Alishan

After a bit of birding in the garden we drove off up into the dizzy heights of Alishan where we saw plenty of previously seen endemics and other species, but our main aim was to find Parrotbills and bullfinches. As it turned out the Golden Parrotbills came in right on cue and gave mind-blowingly prolonged views and much better than on my previous visit, with at least 5 birds lingering in some roadside bushes. What cuties! 

Golden Parrotbill

We then spent the remainder of the day, some 7 hours searching for bullfinches without any joy. Well that’s birding and we did at least try – very hard. In fact in the afternoon we had thick mist, low cloud and heavy rain that curtailed our efforts, but still saw Taiwan Shortwing, White-eared Sibia, Taiwan Barwing, and all the other usual suspects. 

As I’m typing this I can hear Savanna Nightjars flying past my hotel room window. So now for the pitta…..