Radio host Lee Ko (李可) has published a book about the blue-tailed bee-eater, a migratory bird and tourist attraction in outlying Kinmen County.
The Chinese-language book, titled Summertime Elf — Blue-tailed Bee-eater (夏日精靈—栗喉蜂虎), was on Wednesday launched by the Kinmen National Park.
The bird is known as the “summertime elf” because of its slim figure, flamboyant feathers and agility, luring many bird-watchers to Kinmen in summer, Kinmen National Park Administration director Tseng Wei-hung (曾偉宏) said.
Photo courtesy of the Kinmen National Park Administration
Most of the photographs in the book were taken by nature photographer Chou Min-hsiung (周民雄), who captured many images of the birds when he served in the park administration in 1996, he added.
The birds usually visit Kinmen from April to May, when the weather is warm and cabbage white butterflies swarm the fields, Lee said.
The butterflies eat cabbage leaves and are a rich source of protein for blue-tailed bee-eaters, she said.
The book draws on data collected by a research team led by National Taiwan University’s School of Forestry and Resource Conservation professor Yuan Hsiao-wei (袁孝維), and Lee’s observations about how the birds arrive from Indonesia for breeding and their role in Kinmen’s ecology.
Nature has taught her many things that are analogous to people’s lives, and the survival problems the birds face today would become humans’ challenges tomorrow, Lee said.
Lee also commemorated Chou during the book’s launch.
It is not so much that she has done anything good for the environment as she has learned from it, she said, recalling her experience of working with Chou 22 years ago, when they recorded the birds in different parts of the islands.
The book not only provides a source for visitors interested in the birds, but also documents the park administration’s conservation efforts over the past two decades, Tseng said.
The park management has built artificial habitats for the birds in the Youth Farm (青年農莊) and a former fortress near the county’s Cihhu (慈湖), allowing bird lovers to appreciate their beauty up close, he added.
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