My Lamma Forums

[Granola Eater]

Oh.

[Guy MIller]

[Guy MIller]

Moving on......,

[Lamma-Gung]

Wow, this picture is definitely worthy to be featured in the Lamma-zine Blog on the home page!

Got a few more of similar quality (subject, colours, composition, props), plus captions, so I could make a feature story out of them?

[Guy MIller]

Thanks L-B - yes, I'm just sorting out a dozen or so - will try & send within the next few days

[Guy MIller]

And what type of Wagtail is this?

[Guy MIller]

This one I don't know, the pink legs have confused me (assume it should be
Fork-tailed Sunbird as is the most common).....so perhaps either Chav or Zep
could help me out (was just one quick shot so no other hints I'm afraid)

[Chav Darwin]

Sorry, haven't checked in for a while.

The wagtail would have to be an immature white wagtail, and the sunbird a female fork-tailed. The Hong Kong book (Viney, Phillips and Lam) is not very helpful with its illustrations here. There are much better pictures in Craig Robson's Birds of South east Asia.

[Lamma-Gung]

Report from our newly appointed Ornithological Correspondent in the Lamma Birders Society (Lamma-BS):

"This world-exclusive photo of a most unusual pair of birds (see Illustration 1) - imaged on Lamma Island yesterday, April 29, 2005 - has been submitted anonymously to our esteemed society today, April 30, 2005. It shows a bird species rarely ever observed or photographed in its natural habitat. Their diminutive size of typically less than 2.5 inches in height might be a main reason for this scarcity of observational data.

This exotic creature seems to be beloved by local children and bird fanciers alike, even though their songs have never been heard or recorded. They might even be songless, or they could be reserving their singing solely for their secret, still undescribed mating rituals, but this is pure, unscientific speculation at this early stage of research and we can't indulge in this here at all.

Not shy at all, these birds seem to like the often disharmonic and high-pitched sounds of a typical Chinese opera orchestra, congregating in little flocks close to the football pitch in YSW right now, seemingly attracted by the availability of many local foods in the little carnival outside the bamboo arena. They can only be observed at dusk and at night, but only during the 5-day Tin Hau festival opera performances here every year.

Afterwards, they migrate to other parts of the Hong Kong area. It's been speculated that they follow the opera troupe around, but this can't be proven yet. But there seem to be quite a few superficial similarities to the giggly, enthusiastic, starry-eyed flocks of Chinese opera groupies - all young local Chinese girls - who follow their idols from performance to performance. But these possible correlations also can't be proven yet. Please ignore these somewhat flippant remarks.

Hearing the Chinese opera singers, especially the serenely lovely voice of the famous heroine Mui Suet See, seems to calm these lucky birds. Lulled by her beautiful singing, they get so tame that they allow themselves to be touched by locals & even tourists. Tough, very strangely, these birds feel sticky & soft to the touch. As expected, they've also been known to be highly averse to water, even staying out of the rain wherever possoble. It's even believed that a bath might do them serious harm, even though this hasn't been academically proven yet, for fear of harming these precious & rare creatures of beauty.

They like to perch on little wooden branches in a most unusual manner, the branch almost seeming to penetrate their back orifice, but this might be an optical illusion and should be disregarded.

The birds also appear to be flightless, as nobody has ever observed them airborne. Each bird seems to have a different pattern & colouring, even though green & red are the dominant plumage colours, with always fire-red eyes and tail (warnings for predators?).

Because of their frequent geographical proximity to Chinese Opera performances, this species has been colloquially dubbed "Chinese Opera Birds", with their proper Latin name and nomenclature not officially attributed yet."


Any additional information and observations from the readers are highly encouraged, even non-academic ones! Help to describe this ornithological treasure better, one more most precious addition to the amazing wealth of bio-diversity on our fair isle!

[Guy MIller]

Black Drongos & Rufous Turtle-doves everywhere now & may have seen a Bar-tailed Cuckoo-dove in flight but can't be sure - similar colouring to Coucal but flight was long & dove-like

[Guy MIller]

Just a couple of weeks ago this chap was in full breeding colours of burgundy & blue...

[zep]

Nice shot - there seem to have been quite a few Chinese pond herons around recently.

There will be lots of birders around this weekend - it's the HK Birdwatching Society's annual trip to Lamma, staying at the "Youth Hostel" and looking around Sok Kwu Wan on Saturday afternoon, and at large on Sunday. Apparently the one they are most hoping to see is the savannah nightjar, which is not really difficult - it usually cruises the hillsides from Mt Panorama to the Youth Hostel just after sunset each evening, making a harsh repeated "schweep" call.

[Guy MIller]

Common Tailorbird

[Guy MIller]

Young White Wagtail just out of the nest - yesterday the parents sherpherded
this & 2 others to the middle of the field & then fed them in relays - today only
one adult & one young appeared

[Guy MIller]

This was one of a pair of Yellow-bellied Prinia (Prinia flaviventris) flitting
amongst the reeds seemingly collecting food for their young rather than eating it themselves

[Guy MIller]

White-backedMunia a lot brighter than I've seen before,
partly coz of the light but may be in it's breeding plumage (Zep/Chav?)

[chuckm]

Not having the advantages of an education in photographic arts and sciences, I am often in awe of skilled nature photographers like Guy Miller. My sincere kudos. You must have the patience of a saint, the luck of the Irish and the reflexes of Bruce Lee to capture these bird images.

More!

[Guy MIller]

[Guy MIller]

Crested Myna - not a particlarly good photo but gets his mood across
(taken with a D70 & a Nikon 80-200mm 1:2.8 D)

[Guy MIller]

Immature Greater Coucal - is smaller & has a less glossy plumage than the adult.
This one was seen being attacked by a very territorial White-breasted Waterhen.