Thanh Hoa - Xuan Lien District bird sightings

Sorry for the late postings readers but it hardly matters seeing I am listings sightings that would be untwitchable.

The following interestings bird observations have been made by myself (Andrew Keaveney), Nick Boyd , Tim Sneider, and Eric Perlett. We are volunteer bird surveyors. These observations have occurred since late January.  We have had about 155 species so far.

Scaly-sided Merganser - 3 birds (1male,2female) observed twice in two weeks. Extremely skittish.

Chestnut Bulbul - uncommon here. Robson lists them only for East Tonken though.

Oriental Darter - present for much of last week.

Ashy Minivet - 1st yr. bird seen several times in mixed flocks.

Collared Treepie - 1 bird in a canopy flock with other large birds including Ratchet and Racket-taileds

Rufous-throated Partridge - 1 singing once.

Plain (Grey-throated Sand) Martin - 10+ flybys

Pied Harrier - 1 juv. flyover.

* we have had a terrible amount of trouble with the Phyllosc. Leaf-Warblers seeing as they are generally not singing. Lots in the Blyth's complex though.

Citrine Wagtail type - a possible (likely?) hybrid was photographed.

River Lapwings - at least 4 on any given day.

Orange-breasted Leafbird - slightly below its given listed elev. in Robson.

All observations have been below 200m.  We expect to be at around 175 sp. after another 2 weeks, although it is getting much tougher to find new stuff now.

Feel free to check out Xuan Lien Nature Reserve on Facebook and 'friend' them.

Cheers.

Andrew Keaveney
Toronto, Canada.

Hanoi Red River Island Birding

Accompanied by my new friend Nick, we ventured out birding to the river island in Hanoi on the 13th. We stuck to the north end. Results can be found by going to www.ebird.ca which is where I will be entering all of my Vietnamese checklists over the next 3 months.

Highlights were as follows:

Manchurian Bush-warbler 1
Pale-legged Bush-warbler 3
Dusky Thrush 1
Bluethroat 1
Western Marsh-harrier 1
Thick-billed Warbler 1
Hoopoe 1
Black-faced Bunting 1
Yellow Bittern 1
Burmese Shrike 1

On the 12th I had the female Gorgeted Flycatcher in the Botanical Gardens. I must say that other than the island, I have found birding Hanoi rather rediculous and incredibly few to be found with even the stealthiest pursuit.

I have had about 60 species in the Hanoi area in about a weeks time.

Cheers,

Andrew Keaveney