Wed, Feb 24, 2016 page4

• Record number of rare birds spotted

  BLACK-FACED SPOONBILLS: While many are optimistic that the bird’s population will continue rising, some are worried it might slump due to limited habitat capacity

  • By Chen Wei-han / Staff reporter
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  The nation saw a record number of black-faced spoonbills wintering across major wetlands this year, suggesting successful conservation efforts and a potential for repopulation of the endangered species.

  Bird lovers spotted a total of 2,060 black-faced spoonbills last month, a slight increase from the 2,034 recorded in the same month last year, the Forestry Bureau said yesterday.

  It was also the second year in a row that more than 2,000 of the rare species spent their winter here, the bureau said.

  

  Representatives of Taiwan’s Chinese Wild Bird Federation and the Forestry Bureau in Taipei yesterday announce the results of a survey on Taiwan’s growing black-faced spoonbill population.

  Photo: CNA

  A survey in November last year counted 2,300 black-faced spoonbills, but the number could be an overestimation due to double counting, as the birds were still migrating, it said.

  “The number of black-faced spoonbills in the world dropped below 300 in 1990, and the bird was placed on the [International Union for Conservation of Nature’s] red list of critically endangered species. That was when Taiwan began its conservation efforts, and those efforts have paid off. We are glad to see our ‘star species’ repopulate,” bureau Deputy Director-General Yang Hung-chih (楊宏志) said.

  The black-faced spoonbill had a global population of about 3,200 as of last year, of which about 60 percent spent their winter in Taiwan’s coastal areas.

  Tainan led the nation in spoonbills population with 1,528 birds, followed by Chiayi County with 305 and Kaohsiung with 208, Chinese Wild Bird Federation president Tsai Shih-peng (蔡世鵬) said.

  Spoonbills have spread from their largest habitats in Tainan’s Sihcao Wetlands (四草溼地) and Cigu Wetlands (七股溼地) to the northern areas, such as Yunlin and Chiayi, suggesting habitat overcrowding in Tainan, Tsai said.

  “However, northeastern Taiwan has seen a mild decline in the spoonbill population, which is probably related to the increasing number of farmhouses in Yilan destroying the bird’s habitats,” Tsai said.

  The black-faced spoonbill census was conducted on Jan. 16 and Jan. 17 at 51 habitats across Taiwan, which forms part of the global census of the bird, he said.

  Its total global population will be announced next month after the Hong Kong Bird Watching Society finishes compiling data from all the countries on the bird’s migration route, Tsai said, adding that estimates put its population at between 3,300 and 3,400.

  “The number of black-faced spoonbills has grown from fewer than 300 to more than 3,000, which is an achievement in conservation. Its population is increasingly steadily and gradually spreading, and we hope it could reach a number that would allow the bird to be removed from the list of endangered species,” he said.

  While many are optimistic that the bird’s population could increase to more than 7,000 to ensure its survival, some are worried that its growth could hit a slump in the near future due to limited habitat capacity and environmental changes, Tsai said, as he called for greater conservation efforts.
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