Oriental Pratincole by Jon Hornbuckle. One of the many shorebirds which pass through Hong Kong during the northern spring.
HONG KONG
- Central Hong Kong, an island of skyscrapers, may seem like a set from a science fiction film, a future where all wildlife is extinct, but not far away, around Deep Bay, lies one of the best shorebird shows left on Earth
- Involving about 20,000 birds of over 30 species which pass through during the spring, virtually all in full summer plumage, and which are often visible at close range from several hides
- Possibly including Spoon-billed Sandpiper, as well as Asian Dowitcher, Nordmann’s Greenshank and Great Knot
- Also present around Deep Bay and elsewhere are some of Asia’s and the world’s other most spectacular birds including Blue Magpie, Black-capped Kingfisher, Fork-tailed Sunbird and, possibly, Great Spotted, Imperial and White-bellied Sea Eagles
- As well as some of Asia’s and the world’s most spectacular localized birds including Black-faced Spoonbill, Saunders’s Gull and, possibly, Chinese Egret
- Plus ‘pink’ Indo-Pacific Humpback Dolphins
- Also in Southeastern China it is possible to see Spoon-billed Sandpiper (Nov-Mar, mostly November and March), Chinese Crested Tern (mostly mid-May to August) and Swinhoe's (White-faced) Plover (Apr-May at least in northern summer) on the Min River Estuary near Fuzhou, White-eared Night Heron at Jiulianshan and Cabot’s Tragopan at Wuyishan.
- Elsewhere in China there are several areas worth considering as extensions to this destination or as separate trips. If travelling via Beijing it may be worth visiting the nearby Bai He River for a chance of Ibisbill. Beidaihe and Happy Island on the northeast coast a few hours from Beijing lie on one of the world's major bird migration routes where in spring (mostly in May) and autumn (mostly in September) it is possible to experience migration in action with falls of numerous East Asian birds. During the northern winter Hooded, Siberian and White-naped Cranes, as well as Oriental Stork, occur at Poyang Hu, a huge inland lake in Eastern China, with the rare Scaly-sided Merganser on the nearby Xin River. In Central China there is a chance of seeing a wild Giant Panda, as well as Golden Snub-nosed Monkey, Red-and-white Flying Squirrel, 'Golden' Takin and birds including Crested Ibis, and in nearby Sichuan there is a chance of Red Panda plus a long list of fabulous birds including ‘pheasants’, parrotbills, laughingthrushes, robins, Black-necked Crane, Grandala, Firethroat, Crested and White-browed Tit Warblers, and Golden-breasted Fulvetta, all in some stunning mountainous terrain at the eastern edge of the Tibetan Plateau where it is possible to see Tibetan (Asiatic) Wild Ass, Pallas’s and Tibetan Sandgrouse, Henderson’s Ground Jay and Przevalski’s Rosefinch (which is currently in a family of its own).
Best Wildlife in Hong Kong
Mammals
Indo-Pacific Humpback (Chinese White) Dolphin, Finless Porpoise and Dog-faced Fruit Bat.
Birds
The birds listed here are usually present during the northern spring. Great Knot, Blue Magpie, Black-capped
Kingfisher, Fork-tailed Sunbird, Black-faced and Eurasian Spoonbills, and Saunders’s Gull, as well as Falcated and Spot-billed (Burmese and Chinese)
Ducks, Chinese Francolin, Intermediate and Pacific Reef Egrets, (Black-crowned) Night and Chinese Pond Herons, Great and Yellow Bitterns, Osprey,
Crested Serpent Eagle, White-breasted Waterhen, Pacific Golden, Greater Sand and Lesser Sand (Mongolian) Plovers, 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,
Long-toed and Red-necked Stints, Red-necked Phalarope, Oriental Pratincole, (Greater) Painted Snipe, Heuglin’s Gull, Caspian, Gull-billed, Whiskered
and White-winged Terns, Asian Koel, Greater Coucal, Fork-tailed (Pacific) Swift, Pied and White-throated (Smyrna) Kingfishers, Great Barbet,
Grey-chinned and Scarlet Minivets, Long-tailed Shrike, Black Drongo, Collared Crow, Yellow-cheeked Tit, Chestnut and Chinese Bulbuls, bush and leaf
warblers, Rufous-rumped Grassbird, Plain and Yellow-bellied Prinias, Common Tailorbird, Siberian Rubythroat, Oriental Magpie Robin, Blue Rock and
Blue Whistling Thrushes, Black-throated, White-browed and Masked (Black-faced) Laughingthrushes, Hwamei, Black-collared Starling, Crested Myna,
Orange-bellied Leafbird, Fire-breasted and Scarlet-backed Flowerpeckers, Olive-backed and Red-throated Pipits, and Scaly-breasted (Spotted) Munia.
Also a chance of Spoon-billed Sandpiper, Asian Dowitcher, Nordmann's Greenshank, Bonelli's, Great Spotted, Imperial and White-bellied Sea Eagles,
Chinese Egret, Dalmatian Pelican, Aleutian Tern, Long-tailed Skua, Asian and Japanese Paradise Flycatchers, Forest Wagtail, Chinese Goshawk,
Grey-headed Lapwing, Pintail and Swinhoe’s Snipes, Chestnut-winged, Large Hawk, Indian and Plaintive Cuckoos, Collared Scops Owl, Asian Barred Owlet,
Savannah Nightjar, Blue-tailed Bee-eater, Black-naped Oriole, Chinese Penduline Tit, Asian Stubtail, flycatchers including Blue-and-white, Hainan
Blue, Mugimaki and Narcissus (Elisa’s and Owston’s), 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, Yellow-billed Grosbeak, and Black-faced, Chestnut,
Chestnut-eared, Tristram’s and Yellow-breasted Buntings.
Black-capped Kingfisher by Tom Tams. Hong Kong has some other spectacular birds apart from shorebirds.
Invertebrates
There are over 200 species of butterfly including Common and Golden Birdwings, and over 100 species of
dragonfly.
Best Sites for Wildlife in Hong Kong
- Mai Po NR, Deep Bay Where the shorebird show takes place. Also many egrets, herons and other waterbirds.
- Tai Po Kau One of the best of several small places for woodland birds, especially Hainan Blue Flycatcher.
- Po Toi An island which is one of the best places for passage migrant birds.
- Boat trips in search of dolphins For details see Hong Kong Dolphinwatch.
Best Times for 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.
Recommended 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).
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.
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.
- The best website for trip reports is Travelling Birder
- but these are also worth a look
- Birdtours
- Fatbirder
- Jon Hornbuckle
- Mammal Watching
Local Guides and Tours in Hong Kong
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 in Hong Kong
Some Organized Tours 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.
Tour companies who are running organized tours to Hong Kong in the next couple of years include the following. Many of these also offer custom tours.
