Pingtung farmer protects birds of prey, making farm habitat bird-friendly
Pingtung farmer protects birds of prey, making farm habitat bird-friendly
2023-05-24
A project to protect birds of prey in the farms of Pingtung is taking off. Today we visit the pineapple farm of Nguyen Thị Chinh. She got into bird protection by accident when life circumstances interrupted the usual workflow at the farm. But those accidental changes turned out to be very bird-friendly. Now she helps experts monitor the ecosystem of the farm. By avoiding the use of harmful poisons, and creating habitats where birds of prey can thrive, her farm has become a sanctuary for owls and eagles.
This is Gaoshu Township in Pingtung – one of Taiwan’s major pineapple producing regions. Nguyen Thi Chinh, a Vietnamese resident of Taiwan, moved here after marrying a Taiwanese man. She’s been growing pineapples here for more than 20 years. Cutting a path through these thick rows of leaves facilitates work in the fields, but it has another benefit too.
Nguyen Thị Chính
Vietnamese resident of Taiwan
If you don’t cut down the leaves, the birds of prey can’t see the mice – the mice hide in there.
The mice in these fields live off pineapple, and like to take a single bite out of each fruit. That can be devastating for farmers. Most take the route of using rat poison. But Nguyen does not, for a special reason. The story goes that her husband was involved in a major traffic accident some years ago. She had to drop her work to care for him in the hospital, and had no time to spare to think about mice.
Her neglect of rat poison was perfectly in line with the hopes of National Pingtung University of Science and Technology. Its Bird Ecology Lab has a project to protect birds of prey. They asked Nguyen to go even further, setting up nesting boxes and perches for the birds in her fields, and helping them research the farm’s ecosystem.
Lin Hui-shan
NPUST Bird Ecology Lab doctoral candidate
Birds of prey are poisoned by the rat poison, so this is actually quite a large ecological crisis and problem.
They use an automated camera to record the comings and goings of many species of birds, including owls.
The small step of avoiding rat poison has brought enormous ecological rewards.
Nguyen Thị Chính
Vietnamese resident of Taiwan
When we’re working here, we feel very happy to hear the birds calling. The calls are a joyful sound.
Nguyen and her husband have no regrets about their shift to a more ecofriendly farming method. Although the farming life certainly has its challenges, it’s a bit like a pineapple: There’s a sweet heart hidden within those spikes.
鳳梨媽媽的無毒耕種法 給貓頭鷹一個家
2023-05-24
來自越南的阮氏政(Nguyen Thị Chính)，在屏東高樹鄉種鳳梨，田間完全不使用老鼠藥的他，不介意分老鼠吃一點鳳梨，這樣的舉動吸引屏東科技大學鳥類研究室的研究團隊與他合作，在鳳梨田旁架設老鷹的棲架與貓頭鷹的巢箱，利用鷹類捕捉老鼠的特性，讓這些猛禽都變成農民的捕鼠工，現在果然看到老鷹在天空翱翔，也吸引了貓頭鷹來築巢生蛋，讓他非常有成就感。
這裡是屏東縣高樹鄉，也是台灣鳳梨的主要產地之一。來自越南的阮氏政，嫁到台灣跟著先生種鳳梨，已經二十多年，將密密麻麻的鳳梨葉砍出一條路，不只是為了方便田間工作，還有這個原因。
[[越南新住民 阮氏政]]
“如果他沒砍葉子，老鷹看不到老鼠，老鼠都躲這裡面。”
田間的老鼠專門吃鳳梨，而且貪心地每一顆都咬一口，讓農民損失慘重，所以大家習慣放老鼠藥，來解決鼠患。阮氏政的鳳梨田沒有放老鼠藥，是因為前幾年先生發生重大車禍，他一個人忙著照顧住院的先生，根本無暇顧及鼠輩們的橫行。
無心插柳的舉動，正好符合屏東科技大學，鳥類生態研究室的護鷹計畫，他們請阮氏政幫忙，在田間設置棲架和巢箱，觀察研究田間生態。
[[屏科大鳥類生態研究室博士生 林惠珊]]
“老鷹牠會因為老鼠藥而中毒，所以這其實是一個蠻大的生態的危機跟問題。”
透過自動相機的記錄，多種鳥類，包括貓頭鷹，都曾經造訪過。
只是不放老鼠藥的小小舉動，竟然可以帶來這麼大的生命感動。
[[越南新住民 阮氏政]]
“我們在這裡工作，聽到老鷹叫也是蠻開心的，牠的叫聲感覺好像很快樂這樣。”
當你真心想完成一件事時，全宇宙都會集合起來幫助你。阮氏政的鳳梨人生，就像她栽種的鳳梨一樣，酸中帶甜，先苦後甘。
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