Hong Kong’s diverse wildlife, from a king cobra to a sunbird, the star of photography exhibition

The fork-tailed sunbird is a tricky customer.

“They are tiny, move around very quickly,” says Robert I. Ferguson. “If they are in the direct sun, which gives you enough light to take a good photograph, the shadows and details are too accentuated by the harsh light.”

Nevertheless, the wildlife photographer had to have a good picture of one.

“I needed to find a place where I could get reasonably close, to get a high resolution photo that I would not have to crop so much. One of their favourite flowers is the “Hong Kong rose” (Rhodoleia championii) and there is a large bush of these in the Lions Nature Education Centre, in Sai Kung, near where I live. So over a period of about a month in January and February, I would stake out this tree and wait for the bird to appear, and learn from the photos I was able to take, in different conditions and at different times of day.

“This photo [above] was taken late one afternoon under an overcast sky. The bird stayed still long enough for me to compose and shoot, and it gives the details and iridescence of the feathers, while remaining sharp and full of details.”