In the shadow of the city’s high-rises, a bird perched beneath a wild papaya tree. Its rounded form and earthy hue made it stand upright like a papaya hanging from the branches. The Malayan Night Heron, often called sweet potato bird or big dumb bird by locals, usually roams the city with carefree ease. Yet on one chance afternoon, it stood solemnly beneath the fruit-laden papaya tree. In the interplay of light and shadow, we glimpsed a striking resemblance between the two. This book focuses its gaze and discourse on the Malayan Night Heron. Following the logic behind its colloquial naming, it adopts “Papaya Bird” as a new nickname based on its outward resemblance.

This moniker then inspires photography, three-line poems, and observational notes to depict a bird full of interpretations. Simultaneously, it echoes our previous work, The Image Book of Nomad Papaya, which explored Taiwanese papayas. By juxtaposing the two, we contemplate their evolving identities and meanings shaped by historical and ecological shifts as both gradually coexist within the cityscape.