Mai Po Logo: Pied Kingfisher |
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Winter drain down of the gei wai
Every winter, the Mai Pogei wai are drained down slowly so as to provide roosting and foraging sites for waterbirds. From November 2006 to March 2007, the gei wai were drained down on a 2-week rotation. During the draining period, up to a thousand wintering waterbirds, such as herons, egrets and the endangered Black-faced Spoonbill, were attracted into the gei wai. These waterbirds would feed on the non-commercial fish and shrimps trapped in the shallow waters of the pond. As the food in the drained gei wai becomes depleted, these birds would then move onto other next gei wai that have had drained down and where food is more readily available. |
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Herons, egrets and Black-faced Spoonbill feeding in the shallow area of water of gei wai 12.
© Janet Lee |
New notice board outside Peter Scott Field Studies Centre
In early February, a new notice board was built outside Peter Scott Field Studies Centre to record the work in the Reserve. Visitors can also find update information on Mai Po activities on the notice board. |
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The new notice board outside Peter Scott Field Studies Centre.
© Janet Lee |
Build bird-ringing boardwalk and re-plant reeds in Gei wai 8
Studies on the Mai Po reedbeds have shown that they support a unique bird and insect community. Over the years however, these reedbeds have slowly been drying up due to silt accumulation, leading to invasion by grasses and other plants. To investigate the impact of the reedbeds silting up on bird use, WWF has been collaborating with the Hong Kong Bird Ringing Group to compare bird species and number in a dry and a wet reedbed. The study involved removing the silt from a 2-hectare area of reedbed during September to October 2006, replanting the site with reeds in spring 2007, followed by building a small bridge in this area for the Bird Ringing Group to compare bird use in the new ‘wet reedbed’, with that in a similar size area of dry reedbed that is adjacent. The results of this long-term study will let us know the impact of the reedbeds drying up on their use by birds, and the need to remove the silt from these areas in order to maintain their wildlife value. |
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Reeds planted by volunteers in gei wai 8.
© Janet Lee
WWF field staff building the new bird-ringing boardwalk in gei wai 8.
© Janet Lee |
Provide high tide roosting site for shorebirds
Every spring, some 17,000 shorebirds migrate through Deep Bay on their northward migration back to their breeding sites in northern China and the Russian Far East. These shorebirds feed on the intertidal mudflat of Deep Bay, and need suitable areas with shallow water and mud for roosting. Since the mid-1980s, WWF have created high tide roosting sites for these shorebirds within the Reserve with the main one being in gei wai 16/17. By maintaining a suitable shallow water level, creating a number of small low islands, and clearing vegetation on the islands and those encroaching into the open water areas, shorebirds have been attracted to roost on this and other high-tide roosts within the Reserve. Grass cutting along bunds and islands of gei wai has been carried out before the arrival of these shorebirds. |
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Shorebirds roosting on island of gei wai 16/17.
© Neil Fifer |
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