More than 20 members of a native subspecies of ring-necked pheasant, commonly known as the “wailing chicken,” have been spotted by birdwatcher Huang San-ming within the Jinsha Borough of Tainan’s Sigang District. There have also been separate sightings of Formosan ring-necked pheasants perching in Beipu Borough in Jiangjun District and in Fandian Borough in the city’s Yanshuei District.
The Formosan ring-necked pheasant, Taiwan blue pheasant and mikado pheasant are the three main types of protected pheasant in Taiwan. The “wailing chicken,” or Formosan ring-necked pheasant, mostly perches in flat open fields and used to be a common sight in Taiwan. However, a combination of excessive hunting and overdevelopment has meant that these days it is rare to catch a glimpse of the bird. Huang says that Formosan ring-necked pheasants will immediately take off if they catch sight of a human or hear the wind rustling through the grass, which makes watching them extremely difficult.
(LIBERTY TIMES, TRANSLATED BY EDWARD JONES)
Photo courtesy of Huang San-ming
照片：黃三明提供
台灣特有亞種環頸雉（俗稱啼雞）在台南市西港區金砂里被鳥友黃三明發現有廿多隻出現。此外，將軍區北埔里、鹽水區飯店里也有台灣環頸雉棲息。
台灣環頸雉、藍腹鷳，和帝雉是台灣三大保育類雉雞。其中俗稱啼雞的環頸雉主要棲息在平地田野，早年常見，因濫捕加上過度開發，現在很少看到牠們蹤跡。黃三明說，因為啼雞一見人或風吹草動就跑，要看到牠們的身影不容易。
(自由時報楊金城)
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