There has been a marked decline in the number of waterfowl that winter in Taiwan, due to a loss of habitat in China, the Council of Agriculture (COA) said on Thursday.
Seven species have seen their numbers reduced drastically — the Eurasian teal, Pacific golden plover, greater sand plover, ruddy turnstone, long-toed stint, sanderling and the common snipe — while six have declined to a lesser extent — the gray heron, gray plover, little ringed plover, common greenshank, wood sandpiper and dunlin, the council said.
The decline in the numbers of migratory birds was discovered after studying statistics collected from the New Year Bird Count, which took place from Dec. 16 last year to Jan. 7. The annual event recorded 303,426 birds of 334 species, with 1,296 people participating.
Since 2014, there have been changes in flocks of 27 bird species and some of them — including the Pacific golden plover, gray plover, dunlin, long-toed stint, wood sandpiper, ruddy turnstone and common greenshank — have clearly declined in number, as observed in Australia and East Asia, it said.
The number of those birds seen in Taiwan is declining, because their numbers are decreasing in Australia and East Asia, it said.
Meanwhile, the little ringed plover, sanderling and greater sand plover are found to be increasing in Australia and other parts of East Asia, but declining in Taiwan, suggesting they are under more stress in the nation, the council said.
However, it identified the primary reason for the drop in waterfowl numbers as the loss of wetland habitat in coastal areas of the Yellow and Bohai seas between the Korean Peninsula and Dongtan, near Shanghai.
Embankments and other structures on the Chinese coast have been rapidly expanding and now reach 11,560km in length, accounting for 58 to 61 percent of the coastline, the council said, adding that they have destroyed wetland habitats.
The structures exceed the Great Wall of China in length and have been dubbed “the new Great Wall.”
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