Maolin Biennial Butterfly Watching Festival from November-March
Thousands of purple crow butterflies travel across the ocean to live here every winter
When the first light of dawn falls on the Purple Crow Butterfly Valley of Maolin in the early winter morning, we find that the sleeping purple crow butterflies will awaken and begin to enthusiastically chase the light that penetrates the tree canopy and the forest. Sometimes, the butterfly displays its wings motionlessly. Sometimes, it flies back and forth in the valley, providing tourists with an optimal ecological tourism place.
Purple crow butterflies are rare overwintering butterflies. They will fly to the Purple Crow Butterfly Valley of Maolin every winter to overwinter. In the valleys where purple crow butterflies live in Maolin and Liugui, not only can you see the double-branded black crow butterfly, the two-branded crow butterfly, the dwarf crow butterfly, and the blue-branded king crow butterfly, but also the colorful blue tiger butterfly.
Line in the needs of butterfly-watching tourists, the Maolin National Scenic Area Headquarters organizes a biennial butterfly-watching series of activities from November to March of the following year. It provides interpretation services at the entrance of the Maolin Ecological Park to help the public understand the migration and wintering ecology of the purple crow butterfly. The headquarters' official website also provides live video broadcasts of purple crow butterflies so that tourists who cannot visit the site can watch the world-class butterfly landscape remotely. Since Maolin is a Rukai tribe, the headquarters also plan a butterfly-protection market and cultural performances that combine local characteristics during the activities. Besides appreciating purple crow butterflies, tourists visiting Maolin can visit the market and watch performances to experience the rich Rukai cultural atmosphere.