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Wed, January 10, 2007
The Yellow-bellied Prinia
I went digital hunting yesterday. While standing on the upper rail of a steel pipe fence, leaning against a five-inch thick tree which was the only thing between me and an eight-foot drop to the road on the other side of it, I waited and waited. Suddenly, an unnatural movement of the twigs in the bushes ahead of me caught my eye and I watched and readied my camera. A few twitches later, I spotted the small bird, rustling through the bushes looking for food. He wasn't a variety that I recognised and I therefore hoped more than ever to get a decent photograph of him before he left.
Suddenly, he decided to leave; possibly aware that I was just ten feet from where he was foraging for food; but he needed to find out where his partner was. He flew up onto a thin bare trunk protruding from the grass and called out to his partner who replied immediately from the other side of the road. Another thirty seconds and he was gone, but not before I had photographed him a few times. Here is what I consider to be the best of those photographs.
Yellow-bellied Prinia 灰頭鷦鶯
(Prinia flaviventris)
Date: 9 January 2007, Location: Clear Water Bay, Hong Kong
There is another variety of the Prinia known as the Plain Prinia, but I'm pretty sure that this one is a Yellow-bellied Prinia based on the yellow in his tummy region.
The blue behind him is not the sky but rather hills blurred by the particulate pollution (and the lense's DOF) now pervasive here in Hong Kong.
The image has been cropped to about a third of the original image. He was too small and too far away to photograph at a decent size with my 300mm (x1.6 = 420mm) lense.
For a 750x500 version, click here.
Just for fun, here is a photo of the prinia while he was foraging for food. Can you see him?
Copyright 2007 Gregory Charles Rivers 河國榮. All rights reserved.
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on Wed, January 10, 2007, 12:35
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Comments
Wow you do take great photos of birds in HK.....you could be a wildlife photographer hahahahahaha.
In London we have boring birds such as Magpies, Robins, Blue Tits, Crows, urban seagulls, Sparrows, and Pidgeons as known as 'the Flying Rats'
Have fun photographing.
Posted by: Kit Kat | Wed, January 10, 2007, 19:13 | Respond to this comment
ha~ nice pictures~ hehehe i spotted de bird in the second pic~ It was quite fun reading your new update, but it was quite sad when i read the bit about pollution. Well, i guess it is a bit too late not matter how we trys, the pollution have damaged the envionment and this gets worse~ Sad....
Oh, i was watching 15/16 today, and unexpectly i saw you appeared in the show~ But it is not your turn to answer the question yet, today is Bowie's turn~ And tomorrow will b urs.... cant wait~
Posted by: yinyin | Wed, January 10, 2007, 20:09 | Respond to this comment
Yes, he is very lovely.
Posted by: jenny leung | Fri, January 12, 2007, 17:30 | Respond to this comment
Kit Kat,
we have magpies, robins, great tits, crows, sparrows, etc too but they're definitely not boring. They each have their own shape, colours, songs, personality, flying pattern, and more. One of my goals is to photograph the personalities of the birds but it's not easy because much of their personality is seen through their movement.
next time, spend a little time to watch a couple of those 'boring' birds a little longer. they might surprise you.
the pigeons of the other hand... when there are too many of them, their behaviours differ and they can become more of a pest than an attraction. the same is true for seagulls in seaside towns, and starlings in England/Scotland.
Yin Yin,
I'll use a more challenging picture for you next time, one where the bird is much harder to see ;-)
regards,
Ho Kwok Wing
Posted by: 河國榮 | Mon, January 15, 2007, 00:02 | Respond to this comment
hi My enus poon :
I very HAPPY 我沒有想個你會復我,不知道你明不明我寫給你的b|og,你給
Tai Wai Small Animal & Exotic Hospital
大圍積信街75號
Tel. (Appointments): 852 26871030
他是不是看白兔最好,邊個獸醫最好他叫什麼姓名?
Posted by: enus | Tue, May 22, 2007, 09:58 | Respond to this comment
enus114@yahoo.com.hk
hi My enus poon :
I very HAPPY 我沒有想個你會復我,不知道你明不明我寫給你的b|og,你給
Tai Wai Small Animal & Exotic Hospital
大圍積信街75號
Tel. (Appointments): 852 26871030
他是不是看白兔最好,邊個獸醫最好他叫什麼姓名?
Posted by: enus | Tue, May 22, 2007, 10:01 | Respond to this comment
I onced accidently took a picture of two pidgeons mating when I was supposedly taking a picture of a grey squirrel......they were just doing it infront of me. Interesting though.
Kit Kat
Posted by: Kit Kat | Mon, January 15, 2007, 05:17 | Respond to this comment
What a gorgeous photo of the prinia :) Am about to uproot myself from 17 years of living in Sydney and moving back to HK to work. I hope I'll get to see a bit of nature underneath the blanket of pollution :)
Has anyone noticed that HK actually looks grey on Google Earth?
Soph
Posted by: Sophie | Mon, January 15, 2007, 21:22 | Respond to this comment
I agreed it is a yellow-bellied prinia
Hi. I'm surprise to find a blog posting on a hongkong bird. nice catch! and i do agree with you that it is a yellow-bellied prinia.
Posted by: wengchun | Tue, July 3, 2007, 20:43 | Respond to this comment