Old article and the May 2000 EIA

When the Environmental Protection Administration's (EPA) Hushan Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) was published in May 2000 not a word was said about the Fairy Pitta Pitta nympha. The knowledge of the Fairy Pitta in Taiwan's lowland forests dates back to Robert Swinhoe's 1864 report on Formosan birds (Ibis, 1864) and had since been covered by Hachisuka and Udigawa in 1951, Severinghaus and Blackshawn in 1976, and Wu in 1991, so the EPA was well aware of the existence of this internationally protected species and should have been considering it because it was known to breed in the lowland forests of western Taiwan. In 2000 the issue of gravel extraction and its impact on the Huben Fairy Pitta was under the spotlight so it would appear that at that time it was a well known fact that Fairy Pitta were to be found in the area.

See Eight-color bird' sparks new environmental row, an article from the July 5, 2000, edition of Taipei Times.