Lunar New Year's Eve - Part I

Lunar New Year in south China is like Christmas and New Year combined in europe. There is still a wholehearted enthusiasm for traditional festivals here.

The streets in Hong Kong get very busy after dinnertime and people go out to buy flowers or small mandarin orange trees. So did we.





Are we having fun yet ?

Lunar New Year's Eve - Part II

Twenty-first century tops have lights in them ! Whatever next ?
Nice Hat !
SOMEBODY thinks I look like "Shrek" ! I deny everything !

Woodland Birds - Tai Po Kau

No really, we do have woodland in Hong kong, and the birders' traditional favourite spot is Tai Po Kau.

But this can be a bit of a fag to wander round with heavy gear. And the light is often poor, but that's why DIGITAL was invented.

These are Velvet-fronted nuthatch, Rufous-capped Babbler and Yellow-cheeked Tit. BUT not necessarily in that order.




And a "Lunar New Year Bonus" Moon Moth !

Tideline fun at Mai Po 16th Jan 2009

Lurched out to the boardwalk hide on Friday 16th Jan. The tide came pretty high and the waders were exercised by a pair of Eastern Marsh Harriers and a Peregrine.

Peregrine

Eastern Marsh Harrier (the egret got away)

Why do they menace the other birds ?
Because they CAN.

Streptopelia orientalis

When I started birding in Hong Kong in the 1980s we used to cheerfully call this "Rufous Turtle Dove". But, ornithological progress being what it is, this is now split as "Oriental Turtle Dove". I believe this species has turned up in Finland, where observant Finns have noticed the difference between this and European Turtle Dove. I read about it in the now-defunct Alula magazine.

Eastern Marsh Harriers at Mai Po

Quite a few examples of "Circus spilonotus" around at the moment, here are two from last week:-
first-winter

adult

Who's a pretty boy, then ?