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.