| Mai Po Nature Reserve Birds and Birding (Part II) |
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| A pond teeming with various species of Ducks, belonging to the Peter Scott Wildfowl collection. Interacting with the collection's species are also many wild birds like Little Grebe, Coot, Moorhen, Widgeon, Garganey and Shoveler. |
| Many of the larger trees and groves all around the Mai Po Nature reserve are used by a huge flock of migratory Great Cormorant, about 6000 birds strong, for roosting during winter. |
| Location and How to get there. Mai Po Nature reserve is situated on the north-western corner of the New Territories, adjacent the mainland Chinese city of Shenzen. In fact, Mai Po is separated from Shenzen physically only by the Sham Chun river. On the north-western frontier of the Nature reserve is a great expanse of tidal mudflats, bounded by mangroves. This mudflat is contiguous towards mainland Guangdong and a nature reserve has also been established on the other side of Inner Deep Bay to protect migratory bird habitat. As much of Deep Bay is utilised by flocks of migratory birds, another site often accessed to view them is present, quite some distance away from Mai Po. Tsim Bei Tsui (The fence) as this location is called is also internationally known as a fantastic waterbird observation spot. Other bird rich sites in the vicinity of Mai Po, which i did not have the time to vist are Long Valley (Tsung Pak Long), Lok Ma Chau and San Tin.these are mostly open fields or paddy, good for marshland birds like snipes and warblers. There are many ways one can access Mai Po. One that i have managed to work out is to go by train first and then switch to taxi. Supposing one is staying at Kowloon downtown or on Hong Kong Island, one could take the MTR to Kowloon Tong Station. From here, one can change to the KCR train terminal (this is actually a MTR- KCR interchange) and take the train to the 2nd last stop at Sheung Shui Station. From here, green taxis are not difficult to find and the jouney to Mai Po should take about 15-30 minutes and cause about 60 HKD. The other option is to take a minibus 76K (3.30 HKD) from Yuen Long to Mai Po village and then walk there. Of course, one can also choose to take a Taxi in from Yuen Long, it causes about the same. Click here to see Map at this WWFHK Link. More access info is available from this link: WWF Hong Kong |
| Entry Permits A permit is strictly required to enter the reserve and it is illegal to do so without one.To obtain a permit, one can either write direct to WWF Hong Kong or to the AFCD (Agriculture, Fisheries, and Conservation Dept). To enter Mai Po, one either must have an entry permit or enters the reserve under a WWF group visit. To join this group, the number to call is: 25264473. The Mai Po marshes entry permit can be applied by writing to : The Director, Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department, 5/F - 7/F Cheung Sha Wan Government Offices, 303 Cheung Sha Wan Road, Kowloon, Hong Kong. Photographs and photocopies of the passport, as well as a photocopy of a membership card of a birdwatching or conservation society should also be provided. Enquiries on application related matters can be directed to: (AFCD) at sfowf@afcd.gov.hk or to WWF (Hong Kong) at wwf@wwwf.org.hk / maipo@wwf.org.hk A separate permit is required to enter the Deep Bay hide and floating boardwalks beyond the Frontier closed area border fence. Information on this can be found here. |
| Books and Others resources Publications pertaining to Hong Kong Birds or Birds in Mai Po |
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| Birds of Hong Kong and South China By Clive Viney and Lam Chiu Ying |
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| HKBWS pamphlet |
| Birds of China by John Mackinnon and Karen Phillipps |
| Avifauna of Hong Kong by GJ Carey, ML Chalmers et al |
| WWFHK bird pamphlet |
| Bird Watching in Tai Po Kau by Lam Chiu Ying |
| Annotated List of Birds seen in Hong Kong (word doc) ... in prep |