Let the sun shine.....

A wonderful day out after 10 days locked away in the bowels of a hotel in Singapore. The Olive-backed pipit is a departure from my normal close up jobs and puts the little chap in his (or her) environment. Then there is a Japanese white-eye and finally a Purple sapphire, heliophorus epicles. Back to work tomorrow but I do feel better for a couple of hours in the field.

A grand day out

Here is a selection of photos by Mrs. Ha and my good self taken almost exclusively at Mai Po this morning. My faves are the Azure-winged magpie (Shirl's) and the Red-billed starling.

Beautiful plumage the magpie :-)

Link here for decent sized images.

The dog

DG expressed some surprise that the dog seems to have been rehabilitated in the Ha household. It is true. About 6 months or so ago we feared to leave the house unoccupied as the dog would go beserk, barking incessantly and depositing do-doos all over the place. Singularly unpleasant and often close to a hanging offence. One day we went out and the dog stayed quietly in her basket, wrapped as always in her masai blanket. No barking. When we returned home she was still dozing gently in her basket, no pee, no pooh. And so it has been ever since. Some sort of damascene conversion I presume. Or maybe she is slowing down as she sees the pearly gates in the distance. She is after all approaching 16. With such improved conduct she is now an accepted member of society. Even when the house was full of 30-40 people wassailing before Xmas she behaved impeccably. She is indeed a dog to treasure now. As I said, a real cutie.