Saturday, June 1, 2013

Quaggy and Something red (This week's Photo Hunt themes)


I don't know whether it's the case with other participants in Sandi's Photo Hunt (or, for that matter, Gattina's) but I have to say that this week's theme word of quaggy was one whose definition I had to look up in a dictionary.  But once I realized that at least one of its synonyms was marshy, I was set!

This is because Hong Kong -- yes, Asia's World City! -- is home to the Mai Po Marshes, an approximately 393 hectare nature reserve that's part of the roughly 1,500 hectare Inner Deep Bay area in the northwest New Territories officially designated as a RAMSAR site.  And as it just so happens, I paid a visit to the Mai Po Nature Reserve earlier this year, during which I took a number of cool snaps!

The main attraction that day for the two friends I went to Mai Po with and myself were the birds.  And although it may not look it in the first photo (which was taken from one of the bird hides that we spent time in that day), we actually did end up seeing a pretty good number of avian creatures -- including the grey heron walking about in a quaggy area of the nature reserve -in this blog entry's middle photo.

On the other hand, I have to say that the day of our Mai Po excursion was a fairly gray one overall (though it also did yield glimpses of beautiful blue sky).  So much so that when I couldn't find any reds in the photos I took that afternoon!  So for Gattina's part of the meme, I went instead to the collection of photos I have from the nearby Hong Kong Wetland Park that includes a 60 hectare wetland reserve -- and also exhibits on wetland ecology that allow people to see up close what kind of plants and living things are to be found under water in the quaggy marshlands that, yep, turn out to include something(s) red rather than the more expected green and brown! :b

14 comments:

Ann, Chen Jie Xue 陈洁雪 said...

there should be hello Kitty ones, as Hello kitty is so popular. Are u a fan?

Trekcapri said...

Hi YTSL, very cool post. Hong Kong has such a diverse landscape. I really enjoy learning about them. Your photos are wonderful and great take for the two themes.

Thanks so much for sharing. Have a wonderful weekend.

peppylady (Dora) said...

I'm just visiting a few photo hunter right now.
I'll be heading out in morning for a bridal shower.
Nice pictures...we have heron like that here.

Coffee is on

YTSL said...

Hi Ann --

Er... does 48 blog entries on Hello Kitty attest to my being a fan of the cute cat? :)

http://webs-of-significance.blogspot.hk/search/label/Hello%20Kitty

(And for people who're wondering, Ann's comments are a response to a query I made over on her blog.)

Hi Trekcapri --

Thank you for being so appreciative of my blog's attempts to show Hong Kong's diversity. Hope you have a great weekend! :)

Hi peppylady --

Enjoy the bridal shower! Re the herons you have in your part of the world: I wonder if they fly to Hong Kong... ;)

magiceye said...

Yes I had to look up Quaggy too! :) So much to learn!

Lovely takes!

Gattina said...

I had the same problem, I couldn't find what "quaggy" means. I guessed it from the pictures I saw, lol !
Nice combination !

aspiritofsimplicity said...

I had to look up quaggy also. Great pictures of your marshy area.

YTSL said...

Hi magiceye --

And to think some people think that one's education ends once one leaves school... ;b

Hi Gattina --

Thanks for approving of the combination of the two themes. :)

Hi Kara --

Glad to learn that I wasn't alone in not previously knowing what quaggy meant! :)

Carver said...

Great shots for the themes. I love the capture of the heron. They are such elegant birds. Happy Weekend!

eastcoastlife said...

Wow, HK has huge areas of wetlands. I would check if there are herons around our wetlands. Pulau Ubin would be a beautiful place you could put in your tour itinerary to Singapore.

YTSL said...

Hi Carver --

I love that herons, egrets and their ilks are relatively easy to spot and photograph in Hong Kong. And happy weekend to you too! :)

Hi EastCoastLife --

I wouldn't say huge but it's much larger than one would expect. The weird thing is that the wetlands are so close to a city -- but the city you can see in the top photo is not Hong Kong's but Shenzhen!

Ramakant Pradhan said...

Now that was a new word for me. We keep learning every day.

YTSL said...

Hi Ramakant --

Indeed, we do re learning. It never stops, does it? :b

Anonymous said...

Very quaggy indeed! Perfect shots for this week's theme.