Waterfowl Count 16 July 2000
Summary Report

The July 2000 waterfowl count occurred on 16th. All sites within the Ramsar Site were covered, apart from Mai Po San Tsuen. Outside of the Ramsar Site, the following areas were not counted: San Tin, Tin Shui Wai, Nam Sang Wai and Chau Tau; the latter three are now much degraded or reduced in size.

A total of 1487 waterbirds were recorded in the Deep Bay area, of which 1173 occurred in the Ramsar Site. Table 1 provides a comparison of selected counts for July in the years 1998-2000.

As usual in midsummer, ardeids comprise the bulk of waterbirds recorded in the Ramsar Site. It can be seen that the proportion is lower this year than in previous years; in addition, however, the number of ardeids is significantly lower than during the past two years. The reason for this is unknown; it seems possible that a number of birds were simply not in the Ramsar Site during the count though the fact that Mai Po San Tsuen was not counted is unlikely to be the sole explanation. It may simply be that ardeids were located in other unsurveyed areas of Deep Bay.

As with other counts this summer, the number of waterbirds was similar to the total for 1999, but lower than that for 1998.