Formosan Blue Magpie

The Formosan Blue Magpie otherwise known as the Taiwanese Blue Magpie was voted as the national bird of Taiwan in 2007 where over 1,000,000 votes were cast from 53 different countries. As its name implies it is blue in color with a black head and red beak. Size wise it is comparable to the European Magpie but its tail is much longer measuring up to 40 centimeters.

These birds often live in groups of 6 or more near human residences in the countryside and hills as they are not afraid of people. These birds are also monogamous which means they have the same mate through out their lifetime. When breeding the female takes care of the young which usually hatch in groups of 3 to 7 chicks while the male builds the nest and gets food. Blue magpie chicks take up to 19 days to hatch from their olive green eggs though only around 80% of the eggs will hatch.

These birds have been listed as "Rare and Valuable" by Taiwan's Cultural Heritage Preservation Act. However there is a good sized population of Formosan Blue Magpies inside Toucheng Leisure Farm where there is a safe environment for them to thrive in. Hopefully these rare yet beautiful birds will be with us forever. Hopefully humans wont drive them to extinction.

6 Degrees of Seperation

Six degrees of separation is a theory first introduced by Frigyes Karinthy. In a nut shell it suggests that everything and everyone is 6 links or fewer apart. In theory this means that you know six people who know six people who know six people......continuing like this we could cover every person on Earth.

This is a very good mindset to have when it comes to being environmentally friendly. Often people feel that they can not make a difference so that extra bottle they throw away or the extra plastic bag you ask for does not matter when in reality it does. If every person on earth used one less plastic bag than they usually do per week that would prevent almost seven billion bags from entering our landfills and oceans.....every week! Everybody contributes to the environment so each individual must also be held accountable. 

According to this theory if everyone told six people some very easy ways to reduce their carbon footprint it could be the start of something much bigger than the individual. That is why here at Toucheng Leisure Farm we try to spread environmental awareness with everyone we can. 

So what are we doing at the farm to help?


1) There are many sorted bins around the farm to make recycling super easy

2) The roads at the farm are built with stones and not concrete to allow life to thrive underneath

3) Food wastes are collected, fermented and used as fertilizers 

4) Tables and chairs are made from Floating Logs to protect forests

Fun Fact! Floating logs are logs that have been blown down by typhoons. They are not chopped. However you do need a permit to collect floating logs so not everyone can just get a truck and drag one home!