Some nice thoughts Bart. It's always good to have a "possibles" list to be prepared.
But one of the problems with seabirds in Hong Kong waters is that the South China Sea is 'protected' by all the islands separating it from the Pacific Ocean, where most of these seabirds live - Taiwan, The Philippines, Indonesia all form a ring around the South China Sea and block Pacific seabirds from coming through.
So we tend to see those seabirds breeding in northern areas of China, Korea and Japan, which make their way south and west. Such as terns and gulls, divers, murrelets, Streaked Shearwaters, even Bulwer's and Swinhoe's Storm Petrel.
Short-tailed Shearwater gets through because I think it migrates north from the Antarctic region into the Indian Ocean and then goes through the Singapore Straits to get to Japanese waters for it's winter.
Some wanderers will get through - Herald Petrel is a great example. Who could ever have believed that would turn up in Mai Po!
But I think your best bets are Chinese Crested Tern going south, and maybe South Polar Skua going north.
I know I won't stop you from looking, and I don't want to. You've already shown us that some species are commoner in HK waters than we previously recorded them.
Keep it going! An albatross would be really nice!
