On a pair of long pink legs, a black-winged stilt mother takes the lead across Mai Po Nature Reserve's shallow freshwater ponds to look for food. Three fluffy spotty chicks trail behind in a straight line, observing their mother's every move.
The number of breeding black-winged stilts in Mai Po has doubled in four years, hitting a record high of more than 60 pairs. Experts expect the figure to reach as many as 70.
Summer is usually regarded as a low season for bird watching in Hong Kong, but black-winged stilts spend the summer at the reserve. The conservation group WWF first spotted them breeding at the reserve in 2003.
For the past 10 years, the WWF have been converting abandoned shrimp cultivation areas called 'gei wai' into freshwater habitats and building islands inside ponds.
'This conversion created more suitable feeding areas for the stilts,' said Katherine Leung Kar-sin from WWF Hong Kong. 'We expect to attract more breeding pairs in the coming years.'
Weather has also been on the birds' side this year. Heavy downpours in April can wash away nests, but the weather remained dry until early May. Rainfall was 80 per cent less than normal in April.