Pretty Tree Birds

The cooler weather and reduced food resources make our resident birds a lot more active these days. Although most of the birds are common residents here, they always give me a great pleasure to watch.  

The good looking Azure-winged Magpie is one of my favourites. 

Plain Prinia can always be seen and heard in the grassland, 

as well as on fruit trees.

The Scaly-breasted Munia 

and the White-rumped Munia are regular visitors of the grass field too.

The Oriental Magpie Robins are abundant and the male

is slightly more elegant looking than the female. 

The pretty Japanese White-eye, on the other hand, is rarely found on the ground. Being a very sociable bird, it is often seen in flocks.   

The winter migrants are plentiful too. The tiny long distance traveler Yellow-browed Warbler is everywhere but very difficult to photograph as it is extremely active.  

The Black-browed Reed Warbler is much bigger in size and related to the Eurasian Reed Warbler.

This is the first time I have spotted this Pied Wheatear who posed long enough for me to take a couple of shots.

  The sighting of the colourful Daurian Redstart makes the recent dull winter days more bearable. 

The Christmas holiday season is coming and I wish everyone Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Thank you for your kind support and interest in Hong Kong wildlife stories.

Sleeping Beauty--White-rumped Munia

The White-rumped Munia is a small bird (about 11cm in length) and a resident breeding bird in tropical southern Asia including Hong Kong. 

From their appearance we can see that they are related to the finch family. 

 
They feed mainly on seeds.

 
The White-rumped Munias are often seen feeding in woodlands and urban parks. A few days ago, I was lucky to see a sleeping White-rumped Munia in my local park. I have seen birds sleeping on trees but this was the first time that I encountered a bird sleeping on the ground.

The bed was some dry leaves under the shade of grass. 

I managed to stay a few meters away without waking it up. 

 
After a few minutes, the bird must have sensed my presence. 

I guess it might be very tired because the bird gave me a sleepy look and went straight back to sleep. I was so pleased to have been able to capture this sleeping beauty. 

In fact, this one was not the only bird who didn’t mind me being around. One bird looked straight into my camera. 

Another one even posed for this portrait.

I was so impressed with their feathers which looked like a big shawl on their shoulders.  

 
Another common bird in South Asia, the Scaly-breasted Munia, looks very similar to the White-rumped Munia, except its underparts are white with black scale markings.