Hong Kong’s suffocating pollution, human density and hyperactivity are well known. Less known are its pockets of natural beauty which only exist to those who look. These pictures were recently taken by Richard Kok at Yuen Long. After the pictures is a little story about Lucky HK Birds.
香港混浊的空气，稠密的人烟和过敏的社会神经是人所共知。鲜为人知的是香港还有很多优美漂亮的大自然。这几张照片是我的老友曲卫东最近在元朗拍到的。在美丽的照片之后，我有个关于“幸福小鸟” 的闪灵小故事。
Lucky Hong Kong Birds 幸福的“港鸟”
A mere forty-minute drive away, in busy Central, sparrows and pigeons were eating next to an overflowing garbage bin, twittering. They momentarily scattered when a sweaty man in three-piece suit walked hurriedly by. He threw a colourful paper bag at the bin and missed. A pigeon expertly unwrapped it. “Look! More than half a burger!” A few of his friends fluttered in to join.
“Humans often don’t finish their lunches on muggy days like this.” An old pigeon commented insightfully. “When they sweat, they lose appetite.”
“We should be thankful for these ready meals you know,” a chubby one said, pecking leisurely at a piece of fish burger a scrawny lady on high-heels had deposited. “Little egrets up north have to hunt their meals in the wild. Sometimes they fly and fight all morning without catching even a minnow.”
“And when they do, they eat it raw, without ketchup,” said a little sparrow with a chunk of buffalo fries between beak. “Can you imagine swallowing a live fish, feeling it wriggling all the way down your throat?”
“Yuk! That’s barbaric. Disgusting. I wish some animal-right activist would do something.”
The old pigeon hopped on top of the garbage bin with a full stomach, gazing northward with compassionate eyes. “The humans are building more cities up there. Let’s hope the poor egrets would be able to eat like us civilised birds one day soon.”
離開元朗不過40分鐘車程，在繁榮熱鬧的中環，有幾只麻雀和白鴿在富裕的垃圾箱旁共進午餐，吱吱喳喳地談天說地。一個身穿「三件頭」西服，打著領帶，滿頭大汗的男人匆匆而過，打斷了它們的話柄。那男人順手把一個紙袋扔向垃圾箱，但並未命中。一頭鴿子熟手地把紙包弄開：「看！大半個漢堡包！」 它的幾隻老友連忙半跳半飛過來分享。
一隻閱歷豐富的老鴿說道：「今天天氣悶熱，有體面的人胃口都會較差。」
「大家應該感恩我們每天三餐無憂哦，」一隻胖得差不多飛不起的白鴿一邊說，一邊吃著剛才一位拉直了腳踝穿高跟鞋的女士扔的魚柳包：「北方的小白鷺還要自己覓食。飛一個早上，又打又叫，弄得一身濕透，有時候連魚毛也抓不到一條。」
「就算抓到也要生吞呢！」 一隻叼著薯條的麻雀尖叫道。「醬汁也沒有。你可以想像吞食一條活生生在喉嚨里拼命掙扎的鮮魚嗎？」
「哎唷！別說了！太恐怖太野蠻了！簡直是虐禽！為什麼沒有維護動物權益的人出來說句話，做點事情呢？」
那老鴿剛吃夠了，一躍跳上垃圾箱頂向北凝望，眼中充滿感慨和同情。「聽聞他們會加快北部城鎮化。但願那些可憐的白鷺很快便可以像我們一樣幸福，有文化有尊嚴地吃飽肚子吧！」
过渡 22.01.2013