Oct. 10, Friday  ++  Double-ten Day, National Day

We left Taipei around 8:30 Thursday night and arrived at Sheding Nature Park of Kenting National Park at 5:00 Friday morning. We walked to the Grass Land, a grassy slope, to wait for hawks leaving the forest and out to sea. Early dawn, there were lots of CATTLE EGRETS, LESSER SCIMITAR BABBLERS, TAIWAN and BLACK BULBULS, BLACK-NAPED BLUE MONARCH, BROWN SHRIKES, GRAY TREEPIES, BAMBOO PARTRIDGES, and MULLER'S BARBETS in the surrounding forest. BLUE ROCK THRUSHES dominated every exposed rocky surface singing beautiful melodies. A pair of COMMON KESTRELS lingered around us for a while, and we also heard some MELODIOUS LAUGHING THRUSHES.

Around 6:30, after watching a gorgeous sunrise, we spotted the first hawks heading out to sea. Then flocks of GREY FROG HAWKS up to 25 birds began passing one after another overhead. Later in the morning, resident species CRESTED SERPENT EAGLES and a CRESTED GOSHAWK appeared. Some ORIENTAL HONEY BUZZARDS passed by, then finally a small number of GREY-FACED BUZZARD-EAGLES. Between the groups of hawks, we saw a flock of nine rare RED-CAPPED GREEN PIGEONS and a vagrant GRAY BUSHCHAT. The most numerous hawks were the GREY FROG HAWKS; more than 100 were counted passing this morning.

Near 11:00, we visited Long Luan Lake (or Longluantan) and saw GREAT, INTERMEDIATE, and LITTLE EGRETS, a CHINESE LITTLE BITTERN, two pairs of MALLARDS, a flock of SPOT-BILLED DUCKS, an OSPREY, a COMMON SANDPIPER, and found a dead BLACK-CROWNED NIGHT HERON. Then we visited the Long Luan Lake Nature Center, where I took a look at the exhibit of stuffed birds and outside, saw a MARSH HARRIER, five GREY-FACED BUZZARD-EAGLES, a female COMMON KESTREL, and three GREAT CORMORANTS in the lake.

In the afternoon, we went to Manchou to wait for the incoming hawks to arrive at their roosting site. We saw flocks of GREY-FACED BUZZARD-HAWKS arriving in groups of 16-50 birds. As more flocks came, hundreds of these hawks could be seen soaring above the hilltop. Unfortunately, these hawks decided to choose a different hill to spend the night, and did not land close to where we stood, so we decided to try again the next day. While leaving, we passed another hilltop with a large of GREY-FACED BUZZARD-EAGLES preparing to land in the hills. These hawks were close, so we watched them from the roadside as they approached, then glided one after another into the forest. This time, we got wonderful views of the hawks. Roughly estimating, we saw approximately 500 GREY-FACED BUZZARD-EAGLES arrive this afternoon.

At dusk, we returned to the northern shore of Long Luan Lake. In the marshes, ponds, and rice paddies around the lake, we saw a flock of BLACK-WINGED STILTS, EASTERN COLLARED (LARGE INDIAN) PRATINCOLES, PACIFIC GOLDEN PLOVERS, KENTISH and LITTLE-RINGED PLOVERS, a LONG-TOED STINT, a TEMMINCK'S STINT, a WOOD SANDPIPER, ORIENTAL SKYLARKS, RICHARD'S and RED-THROATED PIPITS, LITTLE GREBES, GREAT, INTERMEDIATE, LITTLE, and CATTLE EGRETS, GRAY HERONS, CHINESE LITTLE BITTERNS, GREEN-WINGED TEALS and a EURASIAN WIGEON, BLACK DRONGOS, TAWNY-FLANKED PRINIA, and a dense gathering of RED TURTLE DOVES.

Oct. 11, Saturday

At dawn, we reached to the Grass Land of Sheding Nature Park to wait for the hawks again. The forest birds were all the same except the addition of WHITE-EARED SIBIAS we heard. The hawks, however, were different. Instead of GREY FROG HAWKS, the majority of the hawks this morning were large flocks of GREY-FACED BUZZARD-EAGLES. In all, we saw about 180 GREY FROG HAWKS, 350 GREY-FACED BUZZARD-EAGLES, 8 ORIENTAL HONEY BUZZARDS, and a JAPANESE SPARROW HAWK. Actually, these figures were quite small compared to the numbers recorded passing some other days. There were also a lot of hawk-watchers. The shed designated for hawk-watching may be better places to see hawks, but they were jammed full! I was glad to be on the Grass Land, though there were also a lot of people there.

The morning turned out to be incredibly hot, so we left a little earlier and headed to Long Lung Lake. There, we saw a couple MOORHENS, GREAT, INTERMEDIATE, LITTLE, CATTLE, and two PURPLE HERONS, a CHINESE LITTLE and a CINNAMON BITTERN, GREEN-WINGED TEALS, two GARGANEY, a pair of EURASIAN WIGEONS, ORIENTAL SKYLARK, RICHARD'S PIPITS, TAWNY-FLANKED PRINIA, ZITTING CISTICOLA (FAN-TAILED WARBLER), more than 40 EASTERN COLLARED (LARGE INDIAN) PRATINCOLES, a male with two young PAINTED SNIPES, GREENSHANKS, and a young OSPREY catching a fish too large for him to carry! We also saw a BROWN SHRIKE snared in an illegal bamboo trap. We tore down the trap and set the bird free, despite that it could not stand with its broken claw.

We went to Manchou again in the afternoon. The weather was turning overcast, but as soon as we got there, we spotted a large flock of about 150 GREY-FACED BUZZARD-EAGLES in the sky above us. Without binoculars, the eagles looked like a swarm of flies in the sky! The flock continued to the hills in a distance, separated into smaller groups, than began dropping into the forest below. After that, it began drizzling and no more large flocks of hawks arrived. We rested in a coconut plantation nearby and drank coconut juice. In the meantime, a rainbow appeared and we got to see a couple hawks soar fairly close to us. Someone also discovered a beautiful male BLACK-NAPED ORIOLE, an extremely rare bird in Taiwan.

Oct. 12, Sunday

The previous night, we traveled to the west coast of the peninsula. In the morning, we went to a different Grass Land wondering if hawks would also pass through those hills. Unfortunately, only one person saw some GREY-FACED BUZZARD-EAGLES, but no one else saw any this morning. The scenery was beautiful, however, as we watched the sunrise over the ocean facing the Central Mountain Range on our back. There were also some birds in the forest, such as TAIWAN and BLACK BULBULS, a male BLUE ROCK THRUSH singing, GRAY TREEPIES, BAMBOO PARTRIDGES, BLACK-NAPED BLUE MONARCH, GRAY-CHEEKED FULVETTAS, RED-HEADED TREE BABBLERS, BROWN SHRIKES, and heard LESSER AND RUSTY-CHEEKED SCIMITAR BABBLERS.

After a beautiful but futile morning, we went to a little-known forest trail for some forest birding. Even though it was still far from noon, the sun was blazing and not a single bird was active. Butterflies, however, were numerous and we began identifying butterflies instead. Since there were not any birds, we left earlier than planned and headed back combating the holiday traffic. Despite it being a long weekend and a major holiday, the traffic was smooth and we reached Taipei at 7 PM.

List of species seen & heard (*):

1. LITTLE GREBE
2. GRAY HERON
3. PURPLE HERON
4. CATTLE EGRET
5. LITTLE EGRET
6. INTERMEDIATE EGRET
7. GREAT EGRET
8. CINNAMON BITTERN
9. CHINESE LITTLE BITTERN
10. BLACK-CROWNED NIGHT HERON
11. GREEN-WINGED TEAL
12. EURASIAN WIGEON
13. MALLARD
14. SPOT-BILLED DUCK
15. GARGANEY
16. OSPREY
17. GREY FROG HAWK
18. CRESTED GOSHAWK
19. GREY-FACED BUZZARD-EAGLE
20. MARSH HARRIER
21. CRESTED SERPENT EAGLE
22. COMMON KESTREL
23. BAMBOO PARTRIDGE
24. MOORHEN
25. PAINTED SNIPE
26. BLACK-WINGED STILT
27. EASTERN COLLARED (LARGE INDIAN) PRATINCOLE
28. KENTISH PLOVER
29. LITTLE-RINGED PLOVER
30. PACIFIC GOLDEN PLOVER
31. LONG-TOED STINT
32. TEMMINCK'S STINT
33. COMMON SNIPE
34. COMMON SANDPIPER
35. WOOD SANDPIPER
36. GREENSHANK
37. SPOTTED DOVE
38. RUFOUS TURTLE DOVE
39. RED TURTLE DOVE
40. RED-CAPPED GREEN PIGEON
41. HOUSE MARTIN
42. NORTHERN WHITE-RUMPED SWIFT
43. COMMON KINGFISHER
44. MULLER'S BARBET
45. ORIENTAL SKYLARK
46. BARN SWALLOW
47. PACIFIC SWALLOW
48. RED-RUMPED SWALLOW
49. RED-THROATED PIPIT
50. RICHARD'S PIPIT
51. GRAY WAGTAIL
52. YELLOW WAGTAIL
53. BLACK BULBUL
54. TAIWAN BULBUL
55. BROWN SHRIKE
56. BLUE ROCK THRUSH
57. GRAY BUSHCHAT
58. MELODIOUS LAUGHING THRUSH
59. GRAY-CHEEKED FULVETTA
60. WHITE-EARED SIBIA ! *
61. RUSTY-CHEEKED SCIMITAR BABBLER *
62. LESSER SCIMITAR BABBLER *
63. RED-HEADED TREE BABBLER
64. WHITE-BELLIED YUHINA *
65. ZITTING CISTICOLA (FAN-TAILED WARBLER)
66. TAWNY-FLANKED PRINIA
67. BLACK-NAPED BLUE MONARCH
68. JAPANESE WHITE-EYE
69. NUTMEG MANNIKIN
70. TREE SPARROW
71. CRESTED MYNA
72. CHINESE STARLING
73. BLACK-NAPED ORIOLE
74. BLACK DRONGO
75. GRAY TREEPIE

* heard only
! endemic species