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.
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?
Is it too much do you think? Perhaps I should include a prayer?
There are areas of ground cover plants and tangled understorey. It takes about 20 mins on the Subway. On the Yonge/University line, head from Union Station to St George. Change here onto the westbound platform of the Bloor Line. High Park has a station named for it. Get out here and the park is just across the road.
Halfway through the morning, a tug of attention came about when I thought I heard a Red-breasted Nuthatch, but could definitely smell bacon cooking. Another small party were passing through the pines close to the Grenadier Restaurant. Guests of honour were indeed some Red-breasted Nuthatches, sounding like the hooter on a little toy car, Northern Cardinal and more chickadees.
A Ring-billed Gull sat quietly in the sunshine while the eclipse Mallards roosted on the bank.
A Great Blue Heron flew across the lake and a Black-crowned Night Heron climbed about in a snag on the far side.
and at the top end, Wood Ducks preened and roosted on snags poking from the water.
A patch of small sunflower-like weeds was busy with American Goldfinches and chickadees. 
The male goldfinch was looking very worn. Close-by a small tree showed signs of beaver activity.
The mammal life is quite good for such a small park. There are Racoons, groundhogs, Eastern Grey Squirrels in grey and black forms, 
Eastern Chipmunks, and reportly, Coyote. A Striped Skunk was out by day near to the zoo enclosures. It did not look at all well, which may explain why it was out in the daylight.
Here, you will recall, is a railway line with a trail running alongside. The trail and the surrounding trees have been recently mascerated, so while access is good, all the ground cover and leaf cover have gone.
Beyond the railway line is a large Jewish cemetery on both sides of the road. American Robins and Starlings were abundant on the lawns. At the far side is an area where earth is dumped. Being a graveyard, the area is regularly topped up with loose soil and has developed a covering of rank vegetation, weeds and thistles.
This was another hotspot with Downy Woodpecker, American Goldfinch, Grey Catbird, House Wren, American Redstart and Warbling Vireo.
It was only 09.30, but the first dragonfly of the morning was already on the wing.
The sun was high, the day was hot and the dragonflies were zipping back and forth above the stream. Most of the rest of the day was spent “oding” (if there is such a word). For those of you who wrote in urging me to “stick to the birds”, here are some pictures especially for you.
A Green Heron, perched on a stake in the lake at Menlo Park, looked as if it was just about to lunge for a fish. Note the damselfly in the bottom right corner of the picture.
Now note the damselfly in the Green Heron. So after the coot in LA last week, the score stands at Birds 2 – Odonata 0.
If you prefer to see pictures of live dragonflies, go to 
I would be interested to know if any of you notice a reduction in the resolution for these pictures. I had reduced the resolution to take a picture to upload to e-bay and forgotten to adjust the setting back to the thumping 6mp that you are more used to.
A Metro train takes just 15 minutes from the Transit Mall at Long Beach to reach the Del Amo stop. A 2 minute walk east along Del Amo Avenue, takes you across a small tributary drain, then under the freeway. The Los Angeles River runs on the east side of and parallel to Freeway 710, flowing from north to south. It is a concrete drain for much of it’s length with an uninterrupted cycle path along it’s east bank. There is a path on the west-side, but in-coming drains interrupt it from time to time.
Among the stilt flocks were smaller gatherings of Short-billed Dowitchers, Wilson’s Phalarope and the occasional Greater Yellowlegs.
There were a few eclipse ducks, mostly Mallard from what I could see and plenty of House Finches and Bush-tits in the sage and creosote bushes on top of the bank.
Western Sand pipers are usually well represented, but only in small numbers today. 
Common Yellowthroats were indeed very common and there were more Bush-tits than you could shake a stick at. 
A blue bird popped up out of a sage bush. I am pretty sure it was a Blue Grosbeak. Two young Green Herons waited patiently for their parents among the rushes and Black Phoebes chased insect on the far bank. 
A Cooper’s Hawk perched on a fence and was dive-bombed by Barn Swallows.
Back in the LA River, a flock of stilt suddenly took flight. A Peregrine Falcon, was hunting along the drain. 
It was unsuccessful on his first attempt and came back over the bridge for another go. It was interesting to see the “birds of a feather” flocking together during the peregrine attack. Western Sandpipers formed a distinct fleeing flock, as did the dowitchers, the phalaropes and the stilts. 
Each flock separated from the others, escaping at different speeds and heights and in different directions, but all eventually landing in the same area and mixing again when the danger had passed.
This was the female 
There were females and males of the 
This one is a 
Since this is supposed to be a bird blog, I returned to the river to try to get some better lit photos for my reader. The stilts were clustered very close together in the same way they had after the peregrine attack. 
They had dispersed quickly then, but now they were remaining tightly packed. Perhaps the falcon was perched on the bridge out of my vision. The birds looked jumpy and took flight when a helicopter flew over.
The final ode caused me some ID problems. It was beyond the capabilities that I could reasonably expect from the 400mm and even though I got a decent look at it through binoculars, my notes didn’t tally with anything I could find on the web, until I found the 
The young herons had become impatient with their parents and were engagingly trying their luck with at least one success each while I watched. Also among the rushes and reeds with the marauding coots were Black-crowned Night Heron, Snowy Egret, Great Blue Heron and Pied-billed Grebe.
I started from Golden Shore Marine Biological Reserve. This is a reliable spot to find Willet and Marbled Godwit. Note the bigger bulkier Long-billed Curlew in the background.
A spotted Sandpiper sat on the barrage across the entrance.
A party of Bush-tits was enhanced briefly by a Wilson’s Warbler as they made their way through the low bushes of the car park.
Out on the main river, some Western/Clark’s Grebes were floating upstream with the tide as a Brown Pelican flew overhead. Further up on a larger barrage sat approx 300 Ring-billed Gulls.
A Western Gull on the grass sat for a photo, but the Heerman’s never came close enough.
First was a 
A dragonfly with a spangled blue body was next. The pattern on the back of the male gave me a few choices, but my favourite was the 
A pair were pin-wheeling and settled on a reed near the boardwalk. 
The hawkers proved to be the most common ode of the day.
Putting in a cameo appearance was a tiny Blue-tailed Damselfly.
