Ornithologists of an earlier day used to attach a wire thread to the bird's leg to trace its migration patterns. But because the birds would often peck it off, they later changed to silver bands. After constant improvements, what is used today is a rustproof band made of incoloy. At the same time, besides banding a bird, they also record various measurements and observations about it to make the work even more meaningful and scientific.

The process of banding a bird involves six steps: 1) safely and effectively catching migratory birds in large quantities; 2) putting on a band with an address and serial number; 3) measuring various parts of the bird's body, such as its bill length, head length, wing length, leg length, and weight; 4) determining the bird's age and type of plumage; 5) recording the measurements and observations in detail along with the location at which it was found; and 6) releasing it.

Leaving behind that information and sporting its new ornament, the bird flies to another stop along its migration route. If it is captured by another bander along the way, that researcher will perform the same tasks, except for adding another band, as the first and will notify the original bander to compare information. The more times the bird is caught, the more the information that is built up about it.

Besides telling us the bird's migratory patterns, this information also indicates the bird's physiological changes, enabling scientists, after analysis, to surmise its living habits during the course of migration, which we may otherwise be unable to observe. So bird banding not only enables us to learn a lot about a bird's comings and goings but is also a critical basic study in the research of migratory bird species.

A migratory species is an international resource, and completing its life history depends on international cooperation. People in each country along the way must carry out bird banding work in order to complete a thorough survey. If one country fails to perform, then the bird's story will show a blank.

Semitropical Taiwan is an important rest stop for many birds migrating north and south in East Asia. From the migratory route maps published by foreign scholars in the past and the studies of Chinese scholars in more recent years, it is evident that the hundreds of thousands of migratory wild geese, ducks, and gulls that visit Taiwan on their way south in the winter actually originate in Japan, Korea, Manchuria, Siberia, and Mongolia.

The Republic of China engaged in banding international migratory birds more than twenty years ago. The United States at the time suspected that the international spread of Japanese encephalitis was related to animal migration and asked thirteen countries in Southeast Asia, including the R.O.C., to take part in a pathological survey of migratory animals, the main focus of which was birds.

The study was completed seven years later. Although the R.O.C. was unable to continue bird banding because of limitations on manpower and resources, the experience did give us a much better knowledge of the birds that visit our island and sparked an interest in many people in bird watching.

Bird banding is especially active in Europe and North America, where it has a hundred-year history. In the U.S. and Canada around 10 million birds belonging to 600 different species have been banded over the years, and a million or so have been recaptured and recorded. Every year now nearly a million are banded and 40,000 to 50,000 recaptured.

In East Asia the history of bird watching and bird banding dates back the longest in Japan. And during the past ten years the Soviet Union, Malaysia, and the Philippines have all joined the ranks of countries tracing birds on their distant paths through the skies.

In the R.O.C. the study of indigenous birds and the training of ornithologists have both increased in recent years, and a more prosperous lifestyle has given many people the leisure to engage in bird watching. Bird watching clubs have been set up one after the other in Taipei, Taichung, and Kao-hsiung and together they have formed the R.O.C. Bird Watching Society. With this manpower as a backing and supported by the Council of Agriculture, the R.O.C. once again began to take part in bird banding work in November 1986.

Bird banding work on Taiwan is now carried out mainly in areas located near bird watching societies and frequented by birds, such as Kuantu in Taipei, the mouth of Tatu Creek in Taichung, and Ssutsao in Tainan. During the past two years, nearly 10,000 birds have been banded around the island. The work is hard but it has its rewards.

Although much can be learned from one's own records, the most cherished hope of the bird banders is that a bird they have banded will be found again by themselves or by others overseas.

"You can complete a research report on an indigenous bird species in a year or two," says Chuang Yung-hung, an assistant researcher with the Taipei Bird Watching Society. "But for migratory fowl you may not necessarily be able to reach a conclusion in ten."

As Confucius said, "A visitor from afar is a joy indeed!" Why not play the good host to our feathered visitors from afar as well? Otherwise, should the birds lose Taiwan as a place of refuge along the way, we will have lost much more than the opportunity to share in international statistics.

Avian Migration Routes in the Taiwan Area

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[Picture Caption]

Each year large numbers of birds fly south to Taiwan to pass the winter. Shown here covering the beach and sky are Pacific dunlins. (photo by Kuo Chih-yung)

The sharp-tailed stint passes through Taiwan from August to October on its way south and returns on its way north the following spring. (photo by Kuo Chih-yung)

Photos show a wood sandpiper (above left), a Stegmann's Mongolian plover (below left), and a Geoffroy's sand plover (right). They all visit Taiwan regularly in the spring and fall. (photo by Ch'en Yung-fu)

In bird banding work, the band must be put on first before measuring the bird's mouth, wings, head, and so forth.

Taiwan Migratory Birds Migration Route.

The sharp-tailed stint passes through Taiwan from August to October on its way south and returns on its way north the following spring. （photo by Kuo Chih-yung）

Photos show a wood sandpiper.

a Stegmann's Mongolian plove.

and a Geoffroy's sand plover （right）. They all visit Taiwan regularly in the spring and fall. （photo by Ch'en Yung-fu）

In bird banding work, the band must be put on first before measuring the bird's mouth, wings, head, and so forth.

In bird banding work, the band must be put on first before measuring the bird's mouth, wings, head, and so forth.

In bird banding work, the band must be put on first before measuring the bird's mouth, wings, head, and so forth.

In bird banding work, the band must be put on first before measuring the bird's mouth, wings, head, and so forth.