Enter Ken & Dierdre

It never rains but it pours.   No sooner had we sorted out the lonesome cockatiel, Douglas with a wife when an advert appears in the local online rag for two more cockatiels looking for a new home.

One Lutino female and one pearl male apparently but both less than a year old.   They are a little too young to breed but it would be fun to have a few eggs.   Why Ken & Deirdre?   They came from Kennedy Town in Hong Kong.   The owners believed the Lutino was a male and they then went and bought a so called female from the bird market in Kowloon.  Since they have been in the flight it seems the birds are either two males or the Lutino is a female but for sure the Pearl is a male.

Ken (left), Douglas (right) & Deirdre (rear)

Red Tide

This scummy red mess appeared in November.   It is actually some sort of plankton.   When I first saw it I thought someone had dumped some red paint into the river.   Thankfully it disappeared after a day or so.   Apparently caused by low oxygen and high nitrogen in the water and is thought to be attributable to run off from aggressive use of nitrogen fertiliser in farming.

Duped

Douglas (right) and his new companion

Douglas came to us some eighteen months ago.   His previous owners relocated to Malaysia and due to Hong Kong's issues with bird flu, Malaysia had and still has banned the import of birds from Hong Kong.   He came to us with a decent sized cage but the plastic base tray must have deteriorated in the sunshine and was so brittle it eventually fell to pieces.  

Luckily we had a spare but much bigger parrot cage so in he went and after a few days in his new home we decided he deserved to share his much larger space with a companion.  We decided he deserved a wife, so I was despatched to find him one.   Despite my hesitation in the shop, the lady assured me the bird I was about to buy was indeed a female and even persuaded me to buy a nesting box too.

Without getting too nerdy about ornithology let me explain that female cockatiels rarely sing, are mostly drab coloured and have barring marks under their tail feathers.  Well we got this young, supposed lass home and Douglas immediately began to sing and show off.   A good sign we though until she immediately burst into an equally magnificent sing song.  The bird is not that drab in colour but does has barring under the tail feathers, so who knows?  We are not that bothered really and I guess eventually we will find out.   In the meantime as long as they both are consenting then ....

School carnival awaits.

Not so sure about the maths teacher' ethics....   Obviously a capitalist and not averse to a bit of mark up.

Fin Swimming - last competition for 2014shn

The Silvery Sharks Fin Swimming Club had a great final competition of the year with some great races and lots of medals being won.   Some of the younger swimmers really showed how much their fitness has improved and have the medals to show for it but Arthur and Matthew learned some very tough lessons.

1. Count your laps carefully and do not stop too early, (Matthew 400m)

2. Make sure you touch the timing board when you finish or your time keeps on rolling. (Arthur 400m)

Arthur had seven races in all some of which he was competing two age groups high than his age. He won gold in the 100m and knocked 4 seconds off his China time.   The jury is out on that one though.  Some great swimming by Ivan and LD and the little water flea, Kaa Fai all of whom slowly wore Arthur down in the 200m mono fin race to push him out of the medals.    Kara fair literally streaked ahead to win gold, followed by Ivan and LD then Arthur.   Well done boys, it was one of the most exiting races to watch and you all deserve your medals.    

Matthew missed a clear place in the 400m (see lesson 2 above).  He was five seconds clear and swam like a demon to catch up but did not quite make it. He earned a bronze for his efforts in the 200m though and a gold for the 4 x 50m relay.