Media

Birds of Hong Kong in Your Hands
Mobile App “HKcBirds: Common Birds of Hong Kong” launched

11 Apr 2014

 

Hong Kong’s first cross-platform bird information mobile app, jointly developed by the Department of Computer Science of the University of Hong Kong (HKU) and the Hong Kong Bird Watching Society, is now available for free in both App Store and Google Play.

Bird watching has become popular as more people like to enjoy nature in recent years. With the wide adoption of digital photography, birds of various forms and behaviours can be easily recorded. To enable the public to know more about these beautiful neighbors any time, the HKU Department of Computer Science and the Hong Kong Bird Watching Society jointly developed the mobile app “HKcBirds: Common Birds of Hong Kong”. Through the app, the general public can access multimedia information of over two hundred species of common birds. There is also information about Hong Kong’s diverse ecological environment and tips on bird watching. This is an app that can be used without getting online, which is important in areas with low connectivity. The app also has filter features that allow users to find birds according to family, habitat, principal status, IUCN status and bird size. While enjoying the fun of bird watching, users of the app can also identify the birds by checking against their photos and descriptions.

Mr. Lau Wai Man, Chairman of Hong Kong Bird Watching Society, said: “We are glad that the HKU Knowledge Exchange Fund supports the development of this mobile app. Hong Kong has the highest smart phone penetration rate in the world. It’s a blessing that a bird app that belongs to Hong Kong is available. It helps us greatly to promote bird watching and appreciation. Bird watchers now do not need to bring heavy volumes of bird guides to the field. Bird watching is fun. Especially for children, it makes them more observant, and trains them to discover something new around them every day. This awareness of the environment is especially important, since it cannot be taught in school.”

The project coordinator, Dr Yip Chi Lap of the HKU Department of Computer Science pointed out: “This is Hong Kong’s first cross-platform bilingual bird information app. This app is useful on the field with the detailed information and beautiful pictures provided by The Hong Kong Bird Watching Society. We are delighted to be able to work with Hong Kong’s most time-honoured bird conservation NGO to apply our knowledge and technologies for the good of the public, and at the same time contribute to bird conservation and ornithology. We are amazed at the number of contributors to the project and the efforts HKBWS put into making the apps a reality. This enables mobile device users in Hong Kong and worldwide to learn more about the common birds of Hong Kong. During the development, we have learned a lot about birds too!”.

URL for downloading “HKcBirds: Common Birds of Hong Kong”:

App Store:

https://itunes.apple.com/hk/app/hkcbirds-common-birds-hong/id849052395?mt=8

Google Play:

http://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=hk.org.hkbws.hkcbirds

Website: http://www.cs.hku.hk/~hkbirds/

The project titled “Birds of Hong Kong in your Hands” is supported by the HKU Knowledge Exchange Fund. For enquires, please contact Ms. Yeung Lee Ki, HKBWS (Tel: 2377 4387) or Ms. Jolly Li, Faculty of Engineering, HKU (Tel: 2241 5953 / E-mail: jollyli@hku.hk).