another bird we saw in taiwan was their famous blue magpie, which is endemic to the island and a little bit of a symbol of the country. you can find it in postcards and even murals!

we saw it really unexpectedly too: it just pranced in the path ahead of us mid-hike in yangmingshan, mindless of our human proximity, as if it just didn’t care. we were so shocked that we first froze in place, and then scrambled to get some pictures.

they didn’t turn out great, but still, it made us happy to have gotten this quiet moment with the special blue bird. :)