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Oriental Storks at Mai Po
Umpteen Oriental Storks (Ciconia boyciana) have been cruising around Deep Bay since mid-January.Having missed them a couple of times, I finally caught up with them on 20th January...well, eight of them...
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Look who's here - Mai Po at the end of February
Might as well enjoy the Oriental White Storks (Ciconia boyciana)while we've got themWe had a trip out to the Pearl Delta on the 19th February, on the HK Dolphinwatch boat. Apart from the incomparable...
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A "Twitch" for a Scoter in Deep Bay, Hong Kong - 9th April 2023
Velvet/Stejnegers/White-winged Scoter in flight, Deep Bay, HK 9th April 2023Every month for the last thirty-or-so years a Waterfowl Count has been done in and around Mai Po Nature Reserve and Deep...
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Mid-April at the Mai Po Boardwalk hides
Most of the usual suspects have been on view.....Red-necked Stint (Calidris ruficollis)Common Redshank - (Tringa totanus)Mongolian Sand Plover - (Charadrius mongolus)Great Knot - (Calidris...
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Spring Waders at Mai Po - end April - early May 2023
The precarious existence of waders is demonstrated in real-time by their numbers seeming to be down in Hong Kong compared to previous years.Common Redshank - Tringa totanusTerek Sandpiper, Broad-billed...
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"Twitching" here and there.....
Brown-eared Bulbul - (Microcelis amaurotis) On Saturday, 22nd April we got the ferry to Po Toi Island, in the hope of seeing a "Hong Kong second record" Brown-eared Bulbul that had been reported a few...
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May 2023 - a good month for White-winged Terns (Chlidonias leucopterus)
All photos taken at Mai Po's boardwalk hides, May 2023
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"Dragon Boat" races, breeding terns, Hong Kong - 22 June
Feels like high summer now....."Tuen Ng Jit" and breeding terns, seen from the Tap Mun FerryBlack-naped Tern - Sterna sumatrana Roseate Tern - Sterna dougalliiRoseate Tern - Sterna...
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Autumn ? Really ?
The hottest mid-autumn festival ever - they say, but there's no HK Observatory announcement yet. The mudskippers at Mai Po are vying with crabs for space on Mai Po's mudflats....and there are a few...
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End of a sultry Autumn.....
Apologies for a paucity of posts in recent weeks, I had technical issues uploading images to "Blogger".After manfully fiddling with the settings, things appear to be working again... here's a selection...
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Pallas's Gulls at the Mai Po boardwalk hides
On 26th November 2023 I was in the boardwalk hide at Mai Po and had a record (I think) total of seven Pallas's Gulls (Ichthyaetus ichthyaetus)I couldn't get all seven in one shot, but...
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Izumi City, Kyushu, Japan - a Crane spectacle
Japan has two well-known "Wintering Crane" spectacles - the Red-crowned Cranes in Hokkaido in the northeast of the country and the Hooded Cranes on the island of Kyushu in the southwest.Hokkaido has...
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Impressions of Vietnam - 18th to 29th March 2024
Just a few impressions, and I've spared you the travelogue !
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3rd May 2024 - an Ashy Woodswallow "Twitch"
A report by John Allcock - and a well-dropped location "pin" - of HK's fourth Ashy Woodswallow - brightened a dull morning.Unlike HK's three previous Ashy Woodswallows, this one stayed for a couple of...
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Sunshine at Mai Po's boardwalk hides - 17th May 2024
By mid-may, most of the migration excitement is over, but there are still a variety of "gettable" waders and terns at Mai Po Nature Reserve, when conditions are right.
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Black-chinned Fruit Dove (Ptilinopus leclancheri) at Mei Foo, Kowloon
Discovered yesterday in a public park, this native of the Philippines is a "First Record" for Hong Kong.Word spread on social media, but we had gone out to a nice air-conditioned cinema downtown, and...
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"Long Valley Nature Park" finally opens...
Some views of Long Valley, now that it has finally opened.Things haven't really settled down yet, and visitors are not restricting themselves to the "Public visit" zone.At San Tin, a Black-necked...
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Siberian Cranes (Grus leucogeranus) at Mai Po - 13th January 2025
A single juvenile bird in 2002 was HK's first, and an adult and juvenile in Dec 2016 marked a second occurence. The juvenile disappeared after one day but the 2016 adult stayed until March 31st...
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Mingxi County, west-central Fujian Province, China 7-9 March 2025 - a flying...
Elliot's Pheasants (Syrmaticus ellioti)This short trip was planned and executed by Carrie MA. The main “Target Bird” was White-eared Night Heron. “BlackDog” To and I were able to join Carrie for the...
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Seabirding off northeast Taiwan, - 20th to 24th March 2025
Back in October 2024 we got a message out of the blue from Hiroyuki and Shoko TANOI, whose “Seabirding Japan” (here) is a go-to reference for seabirders from all over East Asia.We were invited to join...
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Seabirding off northeast Taiwan, 20th to 24th March 2025 - Part II
March 21st - Shen'ao PortAn early morning taxi delivered us from Rui Fang to Shen’ao Fishing Port, northeast of Taipei City.Our boat for the day was a relatively luxurious cruiser for anglers. A tasty...
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Western Sichuan - 16th to 25th May 2025 - Part 1
This was a second opportunity to use my newly acquired Mainland Visit Permit. Early in May, Captain Wong invited me to join a group of himself and two others on a trip to Sichuan, due to start on May...
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Western Sichuan 16th to 25th May - Part 2
The new highway to Sichuan’s Tibetan Grasslands opens this summer. As we drove north from Maerkang we could admire it at a distance. But even the older road is smooth and straight, and we made Ruoergai...
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Western Sichuan, 16th -25th May 2025 - Part 3
East of Ruoergai the grassland plateau breaks up into an area of wooded valleys, not far away, some the most picturesque parts of this landscape form the National Park at Jiuzhaigou. Daybreak near Ba...
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