More than 7,000 birds have migrated to Taipei's Huajiang Wild Duck Nature Park since the beginning of this year, the Wild Bird Society of Taipei (WBST) said yesterday.
The park, the largest habitat of migrational birds in northern Taiwan, is located at the point where the Hsintien River flows into the Tamshui River and covers an area of more than 11 hectares.
PHOTO: CHIANG YING-YING, TAIPEI TIMES
The period to observe migrational birds in the park starts in September and lasts until April, however, most birds start arriving between December and February.
PHOTO: CHIANG YING-YING, TAIPEI TIMES
This year's Huajiang Wild Duck Season officially kicked off at the park yesterday, drawing more than 1,500 bird watchers.
"This year, green-winged teals make up the majority of the birds who have come here. The second, third and fourth largest groups are northern shovelers, pintails and Eurasian wigeons," said Tseng Guo-fang (
According to Tseng, rare birds such as the brown hawk howl, the ruddy shelduck and the common shelduck have been spotted in the park.
"The birds are changing feathers for the summer now. Their bright, new feathers will be very useful in the breeding season," Tseng said.
The ruddy shelduck is usually found in southeast Europe and across Asia. The species' numbers have declined in the western part of its habitat.
The ruddy shelduck lives in Taiwan between October and April while its breeding season begins in March. The bird usually nests in holes in the ground or in trees.
Meanwhile, Huang Jung-feng (黃榮峰), director of the city's Bureau of Reconstruction, praised the WBST's dedication to promoting bird watching and conservation in the area since it was set up 1989.
"To cooperate with the WBST's efforts to conserve the area, the city government established the park in January 1996," Huang said, adding that now people can watch birds that have travelled from Siberia to the park.
Kenting National Park service technician Yang Jien-fon (楊政峰) won a silver award in World Grand Prix Photography Awards Spring Season for his photograph of two male rat snakes intertwined in combat. Yang’s colleagues at Kenting National Park said he is a master of nature photography who has been held back by his job in civil service. The awards accept entries in all four seasons across six categories: architectural and urban photography, black-and-white and fine art photography, commercial and fashion photography, documentary and people photography, nature and experimental photography, and mobile photography. Awards are ranked according to scores and divided into platinum, gold and
More than half of the bamboo vipers captured in Tainan in the past few years were found in the city’s Sinhua District (新化), while other districts had smaller catches or none at all. Every year, Tainan captures about 6,000 snakes which have made their way into people’s homes. Of the six major venomous snakes in Taiwan, the cobra, the many-banded krait, the brown-spotted pit viper and the bamboo viper are the most frequently captured. The high concentration of bamboo vipers captured in Sinhua District is puzzling. Tainan Agriculture Bureau Forestry and Nature Conservation Division head Chu Chien-ming (朱健明) earlier this week said that the
The first bluefin tuna of the season, brought to shore in Pingtung County and weighing 190kg, was yesterday auctioned for NT$10,600 (US$333.5) per kilogram, setting a record high for the local market. The auction was held at the fish market in Donggang Fishing Harbor, where the Siaoliouciou Island-registered fishing vessel Fu Yu Ching No. 2 delivered the “Pingtung First Tuna” it had caught for bidding. Bidding was intense, and the tuna was ultimately jointly purchased by a local restaurant and a local company for NT$10,600 per kilogram — NT$300 ,more than last year — for a total of NT$2.014 million. The 67-year-old skipper
BREACH OF CONTRACT: The bus operators would seek compensation and have demanded that the manufacturer replace the chips with ones that meet regulations Two bus operators found to be using buses with China-made chips are to demand that the original manufacturers replace the systems and provide compensation for breach of contract, the Veterans Affairs Council said yesterday. Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Michelle Lin (林楚茵) yesterday said that Da Nan Bus Co and Shin-Shin Bus Co Ltd have fielded a total of 82 buses that are using Chinese chips. The bus models were made by Tron-E, while the systems provider was CYE Electronics, Lin said. Lin alleged that the buses were using chips manufactured by Huawei subsidiary HiSilicon Co, which presents a national security risk if the
RSS