April 30 2011 -at last

Much delayed first visit to Monticello Park turned up some great view of black-throated green, a showy blue-winged and an early Blackpoll

April 20 2011 - then sprig was here

Snatch of house wren song outide corp apartment in PA - just one,at 5am-ish!

April 12 2011 - *YAWN*

12 hour time diff = 24/7 firefighting :( oh problems please just resolve yourself sometimes :)

April 11 2011 - here we go....

Late Night e Clarkson with subtitles - was I dreaming ?
Apparently not



Jumped in a taxi to go 1 mile to work central plaza is PRIMO location Nieghbours are eBay and Paypal up here on floor 32
.

Chinese banquet at lunchtime on day 1 - apparently my chopsticks skills are GOOD - or Agnes is just very polite and ignores the debris on the tablecloth


The usual challenge of keeping people on task but super enthusiastic group


Use the triangle!

Team dinner - at the local Italian - surreal.

HK at night is Times Square on steroids!

April 10 2011 - HK Sunday

An awefil lot of shouting going on out there...

April 2011 hk birds - april 10 update

Black-eared kites beneath my window - tum ling twisting and locking talons, one caught some paper floating up high

Small egrets on bay

Tree sparrow

black-billed magpie



Sunday am

Red-whiskered Bulbul - everywhere!

Black-collared Starling - serious nice looking but darn hard to photograph (with a phone anyway)

Spotted Dove

Tree Sparrow

Black-eared Kite flying even in dank humid conditions early

Japanese White-eye

Oriental Magpie-Robin

Common Kingfisher

White-throated Kingfisher

Barn Swallow

Little Egret

Chinese Pond Heron

Crested Myna

Black-crowned Night Heron one with bubble gum pink coloured legs - is this a breeding plummage? another closeby had standard yellow legs

Small flock of Masked Laughthrush

Chinese Bulbul
Sulphur-crested Cockatoo

Apr 9th continued

A huge ( somehow predictive text turned that into' UBS Jesuits' !!!) powernap after the best shower EVER kinda wipes out the rest of daylight.

Walk aroun the park after dusk - the impressive light show from the sky scrapers begins.

There a tennis center with some fine young player playing under the floodlights - must though I don't much care for the game.
For the umpteenth time this evening a feral cat crossing my peripheral vision make me jump

No such action on the lawn green bowling next door - such an English game feeling a little out of place in this warm oriental environment

A few starling like squeals can't be located - could be good in the morning, I the cats don't get them first lol



Elected for dinner in schmancy 27th floor restaurant looking down over my domain for the next week or so. Tiger Prawn - now THAT'S some shellfish !

Apr 9 2011 so that was a short Friday

Almost ready for the third leg - the United desk opens at 4:30 and off we go....

Upgrade 3 in business on the jumbo for 3.5hours, next to chatty Jon on his way home from Jakarta to Columbus, OH.
Right now we're flying into a stunning sunrise...

Oh they make the materials for the smelting pots btW



The Chicken Rice for breakfast was an interesting experiment - probably should have taken it a little easier on the chilli sauce buy hey

And no, toilet seat comes crashing down on Jumbos - sorry (formerly?) sleeping peeps on ya fancy flatbeds. :0

And so after 20 yrs or so I complete my circumnavigation of the globe ....


FUUUUUUUCK I'm in Hong Kong all alone Yikes! And safely reunited with Natasha




I hope the first bird Is more exotic than the shops traveled, HSBC and'bucks


Ahhhhhhh that would be a feral pigeon then....

Astonishing sights so far - never seen so many tower blocks and shipping containers...

So the first thing Park Lane Hotel offers me? Why a flagon if the finest local brew..... Carlsberg

One THIS is a room

April 7 2011 -

First barn swallows at Dulles.

April 5 2011 - and then ...

March 31 2011 wilson bridge

First Osprey sighting of the season as I approached the wilson bridge coming south down 295

April 2 2011 - i see no ships

A quick weekend for Rhiannon's birth and towards dusk we grabbed just a few minutes to look off Selsey South Beach

A small flock of Brent geese flew low over apart from that Herring Gulls were hanging in the wind calling loudly and a Great Cormorant was on it's usual perch just off shore

After a good curry - one or more Robins were singing in budgens car park and a Barn Owl over the road at Siddlesham Ferry

April 4 2011 - Sparrowpalooza!

Considering it started as just a quick glance st the feeders today turned into quite something.

A couple of Chipping Sparrows around the deck including one on the Niger feeder were the immediate surprise


Shortly after a Fox Sparrow flew into the tree from the lower are of the garden - both species reappearing later in the afternoon ( but with only quick photo ops ).

3-4 different White-throated Sparrows were around throughout the day abs the Song Sparrows remain the only ones interested in the mealworms on offer.

It was generally busy all day with an unusual visit from 2 Starlings and the appearance early afternoon of a pair of Cowbirds - probably a new garden species

Mar 29 2011 - more goldfinch

This one looks like a first summer male

Mar 27 2011 - after the 'big snow'

Just a light covering of snow in some places that soon melted however may have been responsible for a flock of 9 Junco as I put out food for the birds. Pretty quiet so far otherwise, one goldfinch is coloring up nicely

Mar 26 - spring on the way, snow tomorrow!

Mid-morning visit to the patch found trees in bloom and a cool but sunny morning.

A few juncos are still around and the occasional white-throated sparrow. Cardinals were singing loudly in several places and song sparrow and particularly Robins were numerous, especially around the picnic area. Across the rail tracks a Sapsucker was actively moving through the tops of the trees.

At the rusty bridge this mockingbird was showing well when it suddenly drew it's plumage in, looked much skinnier and disappeared into the middle of the bush. I looked up to see a Coopers Hawk pass close by. It was interesting to watch how the feather tracks changed orientation, especially the coverts aligning more with the bill to tail access than shown in thus relaxed shot.


Around the receiving pond a pair of Grackles remain - maybe they will breed here? They have Been around for a while in an unusual place fir them.
At the confluence of the Rivers a pair of Cowbird were skulking around the scrubby area maybe looking for early victims.

Mar 18 2011

Hundreds of Grackles o er the outskirts of Vinton this evening including in the tree next to our hotel room / temp office for the day

March 13 2011 - back in the 'hood

Quick trip to the patch, albeit a little late (10am) Signs of spring with song sparrow, red-winged blackbirds and others signing in the early spring sunshine. Nothing too unusual - 2 Black Vultures maybe the least expected sighting. Up by the picnic area near the dog park, spent some time with a group of Robins. They seemed mostly males although not all were as well marked as this individual.

March 7 2011 - zurich

A small field outside my hotel had a single strip of earth tilled earlier today. I was a little surprised that no birds were following the ploughing but just now I noticed some movement and found 3 White Wagtail feeding on the newly exposed earth.

March 12 2011 - back at the 'bend

An unexpectedly busy day at Riverbend this afternoon with people at least. Plenty of people but the strong current has moved many if the ducks away. The major event on the river was a large flock of ring-billed gull feeding on the river. Many birds were standing on the flotsam maybe feeding on it. Some tried to land on small debris and struggled, 'cycling' it's feet to keep from slipping off and flapping to retain balance.

Counting the gulls (651 btw) there were several ducks but also a horned grebe - as is often at this time of year, the head pattern was somewhat atypical - as shown in my sketch