There are a record high 1,628 black-faced spoonbill birds in Taiwan, according to an annual census, Taijiang National Park officials said Sunday. The census, part of a worldwide counting of birds initiated by the Hong Kong Bird Watching Society and taken Jan. 12-13 this year, found 1,316 spoonbills in southern Taiwan’s Tainan and 266 in Chiayi in central Taiwan, the officials said. The rare migratory bird species were also found in northeastern Taiwan’s Yilan, southern Taiwan’s Kaohsiung, Hualien in eastern Taiwan, Yunlin in central Taiwan and in Taiwan’s outlying island of Kinmen, the officials said.
In 2012, some 1,562 birds were recorded in Taiwan, according to the Taipei-based Chinese Wild Bird Federation. The number of black-faced spoonbills in Taiwan accounts for roughly 50 percent of the bird’s global population, according to previous censuses. Tainan, where Taijiang National Park is located, is one of the most important global wintering sites for the endangered birds, the officials added.
