Hong Kong March 2013

TRIP REPORT HONG KONG MARCH 2013

[brief picture gallery:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/47362072@N00/sets/72157635157876152/]

Snapshot

Hong Kong is a strange choice of place to go for birding.  The only real attraction is the black-faced spoonbill at Mai Po marshes in summer.  The other south China birds were expected to be more accessible here in the urban parks, but it was not so for us.  Bad weather dogged us throughout.  It was drizzly, misty and windy.  We self-birded as guides were expensive. 

Food was the attraction and curiosity about a city never visited before.  It’s the only place in Asia I would confidently eat at the shops that spill their tables onto the pavement.  Okay, maybe aside from Malaysia.  The harbour is beautiful on the Star ferry across, and from Victoria Peak, 552m,  looking down on Central. 

Maps

Map of Hong Kong Birding Locations

Locations

The chief location in HK is Mai po marshes, managed by WWF:

http://www.wwf.org.hk/en/getinvolved/gomaipo/

take taxi from Yuen Long station.

Many migrant shorebirds and ducks. 

Hong Kong Birdwatching Society gives lots of other locations to watch birds, but with the bad weather, we had no luck.  See the Appendix.

http://www.hkbws.org.hk/web/eng/index_eng.htm

Tai Mo Shan, 1,000m, degraded habitat of shrub and grassy slopes.  Only got the hwamei.

Tai Po Kau looked promising, the most mature secondary forest in HK.   There were good walking trails, but we could only spend a couple of hours there.   Black throated laughing thrush, great tit, possible chestnut bulbul.

Lamma island was an interesting visit.  But long walk from one ferry point of Yong Shue Wan to the other ferry point Sok Kwu Wan, yielded little more than chinese and red-whiskered bulbuls. 

Practicalities

Getting there and Around

Flight on Tiger for S$543.

Taxi drivers do not speak english.  So F would speak Cantonese to them, and that was best.  Else better print out the destination names in chinese. 

MTR map,

http://www.exploremetro.com/static/pdf/en/hk.pdf

Accomodation:

M1 Hotel, for S$140/night, stayed for 5 nights. 

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g294217-d2018249-Reviews-M1_Hotel-Hong_Kong.html

No particular reason to recommend this.  But there is really nothing cheaper.  Tiny and cramped, and I could not wait to get out after 5 nights.  And that was for just one person in the room.  Its sandwiched between an undertaker and a chicken processing factory.  But in the shopping/eating district of Yau Ma Tei, 200m from train station. 

Itinerary

	Date	Activity
1	Sun, 24 Mar	Depart Sing 9:45am.  Arrive HK 1:40pm
2	Mon, 25 Mar	Full day birding; Tai Po Kau, Tai Mo Shan
3	Tue, 26 Mar	Full day birding; The Peak and Lamma Island
4	Wed, 27 Mar	Full day, Mai Po Marshes
5	Thu, 28 Mar	Non-birding day.  City tour.
6	Fri, 29 Mar	City tour. Depart HK 9:40pm, Arrive Sing, 1:45am (Sat morning)

Black-faced Spoonbill, Mai Po Marshes

Bird List Achieved

Mai Po:

Azure-winged magpie (introduced species)

Masked laughingthrush

White shouldered starling, black collared starling

Pied avocet, Northern pintal, Northern shoveler, Wigeon

Black faced spoonbill

Eurasian curlew, common greenshanks, common redshanks, red necked stint, lesser sand plover, curlew and terek sandpiper

greater cormorant

black capped kingfisher

common magpie

collared crow

oriental pratincole

red throated pipit

black crowned night heron

japanese white eye

black kite, osprey

Tai Po Kau:

Black throated laughingthrush

Great tit

Chestnut bulbul (seen by F)

Kowloon Park:

Alexandrine parakeets ( introduced)

Chinese and red whiskered bulbuls

References

Hong Kong Birdwatching Society:

http://www.hkbws.org.hk/web/eng/index_eng.htm

Some useful trip reports that I used to see what birds were where:

http://www.surfbirds.com/trip_report.php?id=1061

http://www.surfbirds.com/mb/trips/hongkong-pb-0503.html

http://www.surfbirds.com/trip_report.php?id=911

Appendix: Target Birds, by species

These were my target birds, gleaned from trip reports and HKBWS website.  There is of course nothing endemic, but birds not yet seen in nearby Taiwan or Vietnam.  Baxter and Harrop refer to the respective trip reports.

Source	Baxter	Harrop	HKBWS
Bull headed shrike		Tai po kau
Great bittern	Mai po
Black faced spoonbill	Mai po		Mai po, Tsim bei tsui
Widgeon, teal, pintail, shoveler, tufter duck	Mai po
Greater spotted eagle	Mai po
Common kestrel	Long valley
Chinese francolin	Tai mo shan		Tai mo shan
Great knot	Mai po
Red throated pipit	Mai po, long valley
Upland pipit			Tai mo shan
Chestnut bulbul	Tai po kau, The Peak	Lantau island
Rufous tailed robin	The Peak
bluethroat	Mai po		Long valley
Red flanked bluetail		Lantau island
Daurian redstart	Tai mo shan, mai po, The Peak	Lamma island
White’s thrush	Lamma island
Japanese thrush	Lamma island		Kowloon Park
Grey backed thrush	The Peak	Lamma island	Kowloon Park
Pale thrush	The Peak
Scaly thrush		Tai po kau, lamma island
Asian stubtail warbler	The Peak
Streak breasted scimitar babbler		Tai po kau	Shing mun
Japanese paradise flycatcher			Tai po kau
hwamei			The Peak, Aberdeen Reservoirs
Chinese babax			Tai mo shan
Japanese bush warbler	Mai po
Chinese penduline tit	Mai po
Fork tailed sunbird	Pok fu lam		Tai po kau, The Peak, Kowloon Park
Tristram’s bunting	The Peak		Tai po kau
Yellow browed bunting	The Peak
Black faced bunting	Tai mo shan, mai po
Crested bunting			Tai mo shan
Grey faced bunting			Tai mo shan
Red billed starling	Kowloon park
Vinous throated parrotbill			Tai mo shan