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| Hoopoe |
We had planned for a birding trip after the Lunar New Year family activities. We decided on Taiwan to enjoy the cooler weather and, from some reports, we chose Yilan county with its coastal wetlands for 3 days and Taipei for 5 days. We planned to start our birding in Yilan which was an hour’s drive from Taipei and seemed easy to explore on our own. Unlike our previous trip in Oct. 2013 to the Dasueyshan and Kenting, we decided not to engage a bird guide and do it on our own with notes from the internet. Yilan is situated in the Northeastern part of Taiwan and is mostly mountains with flat rice fields and coastal wetlands. Birding north of the Lanyang River would be from ponds, fields and drainage channels. The Nanyang Estuary Plains was reported to be an ideal habitat for all kinds of water fowl and wild ducks during the September to May migration. After Yilan we would go to Taipei for downtown birding in the various parks and nearby wetlands.
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| Grey Heron |
Having researched accommodation in Yilan we decided on Toucheng (first town) which is an hour’s drive through the mountain tunnel road from Taipei, and nearby the highland area, Shuanglienpi, which at 400 meters elevation has some wetlands and small lakes, a site we intend to explore. There is a town more popular with visitors, Jiaoxi, famous for its hot springs and spa hotels. One evening we visited, and this town was better established than where we stayed. It was bustling with shops, restaurants full of visitors.
On 23 Feb morning we took Cathay Pacific to Taipei with a stopover in Hong Kong. The fare of S$466.40 per pax was a
promotional fare worth taking even though we had to transit in Hong Kong.
We had planned to take public transport on this trip and on arrival in Taoyuan
Airport at 1.40 pm we proceeded to B1 to buy the tickets for the Kuo Kuang
Bus 1819 to Taipei Main Station (TMS) and intended to transfer to either a train or bus to
Toucheng. We bought a 10-day SIM card for NT$500
which served very well for our needs. Then it was down to B1 to take the
Kuo Kuang Bus 1819 (NT$125 per pax) there was a long queue for the 3pm bus.
We got into the 2nd bus and while the journey was within 60 minutes to TMS it
was 4.30 pm by the time we arrived, so we took a taxi instead to Toucheng.
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| Taiwan Barbet |
It was was an hour’s ride through the mountain
tunnel Freeway #5 before arriving at Qi Hua Zhen Ju Home Stay, and we were warmly welcomed by Mrs Luo the
owner. The family lives in the unit next to the home stay which has 3
floors, with a lift, which was one reason we chose this
place. Mrs Luo was very hospitable offering to give us lifts to the
train station or town whenever we need as it would take at least half an hour
to walk to town and there is no public transport as the area is
still in its development stage with numerous plots of vacant land at the time
of our visit. The room was spacious and the bed clean and
amenities well-stocked. It was a comfortable 3-nights spent at Mrs Luo’s home.
On 24 Feb after a sumptuous breakfast prepared by
Mrs Luo the taxi we booked the day before, arrived. Our 1st destination was
Shuanglienpi and on the way the driver stopped at Lung Tan Lake which proved a
good location as there were ducks, moorhens and egrets on the lake. Our
next destination was the Lanyang estuary which seemed difficult for the driver to locate. Nevertheless he understood we were looking for birds so
he brought us to the ponds and drainage channels south of Toucheng Town and
drove along the roads #2 and #191 where we saw egrets, herons, moorhens and
coots.
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| Brown-headed Thrush |
The weather was not on our side, it drizzled the whole day but
we had our rain jackets and umbrella and braved the drizzle to bird in the
rain. Some shrikes and wagtails were also seen feeding in the fine
drizzle. Shuanglienpi was a disappointment, as the only bird we saw
in the rain was the Daurian Redstart.
On 25 Feb we engaged the taxi again since the weather has not changed and this time he drove along the coastal route going to Su’ao and Luodong area and covering Yongzeng Seashore Park, Jhuan River Park where we saw a few more species. It was still raining at 4pm so it was an early finish for the day and we took a lift from Mrs Luo to explore Toucheng Old Town. Earlier in the day, the driver had taken us to Toucheng Train Station where we bought train tickets for our next day’s trip to Taipei. We decided on the 10.44 am route a coastal scenic ride at NT$184 per pax.
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| Taiwan Scimitar Babbler |
On 26 Feb after breakfast Mrs Luo drove us to
Toucheng Train station and it was a pleasant train ride passing the mountains
and towns before arriving TMS at 12:20 pm. We walked to the MRT
information desk and bought our Easycards at NT$100 each that was not refundable and
topped up NT$200 for our rides. Our next accommodation, Chaiin Hotel is located
above the Dongmen MRT station. We took exit 8 to the ground floor and
round the Post Office was the entrance to Chaiin. We were happy with this
hotel, the location, spacious room, clean bed and their breakfast selection for
western and Asian tastes. After checking in we went for lunch across from the
hotel and it was still drizzling. As we explored the area, we found
Daan Park nearby where many water birds were easily seen in the ponds, the
herons, egrets well-used to visitors. We would return with camera another day.
On 27 Feb after breakfast we took the MRT to
Siaonanmen Station and walked to Taipei Botanical Garden (TBG). It was
still drizzling, but we managed to take photographs of the Malayan Night herons,
Taiwan Blue Magpie and Grey Treepies, they were well used to visitors and feeding in
the light drizzle. After TBG we took the MRT to CKS Memorial Park
and checked out the ponds. The park was crowded with visitors but
the garden area had less people. The Malayan Night Heron and a couple
of Thrushes were out feeding in the light rain. After lunch we went to
Daan Park and this time the rain had stopped so we had better photos of the
birds and a Crested Goshawk was easily seen on a tree drying its wings.
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| Black-crowned Night Heron |
On 28 Feb we visited Guandu Nature Park but were
disappointed as there were no waders in the wetlands. While walking in the
tracks near the entrance we heard and had clear views of a pair of Black-naped
Monarchs and two Pale Thrushes up the trees. We left Guandu and had lunch
nearby. We took the MRT to Shilin station for a bus to Yangmingshan. The
ride up was tiring as the bus was full and we had no seat and it was a winding
road to the bus terminal. We followed the signs and
walked uphill to the Visitor Center and enjoyed some good views along the way but
it was hot walking up in spite of the cool air and it was also crowded due to the
holiday. The only bird we found at the car park was a Daurian
Redstart, which we came across many times on the trip. In the
late afternoon we took the bus back to Shilin and encountered even more people, especially when walking to the famous night market where we had our dinner in
the basement food center.
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| Taiwan Blue Magpie |
On 29 Feb although it was a Monday we found it was
quieter when we took the MRT to Xindian. The weather was sunny and
when we took the bus to Wulai it was
full, because 29 Feb was a public holiday. Wulai lies south of Taipei at
the northern extremity of the Syueshan range, the altitude being around 200 m
rising to 1,000 m. When the bus arrived at the terminal station we
followed signs and walked to the bridge over the Tunghou River. The area was busy and we saw the Plumbeous Redstart easily and
further along the river bank a Muscovy Duck was preening itself. We wanted
to take the mountain railway but on enquiring the rail was under maintenance
due to damage from last year’s typhoon so everyone was walking uphill. We walked along and heard the Crested Serpent Eagle calling
and sure enough scanning the rocky mountain side we saw the raptor
perched on a faraway tree. Another was seen drifting high in the
sky looking for prey. We left Wulai and queued for the bus and
instead of Xindian we took the bus to TMS a long ride but it was only NT30.
We were tired and returned to the hotel for a rest. It was a quick dinner
of “meat rice” at Formosa Chang, another nice place for simple local food.
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| Grey Treepie |
For our last day, 1 March, we decided to revisit TBG in the morning and then do some shopping in the afternoon before leaving the next day. The birds we had seen on Saturday 27th were not seen
but it was a nice sunny day and we managed better shots of the Taiwan Barbet and
Japanese White-eyes. We also got to see the Collared Scops Owl
family of 3 resting on a tree. The afternoon was spent at Ximenting and an IT Mall at Zhongxiao Xinsheng.
Our self-birding trip yielded 7 lifers.
 |
| Pale Thrush |
1) Olive-backed Pipit
| |
26) Black Drongo
|
|---|
| 2) Daurian Redstart | | 27) Grey Wagtail |
| 3) Common Teal | | 28) Taiwan Scimitar Babbler (Lifer) |
| 4) Long-tailed Shrike | | 29) White-breasted Waterhen |
| 5) Light-vented Bulbul | | 30) Common Kingfisher |
| 6) Grey Heron | | 31) Grey Treepie |
| 7) Brown Shrike | | 32) Spotted Dove |
| 8) Eastern Yellow Wagtail | | 33) Oriental Magpie Robin |
| 9. Common Moorhen | | 34) Tiger Shrike |
| 10) Little Grebe | | 35) Brown-headed Thrush (Lifer) |
| 11) Taiwan Blue Magpie (Lifer) | | 36) Japanese White-eye |
| 12) Tufted Duck | | 37) Pale Thrush (Lifer) |
| 13) Cattle Egret | | 38) Eurasian Magpie |
| 14) Emerald Dove | | 39) Crested Goshawk |
| 15) Little Egret | | 40) Black-winged Stilt |
| 16) Great Egret | | 41) Black-naped Monarch |
| 17) Eastern Spot-billed Duck | | 42) Oriental Turtle Dove |
| 18) Black-crowned Night Heron | | 43) Pale-legged Leaf Warbler |
| 19) Common Greenshank | | 44) Plumbeous Water Redstart |
| 20) Black-faced Spoonbill | | 45) Mallard |
| 21) Black-tailed Gull | | 46) Crested Serpent Eagle |
| 22) Black-faced Bunting (Lifer) | | 47) Muscovy Duck (Lifer) |
| 23) Great Commorant | | 48) Collared Scops Owl |
| 24) Osprey | | 49) Taiwan Barbet |
| 25) Hoopoe | | 50) Japanese Sparrowhawk |
| | 51) Malayan Night Heron (Lifer) |
