Taiwan is a wonderful place for birding. According to the most recent Checklist of the Birds of Taiwan, 686 species occur here, including 32 endemics and 52 endemic subspecies. Over the years, Taiwan’s avifauna has faced various threats and responses in the form of conservation efforts.
Many government agencies, university labs, and civic groups today engage in bird conservation for these feathered friends. Here are some of the significant conservation species from over the years and how to learn more about their conservation stories.
Snapshots of Bird Conservation in Taiwan
The Chinese Crested Tern

Before 2000, the last confirmed record of a Chinese Crested Tern (Thalasseus bernsteini) had been off the coast of China’s Shandong province in 1937. Scientists and researchers alike had thought it had gone extinct. It was an understandable shock when a Taiwanese director spotted one while making a movie about the terns of the Matsu Archipelago.
The rediscovery of the species earned it the moniker of ‘the mythical bird’ and set off an international effort to conserve the bird, whose population was estimated at that time to be less than 50. Since then, groups such as the Wild Bird Society of Taipei, Wild Bird Society of Matsu, and researchers from National Taiwan University have been fighting to save the world’s most critically endangered seabird. Learn more about efforts to save the Chinese Crested Tern.
The Black-faced Spoonbill

The case of the Black-faced Spoonbill (Platalea minor) is one of the great bird conservation success stories in Asia, if not the world. In the late 1980s, it was discovered that this migratory waterbird native to eastern Asia had a global population of just 288 birds, most of which were found wintering in Taiwan’s Tainan City. Saving the species required the power of partnership and cooperation at both the local and international levels.
Through the work of various stakeholders, including the Taiwan Wild Bird Federation and its partner organization, the Wild Bird Society of Tainan, Taiwan helped lead the way during the critical period of the 1990s. The results of these efforts have been paying off. As of 2024, there were over 6,000 birds counted in the International Black-faced Spoonbill Census.
Taiwan consistently sees between 50%-60% of the global wintering population today. Though numbers have risen, threats to this rebounding population remain, and conservation efforts are still significant. Learn more about efforts to conserve the Black-faced Spoonbill and this article about the Black-faced Spoonbill.
The Fairy Pitta

The Fairy Pitta (Pitta nympha) is a long-distance migratory land bird restricted to the East Asian-Australasian Flyway. Though now known to have an extensive breeding range that includes the Korean Peninsula, China, Japan, and Taiwan, in the late 1990s and early 2000s, it was thought the bird might only breed in Taiwan. Research on the species here also goes back to that period, and to date, Taiwan has some of the most comprehensive work on the subject.
This passerine also holds special significance for another reason. It played an outsized role in the fight against the Huben Dam and a gravel extraction case in the late 1990s and the 2000s, carving out a place in Taiwan’s modern conservation history. However, it still maintains some of its secrets even today, including where it winters.
Learn more about conservation efforts for the Fairy Pitta and also from this other link.
Conservation History and the Rise of Birdwatching in Taiwan

Ornithological study and documentation in Taiwan can be traced back to the mid-1800s. The first wave of researchers and collectors came from the west. This is reflected in the first official confirmed record by William Simpson onboard a US naval vessel on September 25, 1854. He recorded Little Terns and Barn Swallows.
Taiwan’s first checklist would be published in the UK’s Ibis magazine in 1863 by British naturalist and diplomat Robert Swinhoe. By the turn of the century, many western researchers would come for specimens or to make new discoveries.
Though the Japanese made Taiwan part of their empire in 1895 and would rule for 50 years, they did not discover any endemics. However, work by Japanese researchers and collectors would lay the groundwork for Taiwanese researchers in the coming years, particularly that of Marquis Yamashina Yoshimaru and ornithologists Hachisuka Masauji and Udagawa Tatsuo.
From the end of World War II until the early 1960s, ornithological work was limited by the martial law government of the Kuomintang. However, this changed in 1963, when the US Army launched the MAPS program to understand better migratory birds and their connection with the spread of infectious diseases.
The students trained under this program would be the first generation of Taiwanese researchers. During the 1970s, some would also begin promoting birdwatching and birdwatching groups.

Birdwatching started to make inroads as a hobby at this time, and three groups would take shape in the north, centre, and southern parts of Taiwan, the precursors to three of Taiwan’s largest bird societies.
Yet even as these groups were forming, conservationists in Japan and the USA were interested in talking with their members about the conservation of Grey-faced Buzzards and Brown Shrikes, which they heard were being caught in large numbers in Taiwan. These two species would be part of Taiwan’s early environmental movements of the late 1970s and early 1980s.
You can also learn more from this overview of Taiwan’s early ornithological history and conservation work.
The Work of the Taiwan Wild Bird Federation

Meanwhile, after the lifting of martial law in 1987, a national-level organization was founded by those three groups in Taipei, Taichung, and Kaohsiung to help them negotiate with the central government and represent these partner organizations abroad.
It would be called the Taiwan Wild Bird Federation, and today, it is Taiwan’s largest bird conservation organization. Founded in 1988, it is a secretariat for its 21 partner organizations spread throughout Taiwan and its outlying islands.
Throughout the years, it has participated in various campaigns, studies, and initiatives for birds and their habitats. Centred on birdwatching, research, and conservation, it is now working on projects that include citizen science, land adoption, and seabird bycatch.
An overview of the history of the TWBF and the work it has done over the last 35+ years can be found here:
- Soaring on the Wings of Giants – Part 2
- Soaring on the Wings of Giants – Part 3
- Soaring on the Wings of Giants – Part 4

Conclusion
This article on the Snapshots of Bird Conservation in Taiwan was written by Scott Pursner, TWBF Director of International Affairs. The Birdwatching Asia team met him in person at the Asian Bird Fair 2024 in Las Pinas, Philippines. We also found his passion for bird conservation overwhelming and invited him to contribute to our publication.