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Earthmoving in gei wai 16/17
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Gei wai 16/17 is managed as one of the
main roosting sites for the waterbirds that use Mai Po Nature Reserve.
This is done by carefully adjusting the water level inside the gei
wai over the course of the year, so that the ponds has a range
of water depths, from deep to shallow, for the different birds to roost
and feed in, depending on their requirement.
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However,
the floor of the gei wai has been silting up over
the past decades because of mud that is brought into the
pond each month when water exchange takes place. As a result,
some parts of the floor of the pond has slowly been rising
and are now difficult to cover with water. These drier
areas can become quickly invaded by tall grasses and so
are not used by roosting birds. One such area is the floor
of the pond in front of Birdwatching Hide #3. |
| Earthmoving in gei wai 16/17. |
As a result, gei wai 16/17 will be drained
down from September to December 2003 so that earthmoving works can
be carried out to lower this part of the pond floor. A bulldozer and
backhoe will be used to carry out the works, and the silt that is removed
will be placed along the side of the pond. The aim is to complete the
work by December 2003 but Mai Po staff will try their best to finish
the work as soon as possible so that the pond can be refolded and the
wintering waterbirds can once again use it for roosting and feeding.
To further minimise disturbance to the wintering
waterbirds, we have lowered the water levels in a number of other gei
wai (e.g. gei wai 6 and 11), so that these waterbirds can
use other ponds in the reserve in the meantime.
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