Saturday and Sunday (Jan. 18-19), I went birding with Robert Waltner,
Liz Arney, and Sally Arney, Liz's mom who visited Taiwan for birding. We
were planning to go to Anmashan in central Taiwan, but there was a problem
with the lodging, so we decided to go to Ilan in north-eastern Taiwan.
Saturday, Jan. 18
We left Taipei at 7:00 and drove the mountain road to Ilan. On the way, a flock of Formosan Blue Magpie greeted us by flying across the street one after another. We immediately got out of the car and got good views of this beautiful endemic species. On this road, we also saw colorful Muller's Barbets and Gray-throated Minivets, and the noisy Bronzed Drongo. That was a great start for our trip!
When we reached Ilan late morning, we went immediately to the Lanyan River Estuary. Recently, around the Ilan area, I've heard reports of a Smew (vagrant), Oriental White Spoonbills (vagrant), and Black-faced Spoonbills (rare). The estuary was quite windy, but we saw about six Ospreys, 300 Green-winged Teals, 300 Dunlin, 20 Gray Herons, 50 Kentish Plovers, Brown and Black-headed Shrikes etc.
After
lunch, out next stop was at a nearby marsh. There, we saw three of our
prized Black-faced Spoonbills. Along with them were about 80 Gray Herons,
40 Little Egrets, 50 Intermediate Egrets, and 10 Great Egrets. There were
also 10 Red Turtle Doves, 1 Sharp-tailed Sandpiper, 3 Little Ringed Plover,
50 Greenshanks, 6 Wood Sandpipers and about 500 Green-winged Teals. We
looked for the Lapwing, but did not find any. While we were birding, someone
came along and warned us not to bird in the area. He said the government
wanted to make the place a bird reserve, but the local residents are protesting;
they attacked a group of birders some days ago with mud! Anyway, we were
safe.
The next stop was at Wu Wei Keng Waterfowl-Protecting Park. The duck park is fairly new and wooden pathways and blinds were being built. There, we saw 25 Great Cormorants, 20 Green-winged Teals, 20 Spot-billed Ducks, two male Northern Shovelers, a Eurasian Wigeon, and a pair of Mallards. No Smew! Damn, could it have gone already?
Sunday, Jan. 19
We left our hotel at 6:00 heading for Taipingshan, a forest recreational area 2,000 meters high. It was raining when we left Ilan city, but cleared up when we were halfway up the mountain. Further up, above 1,500 meters high, though, we were engulfed by fog and it began raining again. By the time we reached Taipingshan, it was very foggy and rainy. There were also too many tourists, unhappy ones. Well, the only birds we got to see there were two Green-backed Tits and a pair of Black-faced Buntings. Knowing we won't see much, we left for the lower altitudes, hoping to see more. We reached a place called "The Middle," and stopped to bird. It was sunny there and we were able to see a large flock of Formosan Yuhinas flitting among cherry blossoms eating nectar from the flowers. I was really surprised we did not see the normally numerous birds such as the Steere's Babbler, White-eared Sibia, Formosan Laughing Thrush, Eurasian Jays, Eurasian Nuthatches, Red-headed Tits, and Beaven's Bullfinches. These birds are normally expected at such a location and should be very common.
At a lower elevation (500 meters now), we stopped at a hot spring to
look for stream birds. First, we saw a large mixed flock of Formosan and
White-bellied Yuhinas, Red-headed Tree Babblers, White-eyed Fulvettas,
and several Green-backed Tits. Then we saw a very large flock of Gray-throated
Minivets accompanied by Bronzed Drongos. Then appeared two gliding Crested
Serpent Eagles. On the bridge across the river, we saw five Brown Dippers,
a Gray Wagtail, and a pair of Plumbeous Water Redstarts. On our way down
the mountain, we saw several flocks of Large-billed Crows and a Rufous
Turtle Dove.
List of bird seen & heard(*):
1. LITTLE GREBE
2. GRAY HERON
3. LITTLE EGRET
4. INTERMEDIATE EGRET
5. GREAT EGRET
6. BLACK-CROWNED NIGHT HERON
7. BLACK-FACED SPOONBILL
8. SACRED IBIS
9. NORTHERN SHOVELER
10. GREEN-WINGED TEAL
11. EURASIAN WIGEON
12. MALLARD
13. SPOT-BILLED DUCK
14. OSPREY
15. CRESTED SERPENT EAGLE
16. BAMBOO PARTRIDGE *
17. FORMOSAN HILL PARTRIDGE !*
18. WHITE-BREASTED WATERHEN
19. COOT
20. MOORHEN
21. KENTISH PLOVER
22. LITTLE RINGED PLOVER
23. SHARP-TAILED SANDPIPER
24. DUNLIN
25. COMMON SANDPIPER
26. WOOD SANDPIPER
27. GREENSHANK
28. RUFOUS TURTLE DOVE
29. RED TURTLE DOVE
30. COMMON KINGFISHER
31. MULLER'S BARBET
32. ORIENTAL SKYLARK
33. PACIFIC SWALLOW
34. RICHARD'S PIPIT
35. WHITE/PIED WAGTAIL
36. YELLOW WAGTAIL
37. GRAY WAGTAIL
38. GRAY-THROATED MINIVET
39. BLACK BULBUL
40. CHINESE BULBUL
41. BROWN SHRIKE
42. BLACK-HEADED SHRIKE
43. BROWN DIPPER
44. BLUE SHORTWING *
45. FORMOSAN WHISTLING THRUSH *
46. PLUMBEOUS WATER REDSTART
47. COLLARED BUSH ROBIN ! *
48. DUSKY THRUSH
49. GOULD'S FULVETTA *
50. WHITE-EARED SIBIA ! *
51. WHITE-EYED FULVETTA
52. STEERE'S BABBLER/LIOCICHLA ! *
53. LESSER SCIMITAR BABBLER
54. RUSTY-CHEEKED S. BABBLER *
55. PYGMY WREN BABBLER *
56. RED-HEADED TREE BABBLER
57. FORMOSAN YUHINA !
58. WHITE-BELLIED YUHINA
59. VERREAUX'S BUSH WARBLER *
60. TAWNY-FLANKED PRINIA *
61. GREEN-BACKED TIT
62. BLACK-FACED BUNTING
63. NUTMEG MANNIKIN
64. TREE SPARROW
65. CRESTED MYNA
66. BRONZED DRONGO
67. BLACK DRONGO
68. LARGE-BILLED/JUNGLE CROW
69. GRAY/HIMALAYAN TREEPIE *
70. FORMOSAN BLUE MAGPIE !
* heard only
! endemic species
