October to February is the best time for bird watching in Taiwan, at the height of the migration season. The period begins with the arrival of flocks of gray-faced buzzards and Chinese goshawks, sometimes thousands strong, appearing in the skies over southern Taiwan. They are followed by the arrival of a number of different shore birds and waterfowl species at a string of mostly western wetlands.
Of Taiwan's 550 bird species, two thirds are migratory. As winter closes in, they move south along two main routes: one starts from northern Japan, Sakhalin, or the Kuril Islands, then goes south via Okinawa to Taiwan. The other starts from Siberia and goes via northeast China, Korea and Japan to southeast China or Taiwan. Both paths also go to points further south. Whichever route they follow, the birds will pass through the regional avian hub that is Taiwan.
The spectacular movement of more than 300 north-south migrant species, heading south in the autumn and north again in the spring, has recently attracted visits from many overseas bird lovers. "More and more foreign visitors come for bird-watching. The British are particularly interested in Chinese crested terns, which are a critically endangered species. Japanese birders come mainly to see Mikado pheasants," says a volunteer interpreter from the Wild Bird Society of Taipei.
The Chinese crested tern was thought to have been extinct for more than half a century, but then a few pairs were discovered breeding on Taiwan's Matzu islets in 2000. A year before, the site had already been designated as a sanctuary. The habitats of this species, along with another 15 endemic species and 70 endemic subspecies, are now included in Taiwan's extensive network of protected areas.
A Recent Concern
Caring for wild birds is comparatively new to Taiwan. "Years ago, I was harshly scolded by local residents when I rescued wild birds, particularly water birds that ate their fish," says David Chen, a veterinarian and chairman of the Wild Bird Society of Tainan. But the situation has changed. "Now I get a lot of appreciation for my care of them," he says. Of Taiwan's 13 wildlife refuges, eight target the protection of wild birds.
As conservation became an issue in developed countries in the 1970s, Taiwan's environment was being ruthlessly exploited. The result was an economic miracle hand in hand with widespread environmental degradation. Many wild bird habitats were destroyed without anyone even noticing.
Farmers especially disliked birds, which they saw as preying on their crops. Migrating birds were seen as nothing more than seasonal game, unless the species was rare enough for specimens to be worth catching and selling abroad.
It was foreign scholars, from the United States, Australia and Japan, who first considered involving Taiwan in research on East Asian flyways. The US military conducted a project aimed at studying the probability of migratory birds carrying killer viruses from 1964 to 1971, and Taiwan participated in this project.
Bird watching only started to develop as a hobby about 30 years ago, but in its early days it was hampered by security concerns. "In the late 1970s, Taiwan was still under martial law, and accessories such as binoculars were controlled. People with binoculars were denied access to the seashore or military zones," recalls Fang Wei-horng, a senior birder and vice chairman of BirdLife Asia Council. The restriction lasted until the mid-1980s.
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In 1988 a census of international bird populations carried out in Hong Kong discovered that there were fewer than 300 black-faced spoonbills in existence and of the few countries where these birds wintered, Taiwan had by far the largest population. The findings woke Taiwan's bird watchers to the island's significance and the part it could play in avian conservation.
The wintering spoonbills spent the winter mostly at the estuary of the Zengwen River near Cigu Township in Tainan County. Part of Cigu's wetlands, however, were slated for the construction of a mammoth steel mill and petrochemical complex, estimated to create 30,000 jobs as well as bring in NT$4.8 billion (US$144 million) in annual tax revenue.
Bird lovers congregate to watch black-faced spoonbills. (File photo)
The potentially disastrous impact of this development on the rare birds sparked a movement to rescue the black-faced spoonbill and its habitat. Pro-conservation forces concentrated on making sure that the project's environmental impact assessment dealt adequately with concerns over the spoonbills' habitat and rarity. The pro-development forces countered by depicting the birds as both foreign and potential disease carriers, and questioned the justification for conserving so large a land area for so few birds.
The struggle between these two forces was followed blow by blow in the media, which significantly enhanced public awareness both of the endangered species and conservation issues in general. Between 1992 and 1993 approximately 40,000 people visited Cigu to watch black-faced spoonbills. More than 20 countries expressed their concerns in the form of letters about the likely destruction of the spoonbills' winter habitats.
The bird was listed as an endangered species by Taiwan's government in 1992, and the land development proposal was suspended. This was closely followed by an incident in which three spoonbills were shot dead in November 1992 and which was assumed to be related to the failure of the development proposal. Both domestic concern and campaigns overseas eventually pushed the local government to define an area for a reserve.
In 2002 the Council of Agriculture (COA) finally established the Tainan County Zengwen River Estuary North Bank Black-faced Spoonbill Refuge in Cigu. A conservation, management and research center was also set up. Tainan County Government head Su Huan-chih described in his Internet blog how arduous it had been to squeeze NT$100 million (US$3 million) from the central government for the construction of this center.
As a result, a wildlife conservation area of 707 hectares and a black-faced spoonbill conservation area of 300 hectares were designated in the conservation plan. Su intends to promote ecotourism and boost related businesses near Cigu's wetlands. Local fishermen have been recruited to patrol the area, not so much to prevent harm coming to the birds from human malice but to keep an eye on the birds' condition and prevent incidents like the 2003 outbreak of botulism that killed 73 spoonbills.
International Coordination Problems
One of the problems for the conservationists in the struggle to preserve the wetlands was that they were unable to provide hard figures about the financial extent to which the area would benefit--through ecotourism--from maintaining the spoonbill's habitat. "The difficulty was that we were unable to convince them of the benefit of protecting these birds by providing an actual figure," says Fang Kuo-yun, director of the conservation division of the COA's Forestry Bureau.
The number of black-faced spoonbills visiting Taiwan has steadily climbed from 294 in 1990 to 826 in 2006, according to the International Black-faced Spoonbill Census 2006. Taiwan is now home to half the total population during the winter months. The species was downgraded from critically endangered to endangered in 2000. An additional 99 species of birds, 52 species of fish, five species of mammals, two species of reptiles, and two amphibian species also take advantage of the Zengwen reserve.
Ecotourism has shown Cigu residents an alternative way to remain prosperous as tourism has boosted the local economy. "Cigu has become a famous spot for ecotourism. Local residents think this place has been blessed by heaven so that the precious birds visit it," says Fang Kuo-yun.
Along with the conservation of black-faced spoonbills, the increase in the numbers of Mikado pheasants, Formosan yellow tits and Formosan blue magpies in Taiwan, which were originally classified by BirdLife as critically endangered species, also testify to Taiwan's success in birdlife conservation.
Both the education system and various local organizations, such as bird societies, have played important roles in enhancing people's awareness of and sensitivity to conservation issues. Fang Kuo-yun recalls that in 1994 the education system first incorporated the ideas behind the Wildlife Conservation Act into textbooks. "The COA held many seminars on conservation issues for school teachers and judiciary personnel."
Because of China's opposition, Taiwan has never become a contracting party to intergovernmental treaties on conservation such as the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of 1971, the Bonn Convention of 1979, and the Convention on Biological Diversity of 1992. The lack of formal channels to participate in intergovernmental bodies hinders Taiwan from acquiring international resources as well as the support and experience needed by grassroots conservation bodies.
Fang Kuo-yun points out that Taiwan is unable to enjoy the benefits of participation even if it voluntarily meets the relevant requirements. "We don't have a problem with obtaining the standards these conventions agree on," he says, "but we have no idea how these international conventions are thrashed out, and we don't have a say."
A Strong Commitment
Although being disadvantaged by its exclusion, Taiwan's commitment to conservation is strong. The participation of the Wild Bird Federation Taiwan (WBFT)--which is composed of 19 Taiwan-based wild bird societies--and other Taiwanese NGOs in global conservation affairs has been vital to this work. In 1994, WBFT became a member of Birdlife International, a global partnership of conservation organizations, which has helped Taiwan's coordination with the international community.
WBFT not only took the lead in drawing up the Action Plan for the Black-faced Spoonbill Platalea Minor for Birdlife International, but also facilitated an international satellite-based tracking project on black-faced spoonbill, which was in part sponsored by the COA. A great deal has been learned about the migratory habits of this species.
The black-faced spoonbill conservation management and research center in Tainan County (Courtesy of AMBI Studio)
With the efforts of WBFT, Birdlife International had designated 53 important bird areas in Taiwan, which could help the government to define priorities in conservation. Private enterprises like the HSBC Group and the food and drink conglomerate Uni-President have been active in funding conservation programs as a means of enhancing their images. Nature walks, exhibitions and lectures have also been widely incorporated into school courses.
"We promote ecotourism, through which we comprehend the relations between birdlife and its environment. The ultimate goal is to put our caring for the environment into practice," says Victor Yu, secretary-general of WBFT.
Last November, 400 scholars and enthusiasts from all over the world attended the International Waterbird Conference 2005 in Tainan, the first meeting of its kind in Asia, among the sponsors of which were the International Waterbird Society, BirdLife International and the U.S. Geological Survey, with backing in Taiwan from the Tainan City Government, the COA, and the Government Information Office. During the meeting, Taiwan was praised for its achievements in conservation work and was cited as a model for the rest of Asia in terms of the progressive attitude it has taken to conservation.
But even though some progress had been made, the government is still expected to take a stronger lead and do a better job. "The government has the authority and should take the lead in conservation efforts. The private sector is merely a monitoring force. They should collaborate to enhance Taiwan's international reputation," says David Chen. The government has moved to protect mountain areas and several major rivers have been cleaned up. However, conservation work in such a densely populated and highly industrialized country is still challenging.
In October, a number of the 25,000 to 30,000 gray-faced buzzards making a one-night stopover in southern Taiwan during their migration were killed by hunters. "This is much worse than the previous year," says Hsu Shu-kuo, chief of the conservation section of Kenting National Park. Hsu says this activity is unusual. "You used to see lights from 70 to 80 bird hunters in the woods and that number has been reduced to around 10 in recent years," Hsu says. He thought that increasing conflict between the demands of conservation and local residents, along with temporarily reduced police patrols of the area, were two reasons for the suddenly worsened condition. Under the Wildlife Conservation Act, illegal hunting carries a penalty of up to six months in jail.
The recent effort by WBFT and Birdlife Asia, which joined forces to facilitate the establishment of a sanctuary for the globally threatened Japanese paradise-flycatcher, tells a more inspiring story. This species has a global population of fewer than 2,000. Around 500 stop over in Taiwan en route to Japan from Indonesia every year for about a week in March or April. Two parks in Taipei County were designated as sanctuaries for this species by Birdlife International to guarantee the birds a safer trip.
Avian conservation requires international cooperation. While Taiwan spares no effort to fulfill its commitment to conservation and biodiversity, its people hope such effort can win them international recognition as well as a better chance to participate in international conservation matters.