Across the forgotten walls of a Hong Kong island, a flock of bird murals rises

2026-01-23 12:04 Last Updated At：01-24 12:54

HONG KONG (AP) — They perch gently on concrete ledges. They nestle into peeling stucco. Occasionally, they soar across a stone house's rooftop.

A flock has landed in Wang Tong Village, a peaceful corner of Lantau Island on Hong Kong’s southwestern edge. But this flock is unlike others: Its birds are made of paint.

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A long-tailed shrike mural is seen painted on the rooftop of a stone house on Sunset Peak, Lantau, Hong Kong, Jan. 25, 2025. (AP Photo/May James)

A visitor photographs her friend posing with a mural of a white-throated kingfisher painted on an abandoned house near Wang Tong village, Lantau, Hong Kong, Nov. 16, 2025. (AP Photo/May James)

A daurian redstart is seen painted on the wall of an abandoned house in Wang Tong village, Lantau, Hong Kong on Jan 27, 2025. (AP Photo/May James)

A grey wagtail is painted on the wall of an abandoned house, beside a broken window near Wang Tong village, Lantau, Hong Kong on Jan 20, 2025. (AP Photo/May James)

Dominic Johnson-Hill looks at a white-throated kingfisher mural being painted by Rob Aspire near Wang Tong village, Lantau, Hong Kong, Jan. 27, 2025. (AP Photo/May James)

A person takes photo of art works at Wang Tong Art Walk, where the first bird mural from the Flock Project begins, in Lantau, Hong Kong, Nov. 16, 2025. (AP Photo/May James)

A yellow-browed warbler is painted on an abandoned house in Wang Tong village, Lantau, Hong Kong, Jan. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/May James)

A cyclist rides past a mural of a red-billed blue magpie in Wang Tong village, Lantau, Hong Kong, Nov. 8, 2025. (AP Photo/May James)

Rob Aspire paints a Long-tailed Shrike on the rooftop of a stone house on Sunset Peak, Lantau, Hong Kong on Jan. 25, 2025. (AP Photo/May James)

An Amur Paradise Flycatcher, left, and a Swinhoe's White-eye are seen painted on the wall of an abandoned house near Wang Tong village, Lantau, Hong Kong, Jan. 20, 2025. (AP Photo/May James)

More Images

A long-tailed shrike mural is seen painted on the rooftop of a stone house on Sunset Peak, Lantau, Hong Kong, Jan. 25, 2025. (AP Photo/May James)

A visitor photographs her friend posing with a mural of a white-throated kingfisher painted on an abandoned house near Wang Tong village, Lantau, Hong Kong, Nov. 16, 2025. (AP Photo/May James)

A daurian redstart is seen painted on the wall of an abandoned house in Wang Tong village, Lantau, Hong Kong on Jan 27, 2025. (AP Photo/May James)

A grey wagtail is painted on the wall of an abandoned house, beside a broken window near Wang Tong village, Lantau, Hong Kong on Jan 20, 2025. (AP Photo/May James)

Dominic Johnson-Hill looks at a white-throated kingfisher mural being painted by Rob Aspire near Wang Tong village, Lantau, Hong Kong, Jan. 27, 2025. (AP Photo/May James)

A person takes photo of art works at Wang Tong Art Walk, where the first bird mural from the Flock Project begins, in Lantau, Hong Kong, Nov. 16, 2025. (AP Photo/May James)

A yellow-browed warbler is painted on an abandoned house in Wang Tong village, Lantau, Hong Kong, Jan. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/May James)

A cyclist rides past a mural of a red-billed blue magpie in Wang Tong village, Lantau, Hong Kong, Nov. 8, 2025. (AP Photo/May James)

Rob Aspire paints a Long-tailed Shrike on the rooftop of a stone house on Sunset Peak, Lantau, Hong Kong on Jan. 25, 2025. (AP Photo/May James)

An Amur Paradise Flycatcher, left, and a Swinhoe's White-eye are seen painted on the wall of an abandoned house near Wang Tong village, Lantau, Hong Kong, Jan. 20, 2025. (AP Photo/May James)

They exist on murals designed for a larger purpose — not merely to draw attention to forgotten places but to tell the story of the extraordinary journeys birds undertake.

Dominic Johnson-Hill, who envisioned the flock, was captivated by an account from his ornithologist neighbor about the Amur falcon, a bird that travels from Manchuria, pauses in Lantau, then continues its migration across Myanmar, India and Madagascar to South Africa.

“I just assumed these birds lived on the island,” Johnson-Hill recalls. “But they’re not. They’re passing guests.”

That sense of wonder became the seed for what became the Flock Project. Johnson-Hill looked at the abandoned house next to his own and imagined a red-billed blue magpie painted across the wall. “They just seemed to belong there,” he says.

To bring the vision to life, Johnson-Hill sought out someone who could paint birds not just accurately but with soul. He found British artist Rob Aspire, known as “The Birdman” for his intricate, expressive murals of birds.

One bird led to another. A year later, Johnson-Hill invited Aspire back and commissioned seven more murals.

Each bird was chosen for its ecological presence, visual harmony or symbolic resonance with place. A kingfisher keeps watch over a stream where fishing is no longer allowed. A Swinhoe’s white-eye blends into the walls near trees where its bright, fluting call still echoes.

All the murals are painted on abandoned homes except one. High on Sunset Peak, 868 meters (nearly 3,000 feet) above sea level, a long-tailed shrike perches naturally on the rooftop of a 90-year-old stone house, watching the mountains unfold below.

The goal is to gradually bring more of Hong Kong’s native and migratory birds into view, nestling them into forgotten corners of the island as if they had always lived there.

The murals draw hundreds of people, many from Hong Kong's concrete heart. They wander the trails and alleys of Lantau’s quiet corners. On weekends, some bring chalk and mark out arrows, turning village paths into treasure maps for the next bird hunter. Sometimes noticing beauty is the first step toward wanting to protect it.

Johnson-Hill has created an online map for visitors and is planning the next phase. What comes next depends on what reveals itself — a derelict house brought to his attention, or the conditions that make another bird possible.

Birds migrate. They disappear. Sometimes they return, sometimes not. People are the same way. Villages empty, but the walls remain — with a painted bird, or the memory of one.

Hungary’s Péter Magyar sworn in as prime minister, ending Viktor Orbán’s 16-year rule

BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Hungary's Péter Magyar took his oath of office on Saturday to become the country's new prime minister, ending Viktor Orbán's 16 years of autocratic rule.

Magyar’s center-right Tisza party defeated Orbán’s nationalist-populist Fidesz in a stunning blow last month, gaining more votes and seats in Parliament than any other party in Hungary’s post-Communist history.

The win, which gave Tisza a two-thirds parliamentary majority, will allow it to roll back many of the policies that gave Orbán a reputation among his critics as a far-right authoritarian.

In a speech to lawmakers in Hungary's Parliament after being sworn in, Magyar said he would not use his office to “rule” Hungary, “but to serve my homeland.”

“I’m not standing here because I’m different from anyone else in the country,” Magyar said. “I stand here because millions of Hungarians decided that they want change. And this trust that we have received is both a weight of honor and a moral obligation, but also a wonderful feeling.”

Magyar has vowed to restore democratic institutions and governmental checks and balances that were heavily eroded during Orbán's rule, and to clamp down on alleged corruption.

His government is expected to transform political dynamics within the European Union, where the former prime minister had upended the bloc by frequently vetoing key decisions, most recently concerning support for neighboring Ukraine.

On Saturday, Magyar, a 45-year-old lawyer who founded Tisza in 2024 after years as an insider in Orbán’s party, entered the sprawling neo-Gothic parliament building alongside 140 of his party representatives.

Tisza now controls 141 seats in Hungary's 199-seat parliament. Orbán’s Fidesz-KDNP coalition controls 52 seats, down from 135, while the far-right Mi Hazánk (Our Homeland) party holds six seats.

The 199 representatives took their oaths of office at around 11 a.m. local time. Orbán was not among them for the first time since Hungary’s first post-Communist Parliament was formed in 1990.

Magyar earlier called on Hungarians to attend an all-day “regime-change” celebration on Kossuth Square outside Parliament to mark his inauguration and the end of the Orbán era. Thousands had already gathered in the square as the new representatives were sworn in, many waving Hungarian and EU flags and wearing Tisza T-shirts.

As the crowd watched the proceedings inside Parliament on large screens, cheers erupted whenever Magyar appeared. The new prime minister was set to address the crowd outside after the completion of Parliament's inaugural session.

Hungary's new national assembly has 54 women lawmakers, most from the Tisza party — more than a quarter of the total and the most in Hungary’s history.

One attendee, Andrea Szepesi, an economist from Budapest, said it was “about time” that more female lawmakers held seats in Parliament. Under Orbán's rule, there were fewer women in government than in nearly all of the EU's other 26 nations.

“Finally, women are able to participate in this new, beautiful democratic system and the flourishing of the country,” she told The Associated Press.

Magyar has promised to repair his country’s ties with the EU, which Orbán had pushed to a breaking point, and to restore Hungary’s place among Western democracies, whose standing had been called into question as Orbán drifted ever closer to Russia.

The EU flag was raised on the Parliament building’s facade Saturday afternoon for the first time since Orbán’s government removed it in 2014.

Unlocking about 17 billion euros ($20 billion) of EU funds for Hungary frozen during Orbán’s time in office over rule-of-law and corruption concerns is among the incoming prime minister’s top priorities. The money is sorely needed to help jump-start Hungary’s struggling economy, which has stagnated for the past four years.

Another attendee of the celebration, 27-year-old web designer Áron Farsang, said he expects the new Tisza government to restore Hungary's democratic institutions and to “lead us back toward the European Union.”

“I would also really like it if we could get rid of the Russian influence as soon as possible,” he said. “I’m thinking about energy dependency and their general political style.”

Many of the nearly 3.4 million Hungarians that voted for Tisza expect Magyar to hold Fidesz officials and their business allies accountable for the perceived misconduct of the outgoing administration.

Magyar plans to form a National Asset Recovery and Protection Office, an authority tasked with investigating and seeking to recover public funds misused during Orbán’s tenure. He’s also vowed to suspend the news services of Hungary’s public broadcaster — widely seen as a mouthpiece of Orbán’s party — until objectivity can be restored.

In his speech to lawmakers Saturday, Magyar referenced his intentions to hold former officials accountable for past abuses, saying voters had “given us a mandate to open a new chapter in Hungary’s history.

“We must understand, however, that there can be no new beginning without reconciliation. There can be no reconciliation without justice. And there can be no justice without confronting the past,” he said.

Across the forgotten walls of a Hong Kong island, a flock of bird murals rises

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