Taipei City Government

Recently, the surroundings of Tsuei Lake in Muzha Park are abuzz with singing birds and chirping insects, heralding the arrival of spring with its fragrant flowers and new life. This is also the firefly season, and people are welcome to come firefly watching at Tsuei Lake between 18:40 to 20:00 from April 15 to May 5.

Public Works Department’s Parks and Street Lights Office (PSLO) director Chen Jung-hsing says that the agency has committed itself to the ecological redesign and management of the city’s parks for many years. While it is not easy to achieve a balance between city and nature, Tsuei Lake in Muzha Park has become a place where fireflies thrive thanks to the efforts of the Beauty Tsuei Lake Volunteer Team and Wenshan Community College. The presence of fireflies is an indicator that the water and flora of this area are clean. Chen calls on the public to cherish and protect this piece of land and preserve it for not only future generations of fireflies but also our grandchildren.

Chang Hsiu-chu, head of the PSLO’s Nangang Park Management Division, explains that fireflies emit a faint fluorescent light to attract the opposite sex. She urges visitors not to wear light-emitting apparel (such as squeaky children’s shoes with lights) to avoid interference with the fireflies. As public lighting around Tsuei Lake is of low intensity, visitors are advised to allow their eyes a moment to adjust to the low-light surroundings before they enter the area. Visitors should also follow the Four Don’ts: don’t catch the fireflies, don’t disturb the fireflies, don’t shine any light on the fireflies, and don’t stray from the walkways. If we give the fireflies space, they will thrive, and we will be able to enjoy them for years to come.

Wenshan Community College president Cheng Hsiu-chuan notes that her college has produced information boards that are hung on a wall near the Muzha Pool to inform visitors of the history of Tsuei Lake, and the ecological efforts to bring the fireflies back to the park. Volunteers will also screen a mini film outdoors about the nature restoration work in the park and the return of fireflies to Muzha. The mini film will be screened at the bamboo pavilion opposite the public restrooms of Muzha Park on the weekends of April 20-21, April 27-28, and May 4-5, between 18:40 and 20:00. Everyone is welcome to come see this mini film free of charge. People interested in joining the Tsuei Lake Volunteers are invited to sign up for the volunteer training camp to be held this summer. Further updates will be posted on the Facebook Public Group, titled Beauty Tsuei Lake ”水水翠湖”.

Past experience has shown that firefly-watching crowds have caused major traffic congestion, resulting in much wasted time and significant local air pollution from idling cars. The public is therefore strongly advised to use public transport to visit any firefly watching areas, including the one at Muzha.to visit Muzha Park’s Tsuei Lake firefly watching spot, take buses 237, 253, 611, or 671 and alight at Muzha Park Stop, from where it is a 2-minute walk to the park. Buses 294, 647, 660, 666, 915, 933, and Brown 6 all stop at the Zaixing High School Stop, from which it is a 6-minute walk to the park. Anyone that still insists on coming by car can park inside the roadside parking spots around Muzha Park or, when those spots are full, in the Underground Parking Lot of Yongjian Elementary School, from where it is a 10-minute walk to the park.

Love the fireflies?
Then be nice:
giv’em clean air.

So catch a bus,
no parking fuss,
and we’ll see you there!