A BAD end to January but a good way to start the Year of the Horse

A very lazy day today. We were out last night and enjoyed a superb meal. That is my excuse for sleeping in this morning. I was still first down to look after Lulu and she clearly didn’t have such a fun evening as she was suffering from a runny tummy this morning. She seems better now and has had a lot of fuss today.

I confined myself to taking pics in the garden and so there is nothing more exciting that a bulbul in the bath today. Avert your eyes if bath scenes offend you!

Splish splash I was taking a bath indeed. And just for fun, here is a very similar shot in monochrome.

I’m not convinced Red-whiskered Bulbuls look good in B&W but the water droplets look ok, if nothing else. What impresses me is the look of concentration. Bulbul RW must be taking it very seriously, careful not to miss any delicate areas. Those axillaries can be so tricky. I was thinking of putting some conditioner in the water but decided against it. Crabtree & Evelyn’s Bulbul bath gel? It has to catch on.

 

 

Pilgrimage

Each year Mrs. Ha and I try to squeeze in a visit to Victoria park for the Lunar New Year fair. Tomorrow the Year of the Horse starts so today was our last chance. Other than bumping into Bob T. it was a little disappointing this year. There seemed to be more emphasis on politics and junk than flowers.

Me? I preferred the flower power approach.

Flowers to the People!

I did take one shot that looked ok in B&W but it had nothing to do with the fair.

But of course you need a bird. I picked Hair-crested Drongo today as we have had one in the garden as I have been writing this. It sat deep in the tree and would not perch out in the open. They rarely do. So here is one that cooperated back in December 2011. The glossy sheen is anything but black when the sun catches it. Maybe today’s visitor will return but I fear not. And we have to go out to dinner en famille this evening so I have to go and scrub up. I shall not be applying the Hwamei’s liquid eye liner.

 

 

Pretty BAD

I landed back in HK today after a tiring but exhilarating trip to Dubai. Not much sleep and on day one I kicked off at 7am with a breakfast meeting and finished dinner with clients at 11pm.  All that means of course that I was not out firing the bazooka at the birds. I went back instead to this time three years ago and revive a pretty garden visitor, the Hwamei. If you hear an English Common Blackbird singing in Hong Kong, its probably the Hwamei. Our Chinese Blackbird sounds very different. I hope you like these 3 images.