Black-faced spoonbills arrived in Tainan in September to spend the winter there. Apart from their main habitat — the Zengwen River at Cigu — the Sihcao wildlife reserve on the south bank of the Zengwen River has recently attracted more than 300 spoonbills to rest there. Some of them have even been climbing onto a mangrove tree in the wildlife reserve to perch and play around. For quite a lot of visitors, this is the first time they have seen black-faced spoonbills climbing a tree, and everyone is amazed.
Lee Chin-tian, proprietor of the Taijiang Fishing Paradise, says that the number of black-faced spoonbills in the Sihcao wildlife reserve has recently stayed around 300. In the reserve’s “big lake” there is a black mangrove tree standing on its own in the water. Early in the morning every day, about 10 to 20 spoonbills fly over to the tree to perch and play around, much to the delight of visitors who have never observed such a scene.
Lee says it is normal for black-faced spoonbills to perch on trees, but they have not often been seen doing so in Tainan in the past. The reason why it has been happening a lot this year may be that there are more subadult birds staying in the reserve than before. Because they are not yet adults and maybe are more lively and playful, they can be seen first thing every morning flying up and down the mangrove, as if they were climbing the tree.
Photo: Tsai Wen-chu, Liberty Times
照片：自由時報記者蔡文居
Lee says that the best time to see the spoonbills go “tree climbing” at the “big lake” is early in the morning, when there are sometimes a dozen or so of them, but you are less likely to see them doing it in the afternoon.
(Liberty Times, translated by Julian Clegg)
黑面琵鷺今年九月飛抵台南過冬，除了七股曾文溪主棲地等地外，曾文溪南岸的四草野生動物保護區最近也吸引三百多隻黑琵棲息。部分黑琵甚至爬上野保區的紅樹林棲息、玩耍，不少遊客首次看到黑琵爬樹，無不感到新奇。
台江漁樂園負責人李進添表示，四草野保區的黑琵數量最近都維持三百多隻，其中在四草野保區的「大池仔」，有一棵孤立於水中的海茄苳紅樹林，每天一早都有十至廿隻左右的黑琵會飛到樹上棲息、玩耍，讓沒見過的遊客大呼過癮。
李進添說，黑琵原本就會停棲在樹上，但在台南過去比較少見，今年這情形特別多，可能是停棲在野保區的亞成鳥比較多的關係，因為牠們還未成年，或許是比較好動愛玩，每天一早就可看到牠們在海茄苳上飛上飛下，看起來像是在爬樹一樣。
他說，在「大池仔」，一般要看到黑琵「爬樹」的有趣畫面，以早上的機率比較多，有時有十幾隻，但到了下午則比較不易看到。
（自由時報記者蔡文居）
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