Skip to main content

How I Started Birding

 My interest in birds started when I was five. Even before I brought birding into my family, we always spent a lot of time up in the mountains and out in nature. We love learning about the flora and fauna of Taiwan and about Taiwanese indigenous culture. One long weekend, we visited a small village. Just by chance, the other guests were birders, and one of them was actually the chairperson of the Tainan Wild Bird Society (like the Audobon in America). One morning, after a hike, they got super excited by a large bird circling around in the sky. I was curious, so they lent me their binoculars, and told me it was a Mountain Hawk-eagle, the rarest eagle in Taiwan.

 

Mountain Hawk-Eagle, Ali 2021

    They also had a field guide, and showed me some birds I might see in the area and how to identify them. Sure enough, on our next morning walk, we found birds that we had never noticed before. From that point on, I was hooked. At first, I would beg my dad to buy us a pair of binoculars and later begged him to take me all over Taiwan just to bird. A couple years later we joined the Tainan Wild Bird Society, and we met a bunch of experienced birders very eager to share their knowledge. For nine years my love for birding has not diminished in any way. 

Mountain Hawk-Eagle, Hehuanshan 2022


    What keeps me interested in birds is the excitement when I finally see a lifer, the relief when I finally see a bird after three hours of searching or waiting; but sometimes it doesn’t need to be a lifer or a rare bird that gets me excited, sometimes it might just be a bird I haven’t seen in a long time, or sometimes it is just normal birds doing interesting or weird things that intrigues me. After a long week at school, just observing birds makes me happy.

Mountain Hawk-Eagle, Hehuanshan 2022

~ Article and photos by Isaac Lang

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Mountain Hawk-Eagle

    The Mountain Hawk-Eagle is one of the biggest raptors native to Taiwan, and is also one of the rarest and hardest to observe. It's wingspan is a bit small for such a big eagle, which is one of the easiest ways to identify it. A big body with wide wings. The Mountain Hawk-Eagle is not easy to see because it lives only in places with almost no human disruption. It also only comes out to hunt a couple of times a day, so you might not be able to see it even if you are in a suitable habitat. The Mountain Hawk-Eagle is considered very sacred by some indigenous tribes in Taiwan, and the tail feathers of the eagle are used to decorate the headdresses of local tribal leaders. I also consider the Mountain Hawk-Eagle as sacred because I have only met it a couple of times, and it is the bird that started my birding journey. Of the four times I have seen it, three times I saw it in Ali, the place where I first started birding. It is still one of my favorite places to do mountain birdin...
Post a Comment
Read more

Birding and Me

I usually go birding every chance I have, but in my busy teen schedule, I usually only have a morning or sometimes if I'm lucky, a whole day free. Besides going birding with my dad, if the Tainan Wild Bird Society has any events going on, I almost always participate. For example, me and my dad participate in the New Year Bird Count every year, we help with the Black-faced Spoonbill survey, and other numerous Wetland birding events, and I also volunteer to be a bird guide at a local birding spot sponsored by the Wild Bird Society. One year we focused on submitting as many checklists for a local wetland IBA to help prevent it from becoming a solar farm, which would mean that the Spoon-billed Sandpiper and the Nordmann’s Greenshank would have to find another spot to rest during migration.  Black-faced Spoonbill (with tag) Beside all the events we participate in, me and my dad use eBird every time we go birding, and take very careful counts when we bird. Recently I have started to pay ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Kenting Raptor Migration

Crested Serpent-Eagle Every October, my family travels south to Kenting (in Pingtung) on the national Day of Taiwan. We visit for the purpose of seeing the breath-taking migration of raptors - thousands upon thousands - journeying to their wintering grounds. Because Taiwan is a key rest stop for birds, there are many places to observe this particular migration.  A kettle of raptors Of all the migrating raptors, the Grey-faced Buzzard and the Chinese Sparrowhawk are the ones that are the most abundant. Hundreds of thousands pass through Taiwan every year. The Grey-faced Buzzard is a medium-sized raptor, with a mouse-gray face, a black-tipped beak, a very obvious throat streak, brownish wings, horizontal streaking in the underbody, and bright orange talons. The Chinese Sparrowhawk on the other hand is much smaller in size, has a blueish-gray back and head, and black-tipped wings. Adults lack a throat streak, whereas juveniles have one. Grey-faced Buzzard This year we had a slight...
Post a Comment
Read more