Last breaths of Autumn ?

Amur Falcon - Falco amurensis

A few days ago I found a couple of Amur Falcons  at Tsim Bei Tsui.  I was confident that these two birds would presage  regular sightings over the following couple of weeks.  Well, these are the only ones I've seen this autumn.  However, other people have seen them here and there.

Amur Falcon - Falco amurensis

Amur Falcon - Falco amurensis

Amur Falcon - Falco amurensis

Last week there were a couple of cool, autumnal mornings at the Mai Po boardwalk with the kind of bright light one only expects in mid-summer.   A Black-capped Kingfisher took up station on the mudflat.

Black-capped Kingfisher - Halcyon pileata

Black-capped Kingfisher - Halcyon pileata

On a different mudflat - at Nam Sang Wai - HK's other "Halcyon", White-throated Kingfisher. Looking at the colours of these, you'd never confuse the two.

White-throated Kingfisher - Halcyon smyrnensis

White-throated Kingfisher - Halcyon smyrnensis

Extending a "kingfisher" theme, a Pied Kingfisher showed well at Nam Sang Wai, too.  

Pied Kingfisher - Ceryle rudis

Pied Kingfisher - Ceryle rudis

Finally, back to the ever-reliable* mudflats at Mai Po, where an Osprey was kind enough to fly reasonably close to the Cathay/Birdwatching Society hide. 

With a fish this size he wasn't going to do the usual " Up,up, and away! " disappearing act they so usually seem to do.

(* when the tide is high)

(Western) Osprey - Pandion haliaetus

(Western) Osprey - Pandion haliaetus

(Western) Osprey - Pandion haliaetus

(Western) Osprey - Pandion haliaetus

Like every other shot in this post these photos are quite heavily cropped.  

I saw my first Daurian Redstart of the winter only yesterday. Surely winter is upon us.