Taiwan is home to 675 bird species, of which 27 are endemic, the Council of Agriculture (COA) said yesterday at the opening of the 20th Taipei International Birdwatching Fair, calling on people to protect wildlife habitats.
The opening of the two-day fair, hosted by the Taipei Animal Protection Office and the Wild Bird Society of Taipei, brought bird protection groups from Japan, China, Singapore, Thailand, Cambodia and the Philippines to the city’s Guandu Nature Park.
As migratory birds can travel thousands of kilometers across different countries, destruction of one bird species’ habitat could affect up to 200 other species, Forestry Bureau Secretary-General Chiu Li-wen (邱立文) said, urging people to pay more attention to environmental protection.
To collect more information about domestic birds, the council’s Endemic Species Research Institute has been working closely with non-governmental groups to promote public participation in bird surveys, institute assistant researcher Fan Meng-wen (范孟雯) said.
Their breeding bird survey project, which started in 2009, sees more than 300 volunteers document birds’ living conditions from March to June every year at designated spots nationwide, she said.
One of their key findings from 2009 to 2015 was that the number of tree sparrows changed significantly: Their number in northern regions declined by 50 percent and in western regions by 4 percent, but populations in the east grew by 20 percent, she said.
The cause of the changes has not been confirmed, but it might be due to habitat changes, shortage of food, competition with exotic species or environmental pollution, Fan added.
Some Taiwanese bird species, such as kingfishers, winter in Singapore and return to Taiwan in March every year, Nature Society Singapore Bird Group Committee member Tan Gim-cheong (陳錦昌) said, adding that the birds cross China, Thailand and the Malay Peninsula on the way to the city-state.
Nearly 400 bird species can be seen in Singapore, despite the country’s relatively small area, especially in the Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve, Central Catchment Nature Reserve and forested areas, Tan said.
Kanagawa Institute of Technology researcher Hiroyuki Fujita said he was on his first trip to Taiwan, and while he was on business, he also came to watch birds.
He said he spotted many beautiful birds in the mountains of New Taipei City’s Wulai District (烏來) yesterday morning.
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
Taiwan-Japan Travel Passes are available for use on public transit networks in the two countries, Taoyuan Metro Corp said yesterday, adding that discounts of up to 7 percent are available. Taoyuan Metro, the Taipei MRT and Japan’s Keisei Electric Railway teamed up to develop the pass. Taoyuan Metro operates the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport MRT Line, while Keisei Electric Railway offers express services between Tokyo’s Narita Airport, and the Keisei Ueno and Nippori stations in the Japanese capital, as well as between Narita and Haneda airports. The basic package comprises one one-way ticket on the Taoyuan MRT Line and one Skyliner ticket on
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it