Birding at Nam Sang Wai, Hong Kong

Nam Sang Wai is a wetland located at the northwestern part of Hong Kong, which is a part of inner Deep Bay area. It is a famous place for birdwatching which houses quite a lot of waterbirds including gulls, ducks, cormorants, avocets and egrets, particularly in winter. It worths you spending a day there to enjoy the fun of birdwatching as the diversity of the birds is usually satisfactory. Most birds could be seen at low tide, at about 0.5 to 1 m.

Even during the weekday, there are still quite a lot of photographers, carrying loads of gears, stationing at the estuary for bird-photography.

Northern Pintail is a common wintering duck species in Hong Kong. It is comparatively large to other ducks and is recognized by its longer neck, rounded head and pointed tail. Males are distinctive. They usually arrive Hong Kong in late October and leave in early April.

Northern Shoveler is another common winter visitor in Deep Bay. It is slightly smaller than Northern Pintail, reaching about 50 cm length. Its broad spatulate bill is diagnostic which makes it one of the easiest duck to identify.

Heuglin's Gull is the most abundant large gull wintering in Hong Kong. Identifying large gulls is always difficult even to the experts which requires intensive practices.

Nam Sang Wai is one of the magor night roosting sites of Great Cormorants, where generally holds over 3,000 Cormorants in winters.

Black-faced Spoonbill, a well-known endangered species according to the IUCN Redlist, could commonly be seen in Nam Sang Wai during winter. You should grap a chance to see this spectacular species if you haven't seen it yet!

Pied Avocets are feeding on the intertidal mudflat.

Birdwatching in a chilling winter could still be pleasant and enjoyable!

Ficus microcarpa and Ficus concinna

Ficus microcarpa taken in Lung Fu Shan, Hong Kong Island.

Ficus microcarpa (Moraceae) is a well known and popular tree species in Hong Kong due to its frequent occurrence near where people lives. It grows and develops quickly and has a broad and dense canopy which makes it particularly good to provide shade. Among the native Ficus species in Hong Kong, it is one of the few species which has small and elliptic leaves with tapering base. Ficus microcarpa is a widespread species in Asia (mainly Eastern and Southern parts) and Australia.

Ficus concinna taken in Sai Kung area, Hong Kong.

There is another small leaf Ficus species which resembles F. microcarpa quite much, which is Ficus concinna. It is a recent discovery which had probably been overlooked in the past. Only a few individuals have been found so far. Its appearance is like Ficus microcarpa but aerial roots are mostly absent. Also, leaf veins of F. concinna is more conspicuous than that in F. microcarpa (See photographs above). By combing these differences you will probably be able to seperate them in the field! Start checking small-leaf Ficus and see if you could find more F. concinna!

Asarum caudigerum

Asarum caudigerum (Aristolochiaceae) is recently discovered growing near an abandoned village in Hong Kong. It is a new addition to the Hong Kong vascular plant list, with an unclear origin. A. caudigerum is naturally distributed in Central and South China, and to Vietnam. However, this species is also used medicinally in the past and only one colony is found so far. Thus, Possibility of being cultivated cannot be satisfactorily ruled out. Being a naturalist, I personally wish this is from a natural origin which further enriches the local biodiversity.

It should be noted that there is no petal in Asarum. The perianths shown in the photographs are indeed its sepal. Its specific name caudigerum is named based on its slender caudate sepal. It's definitely a fabulous species to see!

Commersonia bartramia

Which family do you think the above specimen is belonging to? Four of us had different guesses after meeting this strange and unfamiliar tree which include Moraceae, Sterculiaceae, Elaeocarpaceae and Euphorbiaceae. The answer is Sterculiaceae or Tiliaceae depending on taxonomic treatment. Meeting unfamiliar species is always funny and exciting in the field which is like an assessment to your identification, integration, logical thinking and association skills.

Only one species under the genus Commersonia, Commersonia bartramia, is distributed in China which is mainly distributed in southern parts of China including Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan and Yunnan. It flowers in winter but the exact date depends on regions and altitude. It has considerable economic uses where bark and fiber are used for weaving.

Leopard, Panthera pardus

Leopard (Panthera pardus) is belonging to the "Big Cats" genus, Panthera, which contains four members including Lion, Tiger, Jaguar and Leopard. Leopard is the smallest member within the genus. It has a broad distribution which ranged from most of sub-Saharan Africa, Arabian Peninsula, India, Sri Lanka and South East Asia. It has a status of Near-threatened according to the IUCN Red List (ver. 2009.1) with decreasing population trend.

These photographs were taken in Masai Mara National Park, Kenya. This individual completely ignored the vehicles and humans surrounding it and was trying to hunt. It even made use of the vehicles to hide itself from the prey. It is quite rare to find Leopards during the daytime according to the guides as they are mainly active at night and resting on trees during the daytime.

Unidentified Eunoymus

An Euonymus species found on Hong Kong Island, Hong Kong, is recently recognized not recorded before. It is quite surprised that there is still unidentified/unrecorded woody species in Hong Kong as they seem not to be easily overlooked in the previous extensive surveys conducted by various parties, including AFCD, KFBG and HKU etc. Even though specimens of flowers and fruits have been collected, the identity of this species is still unsolved, which means, it is probably a new species in Guangdong, or even China. Identification work is supposed to be done by IBSC, South China Institute of Botany.

This Euonymus species is highly restricted to a small area in Hong Kong, which is thought to be a very rare species in Hong Kong. It looks like another commoner Euonymus, E. laxiflorus, when flower or fruit is not observed. You might find its flowering season in early June where its fruits mature in December.

Lantau Island