Birding in Hong Kong is really just municipal parks with the exception of Mai Po Wetland Reserve which i will deal with in part 2.
I have dealt with the beginning and the end in this part as birding in parks is pretty limited.
I had chosen a Kowloon hotel which was next to Kowloon Park and my birding for the first 2 days was limited to this.
I only birded between 7am and 8.30am both mornings and the most common birds were Tree Sparrows, Chinese Bulbuls and Crested Bulbuls.
There was a small lake in the grounds which gave me nothing first morning but gave Chinese Pond Heron, Black Crowned Night Heron and White Wagtail the second morning.
Circling above were Black Eared Kite which are a subspecies of Black Kite recently split.
This is also the time of day when the elderly Cantonese do their Tai Chi so there were large numbers of people near all paths and trees.
A viewpoint allowed me views of a female Koel which is a quite impressive cuckoo type bird. The male eluded me which is predominantly black but the female is heavily barred brown.
I also spotted a bird high in the trees which turned out to be a Black Necked Starling.
Just as the UK, escaped birds have gone on to establish breeding populations and in Kowloon Park this is true of the Rose Ringed Parakeets.
Other birds seen but not photographed in Kowloon were Silky Starling, Little Egret, Jungle Crow and Spotted Dove.
Jumping to the end of our trip the equivalent park in Hong Kong Island is simply called Hong Kong Park.
It is sandwiched amongst the skyscrapers and is very pretty.
Birding here was probably better but I only had one 90 minute session in the 3 days.
Their resident and breeding immigrant is the Yellow Crested Cockatoo which were heard and seen flying but the photo below is the only one I saw land!
For me most of the birds were similar to Kowloon though I suspect that given more time there would be more species. Hong Kong Birdwatching Society hold regular walks around the park but sadly they did not coincide with my dates.
However, three other birds were added. The first two were common in Magpie Robin and Black Faced Laughing Thrush.
However, the best bird of my park visits was a Crested Goshawk which was seen at first light, I was caught in two minds how to take the photo as the bird allowed me to get close but, it was first light and in thick foliage. I did not want to scare it by using flash but also desperately wanted to get an image.
My conscience got the better of me and the photo below was the best I could get as I did not use flash but have lightened it up as best I could..
My final day (and the day we were leaving!) was at Mai Po and I will cover this in a separate blog.
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