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.