Re-visit the Mai Po Marshes in Winter 2015/16 were not exciting as in Spring and Autumn. Things were quieting down. Birds were in their non-breeding plumage. Thousands of Black Cormorants chose Shenzhen Gulf as their winter home. When I reached the mudflat outside the HK border ( requires a special permit from World Wide Fund for Nature HK), the tide has gone down a couple of km away. Hardly I could identify any birds except Black Cormorants. On one occasion I saw through Binoculars a flock of midium-sized shorebirds in their thousands did their usual "pan flight" I called it. I saw white flashes when the Sun shines onto it. I could not tell what they were as the distance and the fog did not provide me any chances. In the close proximity, there were hundreds of Pied Avocets. A good number of Chinese Pond-heron. I saw four Black-faced Spoonbills.
My bird list included also Eurasian Curlew, Common Greenshank, Common Redshank, Greater Sand Plover, Grey Plover, Black-headed Gull, Black-faced Spoonbill, White Wagtail, Yellow Wagtail, Chinese Bulbul, Ospreys, Chinese Pond-Heron, Grey Heron, Great Egret, Little Egret, Red-necked Stint, Little Ringed Plover, Common Snipe, White-throated Kingfisher, Common Kingfisher, Grey-tailed Tattler, Greater Coucal, Azure-winged Magpie, Oriental Magpie-Robin Mask Laughing-thrush, Black-collared Starling, Oriental White-eye, Spotted Dove, Norther Shoveler, White-breasted Waterhen and a couple of un-identified birds.
My bird list included also Eurasian Curlew, Common Greenshank, Common Redshank, Greater Sand Plover, Grey Plover, Black-headed Gull, Black-faced Spoonbill, White Wagtail, Yellow Wagtail, Chinese Bulbul, Ospreys, Chinese Pond-Heron, Grey Heron, Great Egret, Little Egret, Red-necked Stint, Little Ringed Plover, Common Snipe, White-throated Kingfisher, Common Kingfisher, Grey-tailed Tattler, Greater Coucal, Azure-winged Magpie, Oriental Magpie-Robin Mask Laughing-thrush, Black-collared Starling, Oriental White-eye, Spotted Dove, Norther Shoveler, White-breasted Waterhen and a couple of un-identified birds.
Chinese Pond-Heron - non-breeding plumage
Pied Avocet
Black-headed Gull
White-breasted Waterhen
Grey Heron
Mai Po Reserve, HK, May 2014
"It was a good day!" The Hong Kong Bird Watchers told me. Indeed it was a great day for me on 5th April 2014 at Mai Po Marshes in Hong Kong.
Mai Po Marshes and Inner Deep Bay was listed as a Ramsar site on 4 Sept 1995.
Yes, I was very lucky to see several thousands of Pied Avocets and Black-tailed Godwits when the tide started to push all birds onto the mudflat of Shenzhen Bay. Among the Godwits, I spotted a couple of birds with engraved tags on right tibia and a Godwit was an albino, has lost its colour.
Due to unfamiliarity to the area, I did not have enough time to examine the situation when a huge numbers of waders feeding on the Shenzhen Bay mudflat. By the time I reached the right bird hide, there were a large number of Bird Photographers had already been there for a while and occupied all the premiere positions in the hide. I was able to squeeze into the front and took some valuable photos of birds. I did see some Greater Sand Plovers as they were close to the hide. As the tide were coming in, all the birds were moving around continuously. At least 30 long lens cameras were clicking, of course including mines. I stayed in the hide for about 15 minutes only before the tide pushed thousands of waders elsewhere. Not until I started to sort my photos next day I realized that there were so many different birds caught on my camera.
First lot of birds caught my camera were Curlew Sandpipers. A lot of them were in breeding plumage. I could not tell how many of them, at least several hundreds if not in thousands; followed by Marsh Sandpipers in their hundreds. They were all in the air with other birds. If I did not take photos I wouldn't tell that the flying birds had changed from Curlew Sandpipers to the Marsh Sandpipers; Then followed by Black-tailed Godwits. They were in huge numbers as I stated previously. they did not all land in the pond #16/17. The majority of birds there were Pied Avocets and Black-tailed Godwits. The Pond#16/17 was the place that I had opportunity to count numbers of birds while they were roosting there. There were about 50 Eurasian Curlews mixed together with Eastern Curlews at a narrow strip of the mudflat. I spotted a very small numbers of Curlew Sandpipers, Marsh Sandpipers, Common Redshanks, Greater Sand Plovers at pond #16/17. Not all birds landed at Shenzhen River. A couple of Spotted Redshanks were among the Black-tailed Godwits. A sharp-tailed Sandpiper was mixed in Curlew Sandpipers. Some very small birds also appeared in the photos. I could not tell whether they were Red-necked Stints or little Stints due to the distant.
On 14th May I revisits Mai Po Reserve. Although majority of Black-tailed Godwits and Pied Avocets have gone north. There were still birds around like Grey-tailed Tattlers, Black-winged Stilts, Greater Sand Plover etc. It was a peaceful place to be on the day.
"It was a good day!" The Hong Kong Bird Watchers told me. Indeed it was a great day for me on 5th April 2014 at Mai Po Marshes in Hong Kong.
Mai Po Marshes and Inner Deep Bay was listed as a Ramsar site on 4 Sept 1995.
Yes, I was very lucky to see several thousands of Pied Avocets and Black-tailed Godwits when the tide started to push all birds onto the mudflat of Shenzhen Bay. Among the Godwits, I spotted a couple of birds with engraved tags on right tibia and a Godwit was an albino, has lost its colour.
Due to unfamiliarity to the area, I did not have enough time to examine the situation when a huge numbers of waders feeding on the Shenzhen Bay mudflat. By the time I reached the right bird hide, there were a large number of Bird Photographers had already been there for a while and occupied all the premiere positions in the hide. I was able to squeeze into the front and took some valuable photos of birds. I did see some Greater Sand Plovers as they were close to the hide. As the tide were coming in, all the birds were moving around continuously. At least 30 long lens cameras were clicking, of course including mines. I stayed in the hide for about 15 minutes only before the tide pushed thousands of waders elsewhere. Not until I started to sort my photos next day I realized that there were so many different birds caught on my camera.
First lot of birds caught my camera were Curlew Sandpipers. A lot of them were in breeding plumage. I could not tell how many of them, at least several hundreds if not in thousands; followed by Marsh Sandpipers in their hundreds. They were all in the air with other birds. If I did not take photos I wouldn't tell that the flying birds had changed from Curlew Sandpipers to the Marsh Sandpipers; Then followed by Black-tailed Godwits. They were in huge numbers as I stated previously. they did not all land in the pond #16/17. The majority of birds there were Pied Avocets and Black-tailed Godwits. The Pond#16/17 was the place that I had opportunity to count numbers of birds while they were roosting there. There were about 50 Eurasian Curlews mixed together with Eastern Curlews at a narrow strip of the mudflat. I spotted a very small numbers of Curlew Sandpipers, Marsh Sandpipers, Common Redshanks, Greater Sand Plovers at pond #16/17. Not all birds landed at Shenzhen River. A couple of Spotted Redshanks were among the Black-tailed Godwits. A sharp-tailed Sandpiper was mixed in Curlew Sandpipers. Some very small birds also appeared in the photos. I could not tell whether they were Red-necked Stints or little Stints due to the distant.
On 14th May I revisits Mai Po Reserve. Although majority of Black-tailed Godwits and Pied Avocets have gone north. There were still birds around like Grey-tailed Tattlers, Black-winged Stilts, Greater Sand Plover etc. It was a peaceful place to be on the day.
Curlew Sandpipers with Greater Sand Plovers in flight
Black-tailed Godwits with two Bar-tailed Godwits in flight
Marsh Sandpipers with a Common Redshank, Curlew Sandpipers
Pied Avocets in flight
Curlew Sandpiper with engraved orange flag 2A on right tibia, metal band on left tarsal, 70% breeding plumage -
Band Number: 04269555 (engraved flag 2A)
Date of banding: 28/12/2013
Age of bird when banded: 2+
Locode: 800101 (Western Treatment Plant (Werribee Sewage Farm))
A Curlew Sandpiper Calidris ferruginea was sighted by Surong Gunn at:
Mai Po, Hong Kong (China) 22deg 29min 0sec N, 119deg 14min 0sec E on 14/05/2014 with flag(s)
The resighting was a distance of approximately 7235 km, with a bearing
of 334 degrees, from the marking location.
First overseas sighting for 2A
Band Number: 04269555 (engraved flag 2A)
Date of banding: 28/12/2013
Age of bird when banded: 2+
Locode: 800101 (Western Treatment Plant (Werribee Sewage Farm))
A Curlew Sandpiper Calidris ferruginea was sighted by Surong Gunn at:
Mai Po, Hong Kong (China) 22deg 29min 0sec N, 119deg 14min 0sec E on 14/05/2014 with flag(s)
The resighting was a distance of approximately 7235 km, with a bearing
of 334 degrees, from the marking location.
First overseas sighting for 2A
Hong Kong Wetland Park, May 2014
