Taiwan New Year Bird Count (NYBC Taiwan), a citizen science project used to monitor the status and population trends of migratory waterbirds in Taiwan proper and its outlying islands since 2014.
Monitoring methods for NYBC Taiwan follow the same fundamentals as the Christmas Bird Count. Over the course of 23 days (with January 1st serving as a midpoint), volunteer teams choose a consecutive 24 hour period to count the birds within a circle sample area whose radius is three kilometers. Species vernacular name, number of individuals, location of routes/observation area, date, start time, end time, number of participants, survey methods and weather condition were all recorded. Survey methods included line transect, counting flocks, area search, and others.
Our datasets provide valuable information about the distribution and community composition of the wintering avifauna of Taiwan. This information is kept in an open database administered by Taiwan's Environment Protection Administration. Results are also shared with Wetland International's International Waterbird Census and the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Queensland in Australia. NYBC Taiwan will continue to work diligently and collaborate with the international community to monitor the status of migratory birds of the East Asian-Australasian Flyway.
NYBC Taiwan is organized by the Taiwan Wild Bird Federation (TWBF), the Wild Bird Society of Taipei (WBST), the Kaohsiung Wild Bird Society (KWBS) and the Taiwan Biodiversity Research Institute (TBRI). Organizers would also like to point out that the event’s success would not be possible without the hard work of key people such as Allen Lyu (TWBF), Kung-Kuo Chiang (WBST), Kun-Hai Lin (KWBS), Reuy-Shing Lin (TBRI), Chi-Yi Tsai (TBRI), and Da-Li Lin (TBRI). They would also like to express their deep gratitude and appreciation to all the participants, NGOs, donors, and sponsors without whom none of this would be possible.
| Year | # sites | # participants | Species richness | Abundance | Data volume |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | 122 | 598 | 292 | 189,280 | 5,462 |
| 2015 | 134 | 967 | 319 | 205,319 | 20,627 |
| 2016 | 156 | 1,116 | 331 | 292,837 | 19,303 |
| 2017 | 175 | 1,258 | 340 | 316,928 | 11,197 |
| 2018 | 172 | 1,296 | 334 | 303,426 | 15.151 |
| 2019 | 179 | 1,365 | 325 | 312,948 | 15,837 |
| 2020 | 176 | 1,054 | 350 | 323,979 | 20,135 |
| 2021 | 173 | 1,056 | 337 | 328,453 | |
| 2022 | 172 | 1,032 | 325 | 368,724 | |
| 2023 | 171 | 818 | 339 | 376,722 |
Aims
Recording the wintering avifauna of Taiwan and its outlying islands
Mainstreaming biodiversity
Enjoying birding
Contact
Mr. Allen Lyu: nybc@bird.org.tw
Mr. Da-Li Lin: dalilin@tbri.gov.tw, thrush1250@gmail.com
TEL：+886-2-8663-1252#16
FAX：+886-2-2930-3595
Website：http://nybc.tw
Facebook：http://www.facebook.com/nybctaiwan