Saturday 19 October 2013
Decided to do a day trip to my favourite location in Taiwan…Dasyueshan.
Setting off from Taichung at 4:30am we reached Dasyueshan Km23.5 at 5:30am. On the way to Km23.5
White-tailed Robins and
Taiwan Whistling Thrushes jumped off the road.
First birds to show up were
Black-throated Tits,
Steere’s Liocichla and
White-eared Sibias. A
Brownish-flanked Bush-Warbler, numerous
Taiwan Partridge and a Formosan Barking Deer were also calling but never came into view. 2 Female
Swinhoe’s Pheasants were more obliging and carried on feeding within 6ft of us.
Leaving Km23.5 we continued up the mountain stopping briefly to admire a male Swinhoe’s Pheasant before stopping at Km32. A large troop of Formosan Rock Macaques were feeding here and the only birds of note were an
Ashy Wood-Pigeon, a group of
Rufous-capped Babblers and brief views of a
Besra.
Next stop was the carpark at the entrance gate around Km35. Everything was quiet until we located a mixed flock working the trees in the carpark that included Black-throated Tit,
Taiwan Barwing,
Eurasian Nuthatch,
Fire-breasted Flowerpecker and a lone
Ferruginous Flycatcher.
As Trail 210 is still closed we decided to try the trail that commences about 0.5km further up the mountain. Large mixed flocks were feeding around here mainly made up of Barwings, Black-throated Tits,
Taiwan Yuhinas, a lone
Green-backed Tit and numerous
Rufous-faced Warblers.
About 50 metres into the trail a female
Mikado Pheasant was searching for food in the dry leaves but it disappeared once it spotted me. Perhaps another 100 metres up the trail 3
Taiwan Partridge were spotted before scurrying away.
Further stops produced
Asian House-Martin and
House Swifts before reaching Anmashan at Km42. Anmashan produced our first of many
White-whiskered Laughingthrush,
Large-billed Crows and lots of Steere’s Liocichla and Black-throated Tits.
Nothing was happening at the Mikado Steak out at Km47 so we headed to the top of the mountain before walking along the Forest Road behind the restaurant. New birds found on this road were
Brown Bullfinch (3),
Taiwan Fulvetta and a nice male
Vinaceous Rosefinch. A Ferruginous Flycatcher was the only other bird of note.
Changing strategy we headed up towards the lake with approx., 100 noisy tourists. We still managed our first
Flamecrests,
Eurasian Nutcracker and a sole
Yellowish-bellied Bush-Warbler.
Heading back to Km47 a beautiful male Mikado Pheasant was already waiting for us and was soon joined by a female. At Km41.5 waterfall we picked up a
Little Forktail that wasn’t keen on having it’s photograph taken and then headed back down to Km23.5.
On arrival at Km23.5 a large group of tourists were surrounding a poor photographer who got frustrated as his subject, a Taiwan Partridge, had just been spooked by the tourists. We waited another 20 minutes but only a group of 5 Swinhoe’s Pheasants (1 male and 4 females) walked past.
As we headed back down the mountain we briefly stopped at Km23 for a group of 7 Swinhoe’s Pheasants (1 male and 6 females) before heading back to Taichung.
As always this mountain never seems to fail to deliver….15 Swinhoe’s Pheasants, 3 Mikado Pheasants and 3 Taiwan Partridge in one day so can’t really complain! B
Surprising misses on this trip were the Bush-Robins, Woodpeckers, Vivid Niltava and Yellow Tit.
As usual photos will follow when I get some spare time….
Cheers
Dave
