Crested goshawks, diurnal raptors native to tropical Asia that generally live in the mountains, have settled down in Taipei’s parks, suggesting that the city’s environment and public awareness about environmental protection have greatly improved, the Council of Agriculture’s Forestry Bureau said.
The bureau made the remarks yesterday in Taipei at the premiere of a 24-minute documentary titled The City, the Ranger, the Crested Goshawks (城市遊俠—鳳頭蒼鷹).
Some raptors, such as crested goshawks and collared scops owls, which used to live in the mountains, can be found in urban areas now, showing that the city environment and its residents have become more friendly to wildlife, bureau Director-General Lin Hua-ching (林華慶) said.
Photo: CNA
The film is part of a bureau project for which it commissioned the Raptor Research Group of Taiwan to survey the activities of the crested goshawks in Taipei from 2013 to 2016, group secretary-general Chang Hung-ming (張宏銘) said.
Beginning last year, it also commissioned a study of the species living in the city’s Daan Forest Park (大安森林公園) by the Friends of Daan Forest Park Foundation, he said.
Judging by research and rescue records, the species appeared in the city in 2000, but the exact date is still uncertain, he said.
Their adaptation to the urban environment means that the species has developed diversified survival strategies, he said when asked whether the birds’ “urbanization” is positive.
More than 10 goshawk nests have been found throughout the city, including in parks and trees along the streets, Chang said, adding that they mainly feed on sparrows, brown rats, pigeons and crested mynas.
A webcam has been installed in front of the goshawks’ nest at Daan Park so that researchers can observe the birds’ behavior without affecting them, he said.
By banding some birds —attaching small tags to their leg or wing to enable individual identification — the researchers found that one crested goshawk born in Taipei last year has appeared in Taoyuan, a “thrilling” discovery that challenges their assumption that the species would not stray too far from their habitat, Chang said.
The reproduction rate of birds living in cities is higher than that in the rural areas, given that the birds have fewer natural enemies in cities and their reproduction season is about one month earlier than those living in the countryside, thus bypassing the typhoon season that could affect their breeding activities, the group said.
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