TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taipei Zoo has bred blue-tailed bee-eaters for a second consecutive year, with four chicks hatching since July 4 as part of its long-running conservation program.
Keepers said the first-time parents initially struggled to care for the chicks, at times failing to feed them or bringing insects that were too large for them to swallow. To improve the chicks’ chances of survival, zookeepers began supplementing feedings while allowing the parents to continue raising their young, per a press release.
The zoo said one chick was lost after a parent accidentally removed it from the nest while trying to discard an insect the chicks could not eat. The remaining three chicks have continued to grow well as the parents have become more experienced.
Since 2015, Taipei Zoo has partnered with National Taiwan University’s Department of Forestry and Resource Conservation and Mandarin Airlines to conserve the Kinmen population of blue-tailed bee-eaters. The program has artificially incubated abandoned eggs collected in Kinmen and encouraged resident blue-tailed bee-eaters to breed in Taipei Zoo’s Tropical Rainforest Area.
To encourage natural breeding, the zoo recreated the species’ rocky nesting habitat and sandy soil from Kinmen. The captive population has grown from only male birds in 2018 to six males and five females in 2024, leading to the zoo’s first successful natural breeding last year, per the press release.
This year, three chicks are growing rapidly and are expected to leave the nest and begin learning to fly and hunt with their parents at about one month old. Visitors can observe the family in the Tropical Rainforest Area later this month.
