More than 7,000 birds have migrated to Taipei's Huajiang Wild Duck Nature Park since the beginning of this year, the Wild Bird Society of Taipei (WBST) said yesterday.
The park, the largest habitat of migrational birds in northern Taiwan, is located at the point where the Hsintien River flows into the Tamshui River and covers an area of more than 11 hectares.
PHOTO: CHIANG YING-YING, TAIPEI TIMES
The period to observe migrational birds in the park starts in September and lasts until April, however, most birds start arriving between December and February.
PHOTO: CHIANG YING-YING, TAIPEI TIMES
This year's Huajiang Wild Duck Season officially kicked off at the park yesterday, drawing more than 1,500 bird watchers.
"This year, green-winged teals make up the majority of the birds who have come here. The second, third and fourth largest groups are northern shovelers, pintails and Eurasian wigeons," said Tseng Guo-fang (
According to Tseng, rare birds such as the brown hawk howl, the ruddy shelduck and the common shelduck have been spotted in the park.
"The birds are changing feathers for the summer now. Their bright, new feathers will be very useful in the breeding season," Tseng said.
The ruddy shelduck is usually found in southeast Europe and across Asia. The species' numbers have declined in the western part of its habitat.
The ruddy shelduck lives in Taiwan between October and April while its breeding season begins in March. The bird usually nests in holes in the ground or in trees.
Meanwhile, Huang Jung-feng (黃榮峰), director of the city's Bureau of Reconstruction, praised the WBST's dedication to promoting bird watching and conservation in the area since it was set up 1989.
"To cooperate with the WBST's efforts to conserve the area, the city government established the park in January 1996," Huang said, adding that now people can watch birds that have travelled from Siberia to the park.
Several Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) officials including Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) are to be summoned for questioning and then transferred to prosecutors for holding an illegal assembly in Taipei last night, the Taipei Police said today. Chu and two others hosted an illegal assembly and are to be requested to explain their actions, the Taipei City Police Department's Zhongzheng (中正) First Precinct said, referring to a protest held after Huang Lu Chin-ju (黃呂錦茹), KMT Taipei's chapter director, and several other KMT staffers were questioned for alleged signature forgery in recall petitions against Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators. Taipei prosecutors had filed
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
President William Lai (賴清德) has appointed former vice president Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) to attend the late Pope Francis’ funeral at the Vatican City on Saturday on his behalf, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today. The Holy See announced Francis’ funeral would take place on Saturday at 10am in St Peter’s Square. The ministry expressed condolences over Francis’ passing and said that Chen would represent Taiwan at the funeral and offer condolences in person. Taiwan and the Vatican have a long-standing and close diplomatic relationship, the ministry said. Both sides agreed to have Chen represent Taiwan at the funeral, given his Catholic identity and
Lawmakers from the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday established a friendship group with their counterparts in Ukraine to promote parliamentary exchanges between the two countries. A ceremony in Taipei for the Taiwan-Ukraine Parliamentary Friendship Association, initiated by DPP Legislator Chen Kuan-ting (陳冠廷), was attended by lawmakers and officials, including Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) and European Economic and Trade Office in Taiwan Director Lutz Gullner. The increasingly dire situation in Ukraine is a global concern, and Taiwan cannot turn its back when the latter is in need of help, as the two countries share many common values and interests,
RSS