The number of migratory gray-faced buzzard-eagles spotted in Pingtung County’s Hengchun Peninsula this month has reached 59,500, the highest in three decades, the Raptor Research Group of Taiwan said on Wednesday.
Bird watcher Tsai I-jung (蔡乙榮) said that Kenting National Park, a wildlife preserve, was a key factor in the steep rise in the number of migratory birds in the area.
He said that 10,000 gray-faced buzzard-eagles were observed in the park in a single day this year as they passed through Taiwan on their way south.
Photo courtesy of Tsai I-jung
When the Kenting National Park Administration started researching the eagle species in 1989, the highest number recorded in Taiwan was 10,504, Tsai said, adding that the number fluctuated only slightly between 1990 and 2003.
However, since then the number has been growing, from more than 20,000 birds 20 years ago to 53,200 last year, which then increased to 59,500 this year, he said, attributing the remarkable growth to good weather, as well as the national park’s hunting ban and conservation efforts.
The eagles usually stop in Manjhou Township (滿州) on their southward migratory path.
Thanks to educational efforts by the Kenting National Park Administration, the township has been promoting eagle-viewing tours and many former hunters have transformed into informative guides.
Manjhou Township Mayor Yu Tseng-chun (余增春) said he plans to promote Manjhou as an eco-tourism hub to attract eagle watchers from around Asia.
He also plans to form sisterhood agreements with other townships in the Asia-Pacific region where gray-faced buzzard-eagles and Chinese sparrow hawks also pass through.
The brilliant blue waters, thick foliage and bucolic atmosphere on this seemingly idyllic archipelago deep in the Pacific Ocean belie the key role it now plays in a titanic geopolitical struggle. Palau is again on the front line as China, and the US and its allies prepare their forces in an intensifying contest for control over the Asia-Pacific region. The democratic nation of just 17,000 people hosts US-controlled airstrips and soon-to-be-completed radar installations that the US military describes as “critical” to monitoring vast swathes of water and airspace. It is also a key piece of the second island chain, a string of
A magnitude 5.9 earthquake that struck about 33km off the coast of Hualien City was the "main shock" in a series of quakes in the area, with aftershocks expected over the next three days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Prior to the magnitude 5.9 quake shaking most of Taiwan at 6:53pm yesterday, six other earthquakes stronger than a magnitude of 4, starting with a magnitude 5.5 quake at 6:09pm, occurred in the area. CWA Seismological Center Director Wu Chien-fu (吳健富) confirmed that the quakes were all part of the same series and that the magnitude 5.5 temblor was
The Central Weather Administration has issued a heat alert for southeastern Taiwan, warning of temperatures as high as 36°C today, while alerting some coastal areas of strong winds later in the day. Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門) and Pingtung County’s Neipu Township (內埔) are under an orange heat alert, which warns of temperatures as high as 36°C for three consecutive days, the CWA said, citing southwest winds. The heat would also extend to Tainan’s Nansi (楠西) and Yujing (玉井) districts, as well as Pingtung’s Gaoshu (高樹), Yanpu (鹽埔) and Majia (瑪家) townships, it said, forecasting highs of up to 36°C in those areas
IN FULL SWING: Recall drives against lawmakers in Hualien, Taoyuan and Hsinchu have reached the second-stage threshold, the campaigners said Campaigners in a recall petition against Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Yen Kuan-heng (顏寬恒) in Taichung yesterday said their signature target is within sight, and that they need a big push to collect about 500 more signatures from locals to reach the second-stage threshold. Recall campaigns against KMT lawmakers Johnny Chiang (江啟臣), Yang Chiung-ying (楊瓊瓔) and Lo Ting-wei (羅廷瑋) are also close to the 10 percent threshold, and campaigners are mounting a final push this week. They need about 800 signatures against Chiang and about 2,000 against Yang. Campaigners seeking to recall Lo said they had reached the threshold figure over the
RSS