We began with an early morning walk close
to the lodge and although it took a while longer to reach proper birding light
due to the low cloud we still saw a number of endemics and other good birds. Of
course, Taiwan
Yuhinas were ever present, but Steere’s Liocichla and White-eared Sibia were new for us. A
Taiwan Shortwing gave brief views as
it hopped on the ground and flew past us on a couple of occasions but that was
the best we could come up with today, with a number of other individuals heard
but none were tape responsive. A Spotted
Nutcracker and White-tailed Robin
were also seen before heading back to the restaurant for a nice breakfast.
Afterwards we drove up to the top of Anmashan, stopping along the way at a nice
spot where a cracking male Collared Bush-robin and an extremely co-operative Taiwan Bush-warbler both performed extremely
well for us.
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| Collared Bush-robin |
At the top car park we followed one of the paths, with the mist
fortunately clearing but that wasn’t necessary to see the numerous endemic White-whiskered
Laughingthrushes – which were often hopping around our feet! More Collared Bush-robins appeared, along
with lots of Yellowish-bellied
Bush-warblers, as well as our first beautiful Flamecrest. When the mist descended
making visibility poor we retreated to the local café for some much welcomed
hot soup and fried rice before following another path. We did battle with
another couple of shortwings and saw a few commoner species but as it was very
quiet we headed back down the mountain.
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| Swinhoe's Pheasant |
We ended up at the mid-elevation level
and spent the next three hours watching a couple of male and a female Swinhoe’s Pheasants
feeding close to the road. At one stage the sun even came out and the
iridescent greens and blues of the male really shone – such a stunning bird. A
female White-tailed Robin also
appeared, but was much too close to photograph! We held on until dusk in the
vain hope of any partridges appearing, although we were entertained by more
sibias and Yuhinas before heading back up to the lodge for dinner.
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