Summer highlights: Night Safari in Long Valley
 
This is our first time to launch a night safari in Long Valley in this summertime. Under the guidance of professional eco-guides, participants explored the important wetlands under our Management Agreement Project. They were also provided with different tools and materials to observe and learn about the nocturnal wildlife and conservation knowledge.
 
 

(Left) Participants were given the chance to look for tadpoles in the pond.
 (Middle) Holding the torch, participants searched for the hidden wildlife in the dark!
 (Right) Eco-guides shared their ecological knowledge to the participants in the workshop after the guiding tour.
 

Participants could see different organisms including frogs, snakes, birds, insects etc…Long Valley  show its vitality in both daytime and nighttime!
 

Brown Tree Frog (Polypedates megacephalus) in a water pipe.

 Checkered Keelback (Xenochrophis piscator)
 

What impressed the participants most in the night safari?

“ Frog calls in the fields liked a symphony!”

“Observe the organisms that we get in the field and discuss the issues of nature conservation in the little farm hut.”

“The night scenery and the long lost memory of the calls from all kinds of frogs.”

“Though we don’t know each other, it is amazing that we can appreciate different animals in the nature together!”
The night safari has come to an end this year. Let’s explore in the dark again next Summer!
 
 
 

Role Swap in Greater Painted Snipe Couples

When working on my farmland, I can always see a bulky bird being flushed out just next to me. The birds shock me sometimes when they are flushed out, and there are always more than one. Not until the hot debate on the construction of Sheung Shui and Lok Ma Chau Spur Line at Long Valley in 2000 did I know that these valuable birds are called Greater Painted Snipes. Greater Painted Snipes live in freshwater marshes, and our water fields are very suitable for them. However, the freshwater marsh habitat in Hong Kong is diminishing. Their homes are restricted to the last two places—Long Valley and Kam Tin. While Kam Tin has recently suffered from fly-tipping, the habitat there was destroyed severely.

Greater Painted Snipes are usually active in small groups at dawn and in the evening. I have seen a group of seven or eight stretching their wings, just like a party/get-together. It’s wonderful! Greater Painted Snipes are short and chubby, having a long thick bill curved slightly downwards. Unlike most other birds, Greater Painted Snipe couples swap their roles. Females have more colourful feathers than males. The former are brown in colour with a reddish neck, and love wearing a ‘white scarf’ and ‘white glasses’ to attract the male. During breeding season, a female is usually married to several males. Male also wear glasses in yellow, but have a plain body colour with yellow dots. Undoubtedly, male snipes are very good daddies as they bear the responsibility for both hatching and raising the chicks.

Greater Painted Snipes love to nest on the “Bird Island” set in the middle of the marsh by the CA and the Hong Kong Bird Watching Society. Sometimes we also find their nests and eggs in our farmland. Staff from CA told us not to disturb their nests, otherwise the adults may abandon them and the lovely chicks will not be brooded.
 

Females are more colourful than males. The white eyering is one of the identification features for females. (Photo by Dr. Billy Hau)
 
 
Greater Painted Snipe is a shy bird. In this photo we can see a male hiding behind tall wetland plants. (Photo by Pan Lau) 
 
 

Common Name: Greater Painted-Snipe
Scientific Name: Rostratula benghalensis
 Male on the left and female on the right. (Drawing by Carmen Or)
 
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