• Summary
• Text account
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• Reference and further resources

Site description (2001 baseline)
Extent of this site: situated in the southwest portion of the Kuantu plain, at the confluence of the Keelung and Tanshui Rivers, to the northwest of Taipei city. This site is about 8-10 km from the mouth of the Tanshui R. so it is tidally influenced. Along the shore of the Keelung R. is a levee, and outside the levee are mainly marshy landforms, mud flats, and tidal channels. Important plants include Kandelia Kandelia candel, Cyperus malaccensis, and Common Reed Phragmites comunis, with the mangrove forming the dominant vegetation, occupying 19 ha. About 55-ha land within the levee contain mostly freshwater and slightly brackish ponds, marshes, wet paddies, irrigation canals, and spoil dirt piles. Passing typhoons with torrential rains cause the flooding areas of the Kuantu Nature Park to increase in size. Here, benthic organisms are abundant, and form a suitable habitat for waterbirds, so the bird situation is excellent. According to the opinion of the Wild Bird Society of Taipei, migrating birds seem to be stopping here for longer periods than in the past due to the rich nutrients in the wet areas of the Kuantu Nature Park, and perhaps, many waterbirds eventually will overwinter here. Kuantu’s old name was Gandou (pole bean) which is what the aboriginals used to call it; later it became today’s Kuantu, a name with almost the same pronunciation.

Key biodiversity
IBA A4iii criterion species: Green-winged Teal with a maximum number of 10,000 birds. • A total of 293 species have been recorded here, including the Oriental White Stork, (max. 6 birds), Black-faced Spoonbill, Chinese Egret, Lesser White-fronted Goose and Swan Goose.

Non-bird biodiversity: • South of the tidal levee on the Keelung R. there is a mangrove ecosystem. The main aquatic plants are Cyperus malaccensis, Common Reed Phragmites communis, and Kandelia Kandelia candel. After 1978, the mangrove, Kandelia, became the dominant plant species. The north side ranges from aquatic and wetland to agricultural ecology.

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Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Important Bird Area factsheet: Kuantu (Taiwan, China). Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/kuantu-iba-taiwan-china on 23/11/2024.