A hot and humid day, with heavy showers already bubbling up by noon. I followed last Saturday’s birding route, starting in the coastal pines at Qigu, working my way south then east around the levee, then checking out the trees and marshes on the southern side of the Tsengwen river.

There was no sign of any of Saturday’s interesting birds, and migrants were far fewer in number today. It’s starting to feel like summer here.

At Qigu, a smart Long-toed Stint was probably the highlight. Numbers of the common passage waders were in the low single digits only, but 25 Avocets were still hanging around one of the pools along the levee. Nothing of note in the coastal forest apart from 2 Arctic Warblers still. A lone Caspian Tern was back at the marshes, several Little Terns were around, and about 8 Greater Crested Terns fished offshore.

On the south side of the estuary, there was no sign of Saturday’s Asian Dowitcher. Just as the rains arrived, I finally rescued a tick for the day, with two Azure-winged Magpies in the grounds of Sihcao Artillery Fort. This is an introduced species in Taiwan, and despite being somewhat “plastic” is still a nice bird to see.

Taiwan tick: Azure-winged Magpie.