The Raptor Research Group of Taiwan on Sunday said that it is about to track the full migration cycle of a Chinese sparrowhawk flying between Taiwan and northern China.
When the female sparrowhawk — identified as “Kenting-1” and nicknamed “A-cai” (阿財) by researchers — returns to Taiwan next spring, it will become the world’s first Chinese sparrowhawk whose migration route is completely mapped out by scientists, the Raptor Research Group of Taiwan senior member Tsai Yi-jung (蔡乙榮) said.
According to Tsai, A-cai was caught and tagged with a GPS tracker in Pingtung County’s Kenting (墾丁) on May 10 by members of the Taiwan Raptor Survey, a research program conducted by the group and Kenting National Park Administration.
Photo: courtesy of the Raptor Research Group of Taiwan
Although five other Chinese sparrowhawks were tagged with trackers in fall, A-cai was the only specimen caught in May that was chosen to carry the solar-powered device, on account that only A-cai had the body mass — more than 140g — that is considered adequate to safely carry the tracker, Tsai said.
The survey was able to track A-cai’s journey of 180km from Kenting to China’s Shandong Province, where she stayed from June to late last month, Tsai said.
A-cai left Shandong on Aug. 23 heading south through the Chinese provinces of Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Fujian, arriving the Changhua-Yulin area in Taiwan on Sunday, where she was expected to cross the Jhuoshuei River (濁水溪) the following day to continue to the Philippines, Tsai said.
The group said that like the other five sparrowhawks tagged earlier this fall, A-cai is expected to cross the Bashi Channel without delay and dodge the approaching Typhoon Megi.
As A-cai’s solar-powered GPS device is turned on for six hours every 24 hours, if a birdwatcher spots a female sparrowhawk with an antenna protruding from its tail feathers, they should report to the park administration or the group, researchers said.
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