Hundreds of birds dazzle Tuen Mun residents as they fly to a new fishing spot

The 9,000 great cormorants who call Hong Kong home in winter may have found a new place to eat near Tuen Mun, according to video captured by starstruck residents and circulated on social media.

The change, which has taken bird watchers by surprise, may give fishermen some relief as the metre-long birds sometimes hit their ponds for a meal.

WATCH: Flocks of great cormorants fly over Tuen Mun

The great cormorants have been coming to Hong Kong annually on their migration from the chilling Mongolian steppe, icy Northern China and Russia’s middle province of Siberia, said research manager Yu Yat-tung from the Hong Kong Bird Watching Society.

He said Tuen Mun residents may have discovered the birds on a new daily feeding flight from Mai Po wetlands, about 19 kilometres away.

“This group of the birds seem to have changed their feeding place. They didn’t go to the Tuen Mun area before,” Yu said. “I guess they are going to feeding because they need more food for the journey.”

The birds, which are about a metre long, Yu said, can range in weight from 1.5 kilograms to 5.3kg.