Taiwan - Birding Reports (3 Viewers)

[Dave 2x]

Saturday 13 December 2014

Had an early morning visit to Guandu. Highlights included:

Black-winged Kites with nest/chicks;
Oriental Honey-Buzzard
Marsh Harrier
Eurasian Spoonbill (3)

Missed the Black Bittern that was photographed by lots of people at the Nature Centre.

Sunday 14 December 2014

Went to Jinshan to twitch the Siberian Crane that turned up the day before. Myself and approx. 200 photographers shared close views of this juvenile bird which is a first record for Taiwan.

Others birds seen included Golden-headed Cisticola, Black-winged Kite, Richard's Pipit.

Missed a Bull-Headed Shrike which was apparently nearby.

As usual, photos to follow.

Cheers

Dave

 

[Dave 2x]

A couple more photos....

Cheers

Dave

 

[birdingaroundtaiwan]

^ Congrats on the Siberian Crane .... the juvenile is a surprisingly ugly bird, considering how beautiful the adults are!

It was a very windy day down south today. A morning visit to Cheting Marshes, on the Kaohsiung/Tainan border, produced many of the usual species, including excellent counts of 143 Black-faced Spoonbills, 180 Pied Avocets and 42 Common Pochard. I read in the newspaper today that Black-faced Spoonbills currently number in excess of 2,200 individuals in Taiwan, an all-time record, and the global population census is expected to exceed 3,000 birds - a record for recent times. Good to hear these rare birds are doing so well.

Short report on today's Cheting visit here: http://birdingaroundtaiwan.com/

Cheers and happy birding!

 

[Paul Rhodes]

Hi Dominque and Dave

Siberian Crane what a record !

On the subject of Black faced spoonbill there were two on the Manko reserve in Naha,Okinawa apparently they are annual also of note were four grey tailed tattler and peregrine, a particularly small bird possibly of the tundra form.

May your run of good birds continue !

 

[Dave 2x]

Yep the Siberian Stork was an unexpected but great record for Taiwan and I am sure that will be the sixth species of Crane to be added to next year's Taiwan List.

Tuesday 16 December 2014

Had non-birding friends from UK visiting so decided to take them up Dasyueshan for one day. Not a birding trip but still managed to get both Pheasants and all the normal regular birds. Fruiting trees at 23.5km attracted numerous species of bird and photographer!

For anyone going to Dasyueshan, there is now an additional new feeding area for Mikado Pheasant at the very top carpark.

Cheers

Dave

 

[davidhru]

Dave thanks for your posting of the imm. Siberian Crane sighting. I went out yesterday the 20th hoping this rarity was still around and with luck it still was but maybe in a different location than your photos--yesterday it was by the 7-11 parking lot with a gaggle of 6 or 7 photographers snapping only a few feet away which didn't seem to bother the bird. Perhaps we will bump into each other since I see you go to a lot of the sites I do and I'm starting to get more active in birding again after a few years hiatus.

David

 

[Dave 2x]

Dave thanks for your posting of the imm. Siberian Crane sighting. I went out yesterday the 20th hoping this rarity was still around and with luck it still was but maybe in a different location than your photos--yesterday it was by the 7-11 parking lot with a gaggle of 6 or 7 photographers snapping only a few feet away which didn't seem to bother the bird. Perhaps we will bump into each other since I see you go to a lot of the sites I do and I'm starting to get more active in birding again after a few years hiatus.

David

Hi David,

Have been reading your reports on E-bird...and yes we do go to the same areas. Glad you got to see the Crane!

Here's a photo of the crane location last Saturday (taken with my phone). This was early morning and there were still people arriving constantly as we left.

Cheers

Dave

 

[delia todd]

Great goodness... and I thought twitching was a 'British' thing LOL.

May I take this opportunity to wish you all a very happy Christmas and New Year.

 

[Dave 2x]

Great goodness... and I thought twitching was a 'British' thing LOL.

May I take this opportunity to wish you all a very happy Christmas and New Year.

This bird is so popular it now has it's own fan page on Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/金山小白鶴/418768578274427?notif_t=fbpage_fan_invite

Thanks Delia and the same to you, have a Happy Xmas and New Year, always appreciate your kind comments.

Reports of Common Shelduck and Common Goldeneye now in Yilan.

Cheers

Dave

 

[delia todd]

Thanks for the FB link Dave. Shame I can't read the comments though.

He really seems to be a famous and popular bird - hope he hangs around for you.

 

[birdingaroundtaiwan]

Some excellent birding in southern Taiwan at the moment ....

Sunday 21st December: A four-hour visit to trails along the approach road to Tengjhih National Forest (altitude up to 1,500m) produced an excellent range of endemics and other mid-mountain species. Highlights included three Taiwan Hill-Partridge seen well in flight, good views of both Scimitar-Babblers, Black Eagle, Vivid Niltava, White-tailed Robin, Korean Bush-Warbler, Striated Prinia, White-bellied Green Pigeon and Fire-breasted Flowerpecker.

Tuesday 23rd December: Five hours at Cheting Marshes, on the Kaohsiung/Tainan border, produced an excellent 64 species. Best of the bunch were two Eurasian Spoonbills (personal Taiwan tick), more than a hundred Black-faced Spoonbills, a Great Bittern (my second of the winter at this site), a Cinnamon Bittern, still 33 Common Pochard, 3 Greater Painted-Snipe, and good counts of both White-shouldered Starling and Chestnut-tailed Starling.

Full report from both visits here: http://birdingaroundtaiwan.com/

Cheers and happy birding!

 

[birdingaroundtaiwan]

Now that 2014 is over, I have compiled my year list. I finished the year with 265 bird species seen in Taiwan - not a record-breaking total by any means, but not bad considering my main form of transportation is a scooter, almost all of my birds were self-found, and I didn't visit Matsu or Kinmen during the year.

My list can be found here: http://birdingaroundtaiwan.com/2015/01/01/2014-taiwan-year-list-review/

Happy New Year and good birding to all in 2015!

 

[birdingaroundtaiwan]

A great start to 2015, with lots of good birds at Tengjhih National Forest today including a personal Taiwan first: Asian Stubtail.

Taiwan Thrush, Yellow Tit, Rusty Laughingthrush, White-backed Woodpecker, Brownish-flanked Bush-Warbler, White-bellied Green Pigeon, a showy male Vivid Niltava and four sightings of Black Eagle rounded off an excellent day.

Full report here: http://birdingaroundtaiwan.com/

Cheers and happy birding!

 

[birdingaroundtaiwan]

Does anyone have any details about the Oriental Stork, reported today close to Longluan Lake in Pingtung?

 

[Dave 2x]

Does anyone have any details about the Oriental Stork, reported today close to Longluan Lake in Pingtung?

I heard about the Stork but unfortunately don't have any more details.

10 January 2014

Tried Guandu again after reports of a Baillon's Crake.....no joy on the Crake and nothing unusual around. Highlights included Black-shouldered Kite, Peregrine Falcon, Chinese Pond-Heron.

http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S21272116

11 January 2014

Started the day at Huajiang in Taipei. Again nothing too exciting around but picked up Naumann's Thrush, Dusky Thrush, Common Waxbill.

http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S21289283

Moved to Taipei Botanical Gardens after hearing reports of Ashy Wood-Pigeon, Eurasian Blackbird and Collared Scops-Owl. Missed all of those but got my first Taiwan Blue Magpies of the year.

http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S21289351

Moved to Nangang Park where a crowd of photographers indicated the presence of a Striated Heron to finish the day off.

http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S21289448

Maybe time to head South next weekend!

Cheers

Dave

 

[birdingaroundtaiwan]

^ Yes, south is where it's at! I'm going down to Pingtung County on Saturday, will have a look for the Oriental Stork while I'm there.

My recent birding highlight was an adult male Japanese Thrush in the Maolin Valley on January 11th. I've not heard of this species overwintering here, but I guess it's not too far-fetched given that they winter in SE China.

Saunders Gull and Greater Scaup both made it on to my Taiwan list, and a flock of six Black-necked Grebes was also good to see, in the Chiayi County coastal wetlands on January 6th.

Full reports and my 2015 World Year List here: http://birdingaroundtaiwan.com/

Cheers and happy birding!

 

[SteveMM]

Chipping in with my own tuppence-worth, if you miss Oriental Stork at Long Luan Can, you can always get it on Jiu Xue River where it is now resident (pair).

In respect of the south, at least one Great Black-headed Gull has returned to Ba Zhang River and should be there on-and-off until March now.

 

[Dave 2x]

Chipping in with my own tuppence-worth, if you miss Oriental Stork at Long Luan Can, you can always get it on Jiu Xue River where it is now resident (pair).

In respect of the south, at least one Great Black-headed Gull has returned to Ba Zhang River and should be there on-and-off until March now.

Great info! Just checked out your blog Steve and I am totally amazed by the great birds you have found. Is there anything left for you to see in Taiwan? I really need to try harder!!!

Cheers

Dave

 

[SteveMM]

Great info! Just checked out your blog Steve and I am totally amazed by the great birds you have found. Is there anything left for you to see in Taiwan? I really need to try harder!!!

Cheers

Dave

The big glaring omission is Brown Wood Owl (only heard before). The understandable one is Small Buttonquail. The rest is comfortably OML!

The best way to bump your list up is to spend quality time on the coast (Yehliu in your case) and make frequent visits to those absolutely wonderful islands (Dongyin!). Big drives for me, but fortunately in winter eveything is in (or near enough in) Tainan!

 

[Dave 2x]

The big glaring omission is Brown Wood Owl (only heard before). The understandable one is Small Buttonquail. The rest is comfortably OML!

The best way to bump your list up is to spend quality time on the coast (Yehliu in your case) and make frequent visits to those absolutely wonderful islands (Dongyin!). Big drives for me, but fortunately in winter eveything is in (or near enough in) Tainan!

Yes I spent almost every weekend at Yehliu from September to November last year and got a few of the bonus birds that turn up there. Planning to hit Matsu in June/July for the Chinese Crested Tern which is my top priority whilst in Taiwan. Unfortunately not enough free time to hit migration there this year.

Cheers

Dave