A park for nature explorers

1. A park for nature explorers • Cigu wetland of Ceng-wen estuary is a famous and well-developed ecological viewing spot in Taiwan, especially since it has become a winter habitat for many waterfowls, such as the Black-faced spoonbill (one of the six species of spoonbills consisting of two genera, which are distributed over much of the world). The black-faced Spoonbill is a migratory bird moving along coastal areas of east Asia. They have a long black bill, whose end is flat and wide, shaped much like a spoon at the tip.

2. A park for nature explorers-cont. • The Black-Fced Spoonbill most often has white feathers, a black bill, and reddish-yellow ornamental plumes behind its head. They like tp feed on small fish, shrimp and conch. They gather food in flocks, large or small, along costal areas, in estuaries, and on mud flats. It is also sometimes possible to see a black-faced Spoonbill forging for food near a fish farm. While they stay in Southern Taiwan, Hongkong and Vietnam form October to march, in late spring, spoonbills fly back to breeding sites on islands offf the west coast of North Korea.

3. A park for nature explorers-cont. • Based on research, they are thought to migrate from Fujian, Zhejiang, and Jiangsu along the coast of china all the way to Korea. The total population is approximately 1500s, with the largest concentration in the Cengwen River Estuary, near Tainan city in southern Taiwan (around 1000 birds were counted in early 2007). This large number is mainly due to the dedicated efforts of local conservationist citizens and the government.