My local patch is a temple with fairies- Huben, Taiwan. (1 Viewer)

Poor Huben

Nothing gets the blood boiling like watching your local patch being abused.I spent last weekend with Christina MacFarquhar from the Taipei based, Wild at Heart Legal Defense Association going around Huben.Wild at Heart is spearheading the legal battle to stop the Hushan Dam project.Apart from doing a fair amount of actual birding, we also looked at issues other than the Hushan Dam that are impacting very negatively on the Huben / Hushan area.

We started early on Saturday afternoon meeting up with well known Taiwanese ornithologist "Scott" Lin Ruey-Shing of the Taiwan Endemic Species Research Institute.Christina had a stack of questions for Scott to answer on the Fairy Pitta and the ecology of the area.This was followed by going out into the field to find a Pitta.Well, birding is always unpredictable and in spite having the top Pitta Man in the country leading us, the Pitta weren't showing themselves.At one point we had a Pitta calling in the canopy directly above us, but we couldn't locate him in the thick foliage.

The following morning was spent with Christina and I trying to see a Pitta.Again we had one calling directly above us but failed to locate it.After a few hours of birding we looked at some areas which had be gravel mined a few years before.Gravel mining is Big Business in Taiwan and a major cause of habitat loss.The sad thing about these former gravel mines is that no rehabilitation of the area has taken place in most instances and when there has been some rehabilitation it appears to be only window dressing.

The area is still very much under pressure from both legal and illegal deforestation and gravel mining.Fortunately, Legislator Yin Ling-ying is from the area and she has done a lot to halt gravel mining.

Last year in August the area was hit quite badly by a typhoon.The typhoon caused quite a bit of damage to areas of bamboo but no clean up followed.Suddenly,the week the Pitta arrived they've started cleaning up the broken bamboo.Why this project needed to get underway at the start of the breeding season is beyond me.Again,it's just another unnecessary hardship the Pitta and many other species have to endure.

Illegal dumping also is a problem.But possibly the most distasteful problem the Pitta has to face is unscrupulous birders and photographers.A number of photographers, often clad in Birdlife and other birding NGO clothing, clamber down into the stream beds to stakeout nests for an easy shot.

After spending most of the morning in the field we met up with Scott Lin and Mr.Chang at the Fairy Pitta Information Centre for lunch.After lunch Christina and I spent the afternoon going over more gravel mines and part of the Hushan Dam project site before she headed back to Taipei.

Afrika

What a joy to check my inbox this afternoon and find a message from Scott Lin saying,"Your Birdforum friend, Sylvester Karim, is at Huben and we can't reach you on your mobile."

It's not everyday you get to see a fellow African in Taiwan.Very excited I rushed off to Huben.Sylvester,a Kenyan BF member, is in Taiwan for six months as part of the National Taiwan University Research Team studying the Taiwan Yuhina...and the Taiwan Yuhina being my favourite bird (see my avatar), well I was really looking forward to meeting Sylvester in the flesh.

I got to Huben and rushed into the information centre.No Scott or Sylvester.I then saw one of Scott's grad students and asked her where Scott and the Kenyan man were.The answer was an obvious,"They're out looking for Pitta"."Where?," I asked.It turned out they had gone to the area around Mr.Chang's cottage.I headed off and found Scott's car at the cottage.The question was now," Where had they gone?" I decided to follow the path leading upriver.

It was horribly humid and the mosquitoes were buzzing all around me.I started feeling that I must look like the water-buffalo that one sees in the rice paddies with all the flies buzzing around them.It was very hot and I wasn't paying to much attention to anything other than trying to get the mosquitoes out my ears and nose.I heard a rustling of leaves and looked down.I let out a startled half scream, as I saw a Pointed-scaled Pit-viper/Taiwan Habu Trimeresurus mucrosquamatus in close proximity to my foot.I leapt backwards and fortunately the Habu was heading off in the opposite direction.I was now very focused on what was going on around me.

I carried on walking upstream for awhile.I had seen no sign of Scott and Sylvester,so I knew that they must have headed downstream.I switched to a larger path running parallel to the one I had taken earlier.(Guess I didn't want to meet the Habu a second time.)

Scott and Sylvester arrived at Mr.Chang's cottage about five minutes after me.Sylvester was in great spirits after seeing his first Fairy Pitta.After some Oolong tea with Mr.Chang we went for a walk around the temple before heading back to the information centre.

We then had dinner with all the villagers of Huben.Huben's favourite daughter was home for the weekend.Legislator Yin Ling-ying,Taiwan's Eco Iron Lady, whose fight for the Pitta lead to her getting elected to the legislature, was having dinner with the people of her home village.After dinner it was time to head home and face another week at the grindstone.Attached is a photo of Scott Lin,Legislator Yin Ling-ying and BF's Sylvester Karimi.

Hi Mark,

Sadly, your photos of the gravel mining and rubbish dumps could so easily have been taken in the U K. I remember years ago seeing huge slag heaps (the spoil from coal mining) often with rusting machinery etc. still there. Time does heal the scars but takes so long so more rubbish can be dumped. When nature moves back in it isn't always the original plants, trees etc. either but invaders, sorry don't know what to call them really just scrub.

Glad to hear Huben's favourite daughter is on the side of the environment and not commercial interests as can often be the case.

Good to hear the Fairies are returning and hope they have a good breeding season, if left alone by people who should know better. Not a good advert for Birdlife behaving like that, I hope someone has the time to write an appropriate letter.

Thanks for the update.

Ann :-C

The rain and the flu have restricted my visits to Huben, so I translated the Huben bird list into English.

Huben Bird list

Little Egret
Malayan Night-Heron
Black-crowned Night-Heron
Cattle Egret
Besra
Chinese Sparrowhawk
Crested Goshawk
Gray-faced Buzzard
Oriental Honey-buzzard
Crested Serpent-Eagle
Peregrine Falcon
Eurasian Kestrel
Grey Nightjar
Taiwan Partridge
Chinese Bamboo-Partridge
Swinhoe's Pheasant
Barred Buttonquail
Common Moorhen
Slaty-legged Crake
White-breasted Waterhen
Ruddy-breasted Crake
Little Ringed Plover
Emerald Dove
Rock Pigeon
Ashy Wood-Pigeon
Spotted Dove
Oriental Turtle-Dove
Red Collared-Dove
White-bellied Green Pigeon
Lesser Coucal
Oriental Cuckoo
Large Hawk-Cuckoo
Collared Scops-Owl
Mountain Scops-Owl
Brown Hawk-Owl
House Swift
White-throated Needletail
Common Kingfisher
Ruddy Kingfisher
Black-capped Kingfisher
Dollarbird
Black-browed Barbet
Grey-capped Pygmy Woodpecker
Fairy Pitta
Oriental Skylark
Asian Martin
Barn Swallow
Striated Swallow
Pacific Swallow
Plain Martin
Sand Martin
Gray-chinned Minivet
Bronzed Drongo
Black Drongo
Maroon Oriole
Grey Treepie
Taiwan Blue Magpie
Vinous-throated Parrotbill
Black-throated Tit
Green-backed Tit
Varied Tit
Taiwan Yellow Tit
Dusky Fulvetta
Grey-cheeked Fulvetta
Rusty Laughingthrush
White-eared Sibia
Steere's Liocichla
Spot-breasted Scimitar-Babbler
Streak-breasted Scimitar-Babbler
Rufous-capped Babbler
White-bellied Yuhina
Black Bulbul
Light-vented Bulbul
Collared Finchbill
White-tailed Robin
Taiwan Whistling-Thrush
Daurian Redstart
Dusky Thrush
Pale Thrush
Scaly Thrush
Rufous-faced Warbler
Oriental Reed-Warbler
Japanese Bush Warbler
Golden-headed Cisticola
Zitting Cisticola
Arctic Warbler
Yellow-browed Warbler
Yellow-bellied Prinia
Plain Prinia
Striated Prinia
Grey-streaked Flycatcher
Black-naped Blue Monarch
Ferruginous Flycatcher
Vivid Niltava
Olive-backed Pipit
White Wagtail
Grey Wagtail
Yellow Wagtail
Brown Shrike
Japanese White-eye
Scaly Munia
White-rumped Munia
Eurasian Tree Sparrow
Taiwan Yuhina *
White-rumped Shama *

* Escapee

Hope you feel better quickly, Mark! :t:

The 2006 International Fairy Pitta Symposium

It’s not often when that I don’t have to travel many miles to attend an international birding event. Yesterday, the small town of Douliou where I live hosted the International Fairy Pitta Symposium. Well, I guess that’s not too strange given that Douliou is just down the road from Hu-ben, the Fairy Pitta’s main breeding area.

The symposium started with a talk by Prof. Lee Pei-Fen of National Taiwan University on the distribution pattern and conservation strategies for Fairy Pitta in Taiwan. The talk was followed by an opening ceremony. Then, Japanese conservationist Nakamura Takio spoke on conservation strategies for Fairy Pitta in Kochi, Japan.

BirdLife International Programme Manager for Indochina, Jonathan Eames, spoke on conservation strategies for Gurney’s Pitta in South East Asia. This talk brought home how the Fairy Pitta is most probably more vulnerable than the Gurney’s Pitta. The Fairy Pitta probably has a smaller global population than the Gurney’s Pitta after a fair sized population of Gurney’s Pitta was rediscovered in Myanmar.

The fairy Pitta being a migrant has both a summer and wintering area. With the Fairy Pitta being threatened with loss of habitat through gravel mining, agriculture and development, and the Hushan Dam project in its main summer breeding area in Taiwan, and again loss of habitat in its wintering grounds in Malaysia and Borneo through oil palm and rubber plantations, its future looks very bleak. The need for research on numbers in the wintering area was stressed, too.

Birdlife Asia Division Head, Richard Grimmett, then spoke briefly on the need for a coordinated effort by organizations in Japan, Taiwan, Malaysia, and Borneo to work together to protect Fairy Pitta habitat. This was followed by the lunch break.

The afternoon session began with a report by Chang Chin-Lung of the Wild Bird Society of Kaohsiung on Fairy Pitta in Meinung, Kaohsiung. This report was followed by a report on Fairy Pitta in Taoyuan by Ouyang Chien-Hua.

Scott Lin Ruey-Shing of the Taiwan Endemic Species Research Institute then spoke on a review of Fairy Pitta research. This talk gave some real insight into past and current research on the Fairy Pitta at Hu-ben and around Taiwan. Prof. Chen Chan-Po of Academia Sinica then gave a short talk on how to read nature.

The final talk of the day was by Prof. Huang Shyh-Huei of National Yunlin University of Science & Technology on Fairy Pitta conservation and community development in Taiwan.

The day’s events were concluded with a short speech by Legislator Yin Ling-Ying and a panel discussion. A number of very interesting people attended the symposium but I think that’s for another post.

A Fairy Pitta Fair had been planned for Sunday but was called off because of the bad weather that Taiwan is presently experiencing. However, Jonathan Eames and Richard Grimmett were very keen to get out into the field and see Hu-ben’s Fairies.

At five this morning Birdlife’s Jonathan Eames and Richard Grimmett, I, Wild Bird Society of Yunlin board member Schumi Wu, and Wild Bird Federation of Taiwan Vice-President Prof. Fang Woei-Horng who also serves as Vice Chair of Birdlife Asia Council set off in the rain to meet Mr. Chang at the Fairy Temple.

We arrived at the temple and after a brief look around the temple area we headed off into the forest. It wasn’t too long before a Fairy obliged us with some good sightings. We then headed back to the temple. Richard commented on how good it felt to add a Fairy Pitta to his life list before breakfast.

Some photos of the symposium are attached. The photo in front of the temple is Richard Grimmett, Jonathan Eames, Schumi Wu, Mr.Chang, and Prof. Fang Woei-horng.

John Wu and Lin Ying-Tien

Sometimes one can experience things that are stranger than fiction. Yesterday at the International Fairy Pitta Symposium I had one of those experiences.

A few years ago Africa, Birds and Birding magazine featured an article on the birds of Taiwan. The photos that accompanied the text were stunning. One photo in particular just blew my mind. It was a shot of a Taiwan Yuhina Yuhina brunneiceps. The name of the photographer was Lin Ying-Tien. I soon became quite obsessed with the Taiwan Yuhina. I had a close friend living in Taiwan and started thinking of making a trip to go and see the Taiwan Yuhina and some of the other Taiwan endemics featured in the article.

It so happened that my friend made a trip home before I got my trip going. In a single night he talked me into giving up my job and going to work in Taiwan for a year. A few short months later I found myself in Taiwan and got to see my first Taiwan Yuhina in the Hsitou forest. I also discovered that Lin Ying-Tien was one of Asia’s most well known bird photographers. Strangely, I’m not the only BF member to have been taken with one of Lin’s Yuhina photos. Marmot, Doc Singh and Ann Chaplin have all commented to me on his Yuhina photos after seeing his work featured in Asian bird calendars.

Well, I enjoyed Taiwan so much that I didn’t just stay for a year. As time passed I got married and bought a house.

Yesterday, while having lunch at the symposium I got chatting to a person who gave me gift of a set of beautiful bird cards. Suddenly, as I looked at the first picture I recognized the photo. It wasn’t a Yuhina it was a pair of Mandarin Duck. The penny dropped. I had failed to recognize the person I was talking to. It was Lin Ying-Tien. I had only ever seen pictures of him in the field clad in his working attire. Well, it was great to finally meet the man who took the photo that started my journey to Taiwan but that was not the end of the experience.

Shortly, we were joined by an elderly man with a big smile. As is often done in Asian custom, I politely handed over my name card. The elderly man reciprocated and smiling handed me his card. I was in for another surprise. The elderly man was John Wu, the author of Birds of Taiwan and the grandfather of birdwatching and conservation in Taiwan. John is a legend in Taiwan. His Brown Shrike poster campaign in the early 1980’s, which featured pictures of dissected Brown Shrikes full of parasitic worms, so disgusted people that the practice of eating Brown Shrike as a delicacy ended. His efforts ended the export of more than sixty thousand stuffed raptors per annum to Japan (largely Grey-faced Buzzard with smaller numbers of Crested Serpent Eagle; Sparrowhawks; and even some Oriental Honey Buzzard; Osprey; and Mountain Hawk Eagle).

John also gave me a copy of a newly published book on the history of birdwatching and conservation in Taiwan as seen through the eyes of a foreigner. The book titled “The Swallows’ Return “by Kate Rogers is really a must read for anyone birding in Taiwan or interested in conservation in Asia. To my joy there is a chapter dedicated to the Fairy Pitta of Hu-ben and it tells of the author and her husband’s experiences birding around the Fairy Temple….what a day!

Glad to see the man who took that wonderful picture,sounds like you had a great day

The Tibetan Temple

If you approach Huben village from the little road leading from the small town of Lin-nei you'll be confronted by a temple with golden minarets just before you enter Huben Village. The temple looks like it belongs in a picture with the snow capped peaks of the Himalayas as the backdrop. Well, apart from the tropical Taiwanese hills behind the temple, it is indeed a Tibetan temple.

I had decided to bird the Lin-nei side of Huben and headed to the Tibetan Bai-Ma Temple for what I hoped would be a good afternoon’s birding and a quick look around the temple.

Well, I met the rain halfway to Huben but decided to still try and get some birding in. Often, these tropical downpours are furious but short. I arrived at the temple in fairly heavy rain.

The Pacific and Striated Swallows were very active. I watched a lone Little Egret in a nearby field but that was all that seemed to be about. Within minutes of going down the track behind the temple I was driven back as the rain came down in buckets.

I retreated to the temple. It wasn't long before I realised that this was not going to be one of those short tropical downpours, so I decided to go into the temple.

When much of the Tibetan religious establishment fled Tibet after the start of Chinese rule a number of Tibetans came to Taiwan. This temple is a product of the Tibetan Buddhist Diaspora.

I spent much of the afternoon wondering around the temple with the breeze like chanting of monks drifting through the halls and rooms. Not much of an afternoon’s birding but enjoyable all the same.

just 'discovered' this thread, nice accounts and nice birding!

London Birder said:

just 'discovered' this thread, nice accounts and nice birding!

Click to expand...

Thanks, Des :t: .

Hi, Mark

Read your thread here and just wondered why we hadnt met in Huben, where I 've visited in the last two months.

Again, thanks to visited my blog and attached the Fairy Pitta I took at the northern part of Taiwan last week.

Ni hao Richard,

Huben's a big place . When you are next in the area contact me and we can get together. That's a lovely shot of a Fairy Pitta. How about posting it and some of those other great photos in our gallery .

Cheers :t:,

Mark

A wonderful shot of a Fairy Pitta and a great blog, Richard :t: !

The Green Bamboo Snake

I took a late afternoon walk in the forest behind the Bai-Ma Temple. Things were going well. Lots of Black-naped Blue Monarch about. I stood for sometime watching these little blue gems darting about. A Red-bellied Tree Squirrel Callosciurus erythraeus flavimanus thaiwanensis moved about happily in a tree before an angry mob of Light-vented Bulbul descended upon it and chased it off. Black-browed Barbets called from high up in the canopy. Pacific and Striated Swallows rushed about in a clearing. I watched some youthful Tree Sparrows bouncing along the path. Things were really going well.

I don't know why this has been happening of late but I've seen more snakes in the last two months than I have ever seen in my life. As I moved slowly down the path the sudden movement of a Green Bamboo Snake Trimeresurus Stejnegeri brought me to an abrupt stop as I shouted a warning to my wife who was walking next to me.

Well, the sudden appearance of the snake didn't do much for our birding. Forest birding requires lots of looking up, looking out for snakes requires lots of looking down. Lots of Swinhoe's Japalura Lizards Japalura Swinhonis kept rushing along the edges of the path as they fled and I kept looking down to check I wasn't disturbing anymore green bamboo Snakes. The trip wasn't going that well and the mosquitoes were really making a meal of us too. The rain followed, so that ended today's trip. Hopefully Tuesday's trip will be better.

Waiting for a shot of a Fairy

Up at 4:30 and headed off to Hu-ben to try and get some late season shots of some Fairy Pitta. Well, dawn gave the illusion of clear skys but by 5:40 clouds were rolling down from the mountains and the sound of distant thunder echoed through the valley.

Yesterday was a scorcher, 38o C and very humid.The temperature was already in the early 30s when I left home. I parked at the temple and headed off into the forest. After a fifteen minute slog with the scope, camera etc I got to the area I planned to stakeout. The call of a Fairy Pitta broke through the early morning chattering of the other birds around me. It was a promising start but the light was going quickly.

I set up and waited. A juvenile Malayan Night Heron moved about in the bamboo. I took a few shots of it and realised just how dark the forest was.

I scanned the area for the movements of a pitta. About 40m to my right was a slight clearing. A stream had created a natural gap between the trees. A pitta flashed across the gap and was gone. Time passed slowly while the mosquitoes enjoyed having me for breakfast. I was perspiring heavily in the heat and my clothes were soaked through.

In the distance I could hear two pitta calling from different areas. The light by now was very poor and I decided to move off. I checked another area without luck and started back to the temple. I hadn't gone far when the heavens opened. I took shelter under some overhanging bamboo.

As the rain fell I watched just about every forest bird there was in the area, except the Pitta, come and dance around me. With bad light and heavy rain it was pointless even trying to get a shot. In the end I just walked back to the temple in the rain.

As I arrived at the temple the rain stopped. A smiling Mr.Chang sat under a pavilion in the temple gardens. He had had a wonderful morning watching a pair of pitta in the temple grounds. They had obviously sensed I was coming with my camera and had moved off. The occasional call from the undergrowth not too far off confirmed they were still around but hidden from view.

Mr.Chang said goodbye and headed home for breakfast. I sat there hopefully waiting for the pitta to show themselves. The pitta didn't put in an appearance but I did have wonderful views of a monarch and some of the other forest birds before having tea at the information centre and heading home.

Help save Huben-letter of protest

To help save the Huben area we have put together a draft letter of protest over the Hushan Dam Project http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?p=651371#post651371.
Your support would be highly appreciated.

Taiwan blue Whistling Thrush

On Saturday morning I headed out to Huben with US based BF member, Jim Dart. Quite a hot morning and a little too late in the season to see the Fairy Pitta. The Pitta are still around but become very secretive just before they migrate south and are just about impossible to see now.

We saw some of the more common Huben birds with Collared Finchbill being a lifer for Jim. The calls of Crested Serpent Eagle flying overhead echoed down through the trees. Close to the stream we had a wonderful but brief experience of seeing an endemic Taiwan Blue Whistling Thrush disappearing into the undergrowth. Taiwan Blue Whistling Thrush, a Huben resident, is seldom seen. While it is fairly easy to view Taiwan Blue Whistling Thrush as the jump from rock to rock in the higher mountain streams of Taiwan, they are near impossible to view in the dense moist undergrowth of Huben.

Took a shot from the house of the hills of Huben and Hushan at dawn.

Wednesday morning I headed off to the Fairy Temple. It was fairly cool and overcast. Perfect weather for Huben birding. I parked my bike outside the temple and spent a few minutes observing a large tree in the temple yard. The tree was full of Japanese White-eyes, Light-vented Bulbul, Grey Treepie, Collared Finchbill, Black-naped Blue Monarch, Rufous-capped Babbler, Tree Sparrow, and some five Black-browed Barbets*.

I then moved off into the forest and up the side of a hill following a stream. The path was bordered on the left side by a steep embankment dropping into the stream. I paused to take in my surroundings and a Crested Serpent Eagle landed in a tree not more than ten metres from me. Because of the steep embankment I was at eye level with the eagle. What a great shot if only I could get the camera out of my day pack. I slowly tried to get my pack off but the slight movement spooked the eagle and it was gone. I did manage to get a shot of it later but that time it was from quite a distance and a very poor shot.

I carried on up the hill for a short distance but it was very quiet so I headed back down to follow another stream through some bamboo. The bamboo and trees along the stream were very buzzing with birds. The cries of Crested Serpent Eagle flying overhead echoed down through the trees. By the end of the morning I had seen Japanese White-eye, Light-vented Bulbul, Grey Treepie, Collared Finchbill, Black-browed Barbet, Black Drongo, Bronzed Drongo, Pacific Swallow, Collared Dove, Spotted Dove, Tree Sparrow, Grey Headed Pygmy Woodpecker, Rufous-capped Babbler, Crested Serpent Eagle, Streak-breasted Scimitar Babbler, Grey-cheeked Fulvetta, Dusky Fulvetta, White-bellied Yuhina, Rufous-faced Warbler, Black-naped Blue Monarch, Scaly-Breasted Munia, White-rumped Munia, Emerald Dove, and Bamboo Partridge.

I returned on Thursday morning. It was very hot with clear skies. The tree in the temple yard was still full of birds eating its fruit and hawking insects. I spotted Japanese White-eye, Light-vented Bulbul, Grey Treepie, Collared Finchbill, Black-browed Barbet, Grey-cheeked Fulvetta, Grey Headed Pygmy Woodpecker, and Tree Sparrow.

A walk through the bamboo produced Crested Serpent Eagle, Crested Goshawk, Japanese White-eye, Light-vented Bulbul, Grey Treepie, Collared Finchbill, Black-browed Barbet, Grey-cheeked Fulvetta, White-rumped Munia, Streak-breasted Scimitar Babbler, Little Egret, Pacific Swallow, Plain Martin, Grey-chinned Minivet, Rufous-faced Warbler, Grey Headed Pygmy Woodpecker, Tree Sparrow, Collared Dove, Spotted Dove, and White Wagtail.

Sadly, Huben is a little too far inland to be a good site for passage migrants. It does get fair numbers of raptors passing through in late September to mid October and fair numbers of Chinese Sparrowhawk, Grey-faced Buzzard, and some Oriental Honey-buzzard can be seen. In early May there are always a few sightings of Ruddy Kingfisher and last September we had our first Dollarbird.


*The Taiwan endemic subspecies of Black-browed Barbet Megalaima oorti, race nuchalis was recently proposed as a full species and new Taiwan endemic.