National Parks of Taiwan

The Marine National Park Headquarters (MNPH) found, in the northern beach of the Dongshas, a newly recorded bird-the Chinese grosbeak, which was supposed to migrate to southern China for the winter. As a rare winter migratory bird to Taiwan, the bird belongs to the Eophona genus featuring a big yellow beck. Both the male and female look alike in appearance: first half of the head is black, a grey back, blue luster on the wings and the tail, and white spots on the wings. The genus has two flinches distributing mainly in eastern Siberia, northeastern China, Korea, and Japan. The Chinese grosbeak is a seed-eating, occasionally insect-eating, bird that flies to southern China for the winter and usually moves on ground. As a shy and oversensitive bird, the Chinese grosbeak immediately flies away on hearing people approaching or any sound. Therefore, it is difficult to take pictures on it. Staff of the Dongsha Station has spent a lot of effort and time to capture this rarely seen guest with cameras to add the total of recorded birds in the Dongshas to 258 species.