Taiwan's world-class butterfly habitat withstands typhoon

“While large coaches will still be barred from entering due to safety concern, medium-size passenger buses, SUVs and compact cars can cruise the area safely,” Wu said. As a prelude to the biennial butterfly watching festival, Wu said his office will join forces with the Liuguei township office in organizing a drumming event at the township's Baolai Junior High School this weekend to console the many typhoon survivors in the region.

The renowned U Theatre will head a group of hearing-impaired students in performing its signature drum piece Mandala Dedication, which was presented in the opening ceremony for the 2009 Summer Deaflympics held in Taipei in September. The program will be named “Drum Wish” as organizers hope that the beat and rhythm of drumming will encourage typhoon-affected people to regain faith and rebuild their lives and careers.

In late October or early November each year, instinct draws purple crow butterflies to take refuge in low-lying valleys on the two sides of the southern foothills of Taiwan's Central Mountain Range, most notably Maolin in Kaohsiung County and Dawu in Taitung County, where they winter until March.

At the onset of spring, the butterflies begin a 400-km migration back to their northern habitats, following a variety of routes from Maolin and Dawu until they reach the hillside village of Pingding in Yunlin County, where they converge in the thousands or even millions before crossing the Chingshuei River in south-central Taiwan.

The butterflies then fly to different destinations in central, northern and northeastern Taiwan, including Baguashan in Changhua County and Jhunan in Miaoli County, where they fulfill their most important mission — to mate and lay their eggs.

This butterfly migrating spectacle is almost unique to Taiwan. The only other place where this can be seen is in Mexico, where the monarch butterfly is the only other butterfly species to migrate like birds and winter in a particular valley, according to local conservation activists.

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