Taiwan’s birders are blessed, it seems, as different species of feathered visitors can be seen in different seasons and in different places in the mountains and on the plains, as well as along rivers and by the sea. In fact, local bird watchers record sightings not only of common species such as sparrows, white-eyes and bulbuls, but also rarer birds. In May this year, for example, bird watchers flocked to Da-an Forest Park in downtown Taipei to point their cameras at Taiwan barbets that were nesting in holes excavated in the trunks of trees. Commonly referred to as the “five-color bird” due to its colorful plumage, the Taiwan barbet is not seen anywhere else in the world.
Other avian spectacles in Taiwan are much grander in scale. According to a survey of raptor migration patterns conducted by Kenting National Park from early March to early May this year, 41,725 Chinese sparrowhawks—a record high—passed over the park at Taiwan’s southern tip as they flew north for the summer. The sky over Kenting was crowded during the survey period, as 17,499 grey-faced buzzards joined the annual northbound migration, as did 11 other kinds of raptors.
Bird watchers visit Qigu Wetland, a major wintering site for the black-faced spoonbill. (File Photo)
Taiwan’s great biodiversity is reflected in the fact that it claims one of the planet’s highest densities of bird species. Of the around 10,000 bird species found worldwide, areas governed by the Republic of China (ROC) are home to or provide resting spots during migration for 608, according to the Bird Record Committee of the Chinese Wild Bird Federation (CWBF), a nongovernmental organization (NGO) also known as Birdlife in Taiwan. The CWBF released a draft of its annual Checklist of the Birds of Taiwan in March this year. The federation, which was formed in 1988 and is based in Taipei, comprises 20 birding groups around Taiwan and has been a member of UK-based Birdlife International since 1994. “The year-round accessibility of bird watching in Taiwan makes it a great way to encourage people to take more notice of the natural environment,” says CWBF president Kent Lin (林世忠), adding that his group’s major missions include conducting research and surveys, as well as promoting conservation and birding activities for the general public.
“The presence of birds in a given place and the kinds of birds it has are usually considered significant environmental indicators,” Lin says. As the Kenting survey shows, Taiwan certainly does not lack for birds. The CWBF checklist recognizes 24 of those species and 59 subspecies as endemic. “Such unique species are the result of the process of evolution in a closed, isolated land [like the island of Taiwan],” explains David Ho (何一先), executive officer of the Wild Bird Society of Taipei (WBST). What is more, recent progress in the use of molecular biology for bird classification makes it likely that many of Taiwan’s endemic subspecies will gain recognition as endemic species in the future, Ho says.
The yellow tit is an endemic species. (Photo Courtesy of Wang Fu-yong)
Ho’s group is a member of the CWBF and has organized the annual Taipei International Birdwatching Fair since 1999 at Guandu Nature Park, a 57-hectare wetland established in 1996 at the junction of the Keelung and Tamsui rivers in northern Taipei. Guandu’s proximity to the ocean makes it an ideal resting place for migratory birds on their journeys across East Asia. Ducks, geese and herons are among the birds commonly seen at Guandu. In October this year, the park will host a major event combining the 15th Taipei birdwatching fair with the fourth annual Asian Bird Fair. The latter gathering began in 2010 in the Philippines, was held in Tainan City, southern Taiwan in 2011 and moved to Thailand in 2012. “It’s an effort at ‘birding diplomacy’ and a good example of Taiwan’s ability to innovate,” Ho says of the return of the Asian Bird Fair and its pairing with the local event.
The wild areas of southern Taiwan are also known to exert a strong attraction on birds—and the enthusiastic humans who chase after them. The Qigu Wetland in Taijiang National Park, Tainan City, for example, is home to the Black-faced Spoonbill Conservation Area, which offers a wintering spot for around 60 percent of the world’s population of the endangered birds. During the past two decades, the combined efforts of Taiwan’s public and private sectors have helped increase the black-faced spoonbill population from fewer than 300 individuals to nearly 3,000 today. Birdlife International recognized the Taijiang National Park, Forestry Bureau and Tainan City Government’s work to conserve the species with a Birdlife Conservation Achievement Award in June this year at the organization’s quinquennial world congress in Ottawa, Canada. Taiwan’s effort to save the black-faced spoonbill was selected for the prestigious honor from among a number of bird conservation initiatives worldwide.
The Japanese white-eye can be seen as far north as Japan and as far south as Vietnam. (File Photo)
The 2009 establishment of Taijiang National Park and the added protection it gives to Qigu Wetland, along with maintenance of other nature reserves and protected areas set up around Taiwan, demonstrate the country’s long-term commitment to conserving birds and other wildlife species. In fact, such areas account for nearly 20 percent of the nation’s territory. Earlier efforts include the 1989 promulgation of the Wildlife Conservation Act and the 1991 nationwide ban on logging in natural forests (logging is still permitted in tree farms). More recently, June this year saw the Legislative Yuan pass the Wetlands Act, which manages the use and development of recognized wetlands.
“Taiwan’s environmental legislation and the shift in the Forestry Bureau’s focus from logging to conservation have increased interest in ecotourism,” says Simon Liao (廖世卿), former CWBF president. Liao helped found the Wild Bird Society of Changhua in his hometown in central Taiwan in the early 1990s. Around that time, he also began promoting bird watching activities for students from elementary school through high school at Changhua’s Bagua Mountain. Grey-faced buzzards draw crowds at Bagua in March when the birds migrate north from Kenting, while eagle watching is now a major annual tourism attraction at the Tri-Mountain National Scenic Area, which encompasses Bagua and neighboring mountain areas.
The Swinhoe’s pheasant is found only in Taiwan. (Photo Courtesy of Wang Fu-yong)
Liao notes that aside from the variety of birds, ecotourists are attracted to Taiwan by other factors such as convenient public transportation and the friendliness of local people to foreign visitors. Those factors impressed England’s Shaun Roebuck, who took a two-week birding trip organized by Liao in Taiwan in 2010. Among other destinations, Roebuck visited the Dasyueshan National Forest Recreation Area in central Taiwan’s Taichung City as well as a nearby area set aside for the colorful fairy pitta. “Having spent three weeks looking for this species in Borneo without success, to see two birds in two hours was amazing,” Roebuck wrote in a letter of thanks after returning to England. “Taiwan is a beautiful country with well-preserved areas of natural beauty that contain wildlife that’s found nowhere else on the planet.”
Thanks to a 50-kilometer-long mountain trail that climbs through low, medium and high-altitude forests, Dasyueshan (aka Daxue Mountain, literally “big snow mountain”) has long attracted birders from home and abroad. “Of Taiwan’s 24 endemic species, 22 can be seen at Dasyueshan,” Lin says. “The only exceptions are the Formosan magpie and Styan’s bulbul.” Larger endemic species like the Mikado pheasant and Swinhoe’s pheasant are among those most pursued by bird watchers at Dasyueshan.
Hand-drawn illustrations of shore birds by local painter Li Zheng-lin (Photo Courtesy of Wild Bird Society of Taipei)
Conservation Categories
The ROC’s Wildlife Conservation Act lists three categories of species that require special protection. Ten endemic bird species or subspecies are listed in the “warranting conservation” category, the lowest level; 22 are listed as “rare” in the middle category; and only the Australasian grass owl, an endemic subspecies, falls into the top-level “endangered” category. Meanwhile, dozens of non-endemic birds are listed as endangered, rare or warranting conservation, including the migratory eagles that can be seen flying across Taiwan in the spring and autumn each year.
In April this year, the Dasyueshan area saw the third annual International Bird Race, an event organized jointly by the CWBF and the Forestry Bureau’s Dongshih Forest District Office in eastern Taichung City. The race drew more than 100 domestic and foreign participants—including enthusiasts from France, mainland China and the Philippines—who ranged from 8 to more than 60 years old. The birders comprised 33 groups and competed to record the highest number of bird species in 24 hours. Observations could be made visually or by hearing the birds’ calls. Perhaps unsurprisingly, a group from the WBST won the event by reporting 99 species, while the combined total reported by all groups was 158, of which 21 were endemic.
Neil Bowman, a noted British bird photographer for periodicals including US-based National Geographic Magazine, joined this year’s Dasyueshan race as an observer during a press trip he made to Taiwan. Although the weather was gloomy, Bowman was impressed by the enthusiasm of participants. “I travelled up and down the mountain road birding and photographing birds where possible,” he writes in an email response. “On my wanderings around the park I met many of the birders participating in the race—they seemed to be always smiling and enjoying themselves and were invariably keen to show me the birds that they had found.” The photographer also notes that many participants in the Dasyueshan competition were younger than those typically seen at similar events in Britain. “Whereas in the UK the majority would have been middle-aged or older, here by contrast there was a much wider spectrum of ages,” he writes. “It was so encouraging to see so many young people and even families taking part. After all the future of conservation depends on their generation.”
British photographer Neil Bowman speaks to participants at the 2013 International Bird Race held at Dasyueshan National Forest Recreation Area in central Taiwan. (Photo Courtesy of Chinese Wild Bird Federation)
Lin says local interest in bird watching has developed over the past several decades in line with Taiwan’s liberalizing society and emergence of environmental awareness. “Before martial law was lifted [in 1987], the use of binoculars and spotting scopes was restricted,” he says. “Now, with the free use of those aids and the introduction of digital cameras, bird watching and bird photography have become much more popular.”
As interest in bird watching has grown, the illustrated handbooks birders rely on for identification have also improved, Ho says, pointing to the increase in hand-drawn illustrations of specific species. “There’re so many bird species in Taiwan that it’s hard to photograph all of them in their juvenile and adult stages,” Ho says, adding that the WBST has launched an effort to encourage more local painters specializing in ecological themes to create bird paintings by publishing their works.
A Helping Hand from NGOs
Taiwan’s birds and bird watchers appear to be in good hands thanks to the efforts of the CWBF and its member organizations. In addition to collecting and analyzing data on bird populations and publishing the results, such groups cooperate with academics and government agencies to conserve bird habitats and develop comprehensive ecosystem management plans. The WBST, for example, played a crucial role in establishing the Guandu Nature Park and began managing the reserve in 2001, thereby becoming Taiwan’s first NGO to administer one of the country’s protected areas. As for the CWBF, in 2012 the federation began assisting in the operation of the Mangrove Ecocenter, which is located on the Tamsui River in New Taipei City, contains Taiwan’s largest stand of mangrove trees and is a major habitat for water birds. Finally, there is the example of the Kaohsiung Wild Bird Society, a CWBF member organization based in Kaohsiung City, southern Taiwan. Lin Kun-hai (林昆海), secretary-general of the society, says his group works to introduce more people to the delights of bird watching by encouraging the practice in home gardens, neighborhood parks and schools. “To see people live in harmony with birds and the natural world is the most rewarding part of our work,” he says.
Write to Pat Gao at cjkao@mofa.gov.tw
A Chinese bamboo-partridge. The subspecies of partridge found in Taiwan is endemic. (Photo Courtesy of Wang Fu-yong)
A young bird watcher peers through a spotting scope at Guandu. (Photo Courtesy of Wild Bird Society of Taipei)
The white-browed shortwing, an endemic subspecies (Photo Courtesy of Wang Fu-yong)
Foreign birders guided by Simon Liao, second left, at Dasyueshan. The road sign reads “Be careful of birds and walk slowly.” (Photo Courtesy of Simon Liao)
The Mikado pheasant, one of Taiwan’s 24 endemic species (Photo Courtesy of Wang Fu-yong)