Black Faced Spoonbill

In this post I will talk about the Black Faced Spoonbill as well as some sketches I’ve done from life recently. The first sketch, above, of course depicts a Black Faced Spoonbill, an endangered species I featured here.  My focus with this drawing was to capture the value contrast between it’s black bill and facial skin and its soft, downy feathers. I also hoped to roughly capture some of the texture of its body and focus on its facial features.

My next sketches are sketches from life drawn at the Aviary at Hong Kong Park. It’s hard to accurately sketch birds from life because they love to move, but I tried my best! Luckily, many of the birds were happy to sit still for me while I sketched them. I saw so many Bali Mynas, I didn’t even need for them to sit still in order to sketch them!

Sketches of birds from life at Hong Kong Park

Sketches of birds from life at Hong Kong Park

Because they are sketches from life, I did my best to capture the basic feel of the bird as well as the silhouette  If you’re wondering how I did, I was also able to photograph nearly all of these species(except the Java Sparrow, who was extremely fast!) and post the photos on my travel post here! I recommend you check it out!

The Blue-Tailed Bee-Eater is aptly named. This bird is an expert at catching its food on the wing and avoiding stings! It’s also a vibrant bird, with orange, yellow, and green plumage, bright red eyes, and a black beak. It’s no wonder that I failed to see one on this trip; the Bee-Eater prefers open country, something that can be tough to get to in Hong Kong! The Bee-Eater’s diet can be understood by observing its anatomy. Its beak is long, which aids in keeping wasps, bees, and other stinging insects far from sensitive areas. Like most insect-eating and subtropical birds, the Bee-Eater is very social and always travels, nests, and breeds with its flock. Their beaks are strong and therefore are also used in excavating nest sites in the sides of riverbanks from loose dirt and clay.

To start, here are some illustrated bulletin boards with the bird species listed that were at the park. 

They turned out to be pretty helpful! I didn’t see all of the birds on these two boards, but there were other boards in the park, as well, and I would say that I saw most of the species of birds at the park. Most of the birds I have photographs of, however, are the many dove species at the park, because they tended to sit still and let me photograph them!

The first species I saw at the park was, excitingly, one of the birds on my “Birds I Would Love to See” list- the Emerald Dove! These birds tended to stay in one place, puffed up on a perch, and coo softly. I saw 3 while I was here, 2 of which I had to do some searching for once I heard them.

Emerald Dove

Next, I took a few steps, looking around, and came face to face with a likewise puffed-up Zebra Dove! It was completely unafraid of me as I approached and let me take as many photos as I wanted. When I left, I think it was still right where I found it.

Zebra Dove!

Next, I spotted a pair of Purple-Tailed Imperial Pigeons resting and grooming each other on a branch. They were so sweet to watch! In my photo, the one on the left is grooming the one on the right. Originally, I thought these birds were merely “Imperial Pigeons-” turns out, “Imperial Pigeons” are an entire family, consisting of over 20 species that look entirely different from one another. The one trait that ties them all together is their size- some of the Imperial Pigeon species at the aviary were the size of roosters and geese! These were a little smaller, each about the size of a hen, which is still pretty large for a pigeon! One impressive feature I noticed(that was also a little creepy looking!) was their dark red eyes. Combined with bright green wings, a dark pumpkin chest, and a lavender head, the birds are very striking and lovely to see!

Purple-tailed Imperial Pigeons

Next, I walked down the platform and observed the Mynas for a while(described in my previous post), and then ran into yet another very unafraid pigeon-a Crested Pigeon, to be exact! This has to be the most photogenic bird I’ve ever met, other than my cockatiel.

Crested Pigeon

This bird was great! It didn’t move an inch when I was photographing it, and when I was done, lots of other people came to take photos, too!

Here are two other birds I saw on my way out. I’m not sure what the first one is; it was hard to identify it from the sign. The second one is, of course, another Zebra Dove. 

In conclusion, this is the best aviary I’ve ever been to. There were plenty of birds to see, and none of them seemed to have any fear of humans. If you love birds, go visit, and enjoy!

In Chinese Mythology, the Yangwu is essentially the sun. Back in ancient times, there were 10 Yangwu who would come out at different times, making the world hot and cold. This continued for many years until one day all the Yangwu came out at once and all life began to burn. A legendary warrior then took his bow and arrow and killed all the Yangwu, except for one.

At the head of the trail, I was surprised to see an entirely unexpected bird- A mythical one! This is a large statue of a Fenghuang that stands at the foot of one of the trails at Lantau Peak. If you’re interested in the Fenghuang, please see my earlier Birds of Myth and Legends post about them here!

The Fenghuang at Lantau Peak!

The birds were fast and elusive but I did catch a glimpse of a Light-vented Bulbul, shown below. These birds are known for their lovely voices, which were the soundtrack to my hike around Lantau Peak. Unfortunately, I was unable to catch any photographs of them- they were very fast and skittish!

I found a photo that looks like the bird I saw!

Looking up the mountains, I also saw several solitary Black Kites hunting for prey. This was unusual for me because in the city, I often see Black Kites fly in groups over thermals.

Though there weren’t many birds, the mountain was amazing, so it was a successful trip overall!

The White-Tailed Tropicbird

The White-Tailed Tropicbird

My first sketches are probably my favorite ones; they depict the elegant White-Tailed Tropicbird, described in my Creature Feature post here. Because the Tropicbird is a bird of pure flight(it is unable to walk on account of the position of its feet), I made it my goal to accurately depict their wing and tail shapes, as well as their overall silhouette. The most fun part about them was, of course, their elegant tail feathers!

Next in the sketchbook is a single sketch of the Crested Myna. Obviously, I was trying to accurately portray identifiable markers, as it is, like many other birds in Hong Kong, a  black bird with white feathers on its wings.  What best sets the Crested Myna apart in appearance is, of course, its crest, so I made sure to draw that accurately. Shortly after I wrote my Creature Feature about the Myna, an entire flock of them landed on my window ledge!

Crested Myna

Next on my list, and last in this post, is the Great Frigatebird. I never got to see this bird on my trip, however, I have seen the larger(and very similar-looking) Magnificent Frigatebird in person before, which is such a large bird that’s it’s almost frightening to catch a glimpse of it soaring above the ocean. The Great Frigatebird, though smaller, still has a wingspan of up to 230cm or 7 feet. If you see a black bird, soaring high, that is so large and thin and “sharp” in appearance that it could possibly be a fighter jet, it’s probably a Frigatebird.

Female frigatebird

Male frigatebird

In these studies, I tried to capture their defining traits. For the female, I focused on the sharp silhouette- when seen in flight, this bird could be likened to a razor in appearance. For the male, I focused on its air-sac that it fills as a mating display for the female. The air-sac is bright red(not depicted here).

Hong Kong Park is barely south of Admiralty station but can be difficult to access on account of the many-laned roads one must find ways to cross in order to get there. Once you get there though, the Aviary is easy to find! Before I even reached the Aviary, I ran into an entire flock of wild cockatoos! I’ve heard they’re a rare sight in Hong Kong, so I was very pleased to see them. They were VERY loud and were screeching up a storm throughout the park. They sound like loud cats.

A wild cockatoo flying overhead outside the aviary

At long last, and after many flights of stairs, I reached the Aviary. It’s free of charge, which was nice, so you just walk through the chains that act as a door(to prevent birds from escaping) and walk into the Aviary, which was beautiful.

Inside the aviary!

The walkways are on tall platforms so that visitors can see the birds, which of course like to fly up high into the canopy of trees. The birds are used to people and not fearful at all, which made it easy to get a good view(and a good picture!). Of all the many, many bird species in the Aviary, my favorite is definitely the Bali Myna. Though the species is critically endangered in the wild, captive populations thrive, especially at the Aviary! There were quite a few, and they were both unafraid of humans and very lively. I saw one hit a girl in the face with its wing as it flew by her! I took many, many pictures of the Mynas as well as one video of them bouncing around a bird feeder.

Stay tuned for Part 2! I will be describing more bird species in detail as well as posting more videos, photos, and my sketches of the trip!

The store was small, but very nice! All the parrots looked well taken care of, and there weren’t too many crammed in one space. It looked like they all had their own cage, unless they were supposed to be sold together. When I entered the store, the first thing I saw was the owner giving a bath to a beautiful golden Macaw out on the balcony! I was unable to take pictures of it, though I wish I had- the Macaw had a very unusual coloring! It was almost all gold, with a blue tuft on its head. If I had known its coloring was uncommon before I searched it online later, I would have definitely photographed it.

The parrots in the store seemed very lively and were pretty loud, which I took to be a good sign. My favorite was the African Gray in the picture below, who could speak Cantonese! He was very funny. Also shown below is a Green Parrot, who very quietly came up to the bars of his cage, sat very still, and stared at me when he saw I was interested in him. I wanted to pet him, but parrots, especially large ones, have VERY strong beaks for different purposes depending on what species they are, from cutting clay for nests to breaking apart nut shells, so I definitely didn’t want to risk my fingers!

Little Egrets have an interesting history as at one point in time, they were a popular bird species used for feathered hats in Europe. After being nearly hunted to extinction in the wild, they were made a protected species and their numbers have returned to their normal levels. Little Egrets have no such history in Hong Kong, thrive well in the subtropical climate, and are quite common.

During the mating season, the Egret’s plumage changes somewhat but not dramatically. Egrets gain long feathers on their head which resemble streamers, and the coloration of the is skin changes and becomes brighter. Little Egrets raise 3-5 offspring and eat anything near the water, including fish, frogs/toads, and even rodents and other birds!

According to Shan Hai Jing, The Classic of the Mountains and the Seas, T Chinese classical text whose author remains unknown, Jingwei is a mythical bird who was once a princess.

In the story, the youngest daughter of Emperor Yan Di, Nywa, was lonely because her father was always so busy directing the movements of the sun. One day, she decided to follow her father when he set off to control the sun, and so she followed him in a small boat in the ocean. The seas were t=rough, however, and the small boat capsized and Nywa died. When she died, Nywa transformed into an immortal bird. She never wanted anyone to die the way she did ever again, and so she made it her duty to fill the sea with sticks and stones, all the while singing “jingwei” to keep her motivated to finish her task.

Today, “Jingwei” is a metaphor for someone who is determined to fulfill their goals.