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| Black-faced Spoonbill - Platalea minor |
Hazy sunshine and a low tide predicted in late morning made NSW seem like an attractive place to visit for the first time in over a year.
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| Common Teal - Anas crecca |
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| White-breasted Kingfisher - Halcyon smyrnensis |
I get the feeling that many of the more experienced HK photographers consider NSW a bit passé And someone recently pointed out to me that hardly any real rarities turn up there.
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| Grey Heron - Ardea cinerea |
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| Northern Shoveler - Anas clypeata |
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| Pied Avocet - Recurvirostra avosetta |
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| Pied Kingfisher - Ceryle rudis |
But the slipway near the AFCD post is still great place to practice “birds in flight” photography.
Woodland birding sites can be pretty quiet after mid-morning, but a low winter sun meant that there would be plenty of dark gullies along the track at Shek Kong Catchment, so there I went.
As it turned out, the first noteworthy bird was another “BIF” - a displaying Crested Goshawk.
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| Crested Goshawk - Accipiter trivirgatus |
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| Crested Goshawk - Accipiter trivirgatus |
I’ve seen them do this often before, but rarely so close and in such strong light.
Later on, a mixed feeding bird flock found me in a shady corner and I got shots of a couple of the more colourful species under the tree canopy.
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| Yellow-cheeked Tit - Parus spilonotus |
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| Silver-eared Mesia - Leiothrix argentaurus |
Daurian Redstarts, having mostly arrived for the Hong Kong winter three to four weeks ago, have established their territories and become more cautious of humans.
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| Daurian Redstart - Phoenicurus auroreus |
But this male gave me a brief photo opportunity as I returned to the end of the catchment road.
