I'm in the middle of business trip to Asia, and had the weekend free. I decided to spend it in Taiwan since the birds are bit more interesting here than my next stop, Korea.
I made it to Wulai by taking the MRT to it's southern terminus, Xindian Station, then I took a taxi for 500 NT$ from there to Wulai. There's also a bus from near Xindian Station, but I didn't know where the bus stop was and I figured it would take much longer on the bus, which means the birds could be quiet by the time I arrived.
I didn't have that much to worry about since it was raining when I arrived. After stopping at a Family Mart to buy an umbrella, I was off. There was a little egret on a sandbar in the river. I noticed some Barn Swallows sitting on the wires over the entrance bridge, and while I looked at them I saw a much bigger bird sitting on a TV aerial. It was a very wet Taiwan Blue Magpie! I scanned around and found another. On previous trips to Taiwan I had to work for these. This was quite a change.
I made my way past the buildings to take a better look at the river and found a plumbeous water redstart. While watching him a couple of gray wagtails flew onto a nearby roof. I looked for brown dipper, but no luck. Moving on, I heard a whistling call. I stopped to find the caller, but after 10 minutes of searching, including repeated calls right over my head, I couldn't see who was calling.
At this point a gentleman pulled up nearby and asked if I was looking at birds. I noticed he had a camera with him, but no binoculars. I said I was hearing them but couldn't find it. He started to help me look. When I pointed out the call, he told me it wasn't a bird, it was a frog. That explains why I couldn't see it. It was a little tree frog (been there, done that). However, the man invited me to come with him and look at birds. OK, I could do that. He introduced himself as Mr. Lin, and I hopped into his car and we headed up the road with the windows open.
After about a 1/2 a kilometer, he stopped because he heard something calling. He saw his target and we quickly jumped out of the car, where he pointed out a beautiful male gray-throated minivet, a bird I really wanted to see. The Chinese name, Red Mountain Bird, does it more justice than the English name. He snapped some beautiful pictures when we noticed some other birds moving around. I managed to find a gray-cheeked fulvetta and a white bellied yuhina, too.
We drove a little further and Mr. Lin spotted something else. Again we jump out of the car (kuai le! kuai le!) and he points out a black-browed barbet right beside the road. He explains this bird is called 5 colored bird in Chinese. That makes sense. It's green with blue, yellow, red and black markings. He again takes some great pictures and I just enjoy my best view of this future split.
The rest of the road was fairly quiet until we got to the Forest Office near km marker 18. We heard some birds calling beyond the office, so we wandered down the road a bit - you have to pay to drive - until we found a mixed flock. This flock was up in the canopy a bit, but I picked out a bright yellow female minivet. Mr. Lin recogniced a cat-like mew as a black bulbul, but I couldn't get on it immediately. While I was trying to find it, Mr. Lin headed back to the car. It seems that he couldn't photograph the birds in the canopy, so he lost interest. Uh oh!
I followed him back to the car where he asked me if I'd ever seen a Chinese duck (Mandarin Duck). I told him no, so he offered to take me to see one. I didn't want to take up his time, but he insisted that he really had no fixed plans, so we headed back down the valley. As we did he explained that the birds were being raised on a farm he knew. When I expalined that I only wanted to see wild birds, he understood but noted that wild birds in Taiwan are very uncommon. He suggested a spot near Ilan, which I've tucked away for a future trip.
We headed back down the road and stopped again at the spot where we had the minivet, fulvetta, and yuhina. The fulvetta was still there and this time it was joined by a scimitar-babbler. Mr. Lin said it was the "big" one, which according to the field guide is the Spot-breasted (formerly rufous-cheeked) Scimitar-babbler. That looked right to me.
Mr. Lin and I continue back down the road and he pulls into a hotel parking lot where we can look down over the river. He points out a few plumbeous water-redstarts and gray wagtails. I ask him whether there are brown dippers. He says there are, but it's a matter of luck seeing one. You need to be at the right place at the right time.
We watch the river for a bit more, then we get back in the car. At this point, he asks me where I'm going next. It's only 8:30. I'm not done, but apparently he is. So I ask if he'd be willing to take me back to the Forest Office. He agrees, and takes me back up the hill. I thank him for his company, and then he's off, and I'm back in the rain.
Once up top I walk back to where we heard the mixed flock, but unfortunately it's moved on. I continue along the road, and spot a few black bulbuls on the wires, but other than that it's pretty quiet. So I decide to head back down the road toward Wulai Town.
I start walking down the road, and find a nice, albeit distant, view of a long stretch of the river. I start to scan, and something flies from one rock to another. Not a water-redstart or a wagtail - it's a brown dipper. Right place, right time! Although I wish I could be closer. I watch him a bit more waiting for him to move, but he doesn't. He just sits there. I walk a bit further down the road and check him again. He's moved to another part of the same rock, but he's still just sitting. Finally I give up. I won't get to see him swim today.
As I walk, the sun begins to break through the clouds. I hear a few birds and look up to see a huge flock of minivets coming at me. I'm guessing there were between 30 and 40 little red and yellow birds flittting around in the trees above my head with a couple occasionally dropping to eye level. Just an amazing swirl of color. I also notice two black drongos sitting on the wire just beyond the "minivet tree." I try to get a photo of a perched minivet and he flies off...taking the whole flock (and the drongos) with him! But as I'm watching him go, a varied tit pops up and sits on the wire. Not a bird I expected. I figured he'd be higher up.
Right after that I find a flock of 10 or so black bulbuls in an open tree. I try to pick out something different but they're all blacks. Further down the road, I hear some tit-like chattering in the bushes below the road. I move closer and hear two birds calling to each other. However, neither wants to show itself. This is interrupted by a mournful whisting song, back up the road a bit. The song is repeated by several birds, so I head back up the road to see if I can find those birds.
I get there to find a large flock of gray-cheeked fulvettas making the chattering calls I just heard. OK, clears up that mystery. But the whistling song is still there. It's down to one bird again, and I can't find him in the thick underbrush. I try imitating his whistle, which just stirs up the fulvettas, but eventually the whistler stops. Shoot! I scan the flock as it moves around. hoping for something different, but all I find are the fulvettas. Eventually I hear a "peek!" call, which sounds like a woodpecker. I find him and it is a woodpecker - a gray-capped pygmy-woodpecker. A little more searching and I turn up a second one - I assume its mate. I never did find the whistler, though.
I'm almost back to Wulai Town and the sky is definitely clearing. I hear some loud screechy noises in the trees below me, and can see some activity about 10m down. I try to call the birds in, and I see a flock moving along the tree line, calling as they go. I see long tails, but not as long as the blue magpies. I think they're gray treepies, a new bird for me, so I follow the flock downriver, trying for a better look. I notice a stairway down to the river and carefully making my way down, I find a few of the birds right below me. Yep, gray treepies.
After they fly off I see some additional movement in the trees. I see something small fly off, and try to get on it. When I do, it's not there, but in its place is a blue magpie, lit up by the sun. A nice way to end my hike.
From there the walk back to Wulai Town was uneventful. It's luchtime, so I have some snacks - sausage on a stick and goose kebabs - at one of the restaurants on the main tourist street. I add feral pigeon to my day-list, then I make my way to the bus stop.
I didn't see anything else from the bus back to Xindian, until just as we were heading into town. I saw a raptor soaring over the river, but then lost it behid the buildings before I could getthe bins out. I was able to see it was not an accipiter, and it seemed somewhat buteo-like. I know buteos are uncommon in Taiwan, and crested-serpent eagles are fairly common in Wulai, so I figure that's what it was, but it'll just have to go down on the list as UR - unidentified raptor.
Tomorrow morning I plan to spend some time at Guandu Nature Park before I head off to Seoul. Wish me luck!
JH
Good luck and thanks for posting- I would love to visit and bird Taiwan some day!