Fri, Oct 12, 2007 page4

• Typhoon-battered bird released

  RARITY While wildlife specialists helped a brown booby regain its way, flocks of gray-faced buzzards arrived in Kenting amid national day celebrations

  • STAFF WRITER
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  An adult brown booby (sula leucogaster) -- a large seabird belonging to the gannet family -- thought to have been blown off course by Typhoon Krosa was released into the wild yesterday.

  The Society for Wildlife and Nature (SWAN) of Taiwan said the bird was sighted on Monday resting on the deck of a freighter that was anchored in Taichung Harbor.

  The harbor authorities notified SWAN about the bird the same day, and specialists from the organization went to the harbor to capture it.

  

  A rare brown booby is released in the Kaomei Wetlands in Taichung County yesterday. The bird lost its way when Typhoon Krosa hit Taiwan over the weekend, and was nursed back to health by conservation officials.

  PHOTO COURTESY OF THE TAICHUNG COUNTY NATURAL ECOLOGICAL CONSERV

  The booby is a rare seabird and there are just nine species worldwide, only one of which appears near Taiwan's east coast.

  An adult brown booby can reach about 76cm in length, with a wingspan of 145cm. The head and upper body are brown, and the underbelly white.

  The booby breeds on islands and coastlines along pantropical areas of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. They also frequent the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean.

  After examining and feeding the brown booby, SWAN specialists found that the bird was exhausted but had suffered no physical injuries.

  They decided to let it rest for two days before setting it free.

  Meanwhile, flocks of gray-faced buzzards landed in Kenting National Park on Wednesday amid National Double Ten Day celebrations, a bird expert at the park said.

  Tsai Yi-jung (蔡乙榮) said the park administration office, Pingtung forest rangers and county police mobilized a large force on Oct. 1 in an effort to protect the migratory birds from poaching. However, as of Tuesday, he had only recorded 12 buzzards.

  However, flocks of gray-faced buzzards were spotted flying over the national park yesterday, Tsai said.

  He described the scene as reminiscent of the military parade that took place in front of the Presidential Office in Taipei in celebration of National Day.

  Taiwan has long been an Asia-Pacific stopover point for birds on their annual migration to escape the winter cold of Siberia and northeastern China for the warmer weather in Southeast Asia.

  Because the birds are often observed arriving in Taiwan around Oct. 10, they have been dubbed "national day birds" by locals.

  Tsai said the number of gray-faced buzzards transiting the nation reached 35,000 last autumn, the largest number recorded in the past 10 years.

  In 2005, only 8,000 were seen in Taiwan, he said.

  To stem habitual poaching this year, the Pingtung County Government and Kenting park authorities recruited former poachers to form a task force of bird wardens to protect the winter guests.
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