In honour of Mr. Fumier.... its a Parus major

The Kite

Ho ho ho! This Santa is about 50 years old. How do I know? Because it hung on our family Xmas tree when I was a child and it has the words "Empire Made" on it. Those were the days, when Wales had an Empire. We called it "England" or something like that. The other 2 are of a pre-Christmas kite enjoying the tree opposite my home. If you are really lucky I shall post a photo of the home-made gingerbread men.

In response to public demand....

The middle 4 images are of a Bull-headed shrike; lanius bucephalus. This was a good find at the Lion's Nature Education Centre near Sai Kung. There aren't too many records of this species although there was a repeat visitor for many years in the orchard at Tai Po Kau.

The top one is our old friend Mr. Daurian Redstart and the final image is Blue whistling thrush. This is almost a misnomer as it utters a rather wheezy whistle and it has none of the jauntiness of the Cockney sparrer's whistle or the lilting harmony of Roger Whitaker. But there we are. The BWT can and does fan its tail rather engagingly and as far as I know that is something Roger W can not do but I stand ready to be corrected.

I do of course wish my reader a most enjoyable holiday season (note that I am politically correct and do not assume the celebration of Christmas) and a prosperous 2009. However, unless my reader is a bankruptcy lawyer I suspect the second part may be a struggle. Humbug.

A cornucopia of flora and fauna.

Waders of the lost ark?

Ok, so they are not all waders but yesterday was a gorgeous day at Mai Po. I rose at 5am and arrived on the reserve at 6am. By 6.30 I was already taking photos. The light came up very quickly from dark as I arrived to goodish by 6.15am. I was surprised that the tide had already covered the mudflats but the kingfishers gave me something to do. The Black-capped is a bit soft as it was taken at great distance with stacked convertors.

The common kingfisher was a lovely poser and gave me plenty of time but not much activity - nary a fish in sight. The Tringas were plentiful. I was especially pleased with the close up of the Wood sandpiper.

The star attraction was the Eastern marsh harrier that flew around several times and gave a few chances for closish shots but mostly longer distance.

After a frantic week on the markets this was a great relief to me and just reinforces the value of a really relaxing hobby. Vive les oiseaux!!

Lunch time for the Osprey

This bird was sitting on a pole a long way out from the hide on the mudflats at Mai Po. However with the new monster lens and the help of a couple of tele-converters I got some pretty reasonable shots. He (or she) ate the fish from nose to tail, or should that be mouth as fish don't have noses as such, do they? "Noses run in our family", as my dear old dad used to say. And it was a fair chunk of meat, too. I took maybe 50 shots and deleted most but this was a definite "keeper".




The second bird is a Black drongo. Astute readers, if there be plural visitors to the site, may recall the Hair-crested drongo from Sai Kung. This is a close relative, also snapped at Mai Po - a rather ritzy thing he is too. Let's hear it for the drongo family.

A treat for you

This huge moth was outside the house today. I have not seen the species before and was suitably impressed.

The Pom Pom bulletin remains worrying. She has good days and bad days but she isn't gaining enough weight (unlike me) and continues to have the sniffles. The vet says she does indeed have canine distemper. Mrs. Ha is a saint, spending hours with her coaxing her to eat. I am on the Lehman's diet at present. The pounds are dropping off.

The Prisoner

I think it is fair to say Pom Pom is on the mend. She bit my toe and then chewed a pair of Zegna shorts (which I happened to wearing at the time). Go to Jail, do not pass Go, do not collect any dog biscuits.....

Recovery

Pom Pom is making reasonable progress I am delighted to say. A second trip to the vet for her today and she was pronounced "much improved". A bit like my maths teacher might have said on rare occasions.

At 5am today I headed off to Mai Po and produced a few decent images from a poor morning tide.







The frontier gate was opened at 6.15am but even though high tide was not until 8.30 the mudflats were already almost covered. Barely 10 minutes of photography with the new lens. I waited for the tide to fall and when it did the birds flew too far out so not a single photo on the falling tide. So this collection is just some shots of perched or fly-past birds taken whilst I was killing time.

Everybody should recognise the beautiful Common kingfisher, then the "punk" Striated or Little green heron, a Whimbrel, an elegant Marsh sandpiper with a Redshank in the background, and finally a Black-winged stilt. It can't really be a waste of time when you see birds like this now, can it?

Ups and downs

Poor Pom Pom is unwell and refusing to eat so we are taking her to the vet later this afternoon. She is so small and vulnerable we are quite worried. On the plus side my lens arrived yesterday. I hope I can find time to try it out soon. I grabbed a couple of hours in the park yesterday and here are some results.






Frogs - don't you just love them - this is Polypedates megacephalus. More boringly known as the Brown Tree Frog.

An arrival is announced

Mr. & Mrs. Ha are pleased to announced the arrival of PomPom on August 31st 2008. Puppy and credit card are doing as well as can be expected.

What big eyes you have

Well I survived the typhoon. And this dragonfly did too thanks to Mrs. Ha. She found it upside down on the sun terrace and called it "dead". In fact it was simply soaked through and could not do the necessary backflip with twist, double somersault piked to get on its pins again. Or have I been watching too much diving? There is, by the bye, a debate going on in the house about what to name the new dog when she arrives. One option is (Guo) JingJing and the other is Gong Li. Or maybe Pom Pom as it will be another Pomeranian. Anyway, we are all Olympicked out.

During the eye of the typhoon, a two hour lull as it passed over Sai Kung, these dragonflies, Pantala flavescens, came out in their thousands. Sadly of course as the eye passed and the back end of the typhoo unleashed itself, many of them simply became so bed-raggled they couldn't fly.This chap made it though to morning, I dried it off, gave it a bit of a blow with the hair drier (ok, not really), snapped its physiog for the records file and off it went.

The Blue magpie in a recent post got an overwhelming response (2 comments I think) so here is a less sensational one; still quite pleasing none the less.

Finally, my willpower (that with the breaking strain of a KitKat) gave in and the new lens is on order. Off to Taiwan then Pakistan this week so more debilitating travel hot on the heels of another "Stan" last week. I do like Stan but Hilda was always my favourite. "Can I do you now, Mrs. Walker?"

Carry on up Coronation Street? Bring back Len, Ena and Minnie. Those were the days.

Round and about

A bit of a mish-mash here but some nice flutterbys, a froggy thing or possibly a toad in the pond, some rather fetching flora and it's just not cricket. And then I threw in a dragonfly for good measure. All taken with my 300mm f2.8 lens which gives nice OOFBGs (out of focus backgrounds). I am wrestling with my conscience at the moment as Canon has brought out an 800mm f5.6 lens - a snip at HK$90,000. My willpower has the breaking strain of a KitKat so I expect it will make an appearance in the mailbox at some stage.

Enjoy.