Travelling the 27 kilometers from Nantou County southward, you reach the newly opened Phoenix Valley Bird Gardens. Along the mountain road are tea plantations. If you travel by car, you can always stop by a booth, where a tea farmer will treat you to a cup of his best brew. Or once in a while, visitors may notice shops selling tonics made from the pilose antlers of young stags, or deer-horn glue, because only a stone’s throw away from Phoenix Valley is Deer Valley.
Covering a land area of 3D-hectares, the Bird Gardens in Phoenix Valley began to take shape in 1979 when Governor Lin Yang-kang (now Minister of the Interior) decided to make it an education and recreational site.
At first, it was an experimental forest for National Taiwan University. Since it is off the beaten track, many wild birds congregate in its graceful setting: waterfalls, a Phoenix and a Unicorn Mountain, ancient relics of Kai-shan Temple, and, not least, an age-old stone tablet inscribed with four big characters—wan-nien-heng-chu (literally, thousands of years as a thoroughfare). The Governor decided this was a more than sufficient base for a developed tourist area.
The designs of both the bird cages and the surrounding landscaping are the brainchildren of Professor Ling Der-lin of NTU’s department of horticulture. Instead of viewing it all from the standpoint of commercial tourism, Professor Ling is concerned with the general ecology and, therefore, attempts to keep the number of cages to the minimum. His hope is that the valley will eventually become a bird protection area.
The birds pair off, amusing onlookers
When we arrived at our destination, bus load after bus load of tourists was pouring into the Gardens. A huge bronze statue of a phoenix greets tourists at the entrance. To prevent their frightening the timid birds, all types of vehicles must park in a spacious square, from which a pedestrian pathway leads the tourists down a steep slope where some 54 bird cages are scattered.
According to Professor Ling, the birds are quartered in large and small cages for special reasons. Tourists can get close to the birds in the small cages, though the mini-structures may seem somewhat backward. Small cages can also be useful in segregating types of birds, and accommodating some traditional, sea, and specially precious species.
Among the various Bird Gardens, the Parrot Garden—six cages in a row—first came into view. “At first, they were only chained by the legs. Now we have to cage them behind bars and fish nets because they are so clever and can get away so easily,” Professor Ling said. Indeed, the parrots are so clever that they kept saying “kung-hsi-far-tsai” (congratulations, and be prosperous—a familiar Lunar New Year greeting).
Both indigenous and exotic foreign birds are presented. Among the most attractive and eye-catching of the exotic birds are the toucans and hornbills. With disproportionately huge beaks, the toucans, from Latin America, feature at least five colors of feathers-colors that belonged to Guaguin. A parrot from New Guinea is painted in the colors of Chinese temples, strongly contrasting red and green. Also from New Guinea is a Common Crowned Pigeon, wearing a blue velvet suit and a fancy gossamer crown; its glaring red eyes try to escape the tourists’ attention.
Among the indigenous birds, the white-ear thrush, jays, Peking robin, and silver and gold pheasant are perhaps the most precious. Among them, we especially found the Peking robins amusing. Standing on a tree branch in a row, two of the robins were pecking each other intimately, another two looking admiringly at them, while the fifth, standing alone, fumed.
All of the Garden’s precious species of birds are quartered in a specially designed area, accommodating 14 cages. According to Professor Ling, these birds tend to be tiny, delicate, and timid as well as beautiful. Thus, one side of each cage is covered with dark glass. Iron handrails run along the cages about one foot away to help keep tourists from scaring the birds. While the birds cannot see through the dark glass panes, when they fly to trees or stands on the verge of the glass, visitors get a good look.
Since most of the cages are designed to fit the natural terrain, together they enhance the scene’s beauty. A feature of the cages is the emplacement of rocks and trees within, creating a setting similar to each bird’s original habitat. “We want them to feel at home, instead of confined,” the Professor said. The best example can be found in the eagles’ cage. Knowing that eagles love to perch on snags and peaks, and near water, Professor Ling created a landscape marked by high peaks, trees, bushes, and water pools. Though the cage is at least 25 feet high, the eagles, in initially strong protest against the ambience, preferred to perch at the apex of the wall. Their fierceness is fully displayed as, flapping their wings, they scream across the huge cage.
In the cages housing the tree pies, pigeons, doves, and thrushes, and others, cozy wood cots are constructed in which they can build nests. In the cage accommodating the sea birds, swarms of white birds circle round and round another huge internal cage. Down below stands a bridge, arched over a tricklet. Name tags tell visitors that the residents include terns, gulls, sandpipers, curlews, plovers, whimbrels, and others. “I know they are a bit crowded in there; we will build another such cage in the near future,” a technician told us.
Compared with the caged birds, those in the “display ranch” are much more fortunate. Though confined to cages at night, they are free to roam a spacious nearby ground in the daytime. Three North African ostriches, weighing in at 300 lbs and reaching heights of 7 ft., are all tourists’ pets. Though their feed is as simple as green vegetables and carrots, they can run as fast as a motorbike-on-two-toes. Instead of scurrying and jumping away, the ostriches are composed, kingly, looking imperiously down at the tourists from straightly stretched necks, or enjoying lunch, indifferent to the tourists’ pestering.
The next resident nearest the ostrich is not that friendly. Even in the daytime, the double-wattled cassowary is locked in its cage. “She is so vicious that she attacked one of the technicians the other day. Guess where she hides her weapons? In her wings. Before we figure out a way to lame her, she will have to stay there,” a keeper said.
The “Flamingo Fling”—In the lake area of the park
Passing by a peacock garden, we arrived at an artificial lake covering a land area of 5,000 square meters. Stone dikes keep the birds from running away. In the shallows, flamingos stand tall on slim legs, while herons, cormorants, and plovers frolic. Like New York, this garden is a crucible for different races, only the birds seem to find it easier to live in harmony and friendliness.
The most painstaking construction project was the Sky-Net Bird Garden. Covering a land area of 6,000 square meters, the Garden was created by shrouding a small valley from end to end in an iron-wire net. Tourists walk through the giant cage along a trail snaking amid ponds, small earth mounds, hills, rocks, and stone benches. In a special area, which tourists are not allowed to approach, stands a bird dwelling with a row of small holes to facilitate the birds’ housekeeping and proliferation. Of the 2,000 birds in the cage, most have grown quite accustomed to human beings. Sometimes, they stand so close to the trail that you can shake hands with them. This is the tourists’ favorite site.
On the lake—Everybody has his own crowd
At the end: come the Open Gardens. Just like an open city, the Garden has no sign of cages, snares, or nets. On view is a flat, low valley, encircled by short bushes. In order to lure wild birds to build nests and rest there, Professor Ling constructed many artificial nests and cots amid the tree branches. Birdfeed is regularly strewn on the ground. “I got the inspiration while visiting parrots’ gardens in Miami. In those gardens, the parrots lived in the forest, which even tempted other species of birds to join them. When you visit the garden, the parrots perch on your shoulders and take a picture with you. Though the theory is simple, it needs great patience and love to make such a dream come true. After all, it is not easy for birds to forget the harm people inflict on them,” Professor Ling said.
To serve his purpose, so-called bird-feed trees are planted in the garden such fruit trees as papaya, persimmon, and longan, as well as trees that host worms are favorites. Bamboo groves have been retained for purposes of water and soil conservation. Such flowers as salvia and balsam are grown along the cages to beautify the surroundings.
To now, the Bird Gardens have cost some NT$250 million, about NT$20 million of which was for purchasing birds.
The workers feed the birds twice a day. In keeping with the birds’ habits and characteristics, all the feed must be prepared before daybreak. To ensure their healthy growth, fresh feed is provided every morning and afternoon. Since bird droppings invite mosquitos and flies, they must be cleaned everyday.
Color me ... red, white, yellow, gray, blue, etc.
Since most of the birds only have short life spans, the center tries to help the birds proliferate, those on the verge of extinction in particular, via artificial incubation. Yang Chien-jen, who guides this operation, commented that, “at present, parrots, orioles, and flamingos have learned to hatch their own eggs.”
To prevent any birds, especially exotic strains, from contracting illness, a health care center was established. Once found sick, birds can receive immediate medical care in an isolated aviary, preventing spread of any infection.
According to Yang, some birds are born actors or actresses, and the center intends to invite specialists to give these special training to entertain tourists. “The parrot’s speaking talent, the blacksmith plover’s use of its tail feather in taking a bath, the flamingo’s and ostrich’s graceful dancing, the masked weaver’s talent in building nests, the ruddy turnstone’s way of turning stones, and the West African stork’s precision in catching food are among the programs we can think of,” Yang said.
While we were looking around the gardens, two yellow vehicles roared by, transporting birdfeed. “Some of the birds are carnivores; some are herbivores. The former prefer such feed as fish and insects, and the latter cereal, seeds, and vegetables. Before six o’clock in the morning, we have to assort 27 ingredients into eight types of mixed feed. It is interesting to note that among our 5,037 birds in 283 species, in general, those with long beaks love fish, while those with short beaks love grains. Besides compiling a feeding guide, we have collected data on raising healthy birds, including some that involve aspects of the climate and geography. Local ornithologists also benefit us with their valuable opinions,” Yang said.
At present, 60 percent of the birds come from the world at large, mostly imported through IAE (the International Animal Exchange). They are placed in the Garden’s adaptation rooms to accustom themselves to the local environment prior to public display.
The cages do more than keep the birds in. At the juncture between iron nets and stone buttress, snake-proof tin-plate is installed. Rats, cats, snakes, or other wild animals slip down this springboard tinplate. Near most of the cages, facing northeast, are cement walls to shield them from chilly winter winds. Tarpaulins covering the cages occupy only two-thirds of each roof, so the netting allows sunshine in, while the tarps offer shelter for the birds on rainy days. If the mercury continues to plummet in an unusual winter, cage heaters or hoods are available to protect the birds.
Outpacing Singapore’s bird gardens, Phoenix Valley is setting up its own research center, the staff to be drawn from zoology majors at local universities. Professor Lin Yao-sung, of NTU’s Zoology Department, explained: “One of the researchers will certainly specialize in studying bird diseases; another, ecology, behavior, and proliferation. Our knowledge of birds is really so poor, that many species in nature are on the verge of extinction. It’s time for us to study birds’ characteristics and nature, and teach the public. In this way, human beings will learn to respect and protect birds.”