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ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

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  1. MKinHK

    San Tin Fishponds (and beyond), Hong Kong

    Thanks Jos. With the clock now ticking on a move to Australia (Sydney) I'm keen to enjoy the patch while I can. A couple more spring visits to the drained pond at San Tin have produced an excellent maximum of 58 Oriental Pratincoles. The early morning visits offered better light and a couple of...
  2. MKinHK

    San Tin Fishponds (and beyond), Hong Kong

    Many thanks Owen - it's a real privilege to bird in Hong Kong with so much diversity so easily accessible - and always nice to get positive feedback! Cheers Mike
  3. MKinHK

    San Tin Fishponds (and beyond), Hong Kong

    A funny old day at San Tin, with two diversions to Mai Po on what is likely to be one of the last cool days of this spring. I was surprised how generally quiet the site was, but with more fencing preventing tenant fishpond operators from running some of the ponds the numbers of egrets, and...
  4. MKinHK

    San Tin Fishponds (and beyond), Hong Kong

    Thanks Tom - I'm sure there are books that cover both - but the side-beside comparison really helps me. My last visit was mostly a repeat of the various species. The Tufted Duck flock climbed up to 94 birds, and I'm searching hard and hopeful for HK's first Ring-necked Duck amongst them. I'm...
  5. MKinHK

    San Tin Fishponds (and beyond), Hong Kong

    That's an absolute killer Tom! As I generally enter a different habitat walking back to the road I generally have a shot at adding one or two extras and was delighted to find at the end of the day thatI'd undercounted. Still shocked with the Japanese Quail shot every time I look at it! A return...
  6. MKinHK

    San Tin Fishponds (and beyond), Hong Kong

    Many thanks Tom - Hong Kong has been good winter - even if we've only had one day in the "chilly" zone. Having finished my birding year (the highlights are summarised here) with a wonderful afternoon at Mai Po, where I picked up two Hong Kong ticks, I decided to start the year at San Tin with...
  7. MKinHK

    San Tin Fishponds (and beyond), Hong Kong

    While winter plumaged Black-faced Buntings are no-one's idea of a spectacular bird, I was delighted to see a personal record of 15 in the rain on Monday. Amongst these was this very friendly individual that perched nicely to be photographed. Cheers Mike
  8. MKinHK

    San Tin Fishponds (and beyond), Hong Kong

    A wet and chilly morning on the first day below ten degrees this winter seemed the perfect opportunity for hunting biggies at San Tin. I stared along the San Tin Main Drainage Channel. Birds by a manky-looking outfall included Green and Common Sandpipers, a loudly calling Common Greenshank and a...
  9. MKinHK

    San Tin Fishponds (and beyond), Hong Kong

    Thanks Tom and Owene. Highlights from a couple more visits in late November included: a female Yellow-browed Bunting that, like my first patch record back in March, disappeared before I could raise the camera. a couple of groups of heard but not seen seen Chestnut...
  10. MKinHK

    San Tin Fishponds (and beyond), Hong Kong

    A perfect sunny day with a steady easterly wind to keep the temperature down set the scene for another good morning at San Tin. Rather than repeat the majority of birds from last weekend I'll (mostly) highlight the differences. I once again started along the Main Drainage Channel where I was...
  11. MKinHK

    San Tin Fishponds (and beyond), Hong Kong

    After missing my weekend birding due to being wiped out playing a hockey match on Friday evening I decided that the season was too good to miss out on and took this morning to head up to San Tin. Once again I started along the Main Drainage Channel and immediately started hearing buntings -...
  12. MKinHK

    San Tin Fishponds (and beyond), Hong Kong

    An early start at the gate along the Main Drainage Channel yesterday offered early promise with a couple of Siberian Rubythroats calling from cover, along with the first Dusky Warblers, Stejneger's Stonechat, Black-faced Bunting and Black-browed Reed Warbler of the day. A measured rattling...
  13. MKinHK

    San Tin Fishponds (and beyond), Hong Kong

    Happy to let you know that there is some recent good news about the Deep Bay fishponds from Hong Kong's most recent Policy Address etudiant. The link below outlines plans for developing the the northern parts of Hong Kong as a "Northern Metropolis". The key part is that the HK Government has...
  14. MKinHK

    San Tin Fishponds (and beyond), Hong Kong

    Thanks Jos and Tom - This is peak season right now, and its a pleasure (mostly anyway, and more of that in due course) to be out with the distinct possibility of finding some good birds. Saturday 31st October felt so birdy I made two visits to San Tin with an excellent chicken tikka biryani...
  15. MKinHK

    San Tin Fishponds (and beyond), Hong Kong

    One week later on 24th October I was again at San Tin. While I would certainly have come anyway part of the reason for the visit was to search for the Siberian House Martin (the recently split eastern version of Common House Martin) that had been found the previous evening. It turned out that I...
  16. MKinHK

    San Tin Fishponds (and beyond), Hong Kong

    Many thanks Tom - autumn its a great time to be birding at San Tin. Trouble is there's lots to write about and I'm now three visits behind. So here's the first of those - from 16th October two weeks ago. I started with a Grey Heron perched photogenically in profile with one foot raised next...
  17. MKinHK

    San Tin Fishponds (and beyond), Hong Kong

    A fair bit of catching up from San Tin which I've now visited three times in the last ten days. The last two visits were pretty hard work - the weather still pretty hot, despite the two minor typhoons, and the fire ant nests lurking in the grass like landmines. The typhoons were part of the...
  18. MKinHK

    San Tin Fishponds (and beyond), Hong Kong

    After a baking hot summer with a few highlights - which I've reported elsewhere - my first visit back to San Tin since May offered a chance to reacquaint myself with fishpond birding. To be honest it was still baking hot - 33 degrees and 80-90% humidity, but it was October - and therefore there...
  19. MKinHK

    San Tin Fishponds (and beyond), Hong Kong

    Whiskered and White-winged Terns The big show-offs of April are the Whiskered and White-winged Terns. Very often hey focus their attention on a particular pond which means they give absolutely breathtaking views and they fly their feeding circuits, coming right up to or even over the edge of...
  20. MKinHK

    San Tin Fishponds (and beyond), Hong Kong

    Resident birds at San Tin Many thanks for all the kind comments. I continue to cower on my sofa from the heat of a blistering May, but do have some shots of the commoner resident birds which i have not previously posted here. First up, this newly fledged Plain Prinia jumped up right next me to...
  21. MKinHK

    San Tin Fishponds (and beyond), Hong Kong

    Spring waders A major feature of April is the wader passage that drops onto the drained ponds and feeds up for a few days before heading north. I was disappointed to miss out on the Pectoral Sandpiper that appeared a couple of times and spent more time lurking out of sight...
  22. MKinHK

    San Tin Fishponds (and beyond), Hong Kong

    I'm long overdue post on the spring migration birding at San Tin covering basically all of April. The best of the action was in the good numbers of scarcer migrants on 5th April which were headlined by a wonderful flock of 22 Blue-tailed Bee-eaters that dropped onto some wires in the northeast...
  23. MKinHK

    San Tin Fishponds (and beyond), Hong Kong

    Hi Tom I added the the pdf to post 171, so you should find it if you scroll back a little. Cheers Mike
  24. MKinHK

    San Tin Fishponds (and beyond), Hong Kong

    Thanks Tom I have added a .pdf of the extract from the BFS Conservation Network for T69. If you go inside there is detailed info on its movements, But I couldn't see info retaliated to Laioning, so you may be able to add something useful. Cheers Mike
  25. MKinHK

    San Tin Fishponds (and beyond), Hong Kong

    Thanks Jos. If this upsets you then don't look at my Facebook page ...here ;)
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