Monday 27th April
A jerky start which included being busted by the sniffer beagle at Taichung airport for the ginger my wife insisted on bringing to make her healthy ginger tea (don’t ask), sliding the right side of the hire car along a stationary object 15 minutes in (neither of us have ever driven on the right), and then finding all the banks closed . . . 15 minutes previously so we could only change a small amount of money at an ATM. Ho Hum.
We headed first for Anma Shan, one of the best places for Taiwan’s upland endemics after a slightly hairy drive – neither of us had driven on the right before – and saw almost no birds until the stakeout for Swinhoe’s Pheasant at KM23. However the bird that did show was a Taiwan Partridge, that poked its head up to look at us. Amazing! the one endemic I thought I had no chance of seeing turns out to be the first significant bird of the trip! I have always been terrible at seeing arborophilas, but today I officially declare that curse broken!! We finally arrived at the Anma Shan Hotel a good hour after dark , happy to have survived our first day on the roads.
Tuesday 28th April
An early morning walk up from the Anma Shan Hotel at KM43.5 (and 2,300 metres above sea level) produced a fine array of Taiwan’s endemic forest species in a habitat of giant fir trees and decidous understorey. As I left the room (wood cabin no 308) a party of Rufous-crowned Laughingthrushes (a recent split from White-throated) inspecting the stairs and railings down to the lower cabins were the first lifer of the day. Unfortunately I only had naked eye views as I’d forgotten my binoculars, and they were gone by the time I re-emerged. A Steere’s Liocichla loitering in the undergrowth, growling quietly to itself, provided some compensation.
As I started walking along the road I found a flock of Taiwan Yuhinas, which were everywhere in small noisy groups, and turned out to be the commonest bird on the mountain. Soon after a pair of chatty and confiding Taiwan Barwings hunted up and down the tree-trunks at the roadside like gigantic tree-creepers – something I’ve not seen other barwings do. This area (about 1km above the hotel) turned out to be very good – with a pair of Vinaceous Rosefinches catching my attention early on, followed by a Grey-headed Bullfinch (the distinctive Taiwanese race owstoni is a likely split), the first of several White-whiskered Laughingthrushes, and a Grey-cheeked Fulvetta. A solitary Nutcracker showed all the features of the distinctive local race. Collared Bush Robins seemed to mark off every 500 metres or so of road, while just one White-browed Bush Robin appeared, also at the roadside, later in the morning. Considering that all of these are either endemic species or subspecies – this was a terrific spell, and exactly the reason I’d come here.
The commonest warbler was unquestionably Yellowish-Bellied Bush Warbler, with birds in full song almost everywhere, while a few Rufous-faced Warblers drew attention with their “prrrww” telephone call. It seems strange that such a centre of endemism has no spectacled warbler or resident phyllosc, but these philosophical musings were dismissed with very brief views of a Taiwan Flamecrest. Later in the morning Green-backed and Black-throated Tits appeared at various times. Most interesting for me was the Taiwan race of Coal Tit, which has a distinctively long crest. One showed very well near Tian Chi pool above KM 49 at the top of the mountain.
The major targets her are of course the pheasants, with Mikado staked out (with grain scattered) at KM 47, and Swinhoe’s at KM 23. This evening Carrie and I joined ten Taiwanese birders at the staked out patch of grass at the roadside. We had a cold and misty 90 minutes of inaction which saw off all but four of the birders as the mist thickened and visibility dropped to less than 10 metres! But as can happen in the mountains the mist suddenly thinned . . . to reveal a pair of Mikado Pheasants! We had a frustrating quarter-hour of trying to work out their features in the gloom before the mist lifted for good, giving us stunning views of the birds feeding along the side of the road down to about 10 metres! A terrific bird.
Excellent stuff, Taiwan still ranks as one of the top trips for me.