Sun arise, she bring in the morning

Well at 6am sharp Messrs AH and JH were on parade. We looked everywhere but couldn’t find Rolf Harris. It was a shame because he would have provided the perfect accompaniment to the spectacle that we hadn’t come to see. We were after birds but stopped to admire the sunrise. These were shot with my toy camera, the SX50 HS. Click for large versions if you care.

 

 

The light at the boardwalk hides was superb but the birds were on the fringe of shooting distance for my 400mm F4 lens and I wanted to try some flight shots so left the converter off. For the avoidance of doubt the idea is that the birds do the flying, not me. Well here I have to rely on John H to post something worthwhile as my shots are all a bit blurgh. Ok lah, but not worth posting.

There were a few extras in the cast and best supporting roles go to: Spider Woman

This species (we don’t know what it is) builds a web tent in the mangroves – not especially accessible – and had a few smaller spider hangers on – possibly males (think George & Mildred or Sid James and Peggy Mount) and a cocoon of food or possibly eggs hanging down in the tent. It’s a nice looking beastie.

Bridget the Midget – undoubtedly (in my mind) the worst quality shot I’ve blogged yet but I was quite chuffed to see this as it was a damselfly tick for me. Its real name is not Bridget but Mortonagrion hirosei, Four-spot Midget. It loafs around close to water level and today I was not going to try to set up my macro lens so this is another superzoom shot and I have tried to compensate in PS for the dreadful light – the damselfly was half in shade and half in bright sun. It is also not sharp. Never mind.

Three more odes to finish off:

And that’s it for today. I need a rest. Until next time…..

 

 

 

Mai Po for beginners

I often post a few shots of birds taken at Mai Po and today will be no exception. However today I thought I would show you a few other snaps of the reserve. When I arrived this morning this was the light over the shrimp ponds.

The reserve is accessed by a path next to the warden’s hut.

And I usually then head straight for the Frontier Closed Area, beyond the fence that was erected to keep out illegal immigrants. This is where you go through, providing you have the right permits, which I do.

Then you reach the boardwalk. A few people have kindly suggested I spare my back by using a buggy or trolley – here is the problem! This is not your average boardwalk – just a few planks on floating drums, with a handrail on one side. Single lane traffic with occasional passing places.

The new section is much better but I honestly don’t fancy trying to get a trolley down the first 400m or so.

Walking this section early in the morning is wonderful. I liken it to entering a cathedral and this is the nave. No human sound, often bathed in light with wonderful (dawn) choral bird music. My tripod is held at arms length in front of me to break the spiders’ webs that cross the pathway. I always know when I am the first down the boardwalk. This morning I found this richly coloured fungus.

And if I am earlyI can watch the mudskippers.

But what I am really here for is birds. So here is a selection from today.

Black-tailed godwits

Cattle egret

Chinese Pond Heron

Great egret

Great Knot

Greater Sand Plover

Greater Sand Plover with breakfast

Sharp-tailed sandpiper

Terek Sandpiper

Finally, can anybody identify this bird? I know and so do the people who were in the hide with me this morning but its a good ‘quiz bird’.

Mystery Bird

So there we are. A beautiful day, convivial company (thank you Karen & Ruy) and a few snaps to bring home. What more could a boy want?

The garden tick

Let’s be honest. I don’t work much these days. When I do I should give it my undivided attention. Today I tried and failed. I was having a perfectly good and helpful call with someone several thousand miles away when I was distracted by a small bird perched in the garden opposite the house. Desperate that it should not fly without me having established its credentials I grabbed a pair of binoculars. Aha! I exclaimed (silently…….. ) whilst continuing to talk into the squawk  box. I quickly grabbed my trusty SX50 HS. I managed 4 shots through the closed window before the bird flew and I had to recommit myself 100% to the call. Multi-tasking par excellence.

I was pleasantly surprised to see it was a thrush, an Eyebrowed thrush, Turdus obscurus. This is a garden tick, which, to the uninitiated, is a bird I have not recorded in the garden before. I always feel rather sad that a bird as beautiful as a thrush should be in the genus turdus. It really is a sh*t name. Gratifyingly, if you put turdus into Google Translate it does actually offer thrush as the translation and nothing remotely “poo” related. Try it and see. Go on, its fun. I kid you not. The most mellifluous of birds, the Common blackbird, is Turdus merula. Hardly a fair name for a bird that can be mistaken for a Nightingale (Luscinia megarhynchos) in song. Not all thrushes are turdi though. Some for example are Zoothera. Bit this isn’t a taxonomy lesson. If you really want to know about thrushes I recommend “Thrushes” by Clement & Hathway. Its not a snappy title, I know –  but it is accurate. I eagerly await the next Thrush Wars film, Return of the Turdi”.

The said TU is a scarce migrant and winter visitor to HK so it was jolly decent of it to turn up on our little patch. Is it worth ticking? Well, here it is.

Not too flash, not to gaudy, just a rather smart bird with no problem under the sale of goods act – it actually does have an eyebrow.

I also spotted another small brown bird in the garden after the call had finished. A female Daurian redstart. I didn’t photograph it as it is sadly rather drab compared to the male. But a nice garden bird after all. I don’t think it is a tick but it may be. The White-breasted waterhen is still hanging around, sans water. It just walks up and down the path each afternoon with an occasional foray onto the grass and then disappears until the next day.

And that is it for my day. Our friends in America celebrated with turkey yesterday. I celebrated with an Eyebrowed thrush today. And I didn’t eat a single slice for which the TU gives thanks.