The Bird Ecology Lab at the NPUST Institute of Wildlife Conservation has long been a promotor of farmland ecological conservation. Most recently, the lab’s innovative “raptor perch” technology and the outstanding results of their promotional activities have won them second place at the “2025 Taiwan Biodiversity Awards”, which are sponsored by the Taiwan Institute for Sustainable Energy. The award ceremony was held on July 16th in conjunction with the Taiwan Biodiversity Forum at the National Taiwan University Hospital International Conference Center. The award highlights the important contributions that National Pingtung University of Science and Technology is making towards the protection of farmland biodiversity by combining ecological research, food and agriculture education and university social responsibility.
The award-winning project was jointly implemented by Assistant Professor Shiao-Yu Hong of the Institute of Wildlife Conservation and doctoral candidate Hui-shan Lin at the College of Agriculture’s Biological Resources Program. With the support of the MOA Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency, they have been setting up numerous raptor perches in farmlands across Taiwan since 2017. Their pioneering perch monitoring technology attracts a variety of raptors, such as black-winged kites and eastern grass owl, to the fields to catch mice, thus reducing reliance on chemical pesticides. They also capture interesting images of birds, which help to promote the technique and show the world the important role that birds of prey can play in eco-friendly agriculture.
