A black-faced spoonbill has broken Taiwan’s record for the most documented visits by one of the migratory species after being found to have traveled to the nation for nine straight years, an official at the Taijiang National Park Headquarters said yesterday.
The bird, identified by its leg band, T69, is a female that has returned to Tainan every October since 2015, park Conservation Research Section head Wang Chien-chih (王建智) said.
The bird habitually returns to Tainan’s watery Annan District (安南) for winter, Wang said.
Photo courtesy of the Taijiang National Park Headquarters via CNA
T69 is a unique specimen that stands out from other black-faced spoonbills, he added.
It has yellow markings around the eyes which is uncommon among black-faced spoonbills, he said.
The migratory bird’s repeated presence has resulted in avid bird watchers such as Wang dubbing her “Daughter of Tainan” and “Daughter of Taijiang,” he said.
T69 is considered old for the species, which is prone to fatal accidents while flying across large bodies of water on top of life-threatening illnesses and injuries, which makes her visits even more valuable, he said.
T69 experienced such an incident when it traveled to Taiwan in 2015, which could explain the spoonbill’s frequent returns, he said.
T69 was in 2015 found in the wetlands in Annan District with other birds from her bowl, their necks drooping, legs limp and wings listless, classic signs of botulism, which prompted Wang and other bird-loving peers to rescue them, he said.
T69 was among the six who were nursed back to health before being released back into the wild, he added, suggesting the rescue efforts might have caused T69 to develop a connection to Taiwan.
Wang said that in his 15 years of service at the national park, he has watched T69 grow from a young chick to a senior spoonbill.
The black-faced spoonbill is an endangered species with only about 7,000 left in the world, Wang said.
Of the 4,100 birds counted in Taiwan, 2,088 were spotted in Tainan, he said.
T69’s return to Tainan’s national park could also be due to the species’ tendency to migrate together, but later breaking off to fly to their preferred locations, with the park effectively serving as T69’s nest, Wang added.
In a news release, the Taijiang National Park Headquarters said that T69’s preference of the park could also be related to the headquarters’ initiative to make the habitats within the park more friendly to animals.
The headquarters also said that it has been working with local fish farmers who operate around the watery national park to make their fish farms better suited for black-faced spoonbill visits.
While the initial phase of the project only saw the participation of three fish farmers converting 10.8 hectares into spoonbill-friendly fish farms, the initiative now has 47 participating fish farmers who have made 248.57 hectares available to the birds, the headquarters said.
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