The entrance to Hong Kong Park, opposite the Shangri-La Hotel

The Bank of China Building gleamed in the morning sun

a loud noise overhead attracted my gaze

a lovely red billed blue magpie

HK is said to be home to the largest number of endangered yellow crested cockatoos which are the smaller form of the common sulphur crested cockatoo…

From my hotel room , I could see many of these white cockatoos flying and screeching loudly

Most common bird in the park was the red whiskered bulbul

here flashing its red vent….

another red whiskered bulbul in browner plumage

The rain lilies were resplendent

and the artificial lake was peaceful

with numerous Koi cruising

the giant water lilies

even a common Eurasian tree sparrow looks quite attractive when feeding on these flowers

and loads of pretty butterflies

and just as I thought the morning’s ramble was going to end up being a very ordinary one, this lovely blue whistling thrush perched right next to me

catching the sunlight, its glowing blue violet coloration was striking

and then a few brown birds with black faces appeared

a masked laughing thrush…a lifer for me the morning was getting better!

another red whiskered bulbul

spotted dove sporting the same shade of red as the roof…..

and just before I left, this black collared starling hopped around on the ground

He’d found his breakfast…..an enormous earthworm!

After toying with it for a while….

he finally downed it

by about 830am the sun was up and time to go