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

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Blue-winged Leafbird

In the next few blog posts, I will be talking about some cool birds that I saw. This particular post I will be sharing about the Blue-winged Leafbird. This bird is very attractive, it has a green back, crown, a yellow belly and breast, a blue-tipped wing, and a black throat. This Leafbird is usually found in broadleaf forests. It is related to fairy-bluebirds, birds I also saw in Malaysia. The Blue-winged Leafbirds are omnivores, mainly consuming insects and arthropods, and the occasional fruit. Besides that it is presumed to consume nectar as well. Leafbirds are interesting because they are one of the few birds that evolved in South-east Asia, and later spread to the himalayas and other parts of Asia. I saw this bird on the second day in Kubah, around noon. It was before the pavilion where we were going to head back. There was a lot of commotion, and all sorts of different birds started to show up, Fulvettas, Orioles, Drongos and of course, two Blue-winged Leafbirds. It was me t

Rare in Taiwan, common in Malaysia

In this blog post I am going to talk about relatively common birds that I saw in Sarawak, but that are rare in Taiwan. There will be seven birds that I will share: the Brahminy Kite, White-breasted Woodswallow, White-bellied Sea-Eagle, Western Hooded Pitta, Pied Triller, Scarlet Minivet, and the Collared Kingfisher. Brahminy Kite Four of the seven birds were seen in and around Kuching, and quite effortlessly. I will arrange the birds in the order of which I saw them, the first being the White-breasted Woodswallow. This bird is very unique looking, with a grayish head and back, a large beak, and a white breast. Woodswallows are quite interesting because, despite their name, they are not swallows, but rather part of a group related to Corvids aka crows and ravens. They belong in the family Artamidae, and are related to butcherbirds and the Australian Magpie. Its behavior is similar to flycatchers. They are insectivores, sallying bugs from the sky. We saw this bird right outside our

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 cha

Tainan Young Birder Blog

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