Wetland park
After birding for about 3 weeks, I’ve decided to finally step out of the campus and to go search for birds in the wild
The Hong Kong wetland park is famous for its biodiversity, the park itself is home to hundreds of species of animals, which includes a lot of birds. As wetlands are abundant in food resources, the wetland park is the only habitat to some species of birds in Hong Kong
I did adequate research before heading to the park, and I had a few birds in mind that I wanted to go for, with the common kingfisher being on top of the list
Everything start off smoothly, I started spotting birds left and right which got me pretty hyped up. You won’t normally see these kind of birds in an urban city like Hong Kong
The heron was waddling across the lily pads, and shortly after this picture was taken it slipped off one of them and fell into the water XD
Everything was going well, until when I was excitedly photographing a flock of scaly-breasted munia that were feeding on a grain stalk, that was when I managed to get myself hurt with one dumb move
In front of me there was a railing, and the wheat stalks were planted in front of the railing in a strip of land. My head was practically kissing the railing as I was leaning over them. Somehow a bee decided it would be a good time to jump scare me by flying by my ear, which caught me off guard and I ducked instinctively. There was also an information board on the railings, which was metal, and I banged my head right into it
A lot happened after that. But long story short, I had cut my right eyebrow and it was bleeding profusely, then I lent some tissue from a walker-by to stop the bleeding. After that I sought help from a staff nearby who wheeled me into a first-aid room (I lost quite a bit of blood and I was wobbling), and a nurse patched me up.
Luckily the wound wasn’t deep enough to require stitches and I was released after taking a brief rest
Then I proceeded to continue my birding with a band-aid taped perpendicularly to my right eyebrow
Great egret resting on a tree
Grey heron stretching its legs
The Chinese pond heron is the first species of bird that I had spotted; in a breeding plumage, its whole back & neck is painted red
A plain prinia, no larger than the size of my thumb, resting some some reed
Disaster struck right after this picture was taken
Unfortunately, my bad luck did not end there
There are a total of 3 bird hides in wetland park, and I was taking photos of some herons and egrets along a river in one of the bird hides when I saw a tiny body hovering over some trees out of the corner of my eye (literally) to my left. I immediately swung my lens towards the small figure, and while I was zooming in (the bird was quite far away), a blue body greeted me and the bird’s beak was glistening under the sun. My heart immediately started racing as I recognized the the common kingfisher at once since it is the the only bird in wetland park with such vibrant colours
On full zoom, I saw the kingfisher flapping its wings for a single frame. And when I was about to press down the shutter to secure the shot, it dove down away from sight
I was devasted and stayed around for about 30 minutes, waiting for the bird to reappear. When I eventually ran out of patience, I left the hide, wanting to smash my camera into smithereens
Green-winged teal gliding gracefully
Green sandpipers twerk when walking and it’s hilarious, go look it out on Youtube
My day was undoubtedly ruined by the kingfisher but I learned 3 things from this trip:
Always be aware of your surroundings, accidents happen in the blink of an eye
There will always be slow birding days, and throwing a tantrum won’t help. Instead, try to appreciate all the other species you manage to capture
Bird photography will always be 80% luck, 19% patience and 1% of editing (editing can make a huge difference to the outcome of a picture)
Thanks for reading!
