Every winter in Kinmen, thousands of cormorants can be seen at dawn and dusk, forming V-shaped or straight lines in the sky as they return to their roosts. This spectacular “black-clad army” descending upon Kinmen is one of the park’s most iconic ecological sights. These visitors from southern Siberia have become a top bird-watching attraction for birdwatchers. What is not widely known is that over the past two years, the Kinmen National Park Headquarters (KMNP) has been dedicated to a series of long-term habitat restoration efforts to prevent the disappearance of the ecological spectacle of the “black army” of cormorants in Kinmen.
Located on the edge of the Eurasian continent, Kinmen serves as a key stopover for migratory birds in East Asia. Each year, from autumn to late spring, large flocks of migratory birds fly south to Kinmen to feed and pass through, with an impressive variety and abundance of species. While Taiwan’s main island has recorded 674 bird species across 87 families, Kinmen, with an area half the size of Taipei City, is home to over 430 species, 74% of which are migratory.
Despite the rich bird diversity, over 20 years of monitoring by the KMNP has revealed a decline in cormorant numbers visiting Kinmen in the past five years. The population have dropped from 11,330 in 2020, to 9,583 in 2021, 8,553 in 2022, 7,721 in December 2023, and 7,517 by mid-January 2024, marking four consecutive years below 10,000.
Photo credit: Kinmen National Park Headquarters, Photographer: Liao Dong-kun
KMNP commissioned Professor TING Tsung-Su from the Department of Forestry and Resource Conservation at National Taiwan University to conduct a three-year study (2020–2022) on cormorant migration and ecology in Kinmen. The report highlighted the severe impact of Typhoon Meranti in September 2016, which significantly damaged Kinmen’s casuarina trees, a crucial roosting species for cormorants. The storm reduced forested areas, and invasive species and habitat fragmentation further dispersed the cormorants’ roosting sites. Some even shifted to nearby Xiamen for nighttime roosting.
Cormorants prefer tall forests near water for roosting. Professor Ting recommended that degraded public lands in key roosting areas within Kinmen National Park be restored by removing invasive species like Leucaena and Morning Glory, and replanting hardy, fast-growing Casuarina seedlings.
For privately-owned lands, such as those near fishponds, he suggested developing ecosystem service payment plans and ecological compensation mechanisms to encourage landowner participation in habitat restoration. Monitoring methods should also be dynamically adjusted to provide timely ecological data and implement adaptive management strategies.
Photo credit: Kinmen National Park Headquarters
KMNP places great emphasis on the conservation of cormorants, continuously monitoring their numbers and behavior while prioritizing habitat restoration at Ci Lake since 2023. Efforts include removing invasive species like Morning Glory and Leucaena from degraded habitats, alongside planting over 2,600 trees, such as Casuarina and Melaleuca, to create a more suitable roosting environment. These actions aim to ensure cormorants return year after year.
Birds are vital indicators of environmental health, with their abundance reflecting the diversity of the ecosystem, and they are an essential resource for sustainable tourism in Kinmen. As habitats shrink, food webs become simpler, and the ecosystem’s natural regulatory functions diminish, highlighting the importance of habitat restoration, especially in the face of extreme weather events that pose significant challenges to maintaining island ecosystems.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and