A photograph taken on the eastern part of Dongsha Atoll’s land area by a member of the national park’s Dongsha Management Station Conservation Section staff on January 11, 2010. The photograph was sent to Kaohsiung Wild Bird Society and, after examination, confirmed as a red-breasted flycatcher (Ficedula parva). This is the first time this species has been officially recorded in the park.

The red-breasted flycatcher is around 12 centimeters long and mainly lives on the edge of forest in low altitude areas in Siberia north of Heilongjiang,China, flying to the southeast coast of China and southeast Asia to spend the winter. It feeds mainly on insects. This species was spotted once before on Dongsha Atoll by Kaohsiung Wild Bird Society members in September 2009 but no photograph was taken. This time a photographic record was taken and the sighting was officially confirmed.

Surveys of birds on Dongsha Atoll over the years have recorded 231 species of bird. The atoll has only 174 hectares of land area and the fact that such a small space has such a large variety of birds spending time on it shows its great importance on the east Asian Pacific bird migration route.

Translated by：Kevin Lax
Source：Marine National Park Headquarters