The new species include the common house martin, Hainan blue flycatcher, long-tailed duck, olive-backed sunbird and Pallas’s rosefinch and pied cuckoo.
According to CWBF President Kent Lin, the discoveries can be credited to a rising number of local birders and photographers nationwide.
“Several of the birds found in Taiwan proper are rare visitors to the island,” he said. “For example, the pied cuckoo in Taitung is normally found across Africa and India. It probably deviated from regular migration routes by accident during the mating season in May.”
Another exciting development, Lin added, is that an additional endemic species has been listed this year. “The gray-cheeked fulvetta puts Taiwan’s number of indigenous bird species at 25.”
As well as the endemic species, this year the CWBF checklist features 58 endemic subspecies and 12 naturalized species, bringing the total to 626 species.
The CWBF updates its data annually and welcomes submissions from amateur and professional bird-watchers. All finds are reviewed by the federation’s seven-member bird record committee. (DF-JSM)
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