Photo courtesy of Kentington

Taipei, Oct. 24 (CNA) The number of migratory gray-faced buzzard eagles spotted in the Hengchun Peninsula this month has reached 59,500, the highest in three decades, Raptor Research Group of Taiwan said Wednesday.

Bird watcher Tsai I-jung (蔡乙榮) said that Kenting National Park, a wildlife preserve, was a key factor in steep rise in the number of migratory birds in the area.

He said that 10,000 gray-faced buzzard eagles were observed in the park in a single day this year as they passed through Taiwan on their way south.

When the Kenting National Park administration started researching the eagle species in 1989, the highest number recorded in Taiwan was 10,000, Tsai said. However, the number has been growing over the past 20 years and reached 53,200 in 2017 then shot up to 59,500 this year, he said.

The eagles usually stop mainly in Manjou Township in Hengchun on their southward migratory path.

Yu Tseng-chun (余增春), head of the township, said he plans to promote Manjou as an eco-tourism hub to attract eagle watchers around Asia.

(By Kuo Chih-hsuan and Chi Jo-yao)
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