A Word from Us

“The ‘white eagles’ used to soar above the sky, and you could even see them from the tribe... but that was a long time ago,” said the elders from the Paiwan and Rukai tribes in Pingtung. The ‘white eagles’ the elders referred to is Mountain Hawk-Eagles, the largest raptor in Taiwan. The white eagles are nowhere near the tribes nowadays, concealing themselves deep within the forests.

In the past century, the population of Mountain Hawk-Eagle continued to decrease as an inevitable result of habitat loss, falconry market and feather trades. As a habitat specialist, the species rely specifically on native old-growth forests, the area of which is estimated to be 1/5 of that before the time of Japanese Colonization (a bill was later passed to put a ban on felling native forests in 1991). Despite the Wildlife Conservation Act passed in 1989, the demand on the falconry market is still causing at most 20 nests being raided a year and the nestlings being sold to the falconers, putting even more pressure on the reproductive success of the population.

Yet another pressure comes from the indigenous culture in Taiwan. The primary feather of Mountain Hawk-Eagles is a symbol of nobility in the Paiwan and Rukai culture, and is traditionally worn only by the chiefs as a representation of their social ranking. Unfortunately, the value of the tradition is being lost over the years, and the feathers are becoming nothing more than a commodity which can be illegally acquired from poachers. The once sacred bird of prey is now a listed endangered species.

On November 7^th, 2014, we called together a group of scholars, government officials and tribal members to participate in the 2014 Mountain Hawk-Eagle Conservation Forum, hoping to engage different stakeholders in the joint discussion of Mountain Hawk-Eagle conservation and indigenous cultural conservation. A consensus was reached at the forum to take an active approach to alleviate the hunting stress on wild Mountain Hawk-Eagle due to illegal feather trades. This approach involves establishing a feather repository where molted feathers of captive Mountain Hawk-Eagles are collected, registered, and made available to indigenous tribes. Tribal members who are eligible to wear the feathers may then apply and obtain the feathers through legal channels. The Mountain Hawk-Eagle Feather Repository was established by the NPUST Avian Ecology Lab and has been running since May, 2015.

Mountain Hawk-Eagles are the natural predators of Formosan Macaques, which is becoming an agricultural nuisance in the countryside due to the plummeting number of predators. Conserving the population of Mountain Hawk-Eagle is crucial to the balance of the ecosystem and our agriculture. We are calling for your help. Donate to support us (any amount is greatly appreciated)!