查看完整版本: Ma Wan in Summer, 2012

tsheunglai 7/08/2012 20:16

Ma Wan in Summer, 2012

[color=Plum][/color][b][size=5][color=Indigo][/color][/size][/b]

[b][size=4][color=DarkSlateGray]The call from the wild[/color][/size][/b]
(Date: 7th Aug 2012)
It was the calls of a [b][size=4][color=Plum]Long-tailed shrike [/color][/size][/b]for the past several mornings that lured me to take a round trip along the fringe of Ma Wan Island, a one-day break from my Tai Chi drills which had been almost non-stop for the past three weeks. I started from the gate of Parklisland nearest the sloppy road that leads straight up to a service reservoir.

As I wasn't in a hrurry for any target bird -anyhow Long-tailed shrikes are not secretive and quite vociferous too- I stopped at a smallish Tin Hau Temple and copied down the rhymed pairs of words at the door, found a juvenile [b][size=4][color=Plum]Chinese bulbul [/color][/size][/b]before I arrived at the service reservoir path.

I was at the moment also butterfly and dragonfly-watching. It was before I had picked up three species of butterflies and one dragonfly before the shrike flew up into view, accompanied with its indentifiable
call.

I left the sloppy path part of the island and walked towards Tin Liu Village and walked along the hill-fringe behind the service reservoir, with the purpose of finding [b]a Blacked-eared kite [/b]that the kind of which frequent - an electic wire that runs lengthwise along that part of the the island - with one side almost overhanging above the sea. Soon a kite soared low within sight.

It was at the old pier with a small typhoon shelter that gave me a mild surprise. A total of four Night herons were found, three perching on the rafts of a fishfarm far outnumbered by a total of twenty little egrets on the other side of the rafts.

Suddenly, the hurried rapid calls of a Common kingfisher caught my attention - a species I am still uncertain it being a seasonal visitor or a resident. It did not show its appearance until I reuturned from a diverted walk of ten minutes, with its blue back showing well. No, it was not just a single kingfisher that was there. There was yet another, which had caught a little fish with its bill and found its perch on the top of scaffold that supported a dilapidated, deserted wood house.

I stopped when I did not find any Reef egrets that favour the shoals just a short distance from the modern ferry pier, with a modest list of fifteen species on my list.  

S L Tai

[[i] Last edited by tsheunglai at 9/08/2012 18:39 [/i]]

tsheunglai 9/08/2012 18:53

Dear all

Thanks for reading my humble report. After all, I haven't been forgotten after a period of two months for short memory of modern humans.

The birding trip I reported on the seventh is not a single and random one. It's meant as a good start
for a bird survey that I think will last till early summer of next year.

On the 8th I heard [b][size=4][color=Plum]a Magpie [/color][/size][/b]and today the 9th I saw [b][size=4][color=Plum]a Jungle crow[/color][/size][/b], [b][size=4][color=Plum]a Reef egret [/color][/size][/b]and at least one [b][size=4][color=Plum]Common sandpiper[/color][/size][/b], the latter being quite unexpected and possibly two. Overall, my [b][size=4][color=DarkSlateGray]Ma Wan list now stands at nineteen (19).[/color][/size][/b]

S L Tai

[[i] Last edited by tsheunglai at 9/08/2012 18:56 [/i]]

tsheunglai 31/10/2012 19:50

[b][size=4][color=Black]Morning of 31 October 2012[/color][/size][/b]

It is admitted time and other committments kept me from regular going-arounds of the island,
though attention is kept to any unusual happening. And this morning is one example.

What could the cold front do to such a degraded bird habitat as Ma Wan? I was finishing the rest
of my breakfast at home when I caught sight of some Grey herons flying at the conrner of the bay
next to the hilllock of the water service reservoir, an uncommon sight.

I picked up my binoculars and went to the spot. On the hill slope facing the sea I counted 15 of
Grey herons and more in number of Little egrets, resting on tree-tops, strongly suggesting they
were migrants taking a day's respite before flying south.

A sigle juvenile of Black-crowned night heron and Moorhen were seen on the other conrner of the bay,
the latter straightly a surprise. It was also nice to find my first two of Olive-backed piptits on
the island and hearing and sighting a Blackbird, stretching my expectation to seeing thrushes again this
winter.


S L Tai

[[i] Last edited by tsheunglai at 1/11/2012 19:40 [/i]]

tsheunglai 7/11/2012 19:32

[size=4][color=Purple][/color][/size][color=Purple][/color][size=4][color=Black][/color][/size][b]7th November 2012[/b]

[b]The female Blue rock thrush [/b]appeared again on the rocky shoals near the new ferry pier, second time of seeing it.

Observing unaided with binoculars afforded me to concentrate on its overall structure and behaviour -
slender necked with a medium-lengthed bill, bit heavy bellied, standing almost upright, 75 degrees,to
be exact, jumped on a rock, stood and flicked its tail slightly three times observing surroundings,
jumped down on the sand and pecked (food I suppose) and flew showing pointed wing-tips and a little
chestnut kind of brown on upper wings, otherwise blended so well with surroudings that its hardly
possible to find when it remained immobile.

It had companions of [b]two Common sandpipers [/b]which have become regular morning visitors mainly feeding at the same place.

S L Tai

[[i] Last edited by tsheunglai at 7/11/2012 19:33 [/i]]

kmike 7/11/2012 20:51

a very nice description of the BRT Mr Tai.

Cheers
Mike K
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