Nam Sang Wai

Nam Sang Wai is a piece of wetland located between two rivers. The wetland is sort of like the shape of a triangle, the two rivers merge and flow out into the sea at the tip of the triangle

Besides its biodiversity, Nam Sang Wai has several tourist attractions, including the wedding bridge (a lot of wedding scenes in movies were shot here) and the only paddled row boat for river-crossing in Hong Kong. You can choose to begin your trip at the base of the triangle, either from the Kam Tin river on the right or the Shan Pui river on the left. The trail was designed for cycling but I decided to walk instead as I didn’t want to miss out on any wildlife while cycling

After taking the MTR to Yuen Long station, I took the 76K bus route to Hung Mo Kiu station and started walking along the river. Before evening arriving at Nam Sang Wai, there were already a ton of sea birds along the river, and I stopped by to take pictures

Also saw this pair of cute **northern shovelers**

Also caught this **little egret** landing on the river

Other than all the birds shown above, I also saw some black-winged stilts, grey herons and great egrets, all common water birds so I didn’t bother taking pictures as I’ve seen enough of them at the Wetland Park

One of the most sought after bird for me during this trip is definitely the common kingfisher, I gotta redeem myself after that heartbreaking miss at Wetland Park

As I continued forward, I crossed another bridge and officially entered the area of Nam Sang Wai

Spotted this **grey heron** resting on a tree while crossing the last bridge

Remember my foul luck at Wetland Park (check out the older blogs)? Well that is all about to change today

During the first 30 minutes of the trail, all the birds were pretty ordinary. Ducks, egrets, stilts etc. I sped through this section pretty quickly

A pair of **male northern shovelers** without breeding plumage

A **male northern shoveler** with a little bit of breeding plumage (the green at the back of his head)

There were reeds, planted along the river. While I was walking, a bird suddenly dashed out of one of the reeds (probably spooked by me walking by) and started flying backwards and landed on another reed behind me. I turned around and started walking back very very slowly while locking in on the bird. But before I could press the shutter, the bird took off once again and landed on another reed. I was determined to catch up with it

After about 10 tiring minutes of tag, I finally caught the bird resting in between some grass blades, and he was only 2 meters away from me

A **tawny-flanked prinia** compared to blades of grass, shows how tiny this bird truly is (the size of my thumb)

Extremely satisfied with the results, I moved on

The trail wraps around the triangle piece of land alongside the two rivers. The inland part of Nam Sang Wai is barricaded off to protect its habitats, but there are several fish ponds/farmlands that are open to the public and there are several paths branching away from the trails along the rivers, leading into them

I was walking down one of the paths to check out some of the ponds when I hear a whistling bird chirp high up in the trees on both sides of the path. I looked up a saw a small body fly down from the canopy and land right in front of me on some branches

Rule #1 of bird photography, do not freak out and only make subtle and slow movements when photographing birds. I slowly levelled my camera to my eyes and took these close-up shots

At first, I mistook this **black-faced bunting** for a sparrow, but it obviously isn’t

It was hopping around on the branch, as if telling me to photograph him

These close-up encounters will always live rent-free in my head

The path opens up to a massive field at the end, the field contains 4 rectangular ponds arranged in a square with birds all around them. I instantly saw some white wagtails on the ground, egrets everywhere and some ducks waddling around in the ponds

Spooked this **intermediate egret** onto a tree

**Northern shovelers** seem to be the only species of ducks around here

This **yellow-fronted canary** was resting on top of a tree right beside me

I was pretty hyped to see so much wildlife here so I just began walking around, but I couldn’t stay for long as it was already 1 pm and I still haven’t had lunch yet and I only completed 1/3 of the trail

I decided to only give the bottom left pond a look, which was the closest to me, as I was in a rush

I was looking out to the pond at a corner when a small body of glistening blue skimmed diagonally towards me on the surface of the pond. I instantly identified it and my heart leaped into a thundering beat

The tiny blue bird landed on a branch of a small bush beside the pond, and luckily, there was an opening within the branches for me to take pictures

FINALLY, REDEMPTION! This **common kingfisher** is so pretty

I was so jumping up and down after it flew off, redemption at last!!!

You have no idea how often I think of this bird and its vibrant colours, it literally has been haunting me for an entire month

Although the picture isn’t the best, the experience of watching the kingfisher fly towards me and actually capturing it is the highlight and will always be remembered

As I walked back out towards the main trail, I started seeing more and more new species of birds

A **white-breasted waterhen** covered in mud from the wetlands

**Red-billed starlings** are not new to me but this is the best picture I’ve gotten of them so far

This **white wagtail** ain’t new as well, but this picture looks pretty good

A **collared crow** screeching along the river

Not soon after walking past the merge of the two rivers, I started seeing an extremely rare bird that you won’t be able to spot in Hong Kong other than during winter times

The endangered **black-faced spoonbill**

There are only around 6,000 individuals of black-faced spoonbills left in the wild, they are already listed as an endangered species and they only migrate to the wetlands of Hong Kong to pass the winter

I saw 5 that day, and I consider myself very very lucky

They swing their head from left to right and scan the riverbed for food

The video quality of my camera isn’t the best, apologies

They are endangered due to severe habitat loss and pollution from human industrial and agricultural development, but their numbers have been rising in recent years all thanks to conservation efforts

Lastly, I stepped onto the only ferry row-boat in Hong Kong to cross the Shan Pui river and headed home

Last bird I saw - a beautiful **azure-winged magpie**

The ferry price increased from 5 to 7 dollars due to a decrease in tourists in recent years, go support them guys :(

What a day!

Thanks for reading :)

Po Toi Islands

Tai Po Kau