Pallas's Leaf Warbler

Phylloscopus proregulus, another winter visitor to Hong kong.
The call is a soft "Tooeeeyyy" - "Reminiscent of the cork being removed from a wine bottle" said a birding friend twenty years ago. I can't imagine why that description has stayed with me so long !

Great Cormorant at Mai Po Nature Reserve

Phalacrocorax carbo (but you knew that) race "sinensis" is a winter visitor to south China.
Hoo Boy, there are LOADS of them ! - as the professional ornithologists say.
Several thousand winter in Deep Bay and counting them properly is all part of the fun of the winter waterfowl counts.

"Peregrinator" - Mai Po Nature Reserve 8th Jan.2009

Some photos from Mai Po Nature Reserve today
The local race of Falco peregrinus is "peregrinator" which has these broad moustachial stripes... the migrant peregrines here can look quite a pale gray.


_ Having a "go" at Eastern Marsh Harrier ... fudged up the last shot but "Ho gwoh mo" - "Better than none!" as we say here in Hong Kong

Art for art's sake...

A Great Egret on a grey day recently at Nam Sang Wai.

Olive-backed Pipits

Airfield Road, Shek Kong
Mai Po
As a credit crunch "two-in-one special offer" here on J's HK bird blerg, two shots of "OBP" , a widespread passage migrant and winter visitor here in south china.

Happy New Year for a Black-faced Spoonbill

At Nam Sang Wai on New Years' Day there were about thirty photographers. I don't know how many frames were banged off at this BFS with a fish. A great "poseur", he caught the fish, then dropped it and picked it up again for the happy snappers who missed the photo opportunity the first time.





Happy New Year !