Unusually high numbers the rare black-chinned fruit doves have been spotted at Siaobantien Recreational Farm in Nantou County’s Lugu Township (鹿谷), birdwatchers said.
The black-chinned fruit dove (Ptilinopus leclancheri) is a colorful and small bird so rare that one birdwatcher described the sightings as an event that could happen “once in 100 years,” attracting many enthusiasts and photographers to the farm.
According to the Council of Agriculture’s Taiwan Endemic Species Research Institute, an adult black-chinned fruit dove can reach a length of 28cm, with white feathers on its head and neck, green feathers on its torso and wings, and a characteristic black streak on its chin.
Photo: Courtesy of Nantou County Councilor Hsu Su-hsia
A reclusive bird that usually stays away even from its own kind, the black-chinned fruit dove is rarely observed out of its habitats, which are the middle and low-altitude forests south of Chiayi, and had never been seen at Siaobantien Recreational Farm, the institute said.
The sightings in Nantou are made all the rarer by the fact that in the past 30 years, the number of documented sightings of the bird is estimated at about a dozen, it said.
It is likely that the birds were attracted by the red fruits of the Formosan firethorn in Lugu, which attract birds, as the fruit shines under the sun, the institute said.
Experts said they did not not know whether the black-chinned doves have flocked to the area in search of food or if they have taken up permanent residence in Nantou.
The Formosan firethorn is a hardy evergreen shrub that grows in the sandy riverbeds of Hualien and Taitung.
Officials have been trying to encourage growing firethorn shrubs, a policy that the presence of the black-chinned fruit doves proved to be beneficial, Lugu residents said.
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