Life is precious. These amazing birds travel great distances to find a suitable habitat to pursue the continuation of their existence. Every year between September and October, tens of thousands of these magnificent birds of prey follow the migratory path of their predecessors and soar across the skies of Taiwan passing through the southern tip of the Hengchun Peninsula. They risk their lives to overcome bad weather, flying to the warmer regions of Southeast Asia. This journey of tens of thousands of kilometers is repeated each and every year. How do they prevail in this perilous journey? And how are ornithologists able to track and observe them? Where do these migratory birds come from, and where exactly are they traveling to?

The Story of Far Away (A Flight of a Great Distance ─ the Gray-Faced Buzzard). The term “far away” represents an enormous distance. Gray-faced buzzard eagles come from faraway places, and they also fly across thousands of kilometers to distant locations, where they settle down in their breeding grounds and spend the winter. For Taiwan, these locations are very distant indeed. “Far Away,” for me, is a distance, a symbol and a synonym. Naming one of the many gray-faced buzzards “Far Away,” is just that, a symbol to represent the birds. It does not represent any particular gray-faced buzzard, since any one of them could be the embodiment of “Far Away.” It is because the procession of tens of thousands of buzzards shares a common destiny and may even share an identical experience. Even during the course of migration, they may encounter unknown incidents, the outcome of which may fall onto any one of the gray-faced buzzards. I named it “Far Away” precisely because it is a bird from faraway lands. These birds fly across a vast expanse, from birth to death, year after year, and they all spend they lives in an incredible journey of great length. And their wonderful lives are the very story that I am going to tell.

We cannot change nature. At the same time we are looking for the mysterious force behind the migratory birds’ journey, we should present ourselves with a humble heart that respects all life and respects nature.