En Zud - Part Two

Fairy Prion
It's good Gary Melville the Captain/Guide was confident about these - all the prions look similar


Cape Petrels NZ race australe x 3




Antarctic race capense x 1

En Zud -Part One

Just back from New Zealand, we did three "Ocean Wings" trips at Kaikoura on South Island. The big albatrosses are used to human handouts as you can see here...



Salvins Mollymawk -

fun to try to get one of these in the FRAME, never mind in focus, from the back of the boat when under way...


Wandering (Gibson's) Albatross

You can't cling to a camera-and-lens AND a pair of binos AND the handrail so the binos stayed in the bag and I vowed to try to "work out" the bird identifications from the photos. But I'm basically unfamiliar with these so hope they are ID'd properly.




That takes care of some of the "big fellas"

Mai Po Boardwalk 11 Nov. 2008

Finally feels like winter has arrived..

Nordmann's Greenshank (rear)

Great Cormorants




Saunders's Gull

you don't often see them well in autumn.

But I missed yesterday's Greater Whitefronted Goose ! (sniff!)

Long Valley, 8th Nov. 2008

Painted Snipe




Common Buzzard

A lot of bird photographers were around this morning !

Nam Sang Wai - 6th Nov. 2008

Grey Heron

Shoveller and Teal

Chinese Pond Heron

Collared Crow

Black-faced Spoonbill

A few of the usual wintering birds.

Pycnonotus sinensis

or "Chinese Bulbul" as it's known in English here in Hong kong. One of the official names for this beast is "Light-vented Bulbul" - I think that's the Oriental Bird Club's official name, and Ben King is partly culpable as well, using "Light-vented..." in his landmark 1975 "Field guide to the Birds of South East Asia"..

As the latin name means "Chinese" I think that, - here in HK - we're well within our rights to ignore committees of Englishmen at the OBC. And, with all due respect to him, Mr Ben King !

And they are entitled to ignore us too. Such is the way of the world.

Saturday Nov 1st at Fung Lok Wai

This area is out near the Border Security Fence at Tsim Bei Tsui. Many fishponds are inactive, as one of the developers owns a big chunk of the site.





A nice adult male Eastern Marsh Harrier was around.



And it's a good spot for Red Turtle Doves in autumn. Only 4-5 seen on Nov. 1st, but sometimes there are fifty or more.