irsychan

A pair of Slaty-breasted Rails were seen and photographed on 6th June 2015 morning at Mai Po.
No bird call used.  No bait used.  No noise inside the bird hide as I was the only one there; the guy who whistled loudly inside bird hide several times on 30 May 2015 trying to make the Greater Painted Snipe turn its head towards the guy's camera was not there, the two guys who protruded their cameras and also their heads and hands outside the bird hide window on 30 May 2015 were not there, and those guys who chatted loudly inside the bird hide on 30 May 2015 were also not there.

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7/06/2015 22:15

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13/06/2015 01:18

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26/06/2015 22:16

Apologies for the poor quality of photos.  When the original NEF files are compressed to below 200kb, they look like these.

[ Last edited by irsychan at 26/06/2015 22:20 ]

wilsondring

compressed or not .. lovely series!!

ajohn

Very nice photos.
Hopefully these birds are breeding again - I saw a pair with chicks last summer from the hides overlooking the scrape, so keep a look out!

tampccw

Notable !

John Holmes

Nice shots... As you say,it really makes a difference when the hide is quiet - the birds show much better !

esther03166

I saw one pluming It's feathers early in the morning today,  I took a video on my camera

kmatthew

Wonderful shots of this usually shy bird!

lexusjohn

Good find and good shots !

irsychan

Thank you Wilson, ajohn, tampccw, John, kmatthew and lexusjohn for your compliments.
The Slaty-breasted Rails are really very nervous. Luckily they appeared very early in the morning when only I was inside the bird hide.  If the bird hide were as noisy and disorderly as 30 May 2015, it is likely that the Rails would have fled away before getting near to the bird hide.  Mai Po used to be an excellent place for bird watching as only people with permits can enter.  But the condition has deteriorated recently.

[ Last edited by irsychan at 9/06/2015 22:26 ]