The number of black kites nationwide hit a record high of 1,033 last year, showing that eco-friendly construction and farming methods have helped with their conservation, the Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency said on Thursday.
The dusk emergence survey for black kites last year showed that the populations continued to grow steadily over the past 13 years, from less than 200 in 1992 to 1,033 last year, it said.
The annual survey was initiated by Wild Bird Society of Keelung cofounder Shen Chen-chung (沈振中) in 1992 and scaled up in 2013 when Lin Hui-shan (林惠珊) — a researcher at the Bird Ecology Lab at National Pingtung University of Science and Technology — joined the effort.
Photo courtesy of the Bird Ecology Lab at National Pingtung University of Science and Technology
Lin set up a research group consisting of nearly 70 personnel in collaboration with the Raptor Research Group of Taiwan (RRGT) to investigate the number of black kites.
Last year’s survey also marked the first time dusk roosting of black kites was recorded in Keelung’s Shenao (深澳) and Rueibin (瑞濱) areas since 1994, the report said.
The distribution of black kites used to be concentrated in New Taipei City’s Wanli (萬里) and Gongliao (貢寮) districts and Feitsui Reservoir (翡翠水庫) in northern Taiwan, as well as Pingtung County’s Sandimen Township (三地門) and Dahan Mountain (大漢山) in southern Taiwan, it said.
Dusk roosting recorded in Shenao and Rueibin, as well as increased sightings around coastal areas and riversides in northern Taiwan, and the Sun Moon Lake (日月潭) and the Hushan Reservoir (湖山水庫) in central Taiwan, showed that black kite populations are moving from mountainous areas to low-lying plains, the agency said.
“They are returning to historical habitats,” it said.
The size of the black kite population is closely related to habitat integrity and healthy food sources, the agency said, adding that the species once faced survival crisis due to habitat loss, and the use of pesticides and poisons.
The situation improved after the agency began promoting its ecological service payment scheme and eco-friendly farming, as well as tightened regulation on applications of highly toxic pesticides and rat poison, it said.
Raptors such as black kites are key indicators of environmental health and biodiversity, the agency said.
The agency has been cooperating with the lab on monitoring black kite populations via satellite tracking technology and promoting relevant education since 2013, it said.
It also joined the RRGT’s effort to recruit volunteers for simultaneous surveys conducted nationwide during winter and autumn, the agency said, adding that the survey has become Taiwan’s largest raptor monitoring network.
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