Happy birds---Red-whiskered Bulbuls enjoying papayas

The papayas in my garden are ripening again. Once they are ripe, the papayas are soft enough for the birds to peck through. Since the  papayas are very sweet, they are the favourite food of the local birds such as Magpies and Red-whiskered Bulbuls. 

 

Recently, my papaya trees have been attracting dozens of Red-whiskered Bulbuls. They have been having a very good time in the garden lately and it is a joy to watch. 

Eating papayas is not an easy job for the birds because the fruit grows on the tree trunk. So there is not much that the birds can stand on.  Occasionally, they can find a dead leaf stem close enough to a papaya.

Most of the time, the dead leaf stem is either too far away or there is nothing to hang on to. That is when the fun begins. However, no matter how difficult the situation is, these clever birds can always find a way to get the papayas. 

The most fascinating moment is when they try to eat papayas in the air.

Being over 30g in weight and 20cm long, it is almost an impossible thing to do. But it does not stop them from trying. I guess the papayas must be too delicious for them to give up.  

Butterflies in Hong Kong (2)---Papaya smoothie party

When I came back from a short visit to UK yesterday, I was pleasantly surprised to see a dozen butterflies having a smoothie party in my garden!

 

The hot and humid weather in Hong Kong is ideal for papaya trees. They can grow from a seed to a tree in just a few months. A couple of years ago, I planted some seeds from a papaya fruit in the garden and within a year, I had several huge papaya trees and hundreds of papayas!

I guess when I was away last week, some ripe papayas fell off the trees and became rotten. The decayed papayas attracted some fruit “eating” butterflies to my garden.

 

While most butterflies feed on nectar from flowers, the Nymphs (Family Nymphalidae) and the Browns (Family Satyridae) prefer decaying fruit juice. The butterflies that visited my garden belong to these two families.

Because of their feeding habits, most of the fruit “eating” butterflies are not as colourful as their nectar “eating” counterparts.  They are not fast flyers and tend to fly low in the undergrowth in semi-shaded environments. 

This is an Evening Brown on the left (and below), a large sized Brown commonly seen  in Hong Kong with a wingspan of 6-7cm.  Most Brown family butterflies have brown coloured wings with “eyespots” on both sides to mimic the eyes of large animals for self-protection.  As you can guess from its name, Evening Brown is mostly active at dusk. 

This is a Bamboo Tree Brown on the right, smaller than the Evening Brown with a wingspan of 5cm. The Bamboo Tree Browns are also commonly seen in Hong Kong.

Below is a Dark-Band Bush Brown, similar size to the Bamboo Tree Brown with different patterns on their wings.