Mai Po revisited

For the first time yesterday Mrs. Ha came to Mai Po with me. She even took a camera with her. Here are some of the pics.








I'm not saying which of us took these but she was an absolute trooper and is now joining the HKBWS so she can get a Mai Po permit. We were blessed with few birds but we did have warm sunshine and low humidity. I even managed to wander round with the 500mm lens on a tripod without feeling completely cream-crackered. Today we explored the woods along the Wilson Trail above Ho Chung. She rapidly discovered how tough woodland birding can be. Lots of birdsong and calls but the most fleeting of glimpses of tiny creatures. A Pallas' warbler drove us mad as we tried to get views lasting more than a nano-second. Mike Turnbull and Snowball alerted us to a singing Mountain Tailorbird but we didn't see it. All in all a most satisfying couple of days. Mrs Ha is especially chuffed because I bought her a digital piano yesterday, a clavinola in beautiful ebony. It faithfully reproduces the sound of everything from a Steinway grand to a Harpsichord. We whizzed over to Tom Lee after lunch and picked up some sheet music - easy stuff she can already play, or at least she could 32 years ago when she packed up at grade 6. So when I come home on Monday night it will be Rondo Alla Turca and Fuer Elise.

Ying Tong Iddle I-Po

Mrs.Ha was taken to Yin Kong near Mai Po today. You may know Yin Kong as "Long Valley". HK's answer to the "Swampy affair" was the lengthy and successful protest against the KCRC's madcap scheme to build a spur line across HK's last remaining scrap of agricultural wetland. Long Valley is that site and it remains superb habitat for birds. Here are a few snaps of our romantic morning out (surely some mistake? ed.)






Sadly the big gun was not with us so the images are not good, taken with a 400mm lens boosted by a 2x TC. Next time I shall take the 500mm and use a tripod. Monopods are better than nowt but not a lot.

The birds are: Ruddy-breasted crake, Skylark, Snipe sp. and Wood sandpiper.