Big Bird Race
I stumbled upon the big bird race, which is held annually by WWF Hong Kong, one day while checking through my emails. Immediately I started planning with one of the teachers from my school and formed a team of 4 students and that teacher to join the youth race
In case you have never heard of this competition before, it has two divisions, the youth and professional divisions. For the youth division, all participating teams gather at Mai Po for a morning on a designated date, doing bird-watching. The team with the most species taken into account wins, and is awarded with various souvenirs and an invitation to a formal dinner for the prize ceremony. This annual event is crucial as they raise funds to support the conservation work of NGOs like WWF
22/2/2023 - Mai Po (session 1)
Each team gets to arrange 2 practice sessions before the race on the 4th of March. We went for the first time on the 22nd
This was particularly exciting for me as the Mai Po reserve is not opened to visitors normally. You are required to apply for permits in order to enter the reserve, which makes it a very exclusive experience to visit
We skipped school in the afternoon and headed straight for the reserve. We had a very limited period of 2 hours at the reserve, and we wasted half of the time navigating the massive 380 acres nature reserve
A little grebe in breeding plumage swimming in a pond beside the registration booth
During registration, a few massive birds flew over us in the sky. They’re shaped like egrets but were the size of a kite
The endangered oriental stork, with a population of less than 2,500
I didn’t think much of the encounter, but when I got back home and did some research, I found out that the bird was actually the endangered oriental stork, a scarce passage migrant in Hong Kong!!
As the reserve is known for being home to multiple species of raptors, I kept my eyes glued to the sky and never stopped scanning
Right after we entered the reserve, I spotted another new species for me, a gorgeous eastern buzzard flew over us (was only able to get a record shot)
I’m not the best with raptors, but this eastern buzzard looked a bit different from black kites and caught my eye
Our goal for the day was to familiarise ourselves with the whereabouts in the nature reserve, and we didn’t have much time to do so
We only had around 2 hours, so we headed immediately out to the mudflats hide, where most species of waders are usually found during a suitable tide
However, to our dismay, the tide has was already too high for any waders to reside on the mudflats. We only saw a wave of pied avocets and a large flock of gulls of all sorts on the flats in the distance, way too far for identification
Bird hide looking out towards the deep bay on the very edge of the Hong Kong border
A bird wave consisting of pied avocets that momentarily flew over the flats
A video showing the mudflats of deep bay
We didn’t have time to wander around in the reserve anymore, and on our way out of the place, I spotted a white-throated kingfisher hunting for fish in the wetlands by the entrance road. We stopped to snap photos
This would’ve made a beautiful shot if not for the grainy quality of my camera
Our group looking out the bird hide
Here’s a picture of me putting some of the rare sightings we had on the first day onto the bird record blackboard
1/3/2023 - Mai Po (session 2)
Since we explored the floating hides the last time we visited, we wandered around the rest of the massive reserve during our second visit
Accompanying us 5 students is Neo Ng (@neo_ng_ig), a professional photographer and passionate birder and a friend of our school
As soon as we entered the reserve, a spectacular aerial battle broke out between a greater spotted eagle and a black kite fighting over territory
The whole ordeal lasted long enough for me to capture a few astonishing shots (however blurry, grainy and soft)
Black kite (up) is known to be aggressive over territory, even if its opponent is twice their size
The greater spotted eagle (down) is twice the black kite’s size, but does not match it in ferocity
The MPNR is known for not only its impressive assortment of waders, but also being the home to several birds of prey such as the greater spotted eagle and eastern imperial eagle during the wintering months. An endangered black vulture also showed up one year and shocked the birding community
I stopped at the lily pond during our way to the birding hide overlooking gei wai pond 16 & 17, and snapped some shots of the water lily flowers in full bloom
If you look closely, you can see dozens of bugs consuming the lily flower
A closeup of this gorgeous water lily
Passing the lily pond, we reached the hide overlooking pond 16 & 17, and a massive bird immediately caught my eye. It is twice as tall as the little egrets and its thick & long beak brought it out against the muddy banks of the gei wai ponds. It is the endangered oriental stork that we saw flying the first time that we visited.
The endangered - oriental stork
Another bird that we saw at the hide, a little-ringed plover
An eastern marsh harrier flew over briefly, and I only managed a record shot
All of a sudden, the five or so oriental storks that were resting in the pond took off and started circling above
Oriental storks were on my list of birds to find before coming to Mai Po, and I am really happy with this shot
It has a wingspan of a black kite
A pair flying by
While walking down the long path between wei wai ponds 18 & 19 to head to the hides up ahead, an osprey flew right above us and hovered for a bit
So far my clearest in flight shot of a bird of prey, in this case an osprey
At hide 5, we were able to observe eurasian curlews up close
There was a large flock of eurasian curlews and another large flock of pied avocets
As the tides come into the reserve, they have come here to bathe and cleanse themselves
I tried scanning for the vulnerable far eastern curlew in the flock but I didn’t manage to spot any
Our time was up by now, and it was time to head out
After two trips to MPNR, we were pretty confident in our familiarity with the nature reserve
A grey heron resting on top of a tree by the access road resembled a Christmas tree
A pretty female daurian redstart we spotted by the access road
4/3/2023 - Big Bird Race (race day)
Race day has finally arrived, we got to the reserve and registered at 0800. Soon after the race officially begun and all teams scrambled to begin their search
We decided to head straight out to the floating hides after briefly staying at the hides by the entrance road
As we were walking through the footpath between ponds 12 & 13, a slithering silhouette caught my eye. A small snake was camouflaged right by the footpath, a group of girls that were trailing us shrieked when they saw it
Although this isn’t a bird and doesn’t count in the competition, it is my first ever time seeing a snake in real life and the experience is definitely unforgettable
We headed straight out towards the farthest hide out facing the mudflats, and the hide was already packed by the time we got there. We squeezed our way onto a bench and started jotting down species
Another non-bird species, the mudskipper that was present on the mudflats
A common grey plover
Black-headed gulls were abundant at the mudflats, I tried looking for palla’s gulls but failed
Black kites and osprey were present at the hide
Up to this point we had around 35-40 species, while the leading group already has over 70. And we’ve already recorded everything on the mudflats, hence we left in search of other hides and birds
We walked down the path between ponds 18 & 19 again, spotting several interesting birds along the way
A regular winter migrant that resides at the reserve, the greater spotted eagle
A grey heron and an uncommon winter migrant in Hong Kong in the back - purple heron
Large-billed crow outside hide number 5
Since time was almost up, we headed towards the education center outside pond 15. While walking down the path, we stopped at the small roundabout by hide number 2
There were several birds-of-prey circling in the sky above pounds 19, 20 & 21
Birds include several black kites
Cloudy skies make good contrast with in-flight birds
The crispest shot of a black kite I have so far
An immature grey-faced buzzard (I think) that were also present
And with that, it pretty much wraps up the big bird race. After counting up all species, we ended up with a total of 70 species
The winning team had over 100 species under their belt. We came up short being in fourth place, but considering this is my first time participating in a birdwatching competition, and that my teammates are mostly people without birdwatching experience, we did pretty dang well.
But I didn’t sign up to win, I did it for the pristine birdwatching experience that Mai Po Nature Reserve provides. And it didn’t disappoint, I had the best time of my life here at the reserve, exchanging knowledge and experience with other bird watchers, immersing myself in the mesmerising world of birds. This will definitely be an experience I will never forget!
Thanks for reading :)
