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  • Where to watch BIRDS and

  • other wildlife in the world
  • Photograph of Spoon-billed Sandpiper

    A superb image of the unique Spoon-billed Sandpiper taken by Michael McKee.

  • Where to watch birds and wildlife in
  • HONG KONG

    Best Birds and other wildlife in Hong Kong

    Birds
    The birds listed here are usually present during the northern spring.

    Specialities
    Chinese Egret, Black-faced Spoonbill, Spoon-billed Sandpiper, Spotted (Nordmann's) Greenshank, Asian Dowitcher, Saunders’s Gull and Fork-tailed Sunbird. Also a chance of Greater Painted-snipe.

    Others
    Falcated Duck, Chinese and Indian (Burmese) Spot-billed Ducks, Chinese Francolin, Intermediate Egret, Pacific Reef-egret, Black-crowned Night-heron, Chinese Pond-herons, Eurasian (Great) and Yellow Bitterns, Eurasian Spoonbill, Crested Serpent-eagle, Greater Spotted and Eastern Imperial Eagles, White-bellied Sea-eagle, White-breasted Waterhen, Pacific Golden, Greater and Lesser (Mongolian) Sandplovers, Black-winged Stilt, Pied Avocet, Black-tailed Godwit, Far Eastern Curlew, Spotted Redshank, Broad-billed, Curlew, Marsh, Sharp-tailed and Terek Sandpipers, Grey-tailed Tattler, Great Knot, Long-toed and Red-necked Stints, Red-necked Phalarope, Oriental Pratincole, various gulls, Caspian, Gull-billed, Whiskered and White-winged (Black) Terns, Western (Asian) Koel, Greater Coucal, Pacific (Fork-tailed) Swift, Black-capped, Pied and White-breasted (Smyrna) Kingfishers, Great Barbet, Grey-chinned and Scarlet Minivets, Long-tailed Shrike, Red-billed Blue Magpie, Collared Crow, Yellow-cheeked Tit, Chestnut and Light-vented (Chinese) Bulbuls, bush and leaf warblers, Plain and Chinese (Yellow-bellied) Prinias, Common Tailorbird, Siberian Rubythroat, Oriental Magpie-robin, Blue Rock-thrush (including philippensis), Blue Whistling-thrush, Black-throated, White-browed and Masked (Black-faced) Laughingthrushes, Chinese Hwamei, Black-collared Starling, Crested Myna, Greyish-crowned (Orange-bellied) Leafbird, Fire-breasted and Scarlet-backed Flowerpeckers, Olive-backed and Red-throated Pipits, and Scaly-breasted (Spotted) Munia.

    Also a chance of Dalmatian Pelican, Chinese Goshawk, Grey-headed Lapwing, Pintail and Swinhoe’s Snipes, Aleutian Tern, Chestnut-winged, Large Hawk, Indian and Plaintive Cuckoos, Collared Scops-owl, Asian Barred Owlet, Savanna Nightjar, Blue-tailed Bee-eater, Black-naped Oriole, Chinese Penduline-tit, Asian Stubtail, Asian and Japanese Paradise-flycatchers, Forest Wagtail, flycatchers including Blue-and-white, Green-backed (Elisa's), Hainan Blue, Mugimaki and Narcissus, Red-flanked Bluetail, thrushes including Eye-browed, Grey-backed, Japanese (Grey), Pale and White’s, Red-billed (Silky), White-cheeked (Grey) and White-shouldered (Chinese) Starlings, Chinese (Yellow-billed) Grosbeak, and Black-faced, Chestnut, Chestnut-eared, Tristram’s and Yellow-breasted Buntings.

    Mammals
    Indo-Pacific Humpback (Chinese White) Dolphin, Finless Porpoise and Dog-faced Fruit Bat.

    Invertebrates
    There are over 200 species of butterfly including Common and Golden Birdwings, and over 100 species of dragonfly.

    Best Sites for Birds and other wildlife in Hong Kong

    Photograph of Black-capped Kingfisher

    Black-capped Kingfisher by Tom Tams. Hong Kong has some other spectacular birds apart from shorebirds.

    Best Times for Birds and other wildlife in Hong Kong

    The peak time for shorebirds, including Spoon-billed Sandpiper, is April and the best views can usually be obtained during the periods of highest spring tides. Timing at Mai Po is crucial. Out on the mud flats shorebirds may be little more than distant specks at low tide but during the best spring high tides they can be incredibly close. The weather in April is usually warm, humid and showery with temperatures ranging between 20°C and 24°C.

    Recommended Bird Books etc. for Hong Kong

    The Birds of Hong Kong and South China by C Viney, K Phillipps and L C Ying. Hong Kong Government Information Services, 2005 (Eighth Edition).

    Birds of South-East Asia by C Robson. Helm, 2014 (Second Edition).

    Birds of South-East Asia Concise Edition by C Robson. Helm, 2015.

    Birds of East Asia by M Brazil. Helm/PUP, 2009.

    Bradt Travel Guide: Chinese Wildlife by M Walters. Bradt, 2008.

    A Guide to the Mammals of China by A Smith, Yan Xie et al. PUP, 2008.

    The Mammals of China by Sheng Helin et al. China Forestry Publishing House, 1999.


    Apps etc.

    Birds of Hong Kong.

    Where to watch birds in Asia by N Wheatley. Helm, 1996.

    Don’t know which country/countries/regions to visit in Asia? Then it may be worth considering taking a look at this book, written by this website’s author. It is many years old of course but it still provides a starting point, an overview and a guiding light to the best birds and the best places to look for them in the region, and could save hours of searching for similar information on the internet. However, it is important to check more up-to-date sources for sites which have been opened up, sites and species which have been discovered, lodges that have been built etc. since the book was published.

    Birding and Wildlife Trip Reports for Hong Kong

    Many trip reports, some for Hong Kong, are posted on the websites listed here. On some of these websites some reports are independent and some are posted by tour companies who organize tours to Hong Kong. These tour companies and others also post their own reports on their websites, which are listed under 'Some Organized Tours to Hong Kong' below.

    Local bird and wildlife guides in Hong Kong/China

    The costs of organized tours partly reflect the quality of the tour leaders. Some leaders are certainly better than others and many companies claim their leaders are the best but even the best rely at least to some extent on the exceptional skills of the local guides they employ. If you are travelling independently, employing such local guides will greatly increase your chances of seeing the wildlife you wish to see.

    Accommodation for birders in Hong Kong

    Some Organized Tours for birds and other wildlife to Hong Kong

    There are many tour companies who organize tours to see mammals, birds, other wildlife and other natural wonders. The cost of these tours vary considerably according to such variables as the airlines used, the number of days the tours last, the number of sites visited, the number of people in the group (an important consideration if you wish to see such wildlife as rainforest mammals and birds), the number of tour leaders, the standard of accommodation and transport, and the percentage profit the company hopes to make. Generally, where the number of days tours last and the number of sites visited are similar, the cheapest tours are those that use the cheapest airlines, accommodation and local transport, that have the largest groups with the least number of leaders, and that make the least amount of profit. The most expensive tours tend to be those which are exceptionally long, use the most expensive accommodation (ridiculously lavish in some cases, even for single nights) and which make the most profit. Some tour costs partly reflect the quality of the tour leaders. Some leaders are certainly better than others and many companies claim their leaders are the best but even the best rely at least to some extent on the exceptional skills of the local guides they employ.

    While tour companies organize tours with set itineraries many also organize custom tours for individuals and private groups who instead of taking a tour with a set itinerary want to follow their own itinerary to suit their own personal tastes, whether it be mammals, birds, other wildlife, other natural wonders or even man-made attractions, or a mixture of them all. Many organized tours with set itineraries are also fast-paced and target as many species as possible, whether they are mammals, birds or other wildlife or everything, which usually leaves little time to enjoy the best sites and individual species, but on a custom tour those taking part can specify the pace and the sites and species they wish to concentrate on. Custom tours also suit people who like to travel with people they already know, rather than with a group of strangers, and people with partners with different interests. Individuals and small groups will almost certainly have to pay more than the price of an organized tour with a set itinerary but a large group of friends may be able to travel for less than the price quoted for a set tour.