Hi all,
Off to Taiwan in March.
If any of you have been recently, it would be much appreciated if you could share info regarding feeding stations, road closures, sites for the more difficult target species and up to date info regarding getting to Lanyu/Orchid Island.
For instance, it seems that Firefly Homestay in Alishan is 'permanently closed'; is that true? So therefore no access to the Taiwan Partridge feeding station?
Any recent info regarding species such as Taiwan Thrush, Chestnut-bellied Tit, Black-necklaced Scimitar Babbler, any Bush-warblers, Owls and Parrotbills would be amazing.
Cheers, Andy.
Hi Andy,
Info from March 2017 on some of your targets, so a bit old now, but maybe something of use.
Taiwan Thrush, Yushan on track to the Lulin Lodge at Yushan. Track from 23.478, 120.89112
Chestnut-bellied Tit, In forest around Wushe - from Andy Roadhouse's trip report 'Bedongyueshan Farm' We followed his directions. Not sure how legit the access is on this road, and the gates we went round were red not blue, so maybe we were in a different spot to where they went birding! Was a nice spot though and the only place we saw the varied tit.
from Andy Roadhouse's report: "Bedongyueshan Farm
Another good site with plenty of birds which is good for Yellow Tit, Rufous-crowned Laughingthrush, Dusky Fulvetta etc. 4km uphill from Wushe take a left turn towards Lishan, the road goes through mainly rank habitat but is quite birdy early morning before the road gets busy with lorries. After about 8kms there is a driveable track off to the left, this goes for nearly 2 kms and we had Rusty Laughingthrushes and 2 male Swinhoes Pheasants along there. When you get to a big blue gate you can park there, the gates were locked but we walked around them and birded for a couple of kms along the wide track, this track goes for 5km before you get to the farm. There are good numbers of White-tailed Robins all along the trail and we had some good mixed feeding flocks, however on our first visit we missed Rufous-crowned Laughingthrush and Dusky Fulvetta. We returned to the site near the end of the trip and managed to see both species."
Black-necklaced Scimitar Babbler, in bamboo around here 23.44366, 120.6697
any Bush-warblers: Taiwan Bush Warbler was not singing in March 2017 and I think its difficult early in the season. I dont think they are rare just impossible to see if not making a noise. The other bush warblers werent an issue.
Owls - Collared Owlet, Collared Scops, Mountain Scops and Northern Boobook were all on this stretch of road 23.4745, 120.6881 (we kipped in the car in a layby).
Mountain Scops in the forest just north of the Huben Temple
Northern Boobook and Ryukyu Scops Owl seen in forest around the dry riverbed site on Lanyu, and also in forest along coast road west of this; we just left the road and entered forest speculatively where it looked accessible.
Himalayan Owl - on the main road to Yushan somewhere along this stretch 23.50373, 120.80956. I think Henk Hendricks report mentions seeing one on the roadside telegraph wire, so we drove the road slowly late night and got one sitting on a pole and then relocated in the forest.
Parrotbills - Golden in the bamboo near the Lulin Lodge at Yushan. Vinous-throated in rank roadside habitat described by Andy Roadhouse above.
On Lanyu we hired scooters from the place we stayed, was good fun going round the island, a few migrants around as well.
Taiwan is a great trip for birding. Check on ebird as well, as it is well used, especially for rarities; we saw Brown-cheeked Rail, Fujian Niltava, Oriental Stork, and Black-footed Albatross following up ebird records.
Have a good trip
Cheers
