Acres Down - 2nd June

I had a couple of hours wandering around the woodlands and heathland at Acres Down this morning. I parked in the main carpark and walked west along the main track through the woodland. It seemed fairly quiet at first but then distantly I heard a singing Wood Warbler and gradually got closer to this bird until I was underneath it. I spent the next hour with this stunning bird as it showed down to around 10m and sang nearly constantly. These are certainly the best views I have had of this species, one that is declining rapidly in the New Forest. After the woodland area I wandered onto the heathland south of the car park where the highlights were a Woodlark gathering food, Spotted Flycatcher (my first of the year) and a distant male Goshawk perched in the tree tops.

My eBird checklist can be viewed here, this list includes additional images and sound recordings.

Wood Warbler - Acres Down, New Forest

 Wood Warbler - Acres Down, New Forest

Wood Warbler - Acres Down, New Forest

Pennington Marsh - 15th May

After eight weeks of Covid-19 lockdown I had set aside a few hours to visit Pennington Marsh. It was a fantastic still and sunny day but with an early morning frost and a chilly north-east wind blowing. I walked a loop around Fishtail, Butts and Keyhaven Lagoon with a short wander along the first section of the Ancient Highway.

At Efford Lagoon a pair of Great Crested Grebe were displaying and Whitethroat and Reed Warbler chattered from the ditches and scrub. A Cuckoo called from the back of Efford and then later from the Brambles on the Old Tip where I saw the bird investigating brambles probably hunting for caterpillars. This bird regularly calls with a slightly odd three note 'cuk-cuk-oo'.

Fishtail Lagoon was alive with birds, there are currently around 15 pairs of Avocet nesting on the lagoon and many now have chicks and so the parents are actively and noisily defending them against possible threats including the local Lapwing. A pair of Little Ringed Plover fed around the waters margins and eight Black-tailed Godwit slept in the shallows. A flock of eight Whimbrel accompanied by a single winter plumaged Bar-tailed Godwit flew east along the shoreline, I got the impression that these might have been late passage birds moving through the site.

I wandered out to Keyhaven Lagoon but there were few birds, I spent some time watching a pair of Common Tern, the female perched on a fence post and the male fishing over the lagoon and returning to the female to feed her small prawns. A pair of Little Tern began hunting on the lagoon but the Common Tern objected to this and rapidly chased them away.

I left the site just gone 09:00 after a lovely mornings walk.

My eBird checklist for the morning can be viewed here.

Avocet - Pennington Marsh

Avocet - Pennington Marsh

Avocet - Pennington Marsh

Avocet - Pennington Marsh

Redshank - Pennington Marsh

Common Tern - Pennington Marsh

Common Tern - Pennington Marsh

Common Tern - Pennington Marsh

Little Egret - Pennington Marsh

South Korea and Taiwan - 11th February (Day 17)

After a rather sleepless night on the eco-lodge due to barking dogs we were up 05:15 for our final days birding. We headed the short distance to Pintung University for the two remaining targets of the trip. We walked down the track through forest and secondary growth and set-up on the bund between the two lakes and began scanning. Black Drongo and Light-vented Bulbul began to appear in the tree-tops and then I picked up a bird of different shape and squinting through the gloom of the early morning I could make out some deep red colouration; Maroon Oriole, our first target and one that we had missed earlier in the trip. I shouted and the others got onto the bird fairly quickly. Our first target down. Over the next few minutes we approached the oriole more closely and eventually got great views. Next Ian found a green pigeon perched in a dead tree which was soon joined by others. We identified two species the larger White-bellied Green-pigeon and our final key target, Whistling Green-pigeon. These two species were remarkably similar even when perched together but the orange forehead, heavily marked ventral area and more uniform dull green appearance of the Whistling Green were good pointers. Over the next 45 minutes we had fantastic views of the pigeons eventually seeing 13 Whistling and seven White-bellied. My eBird checklist for the morning can be viewed here.

Maroon Oriole - Pintung University, Taiwan

White-bellied Green-Pigeon - Pintung University, Taiwan

White-bellied Green-Pigeon (lower three birds) and Whistling Green-Pigeon - Pintung University, Taiwan

Whistling Green-Pigeon - Pintung University, Taiwan

Whistling Green-Pigeon - Pintung University, Taiwan

Whistling Green-Pigeon - Pintung University, Taiwan

Chestnut-tailed Starling - Pintung University, Taiwan

Common Kingfisher - Pintung University, Taiwan

 Elated by our early morning success we decided to head north and to the west coast of the island for some wader watching. We arrived at the Qingkunshen IBA at just gone 10:00 and began scanning the large number of waders. The masses were dominated by Dunlin of one of the long-billed races, probably sakhalina. Amongst these were Pacific Golden Plover, Bar-tailed Godwit, Kentish Plover, Lesser Sand-plover, Red-necked Stint, Curlew Sandpiper, Marsh Sandpiper, Black-winged Stilt and Avocet. The star birds were Great Knot some of which were beginning to enter summer plumage and the star, a Nordmann’s Greenshank which eventually gave excellent views . This species is a rare vagrant on Taiwan, this bird has been present at the site since at least the end of 2019. Also at the site we recorded Caspian Tern, Gull-billed Tern, Little Tern and Whiskered Tern. It was now 12:15 and we decided that we should start our journey towards the Taipei. A short stop at a lagoon further along the road produced a Black-faced Spoonbill and a rice paddy a little further on was smothered in Wigeon, Shoveler and Pintail. My eBird checklist for the site can be viewed here, here and here.

The drive north took around 4 hours with a couple of brief stops. We checked into a hotel to change and shower and after some dinner headed to our international flights. Mine departing at 00:20.

Lesser Sand Plover - Qingkunshen IBA, Taiwan

Caspian Tern - Qingkunshen IBA, Taiwan

Pacific Golden Plover - Qingkunshen IBA, Taiwan

Black-winged Stilt - Qingkunshen IBA, Taiwan

Kentish Plover - Qingkunshen IBA, Taiwan

Whiskered Tern - Qingkunshen IBA, Taiwan

The naturalised African Sacred Ibis - Qingkunshen IBA, Taiwan

Marsh Sandpiper - Qingkunshen IBA, Taiwan

Intermediate Egret - Qingkunshen IBA, Taiwan

Great Knot - Qingkunshen IBA, Taiwan

Nordmann's Greenshank - Qingkunshen IBA, Taiwan

Nordmann's Greenshank - Qingkunshen IBA, Taiwan

Nordmann's Greenshank - Qingkunshen IBA, Taiwan

Nordmann's Greenshank - Qingkunshen IBA, Taiwan

Black-faced Spoonbill - Qingkunshen IBA, Taiwan

 

Black-winged Kite - Qingkunshen IBA, Taiwan

Black-winged Kite - Qingkunshen IBA, Taiwan

List of Birds Recorded in Taiwan

We recorded 153 species in Taiwan of which 33 were new for me (shown in bold). 

Taiwan Partridge

Taiwan Bamboo-partridge

Mikado Pheasant

Swinhoe's Pheasant

Tufted Duck

Northern Shoveler

Chinese Spot-billed Duck

Mallard

Common Teal

Little Grebe

Great Crested Grebe

Ashy Woodpigeon

Oriental Turtle-dove

Red Turtle-dove

Eastern Spotted Dove

White-bellied Green-pigeon

Taiwan Green-pigeon

House Swift

White-breasted Waterhen

Common Moorhen

Common Coot

Black-faced Spoonbill

African Sacred Ibis

Yellow Bittern

Malay Night-heron

Black-crowned Night-heron

Cattle Egret

Grey Heron

Great White Egret

Intermediate Egret

Little Egret

Pied Avocet

Black-winged Stilt

Grey Plover

Pacific Golden Plover

Little Ringed Plover

Kentish Plover

Lesser Sandplover

Bar-tailed Godwit

Black-tailed Godwit

Great Knot

Red Knot

Curlew Sandpiper

Red-necked Stint

Common Sandpiper

Green Sandpiper

Common Greenshank

Nordmann's Greenshank

Common Redshank

Marsh Sandpiper

Black-headed Gull

Little Tern

Common Gull-billed Tern

Caspian Tern

Whiskered Tern

Collared Owlet

Collared Scops-owl

Mountain Scops-owl

Osprey

Black-winged Kite

Oriental Honey-buzzard

Crested Serpent-eagle

Mountain Hawk-eagle

Black Eagle

Crested Goshawk

Besra

Black Kite

Common Kingfisher

Taiwan Barbet

Grey-capped Woodpecker

White-backed Woodpecker

Peregrine Falcon

Maroon Oriole

White-bellied Erpornis

Grey-chinned Minivet

Black Drongo

Black-naped Monarch

Brown Shrike

Grey Treepie

Taiwan Blue Magpie

Plain-crowned Jay

Southern Nutcracker

Large-billed Crow

Coal Tit

Chestnut-bellied Tit

Green-backed Tit

Yellow Tit

Plain Prinia

Taiwan Cupwing

Asian House Martin

Red-rumped Swallow

House Swallow

Barn Swallow

Asian Plain Martin

Black Bulbul

Collared Finchbill

Light-vented Bulbul

Styan's Bulbul

Yellow-browed Warbler

Arctic Warbler

Rufous-faced Warbler

Brownish-flanked Bush-warbler

Yellowish-bellied Bush-warbler

Black-throated Tit

Taiwan Fulvetta

Taiwan Yuhina

Japanese White-eye

Taiwan Scimitar-babbler

Black-necklaced Scimitar-babbler

Rufous-capped Babbler

Dusky Fulvetta

Grey-cheeked Fulvetta

Taiwan Hwamei

Rufous-crowned Laughingthrush

Rusty Laughingthrush

White-whiskered Laughingthrush

White-eared Sibia

Taiwan Liocichla

Taiwan Barwing

Eurasian Nuthatch

Northern Wren

Brown Dipper

Crested Myna

Common Myna

White's Thrush

Taiwan Thrush

Eyebrowed Thrush

Brown-headed Thrush

Pale Thrush

Dusky Thrush

Small Vivid Niltava

White-tailed Blue Robin

Orange-flanked Bush-robin

White-browed Bush-robin

Collared Bush-robin

Little Forktail

Taiwan Whistling-thrush

Snowy-browed Flycatcher

Plumbeous Water-redstart

Daurian Redstart

Flamecrest

Fire-breasted Flowerpecker

Alpine Accentor

White-rumped Munia

Scaly-breasted Munia

Eurasian Tree Sparrow

Olive-backed Pipit

Grey Wagtail

Eastern Yellow Wagtail

White Wagtail

Taiwan Rosefinch

Brown Bullfinch

Grey-headed Bullfinch

South Korea and Taiwan - 10th February (Day 16)

We headed back up to KM108 at Alishan Forest Recreation Area again this AM for our final mornings birding in the area. We wandered up and down the road and also a short way up the track to the visitor centre seeing much the same as yesterday and missing all remaining targets for the site. Highlights were a pair of Yellow-throated Marten foraging around the car park, great views of Steere's Liochichla, Taiwan Rosefinch and White-browed Bush-Robin. At around 10:00 we began the long drive south to Kenting National Park. My eBird checklist can be viewed here.

Yellow-throated Marten - Alishan National Forest Recreation Area, Taiwan

Steere's Liochicla - Alishan National Forest Recreation Area, Taiwan

Taiwan Rosefinch - Alishan National Forest Recreation Area, Taiwan

Taiwan Rosefinch - Alishan National Forest Recreation Area, Taiwan

Taiwan Rosefinch - Alishan National Forest Recreation Area, Taiwan

White-browed Bush-Robin - Alishan National Forest Recreation Area, Taiwan

Taiwan Fulvetta - Alishan National Forest Recreation Area, Taiwan

Taiwan Fulvetta - Alishan National Forest Recreation Area, Taiwan

Taiwan Fulvetta - Alishan National Forest Recreation Area, Taiwan

We arrived at Kenting National Park in the far south of the island just before 14:30. The park is just above sea level and this was the first lowland birding we had done on the island and it was noticeably warm and with a strong sea breeze blowing. We quickly located our target here, the now rare and localised, Styan's Bulbul but it took some time before we all had obtained satisfactory views. Other species here included a range of familiar wildfowl seen from the very plush hide. My eBird checklist for the site can be viewed here.

After Kenting we headed back north to Pingtung University arriving just as it was getting dark at 17:30, we sussed out the site for tomorrows birding and had some nice views of Savanna Nightjar as darkness fell. After dinner we headed to our accommodation at the Hakka Eco-Farm where we heard more Savanna Nightjar and a booming Malayan Night-Heron. My eBird checklists for these two sites can be viewed here and here.

Brown Shrike - Kenting National Park, Taiwan

Scaly-breasted Munia - Kenting National Park, Taiwan

Styan's Bulbul - Kenting National Park, Taiwan

Styan's Bulbul - Kenting National Park, Taiwan

Black Drongo - Kenting National Park, Taiwan