• Summary
• Text account
• Data table and detailed info
• Map
• Reference and further resources

Site description (2001 baseline)
Extent of this site: located in Kaohsiung County northwest of Yungan Village in Yantian Village. It is on the east side of a former salt field which now holds the Taiwan Power (Taipower) Company’s Hsingda firepower station. The IBA site is situated on the border between Chieding and Yungan Villages in Hsingda Harbor’s inner sea where the area once reached 500 ha. In the 1960’s the government reclaimed land from the sea to build Hsingda Harbor. In 1975, after construction of the Hsingda firepower station, the area of the mangroves slowly decreased. The former saline beaches of this area combined with water retention by irrigation canals and natural lakes allowed the mangrove species, Black Mangrove Avicennia marina and Lumnitzera Lumnitzera racemosa, to grow densely, attracting thousands of waterbirds; formerly this was the largest stand of mangroves in southern Taiwan. In 1985 Taipower purchased this area from the Taiwan Salt Company, and their plan was to use it to store ash from the fire-powered generating station. But because there was no direct resolution of compensation problems between the local residents concerning items on the land, the plan has not been realized and the former saline beaches have formed an area of natural wetlands.

Key biodiversity
IBA A4i criterion species: Kentish Plover • This is the most important breeding and wintering site in Taiwan for this species. Year Dec. 1995 Jan. 1996 Feb. 1997 Jan. 1998 Jan. 1999 Jan. 2000 Sept. 2000 No. of KP 4600 2871 1603 156 150 300 37 • At this site, 106 Species have been recorded including: Black-faced Spoonbill (3 birds on 29 November 1999); Chinese Egret (4 on 1 May 1999); Saunders’s Gull; Osprey; Peregrine Falcon; Black-billed Magpie; Northern Wryneck; several hundred terns and thousands of Charadriidae and Scolopacidae.

Non-bird biodiversity: • There are diversified mangrove ecosystems, especially at the stands of Black Mangrove Avicennia marina. In addition, this is the southernmost distribution of the Lumnitzera Lumnitzera racemosa, so the site is worthy of preservation.

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