My Bulbuls

so I was staying with some friends in Sai Kung not long ago, and they told me to look at their cactus/tree on their terrace.

so I did....er, not much to see there....

oh, hold on....

I quickly took this snap

enlarged to this one, and moved away, letting the parents of these baby Red-whiskered Bulbuls take over again....

hidden in plain sight......

meanwhile,

I took this lovely picture below from the roof of my house in Sai Kung but they have nowe chopped the whole tree down. It was dropping leaves (and bird pooh) over the parked cars beneath, so there had been complaints! Instead of getting a cover for your car, or cleaning it, its much easier to destroy our natural environment, and it makes me furious that I no longer have this lovely tree - HK's national symbol - or the wonderful birds that feed and roost in it, to look at and enjoy.

This is of course the Crested Bulbul or the Red-whiskered Bulbul (Pycnonotus jocosus) enjoying a little leafy snack.

This pretty bird is a common

sight in Hong Kong, found everywhere from

woodland to gardens. They are not only frugivores

(fruit eaters), they also enjoy a tasty insect. Still

favoured as a pet today, they are known to live for up

to eleven years in captivity. They have a rather

chivalrous courtship, where the male bows his bead,

drops his wings and spreads his tail. In Hong Kong

they breed from April till June.

Looks like my photos will be of only green backgrounds or worse, just blank white and grey concrete from now on!

Very social, these noisy, chattering birds can be seen near the ponds, and in the branches around the many parks in Hong Kong.