Carrying out a bird survey in April, conservation personnel of Dongsha Management Station, Marine National Park Headquarters, recorded protected grey-faced buzzards and large Indian pratincoles passing through in relatively large numbers, numbers exceeding previous years. The previous record daily numbers were 30 and 18 for the buzzards and pratincoles respectively. The large increase in numbers in the last three years shows how effective the national park’s ecological conservation work has been.

Dongsha Atoll National park is located in the north of the South China Sea, and it is the only island in this sea area. Because of its distance from land, every spring and autumn, the bird migration season, it is visited by a large number of birds that stop off to rest on their long migratory journey. In addition, Marine National Park HQ has worked energetically in recent years to restore the atoll’s original vegetation and, also, the military personnel on the atoll regard ecological conservation as their duty and make every effort to reduce human interference to a minimum, giving the atoll ideal conditions to be a stopping off point when migratory birds are flying south to spend the winter or returning north to breed. This means that, in addition to its rich marine resources, its birds are another of Dongsha Atoll National Park’s precious natural resource.

A large number of bird species have been recorded on the atoll, 231 to be exact, many of which are protected species, and species that are extremely rare on mainland Taiwan have been recorded. Since March this year Dongsha Management Station staff have been voluntarily carrying out a monthly bird survey, the aim being to obtain a better understanding of bird ecology in the park, the results to be used in the future in bird conservation and natural resources management work.

The number of birds passing through Dongsha is higher than ever recorded. The single day record in 2008 for grey-faced buzzards and large Indian pratincoles was 30 and 18 respectively. Over the last three years the numbers of birds has increased markedly, showing that the conservation efforts of Dongsha Atoll National Park are paying off.

Source：Marine National Park Headquarters