The nation has taken a successful step in tracking the migration route of the gray-faced buzzard eagle, or Butastur indicus, paving the way for better conservation measures for the rare migratory bird, a Forestry Bureau official said.
Conservation Division Director Kuan Li-hao (管立豪) said scientists put satellite transmitters on three gray-faced buzzard eagles as they passed through Taiwan this fall. After being released on Oct. 12 in Kenting (墾丁), the birds reached the Philippines the next day.
Kuan said it was the first time that the migratory movements of the species had been recorded anywhere in the world.
PHOTO: CNA
Two of the three birds, nicknamed Cape No. 2 and Cape No. 3, are on Luzon Island, while Cape No. 1 headed further south in the Philippines, Kuan said.
The satellite transmitters on the birds send signals to the research group, which will continue to record the birds’ movements next spring during their migration northward.
Because of budget limitations, the research group could only implant transmitters on three birds.
“But thanks to the research, Taiwan may have the opportunity to cooperate with countries in Southeast Asia, such as the Philippines, to enhance conservation” of this rare species, Kuan said.
The buzzard eagle is listed as protected in the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wildlife Fauna and Flora.
Normally, 15,000 to 35,000 of the birds pass over Taiwan every year in the spring and autumn, the Forestry Bureau said. This year, however, an estimated 42,000 gray-faced buzzard eagles had crossed over Taiwan by the end of last month — the highest number since the bureau began counting the migration in 1989.
Kuan attributed the higher numbers on the weather, which was relatively stable between Oct. 8 and Oct. 20 compared with previous years.
He said forest district offices had also worked to prevent hunters from killing the birds.
The inspection equipment and data transmission system for new robotic dogs that Taipei is planning to use for sidewalk patrols were developed by a Taiwanese company, the city’s New Construction Office said today, dismissing concerns that the China-made robots could pose a security risk. The city is bringing in smart robotic dogs to help with sidewalk inspections, Taipei Deputy Mayor Lee Ssu-chuan (李四川) said on Facebook. Equipped with a panoramic surveillance system, the robots would be able to automatically flag problems and easily navigate narrow sidewalks, making inspections faster and more accurate, Lee said. By collecting more accurate data, they would help Taipei
TAKING STOCK: The USMC is rebuilding a once-abandoned airfield in Palau to support large-scale ground operations as China’s missile range grows, Naval News reported The US Marine Corps (USMC) is considering new sites for stockpiling equipment in the West Pacific to harden military supply chains and enhance mobility across the Indo-Pacific region, US-based Naval News reported on Saturday. The proposed sites in Palau — one of Taiwan’s diplomatic allies — and Australia would enable a “rapid standup of stored equipment within a year” of the program’s approval, the report said, citing documents published by the USMC last month. In Palau, the service is rebuilding a formerly abandoned World War II-era airfield and establishing ancillary structures to support large-scale ground operations “as China’s missile range and magazine
STATS: Taiwan’s average life expectancy of 80.77 years was lower than that of Japan, Singapore and South Korea, but higher than in China, Malaysia and Indonesia Taiwan’s average life expectancy last year increased to 80.77 years, but was still not back to its pre-COVID-19 pandemic peak of 81.32 years in 2020, the Ministry of the Interior said yesterday. The average life expectancy last year increased the 0.54 years from 2023, the ministry said in a statement. For men and women, the average life expectancy last year was 77.42 years and 84.30 years respectively, up 0.48 years and 0.56 years from the previous year. Taiwan’s average life expectancy peaked at 81.32 years in 2020, as the nation was relatively unaffected by the pandemic that year. The metric
A 72-year-old man in Kaohsiung was sentenced to 40 days in jail after he was found having sex with a 67-year-old woman under a slide in a public park on Sunday afternoon. At 3pm on Sunday, a mother surnamed Liang (梁) was with her child at a neighborhood park when they found the man, surnamed Tsai (蔡), and woman, surnamed Huang (黃), underneath the slide. Liang took her child away from the scene, took photographs of the two and called the police, who arrived and arrested the couple. During questioning, Tsai told police that he had met Huang that day and offered to
RSS