B2A Taiwan 2013 Endemics and Black-faced Spoonbills, Customized trip ; 16 - 24 December    Participants; Jan Willem Steffelaar and Marion van Sinttruije    Anmashan, Huisun Forest Reserve, Wushe area, Tsengwen Estuary, Kenting, Jiji Endemic Research Institute, Aowanda FR, Chuchan Botanical Garden.

It is no wonder why Jan Willem and Marion had chosen our custom tour and Taiwan as their birding holiday destination; Jan Willem is a keen bird photographer and as you may notice from any of our trip reports, photo opportunities in Taiwan are excellent! December, as we experienced, often gives cool but dry weather on Taiwan. We certainly enjoyed the birding in the mountains under mostly blue skies. While the chance on good weather in December is a plus, this is also mid-winter and while still good, it may not be the very best period if one would like to see a complete set of endemics on Taiwan. I mean, not that we missed a lot, but November and April, when our main tours go, would be the best time of year to visit. Anyway, the focus of this trip wasn’t running after every single endemic form on the island. We put in some keen but relaxed birding and certainly took our time whenever a photographic opportunity presented itself. I believe we managed some great results especially when considered that we didn’t do any hides or worms or other tricks and efforts of that matter, we simply enjoyed the normal birding walks and snapped away some decent images as we went.  We have posted a selection of photos taken on the trip on this page which we hope you may enjoy.

Jan Willem has a keen interest in bird photograpy. Some excellent results from this trip and other travels indeed you may find on his Flickr pages. You're welcome to have a look. Recommend! http://www.flickr.com/photos/jwsteffelaar/sets/72157632428773269/

The male Taiwan Thrush must be one of the best looking Asian thrushes. Unfortunately it is shy and elusive, and only a rare resident of the mid-level montane forests. In fact, this is the first time I get any photos of it in just about 8 trips. Even the female posed for us at Anmashan. On the last November trip a pair was also seen although rather brief. It seems that late November and December is a good time of year to find them.

More common and just as beautiful, Taiwan Barbet.      Very easy to find and just as rare, Black-faced Spoonbill.

Leucopsis is the most regular White Wagtail on Taiwan                          Little Forktail, Anmashan but we found also this 'Black-backed' Wagtail, spp lugens.

Not to be missed on 'Isla Formosa' (beautiful island), the superb scenery in the mountains.

The mountains provide with some good colour as well. Photo left; Berries attract Niltava, Thrushes, Barbet...  Photo right; Maple attracts Taiwan tourists!

Taiwan holds a number of wintering thrush species; nice to compare here the Brown-headed and Pale Thrush.

Black-faced Bunting is a common winterer.                 Black-eared Kite is a scarce and local resident.

Caspian Tern                           Did it again! Flight shots through digiscoping.                   Crested Serpent Eagle

Excellent forests on Anmashan with easy access... roadside birding!

White-whiskered Laughingthrush          Anmashan                     Brown Dipper

Cute! White-shouldered Starling, Longluan Lake              White-bellied Pigeon, Chun Yang farm, Wushe

Taiwan Niltava...vivid!                                                     Black Bulbul, Kenting

Maritime Striped Squirrel, Anmashan                  Record shot of a good one; Falcated Duck at LL lake.

On the last day we watched this drama unfold. A Crested Goshawk had taken the Little Egret by the river but struggled to secure the prey -bigger than himself- up the slope and in the forest. In the second picture he had managed to pull it up just 1 meter higher...

Tsengwen Estuary; Post these or not? Nobody's going to visit Taiwan to see common birds... we know the endemics and specialities are most important! Enjoy, admire, love the birds -don't we all have these moments where an ID or list is just only an ID or list? PS the Common Magpie of Taiwan is actually an interesting subspecies, sericea, the 'Oriental Mapie'

"owstoni" Taiwan's not so Spotted Nutcracker...                    Aha! Endemic; Steere's Liocichla

Only on Taiwan; good looking female! Eh, I mean endemic Swinhoe's Pheasant.              Taiwan Bulbul, Kenting

White-whiskered Laughingthrush, Anmashan                    Chinese Bulbul, Huisun Forest Reserve

It may be nice to mention that Jan Willem and Marion were, amongst other factors, inspired to visit Taiwan through the photography found on the famous Flickr site of John&Fish, two Taiwan photographers who I wish to thank for promoting bird photography on the island. The approach is quite artistic but I’m sure you may find some great shots that anyone, birder or not, would enjoy watching; http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnfish/

Check our Taiwan reports; April 2009  /  April 2010  /  Nov. 2010  /  April 2011  /  May 2012  /  Nov. 2012  /  Dec. 2012   Home  /  Top  /  B2A reports