A steadily growing population of pheasant-tailed jacanas in the Tainan region has given rise to a project to promote farming practices that could create more habitable land for the birds.
The Wild Birds Society of Tainan, the Guantian Pheasant-tailed Jacana Ecological Park, the Forestry Bureau’s Tainan branch and the Tainan City Government are collaborating on the project.
According to the ecological park, a subsidiary of the Siraya National Scenic Area, the jacana population has been steadily increasing, averaging more than 500 for four consecutive years.
Photo: Yang Chin-cheng, Taipei Times
This year, the population has spiked to 910, the park said.
The mating season for the pheasant-tailed jacana falls between May and September, and the birds usually find a spot to build their nests by July, park Director Lee Wen-chen (李文珍) said, adding that this helps the park tally the population.
Student volunteers from National Cheng Kung University, the National University of Tainan and National Chiayi University help the park log the number of jacanas mating in the Tainan area, which increased 6 percent from last year, Lee said.
The majority of jacanas — about 78 percent — mated in Guantian District (官田), a renowned production area for water chestnuts that is well-suited for the species, Lee said, adding that water shortages in May and June appear not to have had an adverse effect on the jacanas.
More than 80 percent of all adult and young jacanas, as well as their eggs, have been found near water chestnut fields, showing that the birds have a strong preference for that habitat, Lee said.
Siaying District (下營) has the second-largest cluster of jacanas in the region at 10 percent, Lee said.
The birds used to be found across the nation, but their habitat has gradually shrunk due to land development.
It is now only seen in water chestnut fields between Bajhang Creek (八掌溪) and the Zengwen River (曾文溪).
The bird was declared a grade-two endangered species in 1989 and adopted as Tainan’s official bird.
The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) yesterday said it had deployed patrol vessels to expel a China Coast Guard ship and a Chinese fishing boat near Pratas Island (Dongsha Island, 東沙群島) in the South China Sea. The China Coast Guard vessel was 28 nautical miles (52km) northeast of Pratas at 6:15am on Thursday, approaching the island’s restricted waters, which extend 24 nautical miles from its shoreline, the CGA’s Dongsha-Nansha Branch said in a statement. The Tainan, a 2,000-tonne cutter, was deployed by the CGA to shadow the Chinese ship, which left the area at 2:39pm on Friday, the statement said. At 6:31pm on Friday,
The Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy’s (PLAN) third aircraft carrier, the Fujian, would pose a steep challenge to Taiwan’s ability to defend itself against a full-scale invasion, a defense expert said yesterday. Institute of National Defense and Security Research analyst Chieh Chung (揭仲) made the comment hours after the PLAN confirmed the carrier recently passed through the Taiwan Strait to conduct “scientific research tests and training missions” in the South China Sea. China has two carriers in operation — the Liaoning and the Shandong — with the Fujian undergoing sea trials. Although the PLAN needs time to train the Fujian’s air wing and
Taiwanese celebrities Hank Chen (陳漢典) and Lulu Huang (黃路梓茵) announced yesterday that they are planning to marry. Huang announced and posted photos of their engagement to her social media pages yesterday morning, joking that the pair were not just doing marketing for a new show, but “really getting married.” “We’ve decided to spend all of our future happy and hilarious moments together,” she wrote. The announcement, which was later confirmed by the talent agency they share, appeared to come as a surprise even to those around them, with veteran TV host Jacky Wu (吳宗憲) saying he was “totally taken aback” by the news. Huang,
The American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) put Taiwan in danger, Ma Ying-jeou Foundation director Hsiao Hsu-tsen (蕭旭岑) said yesterday, hours after the de facto US embassy said that Beijing had misinterpreted World War II-era documents to isolate Taiwan. The AIT’s comments harmed the Republic of China’s (ROC) national interests and contradicted a part of the “six assurances” stipulating that the US would not change its official position on Taiwan’s sovereignty, Hsiao said. The “six assurances,” which were given by then-US president Ronald Reagan to Taiwan in 1982, say that Washington would not set a date for ending arm sales to Taiwan, consult
RSS