The Taiwan Wild Bird Federation and the Taiwan Biodiversity Research Institute yesterday invited bird-watchers from across the nation to help complete the Taiwan Bird Atlas by 2028 after the project was officially launched in January.
The project is a collaboration between the two bodies and Ithaca, New York-based Cornell Lab of Ornithology, the federation said in a statement.
Similar initiatives have been launched in 93 countries, involving more than 600 projects and the participation of at least 380,000 people as of 2021, the statement said.
Photo courtesy of Taiwan Wild Bird Federation
Bird atlases are crucial for documenting and conserving biodiversity, it said.
“The goal is to complete detailed maps outlining the distribution, breeding and number of bird species across Taiwan by 2028,” it said.
Prior to the official launch of the atlas project this year, the federation and the institute jointly launched the eBird Taiwan portal — modeled after and hosted on an online platform developed by the Cornell laboratory and the New York-based National Audubon Society — in 2015, the statement said.
It has since become Taiwan’s largest open source of biodiversity data, with more than 12 million records as of last year, it said.
“Additionally, the institute has developed SILIC [Sound Identification and Labeling Intelligence for Creatures], an artificial-intelligence tool that identifies birds based on the sounds they make,” it said. “The atlas project will build on these foundations.”
Federation secretary-general Lu Yi-wei (呂翊維) said that people who want to participate in the project can visit the online Taiwan Bird Atlas portal at https://ebird.org/atlastw or join the eBird Taiwan group on Facebook.
Participants are expected to conduct observations in units of 5km2, Lu said, adding that they must accumulate at least 20 hours of observations in each grid within five years.
“They should try their best to visit major habitats and use the eBird database to record as much about the species and quantities of birds they see,” he said.
“Unlike general bird-watching activities, users must go one step further to observe and record the breeding behaviors of birds, such as pair activity, nest building, or carrying food to raise chicks,” he added.
The Bird Atlas is crucial for recording and conserving biodiversity and requires a considerable amount of data, Lu said, adding that engaging the public in data collection is the best way to obtain a lot of information and accurately map the distribution of bird species.
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