Wild bird group invites public to marathon watch

This article was published by the Taiwan Headlines on March 3, 2006. It features a unique bird-watching marathon, which will take place around Taiwan in April 2006. The marathon is currently being organized with the hope that it will bring back birdwatchers and raise funds for monitoring wild birds in Taiwan.

Representatives from the Wild Bird Federation Taiwan, organizer of the marathon, said that the marathon will be a 24-hour bird-watching activity from April 7 to 8. Although Taiwan has not been declared a bird flu affected area, bird-watching activity around the island has been severely affected by reports of avian flu outbreaks in Asia and Europe. Several bird-watching events, including Kinmen's Great Cormorant Season and Tainan's Black-Faced Soonbill Watching, were called off in 2005 because of bird flu fears. Even the popular bird-watching in Taipei's Guandu District attracted only some 2,000 birdwatchers in October 2005, representing only 20 percent of watchers in previous years.

Representatives from the Wild Bird Federation Taiwan emphasized that watching wild birds will not cause any danger of contracting bird flu. The federation will donate NT$100 for each bird species reported by participants during the marathon.