Taiwan ~ 6th - 12th May - '26

~ Taiwan ~ 

6th-12th May '26

The trip to Taiwan was planned around the best time to see Fairy Pitta which is late April into May and as you can see the plan worked out perfectly..

Fairy Pitta

I birded all the usual sites but found the photography really hard work and some of the species even harder Swinhoe's Pheasant was difficult to see were as others had it easy ..

Long exposure waterfall 

Little Forktail

Although I heard both Bullfinch's, Chestnut-bellied Tit, Black-necklaced Scimitar Babbler and Black-throated Laughingthrush I just could not see them ..

White-whiskered Laughingthrush

Swinhoe's Pheasant

Swinhoe's  Pheasant

Collared Bush-Robin

I came down the mountain from Dasyueshan a day early even through I hadn't seen a few high altitude species with the idea that later in the week I'd have another chance when going over the Wuling Pass but again I still didn't  see or hear them here ..  

White-rumped Munia

Black-winged Stilt

Using Ebird I dropped pins in Google maps and twitched a few species on the way towards Linnei area ..

Oriental Pratincole

Oriental Pratincole

Little Whimbrel

I stayed the night at The Pitta Cafe just took a chance and showed up with rooms available, info and a rough location was given so the next morning I parked where they suggested and walked out on the Longguomai Forest Trail within 100m I was shown where the bird would appear by a local and literally 5 minutes later .. Boom ..  

Fairy Pitta

Fairy Pitta

Taiwan Bamboo-Partridge

Wuling Pass around Hehuan Lodge had stunning scenery and had a few good birds before continuing on for the east coast ..

Taiwan Rosefinch

Alpine Accentor

Hualien River Estuary produced some great birds all thanks to Ebird, plenty of waders on the mud and even some Lenticular cloud formations over the mountains ..

Styan's Bubul

Little Tern

Siberian Sand Plover

Grey-tailed Tattler

Grey-tailed Tattler

Lenticular Clouds

Far Eastern Curlew

Yellow-breasted Bunting

Chestnut Munia

Eastern Yellow Wagtail

The Memorial Hall and surrounding temples on Liberty Square Plaza were amazing in Taipei, and the best that I had seen on my travels ..

Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall ~ Taipei

Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall ~ Taipei

Malaysian Night Heron

Rufous Turtle Dove

Black-crowned Night Heron

National Concert Hall ~ Taipei

Main Gate ~ Liberty Square Plaza ~ Taipei

National Concert Hall ~ Taipei

I had a great time, travelling around was easy between sites although the road layouts in Taipei were difficult on google maps and a few times I went the wrong way ..

The trip species total finished at 182 ..

With 59 new bird species ..

Not bad at all for 7 days ..

Click the link below for the Ebird trip report ..

Taiwan Ebird Trip Report