Green Holiday in Taiwan ~Save the Barn swallow and wetland~

This event has ended.

Escape the daily routine, enjoy your holidays by doing exciting conservation activities, meet new people in a healthy and relaxed environment in Taiwan!

David Wu ツバメ画像
Photo by :David Wu

Date:
13th to 16th Sept 2014 (4days 3nights)
Participants:
20
Age:
over 18
Cost:
35,000yen (including plane ticket, transportation in Taiwan, 3nights accommodation, Food- breakfast, packed lunch and dinner except for the evening meal on free time)
Accommodation:
Chientan activity centre

Programme

関渡自然公園訪問

Day 1:
13th Sept (Sat)
10:30 leave Tokyo Narita airport / 13:05 Arrive at Taipei Taoyuen airport
Transfer to Taipei city centre by private coach.
Orientation at Chientan activity centre)
Day 2:
14th Sept (Sun)
Activity1.Visit to Guandu nature park
Am: Field conservation work on foraging the site of Swallows
Pm:Communication with rangers
Activity 2.Observing Barn Swallow roost at Wugu wetland
Free time

「ツバメを守ろう!国際交流ボランティアプログラム“グリーン・ホリデーIn台湾”」

Day 3:
15th Sept (Mon)
Visit to Keelung
Am: Activity 3.Conservation work at Chu-hong lake
Removing water plants with local volunteer at Chuhong lake to protect dragonflies and wetland eco-system.
Pm:Activity 4. Visit Shen-Mei Elementary School
Communication with school children and teachers about swallow issues
Activity 5. Watch Barn swallows nests at the street

子どもたちとの交流

Day 4:
16th Sept(Tue)
Free time
11:00 Transfer to Taipei Taoyuen airport by private coach
14:05 leave Taipei Taoyuen airport/ 19:10 Arrive at Tokyo Narita airport


What is Green Holiday?

Green Holiday

Green Holiday is a weekend volunteer tour for habitat conservation conducted by Wild Bird Society of Japan. We encourage people to consider nature and to take action for wildlife through the programme.
The project started from 2009 and it has been held at 3 sanctuaries of WBSJ, the site of Red-crowned Crane in Kushiro, the site of Blakiston’s Fish Owl in Nemuro, and the site of waterfowl in Kaga.
The unique point of Green Holiday is not just the practical conservation work but also the lecture and guided tour by rangers are included to study wildlife and local history, and to communicate with local society.
From 2014, WBSJ starts to develop a cooperation project on International Eco-tour “Green Holiday in Taiwan” with Ecotourism Taiwan.

Barn Swallows in trouble

Barn swallow (Photo by Yuzo Nakagawa )
Photo by :Yuzo Nakagawa

Barn Swallow is one of the most familiar birds in Japan. According to the national survey, Barn Swallow tends to decline in Japan. One potential reason is they have lost feeding grounds full of insects such as rice paddies and farm land which slightly disappeared in these days. Another potential reason is changed style of buildings. Swallow build their nest under the eaves in Japan. In recent days, old style Japanese houses which provided good opportunities for swallow to build nests have been often replaced to modern houses.

Barn swallow survey with school

石川県健民運動推進本部

In Japan, the annual barn swallow survey has been conducted by “Ishikawa Prefecture Healthy Citizens Campaign Promotion Head Quarters” over 40 years.
Every year, the primary school 6th graders of Ishikawa (11to 12 years old, approx..13000children) participate the survey. Survey result from over 200 schools are compiled and published on line:
http://www.pref.ishikawa.jp/seikatu/kouryu/undou2PFD/tubame/english_survey.pdf
This simple survey, observe barn swallows in neighbourhood the school on one day during that week of swallow breeding season, and record the number of swallows and nests, has been so successful in gathering information about barn swallows.

Green Holiday in Taiwan

David Wu ツバメ画像
Photo by :David Wu

台湾の子どもたちのツバメ調査

Barn swallow lives almost all over the world and is universally popular across both hemispheres. It makes Annual journey from its northern breeding grounds to its southern wintering grounds. Barn swallow is a common bird in Taiwan and Japan; we can observe their breeding every spring to summer. Barn swallows indicate the change of environment very close to our life.
Wild Bird Society of Japan and Ecotourism Taiwan are developing the swallow communication tour between Taiwan to Japan as “Green Holiday in Taiwan”. Our achievement of the project is to introduce a swallow observation programme to Taiwan, and protect wetland habitat for swallows and biodiversity.


★Contact
For more details, please contact Wild Bird Society of Japan
E-mail:[email protected]

Planning: Wild Bird Society of Japan
Local coordinator: Ecotourism Taiwan
Support: Ishikawa Prefecture Healthy Citizens Campaign Promotion Headquarters
Travel arrangement: Japan Eco Planning Service