In early November 2014 we had the
opportunity to participate in a “learning” trip to the Hong Kong Wetland Park
and Maipo Wetland Reserve organized by NParks for its volunteers. As it was a 3 days programme, we had
little free time to fully explore Maipo. Therefore when Alan suggested going on another trip in January, we were glad to join.
He arranged the permit and also got in
touch with his birding friend, CF, in Hong Kong. While CF was away birding in Taiwan, his girlfriend joined us for a day, to show
us Shek Kong, a site popular with HK birders.
With the itinerary planned by Alan, we met on Tues 27th January at
Changi Airport for Hong Kong.
On arrival we bought the HKD 100 SIM card for our week’s use and took
the public bus E34A for HKD13 to Tin Sui Wai bus terminal. It was a short walk to Harbour Plaza Resort where
we stayed.
With the Octopus card it was easy moving
around. On Wednesday morning we made our
way to Tai Po Kau Nature Reserve and walked slowly
up the hill. There were a good number
of morning walkers up the hill and we met photographers walking up. Although there were not many birds
sighted going up we spotted a fruiting tree near the first rest area, and on a
ridge there were a group of photographers.
We soon joined them taking photos of the Japanese White-eye,
Orange-bellied Leafbird and Fork-tailed Sunbird feeding at the tree. On the way down we saw the Mountain Bulbul, Long-tailed Shrike and
White-rumped Munia.
In the afternoon we took a taxi to Long Valley. We stopped by the Bean curd shop for the bean curd and then walked to the farmland. We were surprised to see Pied Avocet, Black-winged Stilt, Common Snipe and Sandpipers so close. We also got shots of a Ruddy-breasted Crake, Siberian Stonechat but missed the Blue Throat as it appeared as we were leaving.
Our permit (HKD180 per pax) was approved for Thursday 29th so we took a taxi to Maipo Wetlands Reserves stopped at the village and walked into the reserve. On the way we spotted birds in the canal and the trees on both sides. Somehow by the time we reached the reserve it was late morning and were greeted by the Azure-winged Magpie. Alan’s contact at Maipo told us the tide would be later at 3pm which meant we would have less time at the hides. We had our packed lunch then made our way to the Deepwater Bay hide. The birds were quite far as the tide had not yet come in, we decided to try another hide and on the way out met 2 Hong Kong birders who told us to try the hide on the left. We left Maipo at 6 pm, an hour after the closing time, very pleased with the birds we saw at this hide.
On Friday we met CF's friend at Kam Sheung Road MTR, and took a taxi to Shek Kong, which is a canal outside a military compound. The first bird we spotted was the Chinese Grosbeaks. As we walked along the side of the canal we spotted other birds, Flycatchers, Bulbuls and Pipits. From Shek Kong we walked back to the MTR. We then went to Central for our lunch. after which it was a short walk to Hong Kong Park, located behind the Island Shangri-la Hotel. The open aviary had a lot of birds to keep our cameras busy.
On Saturday morning we took a taxi to Long Valley and alighted
at the Hor Sui Heung (Bean Curd factory), walked to the farm-land and
birded till 12 noon. We got the Blue Throat! We took the mini bus 51K to the MTR station and it was time to doing some
shopping.
On Sunday we visited the Kowloon Park’s open aviary and
revisited the aviary at Hong Kong Park before we packed and left for home.
Birds Seen
| Tai Po Kau | Shek Kong | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1) Black-throated Thrush | 1) Chinese Bulbul | ||
| 2) Japanese White-eye | 2) Common Sandpiper | ||
| 3) Orange-bellied Leafbird | 3) Daurian Redstart | ||
| 4) Fork-tailed Sunbird | 4) Yellow-browed Warbler | ||
| 5) Mountain Bulbul | 5) Dusky Warbler | ||
| 6) Long-tailed Shrike | 6) Olive-backed Pipit | ||
| 7) White-rumped Munia | 7) Chinese Grosbeak | ||
| 8) Japanese White-eye | |||
| Maipo | 9) Common Blackbird | ||
| 1) Azure-winged Magpie | 10) Grey-backed Thrush | ||
| 2) Black Kite | 11) Masked Laughing Thrush | ||
| 3) Black-faced Spoonbill | 12) Grey Wagtail | ||
| 4) Black-headed Gull | 13) Magpie Robin | ||
| 5) Chinese Bulbul | 14) Crested Mynah | ||
| 6) Chinese Pond Heron | 15) Cinereous Tit | ||
| 7) Collared Crow | 16) Black-collared Starling | ||
| 8) Common Kingfisher | 17) Fire-breasted Flowerpecker | ||
| 9) Common Magpie | |||
| 10) Eurasian Collared Dove | |||
| 11) Eurasian Curlew | Long Valley | ||
| 12) Eurasian Curlew | 1) Pied Avocet | ||
| 13) Eurasian Dove | 2) Black-winged Stilt | ||
| 14) Eurasian Tree Sparrow | 3) Common Snipe | ||
| 15) Eurasian Wigeon | 4) Ruddy-breasted Crake | ||
| 16) Great Cormorant | 5) Wood Sandpiper | ||
| 17) Great Egret | 6) Little Ringed Plover | ||
| 18) Grey Heron | 7) Siberian Stonechat | ||
| 19) Grey Plover | 8) Yellow-bellied Prinia | ||
| 20) Heuglin’s Gull | 9) White Wagtail | ||
| 21) Little Cormorant | 10) Daurian Myna | ||
| 22) Little Egret | 11) Collared Starling | ||
| 23) Little Grebe | 12) Common Magpie | ||
| 24) Long-tailed Shrike | 13) Red-billed Starling | ||
| 25) Marsh Sandpiper | 14) Blue Throat | ||
| 26) Masked Laughing Thrush | 15) Common Moorhen | ||
| 27) Northern Shoveler | 16) Plain Prinia | ||
| 28) Pied Avocet | 17) Eastern Wagtail | ||
| 29) Plain Prinia | 18) Common Kingfisher | ||
| 30) Red-whiskered Bulbul | 19) Black-winged Stilt | ||
| 31) Tufted Duck | 20) Zitting Cistiscola | ||
| 32) Western Osprey | 21) Dusky Warbler | ||
| 33) White Wagtail | 22) Crested Mynah | ||
| 34) Wood Sandpiper | 23) Scaly-breasted Munia | ||
| 35) Yellow Wagtail | 24) Eurasian Tree Sparrow | ||
| HK Park | Kowloon Park | ||
| 1) Alexandrine Parakeet | 1) African Grey Parrot | ||
| 2) Bali Mynah | 2) Argus Pheasant | ||
| 3) Blue-winged Leafbird | 3) Black-necked Swan | ||
| 4) Chestnut-backed Scimitar Babbler | 4) Common Peafowl | ||
| 5) Common Shelduck | 5) Coscoroba Swan | ||
| 6) Crested Partridge | 6) Greater Flamingo | ||
| 7) Crested Pigeon | 7) Grey-headed Imperial Pigeon | ||
| 8) Fawn-breasted Bowerbird | 8) Hawaiian Goose | ||
| 9) Golden Yellow Pheasant | 9) Lesser Flamingo | ||
| 10) Greater Green Leafbird | 10) Red-crested Pochard | ||
| 11) Green Imperial Pigeon | 11) Ringed Teal | ||
| 12) Java Sparrow | 12) Victoria Crowned Pigeon | ||
| 13) Long-tailed Broadbill | 13) Wood Duck | ||
| 14) Maroon-breasted Crowned Pigeon | |||
| 15) Mountain Peacock Pheasant | |||
| 16) Orange-spotted Bulbul | |||
| 17) Pied Imperial Pigeon | |||
| 18) Pinon Imperial Pigeon | |||
| 19) Purple-tailed Imperial Pigeon | |||
| 20) Red-billed Blue Magpie | |||
| 21) Rainbow Lorikeet | |||
| 22) Ruddy Cuckoo Dove | |||
| 23) White-eared Catbird | |||
| 24) White-hooded Babbler | |||
| 25) White-necked Myna | |||
| 26) Yellow-crowned Bulbul aka Straw-headed Bulbul | |||
| 27) Yellow-faced Myna | |||
| 28) Yellow-spotted Bulbul |
