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Migration Routes and Flight Behavior of Wintering Black-faced Spoonbills (Platalea minor Temminck & Schlegel) Across the Sea

  • Date of declaration:2025-06-23
Ya-Wen Hsu, I-Chih Ke, Tung-Hui Kuo, and Yuan-Hsun Sun
Year
2025
Key Words
Black-faced Spoonbills, age effect, migration pattern, offshore windfarm, satellite tracking, Taiwan Strait
Abstract

Taiwan is the main wintering ground of the globally endangered Black-faced Spoonbill (Platalea minor Temminck & Schlegel) in the East Asian-Australasian Flyway. The aim of this study was to determine the migration patterns of the bird through the Taiwan Strait where offshore wind farms are planned, under construction and operating. From 2021 to 2024, 55 spoonbills were satellite tracked in Tainan, Chiayi and Kaohsiung. Data showed that the birds departed Taiwan from areas between Chiayi and New Taipei, notably from Changhua and New Taipei. Nearly all wind farms were found to overlap with the birds’ migration routes to varying degrees. Adults departed earliest during spring migration, returning to their breeding sites, although their arrival date in Taiwan was not correlated with age in the autumn migration. Departure times from Taiwan in spring and from Korea in autumn were mostly between 5:00 and 8:00, with a secondary peak around sunset. In spring, the altitude of cross-sea flights decreased significantly as the birds moved toward the centerline of the strait.