Sunday 27 May 2018

Taiwan 24th March 2018

I started off the day with a pre-dawn walk around the hotel to finally try to see a Savanna Nightjar. We had these birds calling at night around every hotel that we had stayed at so far in the trip. They seem to have no problem living right in the middle of the biggest most lit-up and noisy cities. Several males could be heard calling above most city streets at any given time during the night time. I finally managed to lock eyes on one bird on the top of a high rise building at about 0400 hours.
Come the dawn we travelled to the National Pingtung University of Science and Technology. We spent a few hours on the university grounds and the adjacent Jing-si Lake park.
We were now in the far south of the island and we travelled nearly as far south as possible to Longluan Lake Nature Center. There were bus loads of Taiwanese tourists visiting the visitor centre overlooking the lake which was really a large relatively quiet reservoir. The main reason for coming so far south was to catch up with Styan's Bulbul or Taiwan Bulbul, one of the few remaining endemics left for the trip. This species has undergone a long term decline due to hybridisation with the introduced Light-vented/Chinese Bulbul and is now largely restricted to the extreme south of the island.
We headed back north to our hotel but stopped at the large river at Xinpi. Most the large rivers that we had seen were confined to very small channels due to low flow rates. It's quite clear that a huge amount of rain must fall to fill up these rivers from time to time. It was a little discouraging to see that most of rivers were subjected to large scale industrial gravel extraction. We had great views of a small flock of Black-faced Spoonbills here. The species is listed as endangered by the IUCN. While the numbers have increased in recent years, globally the population still only stands at just under 4000 individuals. Around half of this winters in Taiwan. We also had a colour ringed bird which I'm still trying to pin down.
While the Styan's Bulbul was the only new endemic for the day I also ticked Savanna Nightjar, Maroon Oriole, Whistling Green Pigeon, Eastern Marsh Harrier and Black-faced Spoonbill.

Taiwan Barbet

Brown Shrike
 
Brown Shrike

House Swifts

House Swifts

House Swift

Moorhen and Common Thread Turtle

Grey Treepie

Grey Treepie

Eastern Yellow Wagtail 
Eastern Yellow Wagtail

Black Drongo

Maroon Oriole

Maroon Oriole

Blue Rock Thrush
Red Turtle Dove 

White-bellied Green Pigeon

White-bellied Green Pigeon

Whistling Green Pieon
Black-eared Kite


Black-eared Kite

Black-eared Kite

Black-eared Kite

Black-eared Kite

Crested Goshawk

Crested Goshawk
Tree Sparrow

Styan's Bulbul

Styan's Bulbul

Styan's Bulbul

Styan's Bulbul

Black-faced Spoonbill

Black-faced Spoonbill

Black-faced Spoonbill

Black-faced Spoonbill

Black-faced Spoonbill

Black-faced Spoonbill

Black-faced Spoonbill

Black-faced Spoonbill

Sunday 13 May 2018

Taiwan 23rd March 2018

We started off the day in Yushan National Park up at around 2,600 metres in elevation. As we were driving up to one of the car parks we happened upon a pair of Mikado Pheasants. This was the first and only male that we saw during the trip. They were walking on top of roadside concrete barriers. I was in the back right hand side of the van which was about the worst position in the van so no photos taken unfortunately but it was still great to catch up with a male Mikado. When we arrived at the car park it was still very overcast and dull. The temperatures again came as a bit of a shock as it started of at a chilly 4 degrees Celsius. Thankfully we had come prepared with several layers of clothing on. There was a great quality of species here with a further three new endemics for the trip - Flamecrest, Taiwan Fulvetta and Taiwan Rosefinch. We were also treated to several Collared Bush Robins which were real stunners especially when the light improved as the morning progressed. We also had a few White-browed Bush Robins and a single Red-flanked Bluetail. Great to see three Tarsiger species in the one area which represents half of the species in that genus. Some rather approachable Spotted Nutcrakers were also in the area. The endemic subspecies owstoni is very distinct in being largely unspotted on the body - potential future split "- Taiwan Unspotted Nutcracker"? We also had two different White's Thrush in the general area and both gave brief but close views. Interesting how they seem to run rather than hop like most other thrushes. A few Formosan Rock Macaques in the car park were a little too habituated to visiting tourists and one male troop leader was a rather aggressive little so and so! Other lifers picked up today were Golden Parrotbill, Yellow-bellied Bush Warbler and White-browed Bush Robin. 

Male Collared Bush Robin

Male Collared Bush Robin

Male Collared Bush Robin

Male Collared Bush Robin

Male Collared Bush Robin

Male Collared Bush Robin

Male Collared Bush Robin

Male Collared Bush Robin

Male Collared Bush Robin

Male Collared Bush Robin
Female Collared Bush Robin

Female Collared Bush Robin

Female Collared Bush Robin

Male White-browed Bush Robin

Female White-browed Bush Robin

Red-flanked Bluetail

Red-flanked Bluetail

White's Thrush

White's Thrush

White's Thrush

White's Thrush

White's Thrush

Golden Parrotbill

White-whiskered Laughingthrush

Brown-headed Thrush

Flamecrest 
Flamecrest


Taiwan Fulvetta

Taiwan Fulvetta

Yellow-bellied Bush Warbler

Yellow-bellied Bush Warbler

Chestnut-tailed Starling

Chestnut-tailed Starling

Chestnut-tailed Starling

Chestnut-tailed Starling

Female Taiwan Rosefinch

Male Taiwan Rosefinch

Female Taiwan Rosefinch

Male Taiwan Rosefinch

Male Taiwan Rosefinch
Coal Tit


Coal Tit

Coal Tit

Coal Tit

Striated Swallow

Striated Swallow

Spotted Nutcracker

Spotted Nutcracker

Spotted Nutcracker

Spotted Nutcracker

Spotted Nutcracker

Spotted Nutcracker

Formosan Rock Macaque 
Formosan Rock Macaque 


Formosan Rock Macaque