Waterfowl Count October 2001
Summary Report

The October 2001 waterbird count took place on the 14th. Coverage of the Ramsar Site was complete. For the Deep Bay area as a whole all sites apart from San Tin were surveyed.

A total of 7,559 waterbirds was recorded in the Deep Bay area (including Fu Tian, which is now being regularly surveyed), of which 2877 were present in the Ramsar Site. This monthly total is somewhat lower than those since 1998 when a survey was first carried out in October. This may be related to the late arrival of winter visitors, as no particular group had obviously low numbers. The largest groups comprised ardeids (3023 in the Deep Bay area), waders (2563) and ducks and grebes (1859). This reflects the presence of migrant ducks and the first arrivals of the wintering population, and a still healthy number of migrant waders.