Whilst hiking in Hong Kong, it is inevitable to meet several birds. We all want to identify the species quickly and accurately, especially for those who are new to birdwatching. We introduce you to the latest Hong Kong birdwatching guides and three useful birdwatching mobile applications. Equip yourself before the bird season, be ready to upgrade the tools you need to enhance your vision and hearing ability for bird finding!
A Photographic Guide to the Birds of Hong Kong to Lead You to Nature through Birdwatching
The two-volume “Photographic Guide to the Birds of Hong Kong” contains photos of 514 bird species that are taken by Hong Kong birdwatchers. It describes the physical characteristics, habits, habitats and common seasons of 42 families of Hong Kong birds. There are pictures for references, and also videos and links to some species’ bird calls.
The two books support readers’ preparation for birdwatching and avian conservation with tips such as birdwatching etiquettes. Whether you want to know more about birds in the city, wetland, woodland, stream or highland, the two books cover it all.
Want to learn more about Hong Kong’s wild birds? You can acquire the skills of identifying birds in the feature articles, from learning to classify them by their appearance and habits, to understanding and conserving the endangered bird species in Hong Kong. From the articles, you will also learn how to handle injured or dead birds. These books guide you to appreciate, learn and conserve birds, and also how to experience the Hong Kong nature.
A Photographic Guide to the Birds of Hong Kong 1 introduces 267 bird species.
A Photographic Guide to the Birds of Hong Kong 2 introduces 247 bird species.
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A Must-have Birdwatching App for Beginners – HKBirds
If you are out birdwatching and do not want to carry a bulky guide, you can download a mobile app in advance to help with identifying and recording the birds. In 2014, the Hong Kong Bird Watching Society (HKBWS) jointly developed the app, HKcBirds: Hong Kong Common Birds. They again co-developed another app, HKBirds in 2021. The number of bird species included in the guide has increased from over 200 to 240, while bird photos and bird calls are also updated. The app can be used without internet access. When you find a wild bird, you can identify what type it is based on its feature, habitat and calls by comparing what you see to the information from the database. Users can also use the app to record observations systematically, which make it easier for future birdwatching reference.
HKBirds is currently available for iOS devices.
Download: https://i.cs.hku.hk/~hkbirds/
Five-step for Instant Bird Identification – Merlin Bird ID
Combining two major databases, eBird and Macaulay Library, the mobile application Merlin Bird ID covers worldwide birdwatching records and also includes video and audio information. There are now over 7,500 species of birds that can be searched from the app. The app supports the search by both Chinese and English common names of the birds. Just simply select the location, date, size, colour and the behaviour of the found birds and the programme will automatically generate the possible bird species for you, and your new record will also be directly uploaded to eBird. Merlin Bird ID currently includes bird species from Taiwan, Shanghai, Beijing, the US, Australia, India and some European countries. The app is good for birdwatching overseas when we can travel abroad in the future.
Download: https://merlin.allaboutbirds.org/download/
Be A Citizen Scientist! A Quick Tool for Your Birdwatching Record – eBird
eBird is an online bird database developed by The Cornell Lab of Ornithology that allows researchers, scientists and citizen scientists (which is us) to provide data such as bird species, migration patterns and numbers. When you become more confident in your bird identification skills, you can contribute to the database by uploading your records to the platform. eBird accumulates data into big data and combined with the AI technology, it allows people who are new to birdwatching to identify bird species via the Merlin Bird ID.
Download: https://ebird.org/about/ebird-mobile/