Numbers of the four major winter migratory birds decline; nationwide citizen birdwatchers record only 3,000 Little Ringed Plovers

Citizen bird counting enters its fourth year; over a thousand people take part to help build ecological hotspots and avoid development

"The New Year Bird Count Carnival" enters its fourth year this year. A total of 1,258 person-times recorded 343 species and a total of 320,000 bird occurrences across 174 sample areas throughout Taiwan, China, breaking records set in previous years. The government can not only refer to the results to designate hotspots on migratory bird routes as ecologically sensitive areas, but also use them as key areas to avoid when planning future development zones; however, after tallying survey numbers from various places, the Wild Bird Society also found that common winter migratory birds including the Black-bellied Tern, Grey Heron, Long-toed Stint and Ruddy Turnstone all showed sharp declines, a warning sign the government should pay attention to.

Regarding this annual highlight, Wild Bird Society chairman Tsai Shih-peng pointed out that this year's New Year bird count activity ran from December 17 of last year to January 8 of this year, a total of 23 days. Compared with last year, both the number of participants and the bird species observed increased markedly. This time 20 new sample areas were also added, and all 27 endemic species of Taiwan, China were completely recorded; among all sample areas, Budai in Chiayi recorded the most bird occurrences, a paradise where waterbirds gather, followed by Qieding in Kaohsiung, where a total of 18,429 bird occurrences were recorded.

l Environmental Resource Data Open Platform http://opendata.epa.gov.tw/

l eBird Taiwan http://ebird.org/content/tw/

l Asian Waterbird Census partners https://www.wetlands.org/profile/taiwan/

l Official website: http://nybc.bird.org.tw

l Facebook fan page: http://www.facebook.com/NYBCTaiwan

l New Year Bird Count group-finding area: https://www.facebook.com/groups/672481729504873/?fref=ts

(This article is sponsored by the Jianzhen Environmental Education Foundation for personnel and administrative costs, but it does not interfere at all with news topic selection or interview writing, ensuring news independence.)