Victoria Peak, Hong Kong, Oct 2011

The plan was to have an evening stroll around the peak, with the chance of getting a nice picture of a Black-eared Kite silhouetted against the dramatic cityscape of Hong Kong.

My astronomical calculations predicted that solar/planetary alignments would be favourable for this, but I failed to take into account that the fire alarm in the bus station might be triggered and we would not be allowed off the bus until the sun had almost set.

A beautiful song carried from high on the mountain. The Hwamei’s voice is rich and fluty, but the bird itself could only be seen very poorly in the evening gloom.

While I was up there, it seemed a shame to waste a chance to see the legendary lights of Hong Kong, so I took the opportunity to get a few shots and then cross to see the laser show from the Kowloon side.

Next day, I returned and left a little extra time in case of unexpected emergencies. Tip for next time; Victoria Peak is ridiculously busy on a Saturday (from the back of the queue, I watched one bus fill up and return to Central leaving me to wait for the next one). 

The kites were very distant and not very accommodating. I had hoped that they would bank on outstretched wings to give a beautiful silhouette against the buildings, but the city provides such a wide column of rising air that there is no need for them to circle to stay in the current. A flat profile against the background of the city proved to be a terrific disappointment, so I had to employ some jiggery pokery to give the desired effect.

Take the bus no. 15A from the bus station at Central. The journey takes 25 minutes and costs HK$9.8 @12 = £1.

 Birds seen; 5

Black-eared Kites 80, Peregrine Falcon 1, Sulphur-crested Cockatoo 15, Pale vented Bulbul 3, Japanese White-eye 4.

Follow the link below for a previous post from Victoria Peak;
http://redgannet.blogspot.com/2009/09/im-still-here.html

Visit the dedicated Asia Page for more posts from Hong Kong and the Far East.

I'm still here.

How gratifying that somebody misses me.

I have beeen off work for a couple of weeks with a knee injury, unable to hobble to the nearest birdy patch.

Here is a piece about Victoria Peak that I should have included with the Hong Kong Wetlands post.

During winter and passage, one might expect to find some exciting thrushes and flycatchers on the peak, but as this was early summer, I did not imagine that I would find anything out of the ordinary. What I especially wanted to get was a photo of a kite from above. The Hong Kong variant is the Black-eared Kite and it often soars on the thermals around the buildings and the peak. A circular path around the mountain gives the opportunity to look down on them as they fly. I had previously got some nice shots, but the air had been a little misty on that occasion. Today it was clear so I hoped that I could get a better one.

Bus no. 15 leaves the bus terminus at Central and takes about 40 mins to reach the peak. A path runs in a loop around the mountain. It is a flat, paved path which made for easy walking on a hot day. There were the predictable Chinese and Crested Bulbuls and a few kites in the distance.

Much of the path is lined with secondary forest. Here and there a drive leads up to a desirable residence. Occasionally, an open area affords a view over the city.

There are two proper lookout points. From the first of these, I tried to get a shot of a kite against the mirrored glass of the huge buildings, but it was too distant to be realistic.

At the second lookout, there were kites gliding around in the wooded valley below. They would come up the mountainside and cross a ridge into the next valley before reappearing a few moments later. All the time, they kept very distant. There was a potential shot of a bird against the islands in the distance, so I set up for it and waited for it to happen.

Each time a bird came into frame, I fired on motor-drive at nearly 3 frames per second, hoping that it would wheel around and complete my picture. Sadly they kept going straight and appeared as a black line on the photo rather than a recogniseable bird shape.

After nearly 200 frames, I had a couple of marks that might, without prompting, be taken for birds, but not quite what I was hoping for.

The traditional Hong Kong afternoon rain was closing in, so I waited for one more bird to fly through the frame and then packed up. No sooner had the tripod been hoisted back onto my shoulder than something spooked the birds in the valley below. Suddenly there were 30 kites in the spot where my framed picture would have been. I quickly tried to set up the shot again, but now I had more bird-like shapes than I knew what to do with.

The second lookout is almost exactly half-way round the loop. Just slightly further on, travelling anticlockwise, a big fig tree spreads out over the path. Birds were very loud here and I hoped that the Crested Goshawk might be close. Magpie Robin, bulbuls, White-throated Laughing Thrush, Common Tailorbird, White-eye and Peking Robin were all calling.

Crested (red-whiskered) Bulbul

Perhaps it was a snake, I never found out. The threat appeared to pass and all the birds melted back into the trees.

Just for fun, I tried to create the image I had been hoping for using my photo-editing software. Is it too much do you think? Perhaps I should include a prayer?