3 full days and 2 half/partial days. This resulted in total observation time of 37 hours and 55 minutes. Last year: 52 hours and 15 minutes.

The two single adult Red-footed Boobies were quite early and actually the first March records for Hong Kong. I don’t think there are any April records either.

276 Heuglin’s Gulls on 14 and 425 on 15 were record high counts for Po Toi.

The previous record of Black-legged Kittiwake was a long time ago: Geoff (Welch) saw 3 eleven years ago, on 6 March 2013.

The number of Parasitic Jaegers was very good for mid-March. We’ve seen them before in early March, even early ones in February, but not in these high numbers. They should peak in April, with potentially a few tens on a good day.

A species that has been absent – or I should say: I have been unable to see – is Red-breasted Merganser. We haven’t seen any in March in the past years, while this was the month in which Geoff saw them. They have turned to become much rarer elsewhere in Hong Kong as well, nowadays.