Outside the Black-faced Spoonbill visitor center, Qigu, January 27th.

A quick visit to Qigu revealed many of the species seen there last weekend, with the notable additions of Curlew Sandpiper, Eurasian Curlew, Little Tern, and a splendid Purple Heron.

Between Tainan and Qigu, I stopped briefly at a small but promising-looking wetland which lies right next to the road and is easily viewed from the northbound carriageway of Highway 17. Among big numbers of the common ducks and herons were at least 20 Avocets and a single Black-faced Spoonbill. Just a stone’s throw to the north, a pitifully small remnant of mangrove habitat has been set aside as a nature preserve complete with viewing platforms and screens; one imagines it was a compulsory concession funded by local factories. 2 Yellow Bitterns and plenty of roosting Black-crowned Night Herons were the best birds here.

Finally, just south of Tainan, again alongside Highway 17, another small wetland is worth a quick look when passing through. Today, this one held perhaps 30 Avocets, at least 4 Northern Pintail, and 2 Marsh Sandpipers among good numbers of commoner species.

Birds seen:

• Crested Serpent Eagle 2
• Oriental Honey Buzzard 1
• White-bellied Green Pigeon 2
• Large-billed Crow 2
• Taiwan Bamboo-Partridge 2
• Grey-chinned Minivet 2
• Brown Bullfinch 8
• Dusky Fulvetta 10
• Taiwan Whistling-Thrush 1
• Scaly Thrush 1
• Red-flanked Bluetail 1
• Collared Bush-Robin 1
• White-tailed Robin 7
• Daurian Redstart 4
• Plumbeous Redstart 1
• Vivid Niltava 1
• Taiwan Scimitar-Babbler 2
• Rufous-faced Warbler 10
• Green-backed Tit 2
• Black-throated Tit 3
• Steere’s Liocichla 100
• Taiwan Sibia 100
• Taiwan Yuhina 100
• Japanese White-eye 20
• Olive-backed Pipit 20
• Black Bulbul 30
• Asian House Martin 1
• Striated Swallow 1

Kaohsiung’s weather is often beautiful in winter, with clear blue skies every day and pleasant temperatures, warm enough for T-shirts (23-24C) in the daytime and dropping to a pleasantly cool 15-16C in the evenings. However, the by-products of local and nearby mainland Chinese heavy industry, the fumes from a million scooters, and the almost total lack of rainfall between November and April, combine to create air pollution in the lowlands and foothills that can frequently verge on the harmful.

A good way to escape the perpetual smog is to head to the high mountains at every opportunity. But when I awoke this morning, a surprise was in store – the air in downtown Kaohsiung was crystal clear. So clear that inland mountains, some 50km to the east, were actually visible. This is a rare event in winter, and the drive to Tengjhih was very pleasant. One can only imagine how beautiful the landscapes of southern Taiwan used to be before very recent times, before industry and “progress” took their toll on the land and the air.

I walked the blue trail today, in a clockwise direction, before heading north on the brown then the red trail, walking up the road as far as Km 17, then turning around and returning on the road all the way south to the village.

I walked the full length of the blue trail today, which descends a fair way into the valley before climbing back up to reconnect eventually with the brown trail. The habitat becomes a little more patchy and degraded lower down, and was accordingly less rich in bird life than the higher trails. Nonetheless, wherever a damp, shady corner presented itself, there was often something good to be seen: frequent White-tailed Robins, a single Collared Bush Robin, and a pair of Taiwan Bamboo-Partridge.

One such shady corner, just before the brown trail, held both a Scaly Thrush and a Red-flanked Bluetail (the latter a Taiwan tick for me).

Close by was another surprise: a party of 8 Brown Bullfinches feeding on tree buds. This is my first record of this species at Tengjhih, and only the second time I have ever seen them in Taiwan. I love how this site continues to reveal new birds on almost every visit …. long may it continue to do so.

Short-grass verges and damp shady areas at Tengjhih, particularly along the brown trail, are a good bet for sightings of White-tailed Robin, and may turn up more unusual species such as Red-flanked Bluetail, Siberian Rubythroat, Collared Bush Robin, Taiwan Shortwing and Scaly Thrush.

Further up, on the roadside near Km 17, a burst water pipe attracted many birds to drink and bathe. Legions of the expected Steere’s Liocichlas, Taiwan Sibias, Taiwan Yuhinas and Rufous-faced Warblers were joined by a handful of Dusky Fulvettas, showing well in the open, giving me my best-ever views of this usually very inconspicuous species (and another first record for my Tengjhih list). Nearby, a Vivid Niltava was a beautiful sight, and a smart Taiwan Whistling-Thrush occasionally showed on a roadside wall.

Steere’s Liocichla and Taiwan Sibias at a burst water pipe along the roadside.

Rounding off today’s 4 hour visit, I walked slowly back down the road, which was busier than usual today, with cars stopped here and there so their occupants could photograph the beautiful pink blossoms and the mountain views. Flocks of the common species were frequently seen all the way down, with a handful of less common birds, most notably a pair of White-bellied Green Pigeons hidden among the blossoms in some trees below the road. They showed well and I managed a record shot or two with my camera.

White-bellied Green Pigeon, Tengjhih, January 26th.

Black-winged Stilts at Qigu, January 19th

Highlights:

• Pheasant-tailed Jacana 25
• Black-faced Spoonbill 15
• Chinese Pond Heron 1
• Garganey 1 male
• Caspian Tern
• Whiskered Tern
• Common Greenshank
• Common Redshank
• Marsh Sandpiper
• Wood Sandpiper
• Common Sandpiper
• Red-necked Stint
• Dunlin
• Black-winged Stilt
• Common Snipe
• Pacific Golden Plover
• Grey Plover
• Lesser Sandplover
• Kentish Plover
• Common Teal
• Shoveler
• Emerald Dove
• Oriental Skylark
• Grey-throated Martin
• Long-tailed Shrike
• Brown Shrike
• Richard’s Pipit

On Sunday morning I headed to the marshes of Qigu, which lie close to the coast to the north-west of Tainan, about an hour and a half’s drive away from my home in Kaohsiung.

The area is a sprawling mess of fish-farms, wet and dried-out ponds, riverside farmland, and some remaining protected marshes which form the core of the rare Black-faced Spoonbill’s wintering grounds.

My first port of call on arrival was the Black-faced Spoonbill visitor center, where telescopes are usually trained on the rather distant spoonbills. The area holds several thousand Black-faced Spoonbills in winter – the majority of the world’s population – but today there were only about 15 individuals visible from the center, roosting far away on the mudflats.

An excellent way to view this large, flat area – and see plenty of birds – is by bicycle. However, it’s a bit far to cycle here from Kaohsiung, so today I drove my motorcycle around the perimeter of the large lagoon visible from the Black-faced Spoonbill center. It was gratifying to see plenty of shorebirds enjoying the favorable feeding conditions on the reserve, with thirteen wader species seen on or around the big lagoon, but if I’d had a telescope I would surely have seen a lot more; through binoculars, the majority of the more distant wader flocks had to remain mostly unidentified.

Continuing south along the western shore of the marsh, the road eventually turns inland again and follows the north bank of the Tsengwen River. A service road along the top of the flood wall allows for easy viewing of the rather degraded farmland and ponds alongside the river. Much of the habitat along here has been altered or destroyed by earthmoving equipment, no doubt to the great detriment of the birds. I did however see a few of the expected open-country species along here, including Oriental Skylark, Long-tailed Shrike, Richard’s Pipit, and Grey-throated Martin.

Returning to regional road 173, I headed east to Madou, then continued east on the 171. A fork in the road is clearly signposted to the Pheasant-tailed Jacana center; turn left here and continue to the center which is on the right after about 1km. As it turned out, I didn’t have to drive more than 50 yards from the intersection before I saw a group of perhaps 10 Pheasant-tailed Jacanas in a wet field close to the road. They are still rare birds in Taiwan but seem to be doing quite well at this location, thanks to conservation efforts.

The conservation area itself is surprisingly small, consisting of a short loop trail with several hides and viewing blinds overlooking shallow ponds covered in floating vegetation. It’s a pleasant place to while away an hour or two, and I saw a few nice birds here including an Emerald Dove on the path, a drake Garganey, a Chinese Pond Heron, good numbers of Wood Sandpiper, Common Snipe and Common Teal, and of course more Pheasant-tailed Jacanas.

The ponds potentially hold Greater Painted Snipe, as well as wintering Pin-tailed and possibly Swinhoe’s Snipe, but without a telescope I just couldn’t see enough detail on the snipes to realistically try and separate them. But the general size and structure of the birds I saw pointed to most, if not all, of them being Common Snipe.

So all in all, a good day’s birding, but the moral of the story is that I really need a telescope to get the best from wetland sites like these. Now I have to decide whether to buy a new scope here, or have my old one sent over from the UK …..

Mountains of Wutai

Birds Seen:

• Vivid Niltava 1
• Daurian Redstart 2
• Blue Rock Thrush 3
• Taiwan Scimitar-Babbler 5
• Collared Finchbill 2
• Black Bulbul 4
• Chinese Bulbul 15
• Black-eared Kite 6
• House Swift 1
• Grey Wagtail 5
• White Wagtail 2

Sunday morning saw me gladly leave Kaohsiung City’s smog blanket behind and head once again to the mountains around Wutai, which is a mere 90-minute drive from my home in the city but it might as well be in another world.

When entering the Wutai mountains via their sole access point on Highway 24, all visitors have to stop and sign in at a checkpoint, presumably because of the increased danger posed by the high risk of landslides in the area. Engineers work ceaselessly to shore up the road and stop further disastrous slides down the mountain, in an endless struggle against the forces of nature. At one point, the highway – the only connection these remote villages have to the rest of the world – tapers to a single lane dirt track wide enough for only one car, with a sheer cliff on one side and a steep drop on the other.

Of course, all of this adds to the Wutai area’s feeling of isolation and remoteness – in other words, the perfect antidote to a hard-working week in the city!

Despite the clear, sunny weather, the birds weren’t very obliging today. A walk down to the abandoned village revealed only a Vivid Niltava and a Daurian Redstart, which are both lovely birds but with almost nothing else seen – apart from a fly-over House Swift – it all felt rather slow.

I continued down the mountainside a little beyond the abandoned village, on an overgrown trail through disused gardens and allotments. It looked a good area for buntings, and indeed I heard a Black-faced Bunting calling somewhere but didn’t manage to see it.

Returning to the dirt road, I walked for a few hundred yards past the scree slopes, scanning the rocks below the road for the slim chance of locating a roosting Savanna Nightjar. I didn’t feel like risking a scree-slope scramble today, which was an effective and adrenalin-charged way of locating three of the birds when I was here just after Christmas. If I’m still without Savanna Nightjar for the year list in a few weeks, I’ll pluck up the courage to try it again.

Just before arriving in Wutai village, when approaching from the west, is a clearly signposted left turn to Dawu. Today I took this road down to the river bridge, where I parked and nearby quickly found two Collared Finchbills in what seems to be a reliable area for them (I also saw this species on my only previous visit to the same spot a couple of weeks ago). There were also several noisy but skulking groups of Taiwan Scimitar-Babblers which evaded all attempts to photograph them. It was good to see a very smart male philippinensis Blue Rock Thrush here, while the ever-attractive Black-eared Kites were almost constantly in the sky overhead.

Collared Finchbill, Wutai, 12th January 2014

I then tried to drive all the way to Dawu, which I could see far below me nestled next to the river with some promising-looking agricultural land around it (Russet Sparrow in mind). The condition of the road varied from OK to horrible. I was still quite a few steep switchbacks above Dawu when I decided to turn back, a Kawasaki Ninja definitely not being the right kind of bike to attempt this road on. I shall either have to return here on a scooter, or better still, walk down to Dawu and bird along the way.