Vivid images produced by a brother and sister team reveal the beauty and drama of Taiwan’s birds.
In 2006, Sung Yi-chang (宋宜璋) found himself struggling with the heavy workload of running the computer software company he had founded 20 years earlier. Seeking relaxation, he began wandering in Taiwan’s wilderness areas and taking pictures of the birds he saw during his treks. In 2010, he retired from day-to-day management of the software company to focus on photography. He is assisted in that effort by younger sister Hsiao Tsun-hsien (蕭尊賢) and the two often publish their work under the name John & Fish.
The artistic quality of the duo’s images has found a ready audience at Flickr.com, a photo-sharing website where their pages had received more than 3 million hits by the end of 2011. The buzz generated by their photos also led to reports in US-based National Geographic Traveler magazine and The Telegraph newspaper in the United Kingdom.
Sung says his goal is to record and present the beauty of birds and their surroundings in their natural state. He begins by familiarizing himself with the habits and habitat of a bird species, uses that information to select an attractive location for a photo shoot and then conceals himself to wait patiently for the appearance of his “protagonist.”
Sung’s love for birds and their beauty becomes readily evident as he talks about them. “Little egrets are similar to the elegant performers of Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan,” he says. “Although colorless, they pair magnificent beauty of line with utmost dramatic talent. The Japanese white eye, on the other hand, is inclined to take on various forms. Sometimes it looks like a circular ball, at other times like a lengthy truncheon.”
As Sung and Hsiao’s work indicates, Taiwan is a paradise for bird watching. The country’s 36,000 square kilometers and wide range of climate zones are home to more than 450 bird species, giving the island the second-highest density of bird species in the world.
In December 2011, the semi-monthly CommonWealth magazine published Sung and Hsiao’s Flying Feathers of Formosa, from which the images in this photo essay are excerpted. Flying Feathers of Formosa contains 108 shots of 65 native and migratory bird species, with each photo telling its own vivid story.
Assistant Hsiao Tsun-hsien (Photo Courtesy of Commonwealth Magazine)
Photographer Sung Yi-chang (Photo Courtesy of Commonwealth Magazine)
Flying Feathers of Formosa by John & Fish contains 108 shots of 65 bird species. (Photo Courtesy of Commonwealth Magazine)
Little egret, Pinglin District, New Taipei City, northern Taiwan (Photo Courtesy of Commonwealth Magazine)
Vivid niltava, Xitou, Nantou County, central Taiwan Vivid niltava, Xitou, Nantou County, central Taiwan (Photo Courtesy of Commonwealth Magazine)
Hoopoe, Yehliu, New Taipei City, northern Taiwan (Photo Courtesy of Commonwealth Magazine)
Japanese white eye, Daxue Mountain trail, Taichung City, central Taiwan (Photo Courtesy of Commonwealth Magazine)
Taiwan wren-babbler, Dasyueshan (Daxue Mountain) National Forest Recreation Area, Taichung City, central Taiwan (Photo Courtesy of Commonwealth Magazine)
Green-backed tit, Daxue Mountain trail, Taichung City, central Taiwan (Photo Courtesy of Commonwealth Magazine)