Dermot Breen's Blog

Monday, 8 October 2018

Bunowen Rosy Starling

Another belated post this time of a Rose-coloured Starling the turned up in Bridget and John Roberts garden down by Bunowen Pier, Ballyconneely in June. I visited on the 25th June and managed to see the bird which looked like an adult (male?) given the clean and bright plumage combined with the pronounced crest. This was my first adult in Galway. I found a juvenile out on Inishmore back in October 2008. I see from the most recent IRBC Provisional List that another bird was seen in Renmore, Galway city on 24th May of this year as well. These would be the 15th & 16th county records. There was a good summer invasion of adults into Ireland this year with 20 birds being recorded up to the end of August. Quite a few of these were seen along the western seaboard.

Friday, 5 October 2018

Kilkee Smicker - 31/3/2018

Severely belated post concerning the first-winter/second-calendar American Herring Gull that was found in Kilkee Bay on 19th March by Niall Keogh and Brian Power while I was away in Taiwan. Thankfully it obligingly hung around for three weeks which meant I could get down to twitch it. It's been several years now since I've seen the species in Ireland. I always think we should get more records of these on the west coast here. Galway has only had six records with the last new bird being found back in 2008. The long returning adult was last recorded in 2011. The Clare was a well-marked and distinctive bird and gave excellent views thankfully.
A Long-tailed Duck also in the bay spent most of its time diving in the surf again allowing good views.

Thursday, 27 September 2018

Taiwan 27th March 2018

Our last day of the trip. We spent the first half of the day again up in the hills. It was nice to get better views of both Rusty and Rusty-crowned Laughingthrush both endemics. We had only got brief views of these two earlier in the trip. I also got my last lifer of the trip here in the form of Dusky Fulvetta, a common enough species but another real skulker.

We headed back to Taoyuan City and visited the same area of agricultural fields and paddyfields around the international airport that we had visited at the very beginning of the trip. We had a few of the very few winter migrants that we encountered on the trip e.g. Black-faced Bunting, Dusky Warbler and Red-throated Pipits.

In the end I got 90 lifers, 27 of which were 27 endemics. I personally saw a total of 175 species. A big thank you to our Stijn De Win of Birding 2 Asia for a smooth and well put together trip.

Gadwall

Eurasian Wigeon

Eastern Spot-billed Duck

Northern Shoveler

Garganey

Eurasian Teal

Tufted Duck

Taiwan Partridge

Taiwan Bamboo-Partridge

Swinhoe's Pheasant

Mikado Pheasant

Ring-necked Pheasant

Little Grebe

Sacred Ibis

Black-faced Spoonbill

Yellow Bittern

Malayan Night Heron

Black-crowned Night-Heron

Striated Heron

Chinese Pond Heron

Western Cattle Egret

Grey Heron

Great Egret

Intermediate Egret

Little Egret

Chinese Egret

Great Cormorant

Osprey

Black-shouldered Kite

Oriental Honey-buzzard

Crested Serpent Eagle

Mountain Hawk-Eagle

Black Eagle

Crested Goshawk

Eastern Marsh Harrier

Black Kite

White-tailed Eagle

Eastern Buzzard

Common Moorhen

Eurasian Coot

Black-winged Stilt

Pied Avocet

Grey Plover

Pacific Golden Plover

Greater Sand-Plover

Kentish Plover

Little Ringed Plover

Greater Painted-snipe

Common Snipe

Redshank

Marsh Sandpiper

Common Greenshank

Green Sandpiper

Wood Sandpiper

Common Sandpiper

Great Knot

Red-necked Stint

Long-toed Stint

Curlew Sandpiper

Dunlin

Little Tern

Caspian Tern

Whiskered Tern

Rock Pigeon

Oriental Turtle Dove

Red Turtle Dove

Spotted Dove

Common Emerald Dove

White-bellied Green Pigeon

Whistling Green Pigeon

Lesser Coucal

Oriental Cuckoo

Savanna Nightjar

Silver-backed Needletail

Pacific Swift

House Swift

Common Kingfisher

Taiwan Barbet

Grey-capped Pygmy Woodpecker

White-backed Woodpecker

Eurasian Kestrel

Grey-chinned Minivet

Brown Shrike

Long-tailed Shrike

White-bellied Erpornis

Black-naped Oriole

Maroon Oriole

Black Drongo

Black-naped Monarch

Taiwan Blue Magpie

Grey Treepie

Eurasian Magpie

Eurasian Nutcracker

Large-billed Crow

Coal Tit

Chestnut-bellied Tit

Green-backed Tit

Yellow Tit

Oriental Skylark

Collared Finchbill

Light-vented Bulbul

Styan's Bulbul

Black Bulbul

Grey-throated Martin

Barn Swallow

Pacific Swallow

Asian House Martin

Striated Swallow

Taiwan Wren-babbler

Rufous-faced Warbler

Brown-flanked Bush Warbler

Yellow-bellied Bush Warbler

Black-throated Bushtit

Dusky Warbler

Arctic Warbler

Taiwan Bush Warbler

Zitting Cisticola

Striated Prinia

Yellow-bellied Prinia

Plain Prinia

Black-necklaced Scimitar Babbler

Taiwan Scimitar Babbler

Rufous-capped Babbler

Dusky Fulvetta

Grey-cheeked Fulvetta

Taiwan Hwamei

Rufous-crowned Laughingthrush

Rusty Laughingthrush

White-whiskered Laughingthrush

Steere's Liocichla

Taiwan Barwing

White-eared Sibia

Taiwan Fulvetta

Vinous-throated Parrotbill

Golden Parrotbill

Taiwan Yuhina

Japanese White-eye

Flamecrest

Winter Wren

Eurasian Nuthatch

Crested Myna

Javan Myna

Common Myna

Black-collared Starling

White-shouldered Starling

Chestnut-tailed Starling

White's Thrush

Brown-headed Thrush

Vivid Niltava

White-browed Shortwing

Siberian Rubythroat

White-tailed Robin

White-browed Bush Robin

Collared Bush Robin

Red-flanked Bluetail

Little Forktail

Taiwan Whistling Thrush

Snowy-browed Flycatcher

Plumbeous Water Redstart

Blue Rock Thrush

Brown Dipper

Fire-breasted Flowerpecker

Eurasian Tree Sparrow

White-rumped Munia

Scaly-breasted Munia

Alpine Accentor

Eastern Yellow Wagtail

Grey Wagtail

White Wagtail

Olive-backed Pipit

Red-throated Pipit

Brown Bullfinch

Taiwan Rosefinch

Eurasian Siskin

Black-faced Bunting

Rusty Laughingthrush

Female Vivid Niltava

Male Vivid Niltava

Crested Serpent Eagle

Eurasian Nuthatch

Rufous-crowned Laughingthrush

Taiwan Partridge

Black-collared Starling

Eastern Cattle Egret

Black-faced Bunting

Dusky Warbler

Long-tailed Shrike

Black-faced Bunting

Black-shouldered Kite

Saturday, 22 September 2018

Taiwan 26th March 2018

On our last full day in country we birded back up in the hills in the general area of the Huisun Forest Area and the Hehuanshan National Forest Recreation Area. This was the highest we reached during our Taiwan trip at around the 3,000 metres mark. It was unsurprisingly rather chilly up there and there was some snow on the ground on the surrounding peaks. It was here that we found a few of the species that are only really found at the highest elevations in Taiwan such as the Eurasian Wren and Alpine Accentor.
Lifers for the day included Brown Dipper, Asian House Martin, Taiwan Wren-Babbler, White-browed Shortwing, Siberian Rubythroat and Eastern Buzzard. The Wren-Babbler and the Shortwing were both excellent species to get as they take a significant amount of time to see properly. We had encountered both species on call previously on the trip and a few had been lucky to get short views of each. I had given up hope on seeing either and it was equally satisfying to get the Wren-Babbler as this was the last of our targeted endemics for the trip. The Shortwing like many of the other distinctive Taiwan subspecies are a possible likely split in the future. The Rubythroat was incredibly brief and I was about the only one to get onto it other than our guide. We had heard several during the trip but none showed.