Spring Break In Taiwan 3

Yilan 宜蘭

The most North of the three counties touching the Pacific.

The birding part of the  two day trip started at the delta of Lanyang River, this western region of the county touches the Pacific, and many uncommon winter birds are found here.

Brown Shrike

is one of the most abundant of all migrants in Taiwan. They often have dark eye patches, which sometimes make the shrikes look masked. Decades ago, bird traps made of bamboo were put out during their peak migration in the winters. Shrikes like standing on sticks that would give them good views of potential preys, but when they got on these traps, they became food themselves for Taiwanese. Luckily, the wildlife protection laws have been changed and enforced; trapping wild birds is illegal and not as common.

Brown Shrike

Black-faced Spoonbill
about 15 of them winter in Yilan every year. More than half of these rare large water birds, less than 3000 of them are found in the world, winter in Taiwan. More than 1000 of them go to Tainan county, but Yilan also gets a few, one of them was banded and returns to the same area with its flock every winter. Taiwanese in general are proud of these flocks, but the number of them coming to Taiwan is decreasing every year, possibly they now prefer Hong Kong due to several coastal construction projects near their wintering grounds in southern Taiwan. Even from distance, they are easily recognizable when they put their bill in the water and sweep left and right while walking. This typical feeding behaviour is not seen in many other birds.This single bird had some light yellow breeding plumage, and would soon join others departing north. 

Black-faced Spoonbill

Far Eastern Curlew
I believe this is the identification, but I can be wrong, the only curlew I have seen before this were Whimbrel and Long-billed Curlew.

Far Eastern Curlew

Great Cormorant

Great cormorants

Grey Wagtail
White wagtail and Grey Wagtails spend a lot of time near shallow ponds. Sometimes even in cities or man-made decoration ponds where there is not much food, but they still check those places. But they are most often seen walking on agricultural land.

Grey Wagtail

We invested the rest of the afternoon and the second morning on a mid elevation mountain, hoping for Golden Parrotbills which I never saw. My friends already prepared me for this possible outcome when they picked me up. So I was not disappointed at all, actually added 3 lifers, Oriental Cuckoo, Taiwan Bush-Warbler, and Himalayan Owl, but only had a quick glipse of the owl.

Oriental Cuckoo
March 18th, maybe a bit early for 2cuckoos?

Oriental Cuckoo

Taiwan Bush-Warbler
the little brown bird was singing in a bush. New endemic lifer.

Taiwan Bush-Warbler

Taichung台中
Three of the counties in Taiwan are named after their relative geographical location when the Chinese arrived, Taipei(pei being north),Tainan(nan being south) and Taichung(chung means middle). However none of these is located at the most north or south or middle of Taiwan, they were only the most north and south boundaries of the early settlements. Beyond these places, were home to the 15/16 Indigenous tribes who presumably are related to those from the Philippines. 300 years ago, much outside the settlements were forests unexplored by westerners and Chinese, but now only few forests remain home to the remaining wild animals.

Dasyueshan IBA--Dasyueshan Forest-Road
From here, 50 km of paved forest road leads to a peak almost 3000 m high. At the 23 km mark, about 1580m about sea level, mid elevation ecosystem is already more conspicuous, coniferous trees and a species of high-elevation bamboos  becomes more common from here on. The road side of ''23k'' mark was a major bird feeding site, but the debates around interfering with birds' feeding behaviour in recent years have make it clear that feeding birds is not welcomed. Dad and I still decided to wait at the spot for some time, since we drove and slept here at mid night. Only the two of us and a few birds, much fewer than the years before. Maybe some people still feed them. Most of the birds seen were males.

Swinhoe's Pheasant male, endemic
This is one of the birds that attracted people to this feeding site and why many would wish not ending the feeding. Named after Robert Swinhoe, a British biologist who worked as a counsul in Formosa(now Taiwan). He sent many endemic specimens unknown to the western world before to Britain, thus many species are named after him, including several birds, a frog, and a lizard, so many that I do not know how many species.

Swinhoe's Pheasant

Tawian Whistling-Thrush endemic

instead of whistling, its call is more often referred to as braking bike. Not sure if other species sound more pleasant to the human ear. 

Tawian Whistling-Thrush

Red-flanked Bluetail
this one doesn't show any orange flanks, but the blue on its head make me think it is a young male.

Red-flanked Bluetail

Steere's Liocichla endemic
looks like a tongue-twisting name

Steere's Liocichla

From this point to 50k, almost 3000 m above sea level at the end of the road, the forest is a bit quite, but the species are also different.

White-tailed Robin male
about a dozen of these flew across the road during our 27 km travel. Another lifer added.

White-tailed Robin

Collared Bush-Robin male, endemic
they are found in the mid and high elevation mountains of central Taiwan. Quite distinct coloration.

Collared Bush-Robin

Collared Bush-Robin

Taiwan Yuhina endemic
commonly found in the mid elevation mountains. They are often seen on cherry trees during the period between February and spring.

Taiwan Yuhina

Eurasian Nutcracker
I'd say if I underexpose this picture more, it would look like a Clark's Nutcracker.

Eurasian Nutcracker

Red-flanked Bluetail male

Red-flanked Bluetail

White-whiskered Laughingthrush endemic
these are almost like Gray Jays, sticking around people to wait for possible free food. But the human food is a concern for their health.

White-whiskered Laughingthrush

Mikado Pheasant endemic

Doesn't look like people feed it everyday now, it passed by the old feeding spot near the end, but proceeded on its walk down the slopes. The 12 white segments of tail grows to full length in the last one or two months of the year. And every year the tail feather molt and regrows. The tail still looks good in March. Most would agree this chicken on the road is the best representation of Taiwan's endemicity. Mikado Pheasants are elusive. They walk in the fogs of high elevation and usually would not show themselves unless the photographer is camouflaged. The few pheasants on this road are exception because some of them had been fed before. 

Mikado means emperor in Japanese. Not only is this timid chicken, I mean pheasant named after the highest leader of imperial Japan, a pair of them is printed on every $1000 Taiwanese bill, the largest  bill commonly accepted in Taiwan. The $2000 with land-locked trouts is pretty rare and I have never seen any.

Mikado Pheasant

Spring Break in Taiwan 2

Jinshan

I had never been to Jinshan before so many birds here were new for me.

Wetlands of Northern Taiwan, like the scattered remaining wetlands around other parts of the country, are important migration destinations. More than a year ago (2?), an unusual sighting of Siberian Crane was reported in the privately-owned fields. Since then, the farmer has voluntarily stop cultivating the area where the crane likes to forage the most. It has established an amazing relationship with humans; often found approaching the old farmer and visitors. It flew to the busy streets of Songshan in Taipei city once. I missed all of the cranes in Taiwan, a pair of whom took off 2 hours before I arrived a few years ago, until this one which was found at the same spot for more than a year almost everyday until this week. 

Siberian Crane

As much as I understand, this is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan. It was only a young bird when it first seemed stranded, possibly was separated from its flock in a bad weather. Now it almost looks like an adult except a brown patch on its neck. It decided to speculate the visitors closely during the morning. With a 200-400 mm lens, I was only able to include the head and the neck in most of my pictures.

Siberian Crane

de-clawing a crab

Siberian Crane

Siberian Crane

Siberian Crane

 Common Buzzard
several raptors were heard and seen

Common Buzzard

 Black-shouldered Kite

This species was a rare vagrant in Taiwan about a decade before, but they now nest in many parts of Taiwan and has a greater range than original nest sites. This is my first  Black-shouldered Kite in Taiwan.

 Spot-billed Duck
as the name indicates, duck with spotted bill

Green-winged Teals
same species as the ones found in North America.
Also called Common teals or Eurasian Teals

Gray-headed Lapwing
quick fly-by of second lifer of the day

Barn Swallow

Most of the ones in Asia have white belly.

Jinshan Youth Activity Centre

is located close to the most north coast line of Taiwan, many birds spend some time here during spring and fall. 

 Black Kite/Black-eared Kite
this resident raptor was common throughout Taiwan before the mass use of pesticide and rodent poisons. Now only less than 300 of them are left. I am fortunate to have about 3 of them, which I sometimes see from my balcony, living near my place in Daxi, Taoyuan, though I wasn't able to get any photo of them at home during my stay.

White-cheeked Starling
Another lifer. White-cheeked Starling was recently found on Vancouver Island for the first time, but some argue that it was ship-assisted and cannot count as a new wild bird species on checklists.

 Dusky Thrush

Eurasian Hoopoe
I think this is the bird illustrated in the story of Kirikou. You can look it up if you have never heard of it. I have watched the movie a few times in my French class, and my classmates still seem to enjoy it when we re-watch it.

Red Collard-Dove

This is one of a number of the common species that seemed to evade me during the trip. At last I had a distant view.

 Tainan 
Guantian Pheasant-tailed Jacana Ecological Education Park

When High Speed Rail was planned to cut through one of the most best Jacana habitats, a few ponds, 15 hectares in total according to the Council of Agriculture, were set aside as a habitat reserve. This is not a large area, but does attract many, possibly 200 of them to breed here during summer.

Pheasant-tailed Jacana
the tail hadn't grown to its full length at this time, but just seeing Jacanas is exciting enough.

Pheasant-tailed Jacana

Wings are clean white with black border in flight. The red in the background are eggs of an invasive aquatic snail, Pomacea canaliculata. The snail was introduced to be farmed as a food source, but because of its taste and dangerous parasites in them, they were released in the wild and started eating almost every plant submerged in water. Wikipedia said they don't taste good.

Pheasant-tailed Jacana

Garganey
The white eyebrow  of this male really stands out

Garganey

 Grey-throated Martin

Grey-throated Martin

House swift

House Swift

Yellow-bellied Prinia
often seen on reeds

Yellow-bellied Prinia

 Lesser Coucal
did not want to look at the camera

 Black Drongo
lives with its name, pretty much all black from beak to tail.

Black Drongo

Spring Break in Taiwan 1

I was able to spend two weeks visiting family, relatives and friends this March in my home country Taiwan. And of course I also had a few lifers during the trip. During the period, I observed some wintering birds that had not left and some spring birds that had arrived. Totaled up over 80 species of birds

Taipei Botanical Garden台北植物園
Located in one of the most populated cities in Taiwan, Taipei,  it is one of the parks many new nature photographers and nearby residents frequently go to. The garden is within kilometers from Taiwan's president's office and some of the most renowned high school in the country so it is also a pleasant alternative route, for both people and animals, to the noisy roads.

Taiwan Barbet

I guess this is one of the must-see-endemic species of birds commonly breed throughout Taiwan. Barbets are colourful, yet still can conceal themselves well.Only species of their kind found on the island. They dig holes in trees for nests, similar to woodpeckers.

Taiwan Barbet

 Taiwan Scimitar-Babbler

Another endemic species often found in the botanical garden, They prefer slowly moving in thick bushes, sometimes in small groups, rather than being seen on branches. This was the best look I got after about 10 minutes of waiting on the same spot.

Taiwan Scimitar-Babbler

 Common Kingfisher male

these relatively small (16 cm in length) are about half the size of a Belted Kingfisher. They mainly feed on small fish and tadpoles. Like many other kingfishers, they sit on branches and structures above ponds. Males have black lower mandible while females' are orange. Their bright blue feather and orange belly or the sound of them breaking water's surface often give their position away, but these ones here probably are used to people and seem to pay little attention to their approach.

Common Kingfisher

 Daurian Redstart female

the white patches on the wings, beside the uniformly orange tail, is a great field mark.

Daurian Redstart

 Brown-headed Thrush

many of these wintering songbirds had started their way back to breeding grounds at this time. I saw more thrushes in Jinshan on the most north coastline later during my stay.

Brown-headed Thrush

 Spotted Dove

One of the most common birds in cities. 

 Oriental Turtle-Dove

pretty much these are the more colourful version of Spotted Dove, having light orange to gold patterns on the wings. Not seen in cities as often, but I had my high count of them at this location this time.

White-breasted Waterhen

 Malayan Night-Heron

often confident of their camouflage and would not move even if you are only a few meters away.

Little Egret

this bird and its buddy egrets found a shallow corner where fishing is easy. They seemed to be picking up fish after fish with short time in between and without walking much more than 2 meters.

 Great Egret

enjoying its share

 Great Egret and the big lotus pond

more posts coming soon