On 29th August we joined umpteen other birders in a suitably masked, socially-distanced boat trip into Hong Kong’s southern waters, the general area being between Po Toi Island (HK) and the not-HK Islands to the south. Wet weather from the south-east was predicted and that’s what we got. An early highlight was a big pod of Indo-Pacific Bottlenose Dolphins. Despite having done dozens of boat trips over the years, this was a Hong Kong “Cetacean Tick” for us and everyone else present. ![]()
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And immediately afterwards we had a flyby Swinhoe’s Storm-Petrel (Oceanodroma monorhis), photographed by several people, including yours truly. It seems that the rain fronts may have driven it further inshore than normal. There are, as yet, no accepted records for Swinhoe’s S-P, although Bart de Schutter saw and photographed a distant one from Po Toi Island itself a few weeks ago. ![]()
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A report form has been submitted to the Records Committee regarding this sighting. It would be a highly sought-after potential addition to the Hong Kong Bird List, as well as being a fine "Hong Kong Tick" for all the birders present on the boat.
