Jan. 18, Sunday

We left Taipei at 10 P.M. Saturday night in the rain. We reached Tainan around 4:30 A.M., and at the break of dawn around 5:30, we set off to the first pond to search for Pheasant-tailed Jacanas. These Jacanas are severely endangered in Taiwan with a population of less than 50 individuals remaining in the ponds of Tainan County, plus a few migratory individuals. A plan to establish a sanctuary for these birds has been proposed, but so has a construction plan for a highway to cut right through the vital breeding areas. At a place called "Hwo Shaow Chu," we heard a Jacana as we approached the pond, at least that's what someone recognized it as. However, when we were at the pond, we saw that the floating vegetation was already harvested and half of the field was converted into rice paddies. Not only that, but surrounding the rice paddies was a long string of mist nets with COMMON MOORHENS trapped in them frantically struggling to free themselves. Carcasses of Moorhens were also hanging on bamboo poles in the rice paddies, as if warning other birds not to set foot in that area. Nevertheless, there were dozens of COMMON MOORHENS and LITTLE GREBES in the pond, but no Jacana.

We decided to leave and try our luck at another stop. At a place called "Hulubay," we finally found eight PHEASANT-TAILED JACANAS on the water hyacinths on the side of the pond. To our delight, we also saw the female COTTON PYGMY GOOSE, a vagrant that also visited the same pond a year ago. Also in the pond were a couple hundred LITTLE EGRETS, a dozen or so GRAY HERONS, GREAT EGRETS, and SACRED IBISES, a RUDDY-BREASTED CRAKE, two COOTS, about fifty COMMON MOORHENS, a couple COMMON SNIPES, four LONG-TOED STINTS, five WOOD SANDPIPERS, a COMMON SANDPIPER, and a COMMON KINGFISHER. Thousands of swallows were zitting back and forth in the sky, including the most numerous RED-RUMPED SWALLOWS, BARN SWALLOWS, BROWN-THROATED SAND MARTINS, and PACIFIC SWALLOWS. Some people also found Gray Starlings and a Silky Starling in the field.

Thoroughly satisfied, our next stop was at Tsengwen River Estuary at Chiku for the Black-faced Spoonbills and Caspian Terns. We easily saw the flock of about 210 BLACK-FACED SPOONBILLS. On the large mud flat, we also found four CASPIAN TERNS, along with about five hundred KENTISH PLOVERS, three hundred DUNLIN, 150 MONGOLIAN PLOVERS, 100 RUFOUS-NECKED STINT, 80 GREENSHANKS, 25 BLACK-BELLIED PLOVERS, 5 PACIFIC GOLDEN PLOVERS, and a PURPLE HERON that looked awkwardly out of place. Somebody said the larger bird in the flock of Spoonbills was an Oriental White Spoonbill, but the bird had its bill tucked into its back the whole time I was watching it so I couldn't identify it as a Black-faced or White Spoonbill.

Since we couldn't find anything special mixed within the flock, we decided to head to "Awgu" for the Black Storks and Greater Spotted Eagle. Two Black Storks, an adult and an immature, have been seen at this place for more than a month, and so has an immature Greater Spotted Eagle. On the road, however, we saw so many waders in the fish ponds on the side of the road near "Pei Men" that we stopped to check them out. There was an incredible number of BLACK-WINGED STILTS, at least three hundred scattered in two or three ponds. Within the two hundred KENTISH PLOVERS, one hundred REDSHANKS, seventy MARSH SANDPIPERS, fifty LONG-TOED STINTS, and fifty RUFOUS-NECKED STINTS, we picked out two BLACK-TAILED GODWIT, eight SPOTTED REDSHANKS, and three RUFF, a special bonus. There were about fifty WHISKERED TERNS flying around, and across the road we discovered a pond filled with about one hundred BLACK-HEADED GULLS. As the bus passed a bridge, I saw that there were approximately five hundred or more BLACK-HEADED GULLS in the river below.

When we finally reached "Awgu" in Chiayi County in the afternoon, I was astonished at the huge flocks of waders in the pond. They all turned out, however, to be about five thousand DUNLIN and two thousand KENTISH PLOVERS. Also in the huge marsh were about thirty MONGOLIAN PLOVERS, one hundred RUFOUS-NECKED STINTS, fifteen GREENSHANKS, seven MARSH SANDPIPERS, forty PINTAILS, fifty GRAY HERONS, eighty GREAT CORMORANTS, two BLACK-FACED SPOONBILLS, two OSPREYS, and two female MARSH HARRIERS. No Stork, so we searched another marsh nearby, alarming a GREEN SANDPIPER, a COMMON KINGFISHER, and a male DAURIAN REDSTART along the way. The Stork was not in this marsh either, but there were almost four hundred GRAY HERONS, thirty GREAT CORMORANTS, one thousand DUNLIN, four GREEN-WINGED TEALS, a pair of GADWALLS, about sixty LITTLE GREBES, and another OSPREY and a female MARSH HARRIER, both of which could possibly the same as the ones we saw earlier. Some people searched the marsh more carefully and saw some Ruddy Turnstones and a Long-billed Dowitcher. As we left the marsh, we saw a male MARSH HARRIER out the window of the bus.

On the way back to Taipei, we watched Anaconda and Jurassic Park: The Lost World.
 

1. LITTLE GREBE
2. GREAT CORMORANT
3. BLACK-CROWNED NIGHT HERON
4. CATTLE EGRET
5. LITTLE EGRET
6. INTERMEDIATE EGRET
7. GREAT EGRET
8. PURPLE HERON
9. GRAY HERON
10. SACRED IBIS
11. BLACK-FACED SPOONBILL
12. GREEN-WINGED TEAL
13. COTTON PYGMY GOOSE
14. GADWALL
15. PINTAIL
16. OSPREY
17. MARSH HARRIER
18. COOT
19. COMMON MOORHEN
20. RUDDY-BREASTED CRAKE
21. PHEASANT-TAILED JACANA
22. BLACK-WINGED STILT
23. KENTISH PLOVER
24. MONGOLIAN PLOVER
25. PACIFIC GOLDEN PLOVER
26. BLACK-BELLIED PLOVER
27. RUFOUS-NECKED STINT
28. LONG-TOED STINT
29. DUNLIN
30. RUFF
31. COMMON SANDPIPER
32. MARSH SANDPIPER
33. REDSHANK
34. SPOTTED REDSHANK
35. GREENSHANK
36. WOOD SANDPIPER
37. GREEN SANDPIPER
38. BLACK-TAILED GODWIT
39. COMMON SNIPE
40. BLACK-HEADED GULL
41. WHISKERED TERN
42. CASPIAN TERN
43. SPOTTED DOVE
44. RED TURTLE DOVE
45. COMMON KINGFISHER
46. HOUSE SWIFT
47. BARN SWALLOW
48. PACIFIC SWALLOW
49. RED-RUMPED SWALLOW
50. BROWN-THROATED SAND MARTIN
51. YELLOW WATGAIL
52. CHINESE BULBUL
53. BROWN SHRIKE
54. DAURIAN REDSTART
55. FAN-TAILED WARBLER
56. TAWNY-FLANKED  PRINIA *
57. YELLOW-BELLIED PRINIA
58. JAPANESE WHITE-EYE
59. BLACK-FACED BUNTING
60. TREE SPARROW
61. SPOTTED MUNIA
62. CRESTED MYNA
63. BLACK DRONGO

* heard only