A cold front arrived with clouds and flurries of rain on November 22nd. The temperature in the New Territories was a nippy-for-us thirteen degrees centigrade.
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| Japanese Quail |
Jemi and I met up with friends in the fishponds south of Mai Po at Tai Sang Wai. The main reason to go there were reports of Rook and Carrion Crows among the Large-billed Crows so common around the fishponds.
We couldn’t make out any exotic corvids for certain,
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| Chestnut-eared Bunting |
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| Little Bunting |
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| Japanese Quail (f) |
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| Japanese Quail (f) |
but two species of bunting and a Japanese Quail were the highlights.
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| two Large-billed Crows |
A Black-shouldered Kite lent a tropical flavour to proceedings
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| Black-shouldered Kite |
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| Black-shouldered Kite |
..and pond life continued as usual...
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| Black Kite harries Large-billed Crow |
As we left, an odd-looking female duck was spotted in a grass-filled pond.
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| Falcated Duck (female) |
I had mistaken it for a Gadwall, but our birding companions pointed out that it was, in fact, a female Falcated Duck.
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| Stejneger's Stonechat |
Mmmm....some duck revision by me will be necessary as our winter wildfowl numbers build up.
