Christmas Break
Unfortunately, at the beginning of my Christmas break, I caught COVID and was forced to stay at home for a whole week, taking away half of my holidays
I recovered on the exact day of Christmas, and I immediately headed out so that I can get the most out of the rest of my Christmas break
25/12/2022 - Wetland Park
I decided that it’d be a good idea to pay a visit to the wetland park, as it has been a while and I’m curious as to what I’ll find there. So I headed out in the morning and got there as soon as it opened at 10am. After heading out of the visitor’s center, I walked along the stream walk and headed to the spot where I had somehow managed to hit my head on an information board and cut one of my eyebrows open when I visited for the first time a while ago. I spotted a plain prinia resting on top of some river reeds while reminiscing and reminding myself of the pain I felt that day.
I took extra care to not hurt myself the same way again while photographing this plain prinia
I walked along the succession walk and headed towards the riverside hide. There were a flight of cormorants resting and sunbathing on the riverbank, some were also dipping in the water to cool off a bit. I timed the moment when a cormorant is taking off in the water, and captured the moment it took off
One of my main goals of re-visiting the wetland park is to find some the kingfishers that are staying here. My very first kingfisher interaction happened exactly at this riverside hide, but I unfortunately missed the gorgeous bird. Although I have had a few sightings at other locations, I can never get enough of those tiny, fascinating birds. However, the hide was particularly quiet that day and there were no birds other than some sunbathing cormorants
When common cormorants take off from the water, they need to flap their wings and glide along the water to gain momentum, just like a plane does with a runway
After passing through the mangrove boardwalk and the butterfly garden, I arrived at the fishpond hide. It was barren as usual, only a few egrets flew by the reed-invested ponds. But on my way there, I actually encountered a yellow-browed warbler, which had just caught a worm and was eating it on a branch.
This is by far my favourite photo of a feeding bird, this yellow-browed warbler was flinging the worm onto the branch to stun/kill it before swallowing
Many insectivorous birds do this to make sure its prey is safe to consume
Passing by the fishpond hide, I walked towards the last hide in wetland park - the mudflats hide. This hide is always busy and bustling with birds and today was no exception. There were various species on common birds such as egrets, cormorants, ducks and wagtails can be found. As I zoomed in on one of the tiny birds, I noticed some difference in the pattern of its feathers.
A grey plover, which I mistook as a common greenshank from far away
Another new species - the masked laughinthrush
As I was leaving the hide, I was startled by a crisp and sharp call from a nearby bush by the path which I was walking on. I almost jumped as it was really, really loud and I snapped my head around to look for the bird. A flock of masked laughingthrushes landed on some branches and the forest floor to forage, and I managed to photograph some up close. They weren’t shy at all and is very comfortable with staying within 1-2 meter of humans without us making any sudden moves
Can you guess why it’s named the masked laughingthrush?
Although it was exactly as rewarding as my first trip there, my 2nd trip to the wetland park was a good warmup after a whole damn week of COVID. And I was fortunate enough to have spotted 3 new bird species, the yellow-browed warbler, the grey plover, and the masked laughingthrush
26/12/2022 - Tsim Bei Tsui and Fung Lok Wai
Tsim Bei Tsui is at the very North-western side of Hong Kong, and is just by the borderline separating Hong Kong with ShengZhen. You are in fact closer to ShengZhen that you are to Mong Kok if you are at Tsim Bei Tsui, it looks out towards the deep bay (or ShengZhen bay), and you can see the skyscrapers along the coastline of ShengZhen. Tsim Bei Tsui is also right beside the Mai Po Nature Reserve, one of the biggest nature reserves in Hong Kong and the best place for photographing water-birds.
The single longest minibus ride I’ve ever had, almost an hour
The bird’s crisp calls can be heard from far far away on a quiet morning
The view from Tsim Bei Tsui, that’s ShengZhen
Upon being dropped off by the minibus, I arrived at Sha Kiu Tsuen, a small village beside Tsim Bei Tsui. I walked along a dirt road and got to the border fence encompassing the Mai Po Inner Deep Bay Ramsar Site, to protect the nature reserve from outsiders.
I walked along Deep Bay road, alongside the towering fence on my left. I went on a Monday so the road was particularly quiet and serene, free of bikers and tourists. The fence towers on my right, while a large area covered by a mangrove forest is situated on my right.
My head never rested, as I turned from left to right to scan for any sign of movement. As Tsim Bei Tsui is directly in front of the Hong Kong wetland park, so I was on the lookout for any interesting species that I can find. Suddenly, a familiar grey head popped up from the ivy on top of the fence, and an oriental magpie-robin began singing in the morning light
Here, I intentionally located the sun right behind the oriental magpie-robin, so that there is a misty kind of effect on the photo
Although nothing much happened on my way to Fung Lok Wai after this encounter, the walk was extra peaceful and was a very much-needed break from reality
A bridge over a drainage channel connects Tsim Bei Tsui to Fung Lok Wai, which is a group of fishponds located beside the Hong Kong wetland park. As I was crossing the bridge, a massive black-capped kingfisher flew right by the bridge, and into the mangrove woods beside the channel. I was completely caught off guard, and stayed for around 10 minutes, trying to wait the kingfisher out, but was ultimately unsuccessful
A Euploea midamus by the bridge, and one of its wings was damaged
A beautiful cabbage white, whoever named this species did it dirty
Upon arrival at the fishponds, I kept my eyes peeling for any subtle kingfishers (the main reason I came here lol). But instead of kingfishers, I was greeted with a flight of common cormorants, resting on the line of a telephone pole
A closeup of the common cormorant
The full-body of the common cormorant up close
There is a tree at Fung Lok Wai, known for always having a massive flight of cormorants resting on the tree, and you could see the tree and the numerous birds within from the fishpond hide at the wetland park. But however, there were none today
For the next hour or so, I battled to navigate between the maze-like structure of Fung Lok Wai. There were dozens of ponds and the roads connecting everything are not shown very clearly on Google maps, and I was stumbling my way across the place for a good 30 minutes
Eventually, I wandered onto the right path from the road by side of Shan Pui river, and Nam Sang Wai was just on the opposite riverbank. The path led me into the actual fish farms of Fung Lok Wai, and a black-faced spoonbill, black-winged stilt and common greenshank was feeding on the muddy banks of the fishponds
A foraging black-faced spoonbill
There are only 6,000 individuals left in the wild, they are critically endangered
You learn new things everyday, apparently stilts and greenshanks also stand on one feet, just like flamingos
Fung Lok Wai is full of dirt roads like this, it is super rural and away from the city
However, the ponds on either side were empty and I didn’t hear any birds other than occasional munias flying off reed stalks. But I did manage to photograph a brand new species of water-bird, the Eurasian coot
They may look like ducks, but Eurasian coots have super long legs, go look it up it looks very unnatural
They glide in graceful groups across the surface of the lakes
These dirt roads remind me of rural farms in mainland China
With the coot and a minibus ride to Long Ping MTR station, that concludes my trip to Tsim Bei Tsui and Fung Lok Wai
29/12/2022 - Luk Keng and Nam Chung
Luk Keng refers to the surrounding area of the Luk Keng Shan, a small mountain overlooking the bay of Starling Inlet, at the very top right of Hong Kong, and shares the border with ShengZhen. There is a small off-shore island called A Chau, and it is the prime location for watching egrets during breeding seasons, as egretries can be found breeding and producing offspring here. Luk Keng is a very popular place for hikers to be dropped off, one of the trails here is connected to the Wilson Trail, the longest hiking trail in Hong Kong spanning over Pat Sin Leng and Plover Cove, two massive country parks.
It takes a very long minibus ride of around 30 minutes from the Fanling MTR to get here as well, since Luk Keng is basically right on the Hong Kong border. Upon arrival, the great bay of Starling Inlet swept into view, and since it was early in the morning, it was low tide and the muddy seabed was exposed. I ran to the banks and starting shooting the egrets that were flying there. But something caught my eye from afar, and it is colorful and gorgeous
Not the best picture, as this was on maximum zoom, the black-capped kingfisher was around 100 meters away
BUT I’M SO HAPPY, I’VE BEEN LOOKING FOR THIS BIRD FOR SOOOOOO LONG
A curious little black-backed wagtail wagged its way to close proximity
A small temple by the banks
Moving inland, I walked along a paved path to head into the Nam Chung fishponds located on the left
There were small ponds here and there on the right, and there was also a small patch of mangrove forest on the right as well
One of the smaller ponds
A common greenshank I saw among the thick branches of the mangrove woods
Branching left away from the main road, I headed into the Nam Chung fishponds
Immediately greeted by scenic lakes, the mountain in the background is the Luk Keng Shan
As it was Thursday, the place was completely deserted, in a peaceful way. I could indulge myself in literal nature and not be disturbed as I walked down the path
A yellow-browed warbler among some plantations
A warbling white-eye, among leaves
This yellow-browed warbler was hopping around near the surface of water
Perched delicately on some branches
A small farm is situated in the heart of all these fishponds, and the road led me to it. Walking along the banks of one of their fishponds, there were plants growing along the banks, and they were high up to my eye level. Somehow, a verditer flycatcher flew out of nowhere and landed on the perfect plant at the perfect distance and the perfect position right in front of me
A gorgeous little verditer flycatcher, I will never enough of their beauty
This curious little fella even looked back at me
It then perched itself on this perfect perch, producing this amazing shot of the bird
Little egret resting on some wooden beam
Very very easily mistaken as the yellow-browed warbler, this palla’s warbler sent its regards as I left the Nam Chung fishponds
Unfortunately, the farm led to a dead-end and I had to head out the same path out again. It was about noon by then so I decided to enjoy some food - sandwiches I bought from the 7-11 at Fanling MTR
On my way out, a new species - the palla’s warbler (a species commonly mistaken as the yellow-browed warbler) showed up among the reeds where I saw the yellow-browed warbler earlier. A little egret was also chilling on some wooden posts in the fishpond
The same species at the same spot, the common greenshank
I went back to the spot where the minibus dropped me off, and munched down the sandwich on a bench in a nearby playground
Since I was back out, why not check on the Starling Inlet again? Maybe I’ll find something interesting. And I wasn’t disappointed
This great egret caught a fish!
Great egret in flight
Yum
Shutter speed still wasn’t fast enough to capture the bird clearly
Chomp
If only my camera had a larger aperture
Egrets are literally everywhere here it’s crazy
Another great egret perched in shallow waters
Just as I was looking, another black-capped kingfisher popped up on my peripheral vision
Unfortunately, it was still way too far for me to capture any usable footage
Such an adorable little guy
Here’s a shaky footage of the black-capped kingfisher as it was on full zoom
As it was still kind of early, I decided it’d be a good idea to trek up the Wilson Trail for a quick hike to the Sir Edward Youde Memorial Pavillion
It was a lot steeper than I anticipated, and it turned out to be a 30-minute hike, but damn the view from the pavillion made everything worth it
The view is more amazing when you are actually there, this picture didn’t do it justice
The view from atop the pavilion, the mountain in the middle is the Luk Keng Shan. On the left side of the mountain, the lakes are the Nam Chung fishponds I visited earlier. On the right is the Luk Keng village, and the ocean is Starling Inlet, while the skyline beyond on the opposite bank, is the border of Hong Kong and ShengZhen
A yellow tree illuminated by the sun creates this aesthetic picture
Egrets are the easiest birds to photograph while in flight
Closeup of the great egret (notice how his face extends farther than this eye, that’s how you distinguish a great egret)
After hiking up and down the steep trail for a whole hour, plus walking around looking for birds, I was exhausted by the point when I came down from the Wilson Trail. I was too lazy to walk/wait for a the minibus and I just hailed a taxi and took a ride to the Fanling MTR station
Thanks for reading :)
