Migration - that extraordinary time of the year when the world’s animals are on the move, when we’re reminded that international borders mean nothing to the rest of the planet’s lifeforms, that while we complain about cramped seats on a jumbo jet and how tired we feel after a ten-hour flight there are bundles of feathers weighing little more than an apple flying thousands of kilometres non-stop who will die if they don’t find food or hit bad weather…shorebirds, wildfowl, passerines flying by the million along flyways laid down in their genes over thousands of years. Incredible when you stop to think about it.

Migrants typically stop at areas that they’re either forced to land on (headlands that are the first landfall after a long crossing over water) or re-fueling areas that they’ve used for generations; mudflats, marshes, woodlands, grasslands etc. The best of these sites become known amongst migrant-watchers as ‘hotspots’. Birders of course are drawn to migration hotspots like, er - migrating birds, heads full of rarities they want to see, tales of huge falls uppermost in their hopeful minds.

Now, there are migration hotspots - and then there are world-famous HOTSPOTS. Think, for example, of Cape May for migrant warblers, the Bosphorus for migrant raptors - and then there’s Hong Kong’s Mai Po, a staging area for thousands of sought-after East Asian/Australasian shorebirds, Black-faced Spoonbills, Chinese Egrets, Saunders’ Gulls, and a host of other species that pass through the region in the narrow window between April and May.

Mai Po is part of Deep Bay, an internationally significant wetland that is really a shallow estuary at the the mouths of Sham Chun River, Shan Pui River (Yuen Long Creek) and Tin Shui Wai Nullah. Inner Deep Bay was listed as a Ramsar site under the Ramsar Convention in 1995, and the Reserve has been managed by the World Wide Fund for Nature Hong Kong since 1983 (HK’s Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department has responsibilities for the Ramsar site as a whole).

I’ve been incredibly fortunate to have visited Mai Po a number of times in the past (usually in the company of friend and tour-leader Dr Martin Williams, a Yorkshire birder/conservationist who’s been living in Hong Kong for many years and is a highly-recommended guide). My last visit was back in September 2005, when the temperature was way too hot, the humidity even higher, and the birds were mainly in non-breeding plumages. This time, Martin promised, the birds would be a) in impressive numbers, and b) looking stunning. We may not find some of the most sought-after species of course - the ‘Big Three’ for most people (me included) are probably Spoon-billed Sandpiper, Nordmann’s Greenshank and Asian/Asiatic Dowitcher - but we were going to have a great time!

Good enough for me…

He was right. We failed to find either Spoon-billed Sandpiper or Nordmann’s Greenshank (both had been seen earlier in the week, before an overnight clear-out took place) but, boy, was it an enjoyable few hours. After scanning the roosting flocks of shorebirds on the Scrapes at low tide (which was excellent though difficult, the birds were packed so tightly and aren’t all that close) we then got some exceptionally good views of feeding stints, sandpipers, and plovers etc from both an old hide positioned right on the edge of the mangroves and from a perfectly-positioned newer hide I hadn’t been to before which is built further out on the mud-flat.

Sitting inside these hides as flocks of shorebirds come over so low you can hear the rush of their wings is extraordinarily thrilling. As well as the shorebirds mixed flocks of egrets (Great, Intermediate, and Little) pounced on fish in the shallow water, Martin picked out a single Saunders’s Gull amongst a flock of Black-headed, Gull-billed Terns hawked over the rivulets and channels as they filled, and globally rare Black-faced Spoonbills swept their long bills through the swirling tides as they strode rapidly up and down some hundreds of metres ahead of us. The noise too is amazing - a constant chorus of whistles, trills, yelps, and high-pitched peeps. Mai Po at its best is truly a birding experience that won’t ever be forgotten…

Okay, that’s probably enough over-excited prose, how about I calm things down and post some photos?

Mai Po Marshes:

The Reserve itself - from a birder’s point of view - can be broken down into three different areas: the shrimp ponds outside the reserve proper; the scrapes inside where thousands of shorebirds roost at high-tide; and the mangrove-fringed tidal-flats and rich mud of Deep Bay where the shorebirds et al feed as the tide drops.

The Shrimp Ponds:

Though not particularly interesting for shorebirds - small numbers of species like Green and Wood Sandpipers and Little Ringed Plovers use them sporadically - the areas just outside the Reserve can be excellent for migratory passerines like wagtails (we saw two forms of Eastern Yellow and leucopsis ‘Black-backed Whites) and pipits (we saw plenty of Richard’s and a single Red-throated). A first-time visitor to the region will also be able to fill their boots with egrets, various mynas and starlings (eg Crested, Black-collared and White-shouldered/Chinese), common bulbuls (Red-whiskered and Light-vented), and the abundant and rather lovely Yellow-bellied Prinia.

Beyond the Shrimp Ponds are the WWF-HK Headquarters where you can pick up pre-ordered permits to access the Reserve (and do book - the staff are lovely people, but don’t take kindly to birders from overseas trying to get away without paying the entrance-fee [currently HKDollars100 - about 8GBP/16 USD]: you’ll be unceremoniously escorted off the reserve and miss the cracking wetlands inside, which would be a heck of a shame!).

A wooded hillock besides the centre is often good for birds - including Masked Laughingthrush and a flock of feral Azure-winged Magpies. We also had brief but good views of two mandarinus (Chinese) Blackbirds - surely a split from the Common Blackbird.

Little Ringed Plover Charadrius dubius

 

Eastern Yellow Wagtail Motacilla tschutschensis simillima

Eastern Yellow Wagtail Motacilla tschutschensis taivana

 

Richard’s Pipit Anthus richardi

 

Azure-winged Magpie Cyanopica cyana

 

Yellow-bellied Prinia Prinia flaviventris

The Scrapes:

Shallow “scraped” ponds with islands of piled-up soil, shorebird scrapes offer safe roosting areas for tired migrants. Most shorebirds don’t tend to feed very heavily in areas like these as there is often more limited nutrient replenishment than on tidal-flats, and therefore less food. Unsurprisingly the best shorebird scrapes are ringed with bird hides. Even so the sheer numbers of birds that confront a hot and sweaty, over-anxious birder as he/she opens the blinds for their first ever look at Mai Po’s legendary roosting flocks can be completely overwhelming…

I took the photos below from three different positions as Martin and I walked the perimiter of the scrapes themselves. Which species are shown? Most of Asia’s species are represented in there somewhere…

Three views of the shorebird scrapes at Mai Po

Also of interest we saw the small (perhaps 18 inches long) snake in the photo below - identified for me by John Fellowes as a Checkered Keelback Xenochrophis piscator - firstly swimming sinuously across one of the deep channels that criss-cross the Reserve and are used to drain/flood the Scrapes, and then - presumably - waiting half-hidden for prey to come by. Checkered Keelbacks are non-venomous to humans, and are found from the Indian sub-continent across to China and south to Indonesia.

Deep Bay:

Once the tide in Deep Bay starts to drop and the mudflats are uncovered, the shorebirds and the shorebird-watchers move away from the Scrapes and head for the Bay.

The birds of course take the most direct route, but birders have to hustle along a narrow and ‘interesting’ boardwalk that cuts through the mangroves out to the hides. Just two planks wide the boardwalk sits on barrels that rise and sink with the tide. It’s easy enough to navigate if you’re sure-footed and reasonably fit - but not really recommended for visitors who are unsteady as the whole thing can move and sway, and I would guess it’s almost impossible for anyone in a wheelchair.

The view from the hides, though, is worth the effort it takes to get to them: a wide expanse looks over to the newly-built high-rises of Shenzen, and in between is nutrient-rich mud and thousands of birds. Larger species like Pied Avocets and Black-faced Spoonbills tend to remain further out (in the deeper water) than smaller species like stints, but anyone with a scope is going to be able to get some superb view of species that are becoming scarcer and scarcer as staging areas throughout the region are destroyed.

Egrets

Great Egret Egretta alba and Little Egrets Egretta garzetta

 

Great Egret Egretta alba

 

Yellow-billed/Intermediate Egret Egretta intermedius

Shorebirds

I also photographed this leg-flagged Red-necked Stint. The recognised leg-flagging protocol devised by the Australasian Waders Study Group suggests that a single orange flag means that this particular stint was flagged in Victoria, Australia. Details will be sent to the AWSG.

UPDATE: Local HK birder John Holmes has sent me a link to some excellent photos he took at Mai Po a few days before my visit which include BOTH Spoon-billed Sandpiper and Nordmann’s Greenshank - well worth a visit: http://johnjemi.blogspot.com/

The Future:

Deep Bay (and therefore Mai Po) faces threats, including pollution, and rising mudflat levels that perhaps arise from intense urbanization, especially (in recent years) on the north, Shenzhen side of the bay. Critically-important staging sites all along China’s coast and on both sides of the Yellow Sea are being lost to development (see for example www.birdlife.org). It would be a tragedy if this fantastic place were lost also, so - if you do go to Hong Kong PLEASE support WWF’s efforts at Mai Po in any way you can.

Mai Po Bird List (new for the year underlined - NB birds marked with * were seen at another site and were not recorded at Mai Po):
Grey Heron Ardea cinerea 4-5; Great Egret Egretta alba c)10; Intermediate Egret Egretta intermedia 4; Little Egret Egretta garzetta 40+; Pacific Reef Egret * Egretta sacra 1; Chinese Pond-heron Ardeola bacchus c)10; Black-crowned Night-heron Nycticorax nycticorax 8-10; Black-faced Spoonbill Platalea minor c)30; Eurasian Wigeon Anas penelope c)10; Garganey Anas querquedula 1; Osprey Pandion haliaetus 2; Black Kite Milvus migrans c)20; Common Moorhen Gallinula chloropus 2; Black-winged Stilt Himantopus himantopus 20+; Pied Avocet Recurvirostra avosetta 150+; Pacific Golden Plover Pluvialis fulva c)20; Grey Plover Pluvialis squatarola 2+; Little Ringed Plover Charadrius dubius 1; Mongolian Plover Charadrius mongolus 10+; Greater Sand Plover Charadrius leschenaultii 5-10; Asiatic Dowitcher Limnodromus semipalmatus c)15; Black-tailed Godwit Limosa limosa 40+; Bar-tailed Godwit Limosa lapponica 3; Whimbrel Numenius phaeopus 20+; Eurasian Curlew Numenius arquata 10+; Far Eastern Curlew Numenius madagascariensis 1+; Spotted Redshank Tringa erythropus 30+; Common Redshank Tringa totanus 50+; Marsh Sandpiper Tringa stagnatilis 30+; Common Greenshank Tringa nebularia 10+; Wood Sandpiper Tringa glareola 6; Terek Sandpiper Xenus cinereus 20+; Common Sandpiper Tringa hypoleucos 3-4; Grey-tailed Tattler Tringa brevipes 1; Ruddy Turnstone Arenaria interpres 6; Great Knot Calidris tenuirostris c)20; Red-necked Stint Calidris ruficollis 200+; Long-toed Stint Calidris subminuta 1; Sharp-tailed Sandpiper Calidris acuminata 10+; Curlew Sandpiper Calidris ferruginea 1000+; Broad-billed Sandpiper Limicola falcinellus 10+; Red-necked Phalarope Phalaropus lobatus 25; Black-headed Gull Larus ridibundus 60; Saunders’ Gull Larus saundersi 1; Gull-billed Tern Gelochelidon nilotica 20+; Spotted Dove Streptopelia chinensis c)20; Indian Cuckoo Cuculus micropterus 2; Common Koel Eudynamys scolopacea c)10; Greater Coucal Centropus sinensis 4-5; Common Kingfisher Alcedo atthis 1; White-breasted Kingfisher Halcyon smyrnensis 1; Pied Kingfisher Ceryle rudis 1; (Siberian) Yellow Wagtail Motacilla tschutschensis simillima 20+; Black-backed Wagtail Motacila alba leucopsis 10+; Richard’s Pipit Anthus richardi 3-4; Red-throated Pipit Anthus cervinus 1; Red-whiskered Bulbul Pycnonotus jocosus 10+; Light-vented Bulbul Pycnonotus sinensis c)20; Blue Whistling-thrush * Myophonus caeruleus 1; Eurasian Blackbird Turdus merula mandarinus 2; Yellow-bellied Prinia Prinia flaviventris 30+; Common Tailorbird Orthotomus sutorius 2; Dusky Warbler Phylloscopus fuscatus 1+; Oriental Magpie-robin Copsychus saularis 10+; Masked Laughingthrush Garrulax perspicillatus 3; Hwamei * Garrulax canorus 2; Great Tit * Parus major 1; Long-tailed Shrike Lanius schach 2; Hair-crested Drongo * Dicrurus hottentottus 1; Eurasian Magpie Pica pica 3; Azure-winged Magpie Cyanopica cyana c)10; Crested Myna Acridotheres cristatellus 20+; Black-collared Starling Sturnus nigricollis 10+; White-shouldered Starling Sturnus sinensis 4; Eurasian Tree Sparrow Passer montanus 30+; Black-faced Bunting Emberiza spodocephala 4

All photographs copyright Charlie Moores