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Updated Friday, July 10, 2009 9:56 am TWN, CNA



	A grey-faced buzzard, or Butastur indicus, is seen in this picture with a satellite tracker fitted on its neck. Researchers from the Forestry Bureau, Academia Sinica and the non-profit Raptor Research Group of Taiwan teamed up in the tracking of five grey-faced buzzards to uncover the mystery of the raptors' migration pattern. (CNA) More Photos (2)

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Raptor experts complete trace of buzzard's migration route

TAIPEI, Taiwan -- After eight months of research, Taiwanese raptor experts have recently completed tracing the migration pattern of the endangered grey-faced buzzard, an Asian bird of prey, the Forestry Bureau, under the Council of Agriculture, said Thursday.

A Forestry Bureau financed research team released its findings Thursday showing that grey-faced buzzards, or Butastur indicus, stop over in Taiwan every October on their way south for winter in southern areas of the Philippines.

The raptors then fly north in the spring, making another stop in Taiwan before continuing their migration to the China-Russia border near China's Heilongjiang Province or North Korea to breed, the findings show.

Between 15,000 and 35,000 grey-faced buzzards visit Taiwan during these spectacular migrations, but prior to the latest research, knowledge of where the birds came from and where they went was lacking.

Keen to find out more about the birds' migration patterns, the research team, including researchers from Academia Sinica and the non-profit Raptor Research Group of Taiwan, fitted satellite tracers on several adult buzzards in an effort to find out more about their habits.

The findings solved part of an old puzzle surrounding the birds, said Lin Wen-hung, secretary-general of the Raptor Research Group of Taiwan. “The migration pattern that we have discovered, however, does not mean that all grey-faced buzzards use the same route for their annual migrations,” Lin noted.

The grey-faced buzzard is listed in Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna (CITES) and is also protected by inclusion as a Rare and Valuable Species under Taiwan's Wildlife Conservation Act, according to the Forestry Bureau.

Generally, the southern migration areas of grey-faced buzzards are limited to Southeast Asia. In summer, they breed in eastern areas of Asia, including northern China, the Korean peninsula, an area southeast of the River Ussuri in Russia, and Japan. When autumn comes, they migrate south to southeastern China, Indochina, the Philippines, Borneo, the Celebes and New Guinea, although the migration routes are still not clear.

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