2009 Bagua Mountain Bird Fair, Changua

The Changhua County government cooperates with the Tourism Bureau, the Forestry Bureau and Changhua Wild Bird Society to hold a series of birding activities, called the Bagua Mountain Bird Fair, in late March every year. Through these activities, they remind people of the importance of conservation. The Bagua Mountain Bird Fair, begun in 1991 by Simon Liao, then Chairman of the Changhua Wild Bird Society, has become a major annual event in Changhua. 

This year, the main events took place on March 21-22 on Bagua Mountain, Changhua, with the Opening Ceremonies on Saturday, March 21.  The Bird Fair is hosted by the Changhua Wild Bird Society and celebrates the spring migration of the Gray-faced Buzzard (Gray-faced Buzzard Eagle), Butastur indicus.  Thousands of these raptors follow the contour of Bagua Mountain (Tri-Mountain National Scenic Area) on their annual journey from their wintering areas in southeast Asia, Indonesia and the Philippines, northward to their breeding sites in Japan, northeast China, Korea and the Russian Far East.  The dates of the Bird Fair coincide with the peak of the migration period.  Observers on Bagua Mountain can look up and see waves of the Gray-faced Buzzard and other raptors high overhead as they make their way north.

At the invitation of the Chairman of the Changhua Wild Bird Society, Mr. Liao Tzu-Ciang, guests from the British Columbia Field Ornithologists, Canada, took part in the opening ceremonies.  They were Mrs. Jo Ann MacKenzie, former President of the BCFO and Mr. Jim Fliczuk, former Treasurer of the BCFO.  Jo Ann presented two of her Canadian bird photographs to dignitaries at the Fair, Mr. Cho Po-Yuan, Changhua County Mayor and Mr. Steven T. Y. Kuo Su, Deputy Director General, Taiwan Tourism Bureau.  Following the Opening Ceremonies, Jo Ann, Jim and Simon Liao, Chairman of the International Taiwan Birding Association, visited the observation station and met the hawk observers before beginning a two-week birdwatching tour of Taiwan.  Liao Jin-Bo, Simon Liao’s father, has been a volunteer raptor counter at the observation station for many years.  Simon’s mother, Chen Sue-Yu, prepares lunch for the volunteers.