A single verditer flycatcher was spotted on the Buluowan Plateau (布洛灣) in Hualien’s Taroko National Park last month, causing a week-long birdwatcher craze that overwhelmed the park’s facilities, park staff said.
The verditer flycatcher is a migratory bird native to Southeast Asia, India and southern China, the Taroko National Park office said, adding that on rare occasions they are known to stop in Taiwan during winter migrations and they are greatly sought after by Taiwanese birdwatchers.
Since the bird was spotted on Nov. 30, there have been more than 100 birdwatchers roaming throughout the park every day, it said.
Photo courtesy of Chang Ching-tung
News of the sighting spread on social media and birdwatchers began arriving at the park the same day, the office said, adding that many birdwatchers arrived in tour buses chartered for the purpose of spotting the bird.
The birdwatchers caused numerous complaints from other visitors, who said their trip at the park was disrupted by the noise and the overcrowding, office staff and managers of nearby hotels said.
Park rangers and police officers were called to restore peace at the scene, park officials said.
The noise made by novice birdwatchers scared the bird into hiding, some birdwatchers said.
They set up a cordon to avoid frightening the bird and told people to be quiet, the birdwatchers said, adding that the bird came out of hiding after some time.
“Bad photography habits often scare birds away and I hope some people here learned their lesson with this verditer flycatcher,” an experienced birdwatcher said.
“The bird is telling us: Behave or no pictures,” another said.
Shanyue Village (山月) Warden Cheng Ming-kang (鄭明岡) said the birdwatchers damaged lilies, including golden spider lilies, in the area, which his office had spent a lot of time and effort to grow.
Order was restored after the authorities intervened, Chang added.
Buluowan Visitors’ Center head Chen Pao-kuang (陳寶匡) said playing recorded birdsongs, feeding birds, trespassing on public facilities or trampling on lawns are park code violations common to birdwatchers, and each citation can be fined up to NT$1,500 in accordance with the National Park Act (國家公園法).
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