Birdwatching at Hong Kong Mai Po Nature Reserve (2018)

If you wish to learn more about Mai Po Nature Reserve, you may want to read my first article here, or visit their website for more information.

After an interval of 4 years, I re-visited Mai Po this year in the second half of November. Not just once, but 3 times! My sister, who lives in Hong Kong, managed to book me on 3 different tours:

• WWF - Exploring Mai Po (3 hours)
• WWF - Mangrove Boardwalk (4 hours)
• Birdwatching at Mai Po with the Hong Kong Birdwatching Society (6 hours)

The first 2 tours are conducted by World Wildlife Fund - Hong Kong volunteers. You pay a fee, which should be considered more of a donation to the reserve. The 3rd walk with the HK Birdwatching Society includes birding at one of the Mangrove Boardwalk hides and priority is given to members. This is a highly popular walk with serious birders. I was on the waiting list for quite long and lucky me was given a spot a few days just before the walk!

Exploring Mai Po is a walk that introduces the visitor to the main features of Mai Po - the intertidal ponds, fish ponds and bird hides. You get to do a little bit of birdwatching at the only 3-storey hide in the reserve. The walk takes you to the Education Centre and back. Look out for a Pied Kingfisher that shows up frequently at the pond next to the Centre. The Pied Kingfisher has a habit of hovering before diving for fish!

Intertidal ponds.

View from the 3-storey bird hide.

The Mangrove Boardwalk takes you to the famous floating boardwalk in the middle of the largest mangrove forest in Hong Kong. This boardwalk was built by volunteers and floats according to the tide levels. The boardwalk 'floats' because it is supported by floating drums on both sides which are anchored to the ground by chains. On this particular day, it was low tide when we visited the hide and there were not many birds to be seen. But it was still a good day with 36 bird species in my list.

Volunteer guides, Peter and Judy, for the Mangrove Boardwalk tour.

Inner Deep Bay mudflat on a low tide day.

One of the Mangrove Boardwalk birding hides.

The last session in late Nov with the HK Birdwatching Society was the most exciting for me because we spent almost 2 hours at the mangrove hide looking at migratory birds feeding at Deep Bay. It was high tide at noon and was a suitable time for watching shorebirds when we got there. It was such an experience for me because most of the shorebirds were not commonly seen in Singapore and I got to learn from the experts how to identify them. I saw 53 bird species on this day! See list below.

Migratory birds feeding close to the hides during high tide.

The Floating Boardwalk.

Most of these tours are conducted in Cantonese. It does help to speak their language or have someone with you who does. Otherwise, look out for the English tours, which may not be so frequent.

NOTE: This is a restricted area and permits to visit are required, especially to the Floating Boardwalk. Please book the tours in advance or look for professional birding guides who can make all the necessary arrangements for you.

This is my birding list for the 25 Nov 2018 tour with the HK Birdwatching Society:

Spotted Dove
Eurasian Collared Dove
Asian Azure-winged Magpie
Oriental Magpie Robin
Siberian Stonechat
Little Bunting
Yellow-browed Warbler
Japanese White-eye
Masked Laughingthrush
Plain Prinia
Cinereous Tit
Common Koel (female)
Chinese Pond Heron
Grey Heron
Purple Heron
Black-crowned Night Heron
Great Cormorant
Collared Crow
Black-collared Starling
White Wagtail
Red-whiskered Bulbul
Chinese Bulbul
Little Grebe
Common Moorhen
White-breasted Waterhen
Common Kingfisher
White-throated Kingfisher
Yellow Bittern
Little Egret
Great Egret
Black-faced Spoonbill
Eurasian Spoonbill
Common Sandpiper
Wood Sandpiper
Marsh Sandpiper
Common Greenshank
Common Redshank
Eurasian Curlew
Pacific Golden Plover
Grey Plover
Little Ringed Plover
Kentish Plover
Bar-tailed Godwit
Temminck's Stint
Pied Avocet
Black-winged Stilt
Dunlin
Black-headed Gull
Northern Shoveler
Northern Pintail
Garganey
Tufted Duck
Osprey

HK Nature Walk - Mai Po Nature Reserve

There is a very important piece of wetland that lies in the north-western corner of Hong Kong - the Mai Po and Inner Deep Bay Ramsar Site. The Ramsar Convention's mission is "the conservation and wise use of all wetlands through local, regional and national actions and international cooperation, as a contribution towards achieving sustainable development throughout the world". Not every wetland qualifies to be a Ramsar site because a number of ecological criterion must be met. Hong Kong was invited to the Convention in 1979.

In 1995, the Hong Kong Government designated the Inner Deep Bay area as a Ramsar site, which means it has an international obligation to protect its valuable wetlands. This 2,700-hectare site is home to a diversity of habitats supporting a wide range of species, and it is a haven for migratory birds to rest and feed. Hong Kong lies at the mid-point of the East-Asian Australasian Flyway and as many as 20,000 to 30,000 shorebirds regularly use the site's inter-tidal mudflats, feeding on the fish, shrimps and crabs among the mangroves.

Mai Po Nature Reserve is a 380-hectare area in Deep Bay. It has been managed by WWF-Hong Kong (World Wildlife Fund, not World Wrestling Federation!) since 1983, where staff and volunteers carry out habitat and infrastructure management, research and monitoring, community, wetland training, education and visitor marketing works.

Access to Mai Po is restricted and you must apply for a permit. To make things easier, WWF-HK organises guided tours for visitors with different interest levels.

Last November, I finally made my first visit to Mai Po after talking about it for several years. It was a much bigger place than Hong Kong Wetland Park and had more birds.

Traditional shrimp ponds called gei wai. Not only do they support lots of aquatic and marine life, they are also a food source for other wildlife such as waterbirds, mammals and reptiles.

The tall buildings in the distance were in Shenzhen. Yes, we were that close.

Getting briefed by a WWF-HK volunteer.

Water lily pond.

Lots of waterfowl spend their winter months here.

The highlight for me was the Mangrove Forest and the Floating Boardwalk. This was in the Frontier Closed Area (FCA) where yet another permit was required.

The boardwalk floated because it was not anchored firmly to the ground. It was constructed on top of planks which were secured on top of pairs of plastic drums. During low tide, the drums sat on the mud and the boardwalk was stable and easy to walk on. However, during high tide, the drums floated and the boardwalk became a little bouncy. This was an interesting design because it meant the boardwalk would always remain above the highest tide levels.

The forest was another surprise for me. I have never seen such a thick mangrove forest where the trees seemed to go on forever. It was definitely quite different from the mangrove forests we have back home.

The famous Floating Boardwalk which lead to a hide facing Deep Bay. The mangrove was within a fenced up area and we entered it under the watchful eyes of a couple of policemen. The distance to the hide was about 1.8km.

Sparring Fiddler Crabs. Did you notice one has a large LEFT claw while the other has a large RIGHT claw?

At the end of the boardwalk was a floating hide and there was this huge expanse of mudflat in front. There were many small little bumps on the mudflat which I realised later were lots and lots of crabs and mudskippers. I finally understood why so many thousands of birds stop by Mai Po to feed because there was so much food for them there. This place will definitely be on my to-visit list when I visit Hong Kong again.

The mudflat at Deep Bay facing Shenzhen. There must be millions of crabs and mudskippers and other creatures feeding there during low tide. There were also birds feeding out there.

How to get there

From MTR stations Sheung Shui or Yuen Long, you can take a green taxi to the entrance of the nature reserve. The ride is about 15 to 20 minutes and costs not more than HKD80.

If you prefer to take the public or mini bus, which is definitely cheaper, you have to alight outside Mai Po Village and walk about 20-30 minutes to the reserve entrance. For what buses to take, please refer to the Getting There instructions at the WWF-HK Mai Po web site.

Admission

Access to Mai Po is restricted and there are daily quotas. Please apply early for your permits to avoid disappointment.

For overseas visitors, you can become a member of WWF-HK and apply for a one-year permit. Or you may apply for a single visit permit if you satisfy certain criteria. Please check the latest fees and instructions for permits on the website.

There are guided tours organised by WWF-HK too. Please check the website for the latest information.

Tip

This is a great place to visit if you are a hard-core nature lover. Spring and autumn are good for watching migratory shorebirds. Winter is a good time to look for waterbirds. Binoculars is a must, having a telescope is even better. Be prepared to do a lot of walking because some of the hides are located at least 2km away from the entrance. If you want to photograph birds, bring the longest telephoto lens you own but make sure you can walk long distances with your heavy equipment.

Mai Po is not for everyone. If walking long distances to get to a hide, or waiting patiently for a particular bird to appear is not your cup of tea, I suggest you visit Hong Kong Wetland Park instead. HKWP is easily accessible by public transport and the visitor centre has loads of educational information about wetlands.