A rare brown booby, a member of the Sulidae family, has been spotted in a coastal area of the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) in the South China Sea, the first sighting of the species in 148 years, the Kaohsiung-based Marine National Park Headquarters said.
The species was first recorded in 1867 by British explorer Cuthbert Collingwood, who said it had a great advantage in areas around the Dongsha Islands, the headquarters said.
However, the brown booby population began declining in the 19th century due to human activities and related developments, and the species had not been seen in 148 years.
Photo: Taipei Times
The sighting by members of the Kaohsiung Wild Bird Society is exciting for ornithologists and the Dongsha Atoll National Park, which was established in 2007, the headquarters said.
The 1.74km2 Dongsha Island, 380km southwest of Kaohsiung, is a coral atoll that lies in the East Asia migratory path for birds and provides a good place for them to rest and feed with its vegetation, beach, lagoon and wetlands, the headquarters said.
As part of its efforts to learn more about the ecosystems of the three islands, the headquarters commissioned the Kaohsiung Wild Bird Society to conduct a survey of birds appearing on the Pratas Islands.
The society has recorded several new migratory bird species on the island so far this year, including the brown booby, Schrenck’s bittern, the spotted redshank, the wedge-tailed shearwater and the white-throated rock thrush, bringing the total number of species to 284, the headquarters said.
Migratory birds from Chongming Island off Shanghai, northwest and southeast Australia, as well as Taiwan proper, have also been spotted around the islands.
In April, a ruddy turnstone with orange and blue legs was sighted and later found to have migrated from King Island off the southeast coast of Australia in March last year.
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