Mai Po Nature Reverse Manager Bena Smith looks out from one of many birdblinds at Mai Po in the northwestern New Territories.

A boardwalk takes visitors through mangrove forests to the mudflat at Mai Po. A permit from the AFCD is required to visit Mai Po, and an additional permit from Hong Kong's Border Police is also required to visit the mangrove and mudflat.

Black-faced spoonbills rebounded from near extinction to become one of the world's conservation triumphs, but the bird remains endangered with only 1,848 in the wild. Last year, 21 percent of the species vanished without a trace. Doug Meigs reports.

(HK Edition 11/01/2011 page4)