Easter eggs come early

Presumably because Christmas marketing seems to start earlier and earlier each year our cockatiels, Douglas and Babs have decided to get in on the act too and yesterday, exactly 1 week after the new and much larger nest box was installed they have all ready produced their first egg.   
   

Any port in a storm

While checking over the boat last night before the typhoon struck today, I found this fellow resting, curled up around the engine control leads.    The picture is not very clear but it is a baby Burmese Python of around two feet in length.    I have no idea where he came from or how long he had been living on the boat either.   Anyhow, he was duly set adrift to find his home elsewhere.

Tokay Gecko

Stock photo of Tokay Gecko

Was rather privileged to catch a glimpse of my first Tokay Gecko in Hong Kong in 25 years the other day.   The rather splendid and quite big reptile was casually walking across the Tung Chung Road a the bottom of the hill by the YMCA in Tung Chung.    I had no idea what it was until I started digging about at hk reptiles

Apparently these lizards were first discovered in Tung Chung in 1951.    How cool it is to know they have managed to survive all the building works and construction.

Maiden Voyage for the "Rubber Johnny"!

The route

Making the mooring

It should have been a quick zoom from Saikung down to Clearwater Bay, across to Shek O and then around Lamma to get to Mui Wo.   After some test drives around Hebe Haven and a few long hard looks at the rain bands and thunderstorms that were showing on the observatory's radar and of course a large lunch of beef in black been sauce on deep fried noodles, we set off.  

We filled up with fuel, 75 litres.....   25 litres for each engine and a spare 25 litres.
We saw the drip from the steering hydraulics but it was only a drip!!!!We knew the trim tilt hydraulics were shot and we would have to trim the engines by their revs only.The steering hydraulics was empty by the time we reached Shek O headland so we had no choice but to stop and find somewhere to refill them as to be without steerage in one of the worlds busiest shipping lanes would not be a good idea.

Hydraulics refilled we headed for Lantau but first one engine ran out of fuel so we switched it to the spare tank but then the other conked out too so we had to limp across the shipping lane, running on one engine and timing our crossing to make sure we did not get in the way of the very speedy Macau ferries!    But then the engine conked out again.    Thankfully it was just a matter of venting the fuel tank and we were on our way agin. Once back at Mui Wo we had to next sort out a mooring and contend with some nasty rain squalls that timed their arrival perfectly.       Safely tied up we headed home and slept and slept and slept.   The next morning it was back to check the boat and  make a more permanent, running mooring.   A fun time indeed.

•  

All done

The new toy.

Oh yes indeed.   What you are looking at here is the new addition to the Man Kok Tsui empire.    100 horses of power attached to an 18 foot rigid inflatable boat.    It's at the boat yard right now having its bum cleaned.   The engines have been given a once over and while there are always things that can be sorted out on a boat, basically it is good to go.    

Nearly fledged

About 3 weeks old

Wong Dai or 17 year old Orange Winged Amazon.  
Greedily mops up the left over baby bird formula 

Falling asleep on my hand after being fed

Our cockatiels have bravely tried to raise three broods this year.   The first batch of eggs were patiently sat on for four weeks but none hatched so we removed them.   Yet three weeks later they were busy brooding a second clutch.    This time three of the eggs hatched but all three only survived a week or so.   After that we removed the nest box as we did not want them to keep laying and laying but they found a way and a third set of eggs were duly laid.   This time three hatched but only one has survived.   We suspect the nest box they have used was too small and cramped and only the strongest was getting noticed in the scrum inside.   Anyhow, this little chap (or chappess)  is all but ready to leave the nest box.  

What Wood Yew Do?

Loaded into the truck

What does over 1000 square feet of rescued teak planking look like? At first glance, not much we thought but it certainly seemed to get bigger and heavier as the day wore on.

The plan is to clean it all up then cut it into small lengths and make a rustic kind of parquet flooring for the three bedrooms and if any of it is left over then maybe make some sort of wood floor for the bathroom too.

My DIY prowess is dismal to say the least so thus could either be a massive surprise or a complete disaster...

High tide but boatman refused to go
to let us off load there 

The first sampan load on the pier

Off to fetch the next load

The stack just seemed to grow and grow

Up On The Roof

Our trusty summer bell tenet awning is about to explode.    After five years of sun, sun and more sun, plus rain and wind it is nearing the end of its safe life.   The search is now on for a replacement before a good blast of wind rips this one apart and makes a right old mess for us to sort out.  

The Beauty Queens

So far this year our cockatiel pair have laid three clutches of eggs.   The first clutch resulted in all the eggs being infertile.   The second clutch resulted in three hatchlings but one by one they all died.   We suspect the birds just did not know what to do.   Possibly, as the first hatched out a couple of days before the others it got all the attention from its parents but who knows.   Unfortunately, this one too died.   When we discovered it in the morning, its seemed to have a full crop of food so we are not sure what went wrong.   We removed the nest box for a few weeks to give them a break and then put it back in their flight.   This last clutch of five eggs resulted in three hatching out and two being infertile.   The youngest only lasted a few days before it died, again we think it was not big enough to compete for its parents attention.    So now we have only two chicks remaining.    To give the youngest one a better chance of surviving we left it in the nest box but hand fed it for a few days a through a syringe. It is still quite a bit smaller than its companion but seems to be holding its own and growing steadily.

Its now four days later and look at the difference!   We are little concerned about the smaller one as he seems to be growing a little slowly compared to his nest mate.    But for sure he is growing...

So much for the new cycle path

One of Mui Wo's coolest residents shows his complete indifference to petty regulations by walking on the newly opened cycle path.  

Lightning and more lightning.

Lightning strikes in the past hour.  It's been a little noisy to say the least.

One of the chicks has disappeared.

Alas, this morning one of the chicks has disappeared!   There is no way it was developed enough to escape on its own so we are none the wiser as to what has happened.   We cleaned out the nest box to make sure it was not buried in the bedding and as there are no remains or obvious signs of it being eaten?   We fear a rat may have discovered the nest.    Luckily the remaining two others appear unharmed, healthy and active.  

On loan - but for how long?

"Harley", a five year old Yellow Crowned Amazon has recently come to stay with us while her owners / parents try to sort out how to get her to join them in their new home in Canada.   Because of the ongoing bird flu scares in and around Hong Kong it seems that there are very few countries that will accept importing a pet bird, even if it has been quarantined, vet checked and so forth.   So for the time being at least Harley has taken up station on our balcony and is slowly beginning to get used to her new surroundings.   Pecan nuts appear to be the answer to most issues with her.   She craves them like a crackhead craves crack.   This bird will sell her soul to the devil for a pecan nut!

New additions to the menagerie

Spring time is certainly upon us.   The cockatiels have successfully hatched 3 of their clutch of 5 eggs.    In January they had had a trial run and laid 4 eggs, none of which turned out to be fertile.   We closed off the nest box to let them have a rest but soon discovered that we had not closed it off well enough as the sneaky birds had managed to get back in and lay a second clutch.  

Here is Dad guarding the nest while Mum is out feeding.

And here he is again, this time with a tiny, newly hatched chick sticking out from under his wing.

Chick number 1, aged 5 days.  
The eyes are still closed but you can see it will not be long before they begin to open. caption

Chicks number 2 and 3, aged 3 and 2 days.   They are much much smaller and delicate.   They are a bit tangled up but you can just make out their heads on the left side of the picture.

Pond digging

In our efforts to be good ecological folk we use a natural spring filled pond to collect water to use to irrigate the garden and the veggies.   The pond, or muddy, frog and crab infested swampy hole is halfway up the hillside and has about 200m of pipe to carry the water down to the garden.    The pond end of the pipe is a right angled piece with a 2cm opening that is as close to the bottom of the pond as we can get it without it sucking up mud.  

However, over time the pond fill sup with dead leaves that slowly rot away and drop to the pond floor and yes you have guessed it, eventually they get sucked into the pipe and bung it all up so we have to drain the pond, clear it up and then unclog the pipe.

In the photo you can see Nuch trying not to fall in as she rakes the leaves from the bottom of the pond and also the end of the pipe (with the right angle turned up to stop it sucking up the mud.We came back a few hours later and the pond was completely filled again.

Camping and pond digging

Had a great two days of camping fun at the house,   Five tents and three bedrooms full of tired kids and slightly drunk adults after treasure hunts, digging in the sand, making fire from rubbing bamboo sticks together (nearly), bonfires on the beach, shell collecting, goat hunting, exploring and an enormous amount of food and drink cooked, eaten and drunk.  

Cockatiel nesting

Despite the nest box having been in the flight for over a year the cockatiels had never really given it any interest.    Then on the 4th January I went up to the roof to feed the birds and saw the cockatiels were missing.   At first I thought they had escaped somehow but could not see any holes in the wires and then just as I was about to walk away I heard a scratching sound from inside the nest box and yep, lo and behold there they both were.  Today we were able to open the box when neither bird was inside to see what they were up to.  

 

A good day for twitching and fishing

First treated to a real close up viewing of three kites and juvenile white bellied fish eagle at Man Kok Tsui today.   The birds were wheeling around over head for a good five minutes before drifting off downwind towards Peng Chau.   Then as we were sitting at the pier we sighted a very optimistic grey heron attempting to fish from a floating buoy in the middle of the bay plus a two kingfishers (white in colour) possibly pied kingfishers, that were being much more productive fishing from the shore line rocks.