Birds in the Garden---Regular Visitors

The Red Whiskered Bulbuls are not the only birds that enjoy being around my garden. 

  Like the bulbuls, a pair of Blue Magpies (Red-billed Magpie) have been around for a while too. Their favourite food is the papayas in the garden. 

 
The young Common Magpies, however, are often seen looking for leftovers on the ground. 

  
The Blue Whistling Thrush family occasionally comes looking for insects as well as fruit.

But it is always the food dispenser that sees the most activity.

Unlike the Red-whiskered Bulbuls, the Chinese Bulbuls are very cautious birds and often sit on the nearby pomelo tree observing. 

The Red-whiskered bulbul family is quite happy sharing food with other birds.
Spotted Dove on the left

Black-collared Starling on the right

True to their reputation, the Starlings, on the other hand, are not only noisy but also bullies.

Birds In The Garden---- A Little Bully

 

It has been a successful breeding year for my bird neighbours----a pair of Red Whiskered Bulbul.

The couple have successfully raised four chicks this year. The juveniles are growing very fast and getting more and more handsome by the day.

Recently, I have started putting out their favourite food and the whole family seem to be happy settling in the garden. 

Watching them feeding is one of my favourite past times. The youngsters are particularly interesting to watch. The one on the right is a little bully and always tries to have the feeder to itself. 

If its brothers/sisters refuse to leave, it can become very aggressive.

Sometimes, it is even hostile to the parents, usually without success.  

Occasionally, however, even the parents have to give up to its bullying. 

Bugs in the garden

The recent Middle-Autumn Festival signals the end of the unpleasant tropical summer in Hong Kong. However, it also means that the abundant summer insects will start disappearing very soon.

One exception is the Citrus Bug (Stink Bug/shield Bug).

Nymph

Adult

  
     These bugs feed on fruit juice and they are found all over the Pomelo (similar to the Grape Fruit) tree in my garden. I had never taken any notice of them until recently. In fact, they have a long mouth that can pierce through the skin of the pomelos to suck the juice.

Unlike the insect eating Stink Bugs, the mouth of the Citrus Bug is very soft which can be easily folded when not in use.

 
The Citrus Bug is a pest because the damaged fruit will likely be attacked by other insects and diseases. It looks as though I will not be able to get many juicy pomelos this year.

While the young bugs are colourful, the adults have a well camouflaged green colour. Its camouflage is so effective that almost all of them survive the dozens of bird visitors in the garden everyday.

When I first saw these tiny pretty beetles, I thought they were Ladybugs. In fact they are Leaf Beetles.

Actually, they may be similar to Ladybugs in appearance but unlike Ladybugs, they feed on plants and can be serious pests.

These even smaller beetles are Tortoise Beetles which also belong to the leaf beetle family.

 They are also plant eating insects which are named based on their resemblance to the tortoise.


This Gold Dust Weevil ( or Green Gold Dust Beetle) may look innocent and pretty,

but it is also a plant eating pest.

This blue bee doesn’t just look unusual, it is also extraordinary in bee world.

In fact, it is a Cuckoo Bee. From the name you can guess that it is a cuckoo-like bee----a Brood Parasite which mimics the behaviour of Cuckoo Birds. Like the Cuckoo Birds, the female Cuckoo Bees lay their eggs in other bees’ nests, even killing the host’s eggs. The newly hatched Cuckoo Bee not only consumes the host larva’s food but also the larva itself. This strategy works so well that nowadays the Cuckoo Bees do not have any pollen collecting hair on their bodies or the need to build their own nests.

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