George....... don't do that!

These 2 images are of the same bird. I know they look different colours but that is a function of the light (and shade). One was taken by me and the better one was taken by Mrs. Ha.

We ventured out a-birding quite early and saw little at Shek Kong Airfield Road (except a rather cute Yellow-browed warbler - below).



Any road up, after a leisurely stroll we tootled off to the Shek Kong Catchment and found a fair number of bird photographers gathered to await the Crested goshawk, Accipiter trivirgatus, scheduled, if the previous 2 days were anything to go by, for 12 noon prompt. And lo and behold, as if by magic, shortly after noon the old boy dropped in. There was a mad flurry of activity and much jostling for position, during which I rather lost out. The bird moved around, generally in dappled light making exposure difficult. I had the (now familiar to my reader) 800 gun mounted on a tripod and that made mobility limited. The slimmer by far Mrs. Ha simply squeeezed in with my old 400mm job and pressed away, click, click, click. As most of the directions were flowing in Cantonese I was always a tad behind the pack and even when the extraordinarily kind Michelle and Jemi guided me towards the bird I found my view obscured by foliage. Eventually I got a few shots away over someone's shoulder but didn't allow enough for the sun on the back of the bird's head so those clean-ish shots were all deletes - overexposed. So I am left with one fairly ordinary shot of a most un-ordinary bird.

You see, whilst the Keystone Cops conducted their Chinese Firedrill on the grass, the bird refused to be bothered. Indeed, Mrs. Ha maintains to this evening that he was playing games with us, ducking and diving, Cockney fashion, to make life just a tad more tricky for us. So I have decided the said gossie must be called George. And when Mrs. Ha and I return at 11.59 tomorrow, if he starts playing up again I shall do my best Joyce Grenfell impression and admonish him firmly. George...... don't do that. Good night all.

Sticky fingers

There are days when the birds just sit up and beg to be snapped and you just can't get it right. Yesterday was such a day. I had chances to photograph some decent birds and missed the best one, so ably snapped by John H.

Nonetheless a decent potter about was had and I discovered some new sites to explore.

Here are the only half decent pics from yesterday:







The Hawfinch or Coccothraustes coccothraustes to his friends was a difficult bird to put it mildly. High up in the tree, obscured by twigs and against the light. A most imperfect combination on a dull, grey, warmish day. The Black-naped monarch, Hypothymis azurea, so ably captured by John (see his blog) simply would not cooperate with me. Each time I pressed the shutter I ended up with a blank screen as it flew faster than I could react. A small bird in a large expanse of foliage, moving quickly, when you are working with an 800mm lens trying to find the blighter, is a real challenge. The fact that several others managed it doesn't console me much! Ditto the cuckoo-shrike. I had a couple of good opportunities before it moved back into the leaves and I was just too slow. Exposure wrong, lens focused on wrong branch...... just a duffer's day for yours truly. The flowerpecker is a real cutie, Dicaeum cruentatum, and this is a big crop as this was a 9cm bird in the top of the tree and very small in frame, even with the bazooka.

So when people say "gosh, you must be good" (and they do occasionally) little do they know that for each decent shot there are days of frustration and hundreds of "deletes". That of course is the joy of digital. It costs NOWT to press the shutter. Nowadays I actually press the shutter less often as I become more conscious of composition, size of bird in frame, exposure limitations etc. There are probably a couple of dozen really top-notch pro-amateurs photographing birds in Hong Kong now. I won't name them but they all outshine me but also give me something to aspire to when I retire.

The saddest part of yesterday was finding the remnants of a Painted snipe, Rostratula benghalensis, at Long Valley. John speculated it might be a victim not of H5N1 but moggius domesticus. Pesky creatures. Drown the lot of them, I say. We did see 2 live P.S.s but they were buried deep in the vegetation and deigned not to be photographed. "Another day, another snap, another snipe" as we say in the trade.

No bugs thanks, we're Bovine.

The year of the Ox in the Lunar calendar is almost upon us so Mrs. Ha and I went to the CNY Fair in Victoria Park. There the mix is flowers and trash. About 50:50. We go to buy blossom, daffs and berries to decorate the house. The prices are down quite markedly on last year, a sure sign of recession. The trash includes just about anything you can imagine to do with The Ox or cows and of course...... giraffes!! Yes, giraffes were everywhere and I know not why. My favourite trash this year was a poster of Wee Donald McTsang with a face full of banana skins. Its a political joke, a touch of satire even. Made me chuckle anyway. Windmills are a symbol of change for the better. I guess the wind blows away all the ills of the old year and blows in good luck for the new year. I have never been quite clear what the strange yellow fruit are that proliferate. Anyway, I hope the wind blows me and all my chums good birds in the Year of the Ox. Gong Hei Fat Choi as we say in the valleys [of Clearwater Bay].

A grand day out, Gromit[?]

A trip to Tai Po Kau, Mai Po and Long Valley was very enjoyable but what really made it was the gorgeous soft light from 4.30 - 5.30ish at Long Valley. Guess which pictures were taken at that time.

These birds are Eastern marsh harrier, Richard's pipit (Dick to his mates), Scaly-breasted munia, Black-necked starling and Zitting cisticola. And no, I didn't make that last one up. Africa is full of cisticolas, many told apart only on vocalisation unless you are either a) an expert or b) another cisticola. I particularly like the pipit, which looked gorgeous in the soft light of the setting sun, the breast looking almost vinous in colour rather than the handbook's rather boring "buff" description. I suppose having the words "buff" and "bird" close together may get Fumier excited. Life is full of disappointments. I should know.

Gaudy bird or "if you've got it, flaunt it"

What a fabulous bird this is apart from the rather tedious latin name, Monticola solitarius philippensis. The photos were taken in harsh light, which spoils them somewhat. The "flauntiness" of the bird (which is a male incidentally) was reminiscent of the 3 birds of the other variety, sitting opposite us in Tokyo Joe last night. Such a shame that girls can't get clothes to fit these days. There was insufficient scaffolding to support their infrastructure and a constant need ensued to "rearrange" the woefully inadequate upper garments. This is terribly un-PC but in mitigation I shall post no photos of the offenders.

A trio of New Year images

I present to you the world's first "goose-stepping" pond heron, the world's most unhappy mudskipper and my favourite bird of the New Year, the Black-shouldered kite, Elanus caeruleus. You correspondent is out on a "twitch" today for Blue rock thrush. Such jewels of sanity when the world has gone Mad-off. I thank you.