Taipei City finds home for endemic barbets

2015-04-15

The colorful Taiwan barbet, an insect-eating bird with embroidered plumage endemic to the island, is increasingly making its home in parks throughout bustling downtown Taipei City.

An arboreal bird known to nest only in the cavities of dead trunks or branches, barbets were having an increasingly hard time locating residences in the meticulously manicured parks of the metropolis, according to Taipei City Government.

TCG teamed up with Taiwan Forestry Research Institute to correct this state of affairs. They created an assisted habitat for barbets by building birdhouses up to 6 meters off the ground in trees dotted around Daan Forest Park and Taipei Botanical Garden.

“The 60 nesting boxes have proved popular with barbets,” an official with TCG’s Park and Street Lights Office said. “A total of 19 boxes out of 20 in the botanical garden are occupied.

“And we expect the population in the Daan park to make even wider use of 40 recently installed boxes.”

Megalaima nuchalis, aka the five-colored woodpecker, is monogamous, raises its young as a couple and builds new nests for each brood—a habit requiring a large number of suitable trees.

“We plan to expand the initiative throughout the city if the Daan project proves fruitful,” the official said, adding that the birdhouses will help maintain ecological stability and thriving biodiversity.”

Source: Taiwan Today (http://taiwantoday.tw/ct.asp?xItem=229265&CtNode=413)