The final countdown

Today we were off into mid-level altitude near the city of Taipei, looking for Blue Whistling-thrush and any other new birds to add to our trip list on the last day.   

Plumbeous Redstart

Although Phil and Andy saw a couple of Whistling-thrush on buildings as we drove along, the rest of us had to remain patient for a little longer.

At our first stop, on a busy road with interesting corners, we braved the traffic and rain looking along the river. Once we had parked up in the drizzle, Plumbeous Redstart and Brown Dipper were found quickly, and the Blue Whistling-thrush could be heard by all.   As Nigel and I wandered along the road trying to get closer to the Redstart for a photograph, we heard a Thrush nearby, it responded to Nigel's whistle and after giving a response it shot across the road ahead of us and went deep into a hole on the other side of the river.   We tried to attract the attention of the rest of the group, but most of them were staring intently at the cliff face above the road.   A couple of them came down towards us as the bird short back, across the river again and out of view. 




Unfortunately the wet spring had come a few days early, and a weather front had moved in.   

Wulai in the mist

The low cloud added atmosphere to an already heavy day - being our last in Taiwan.   

Brown Dipper

Our second stop was more productive with a Thrush on the road ahead of us - of course it disappeared before all could see it, so after waiting for some time in the rain we moved on.   Our guide arranged for us to go onto a viewing balcony of a local restaurant so that we cold look down on an area where the bird was often seen.   Within minutes we had two of them in front of us, one disappeared into the undergrowth below us but the other gave a great display perching on a large rock in the middle of the river, giving everyone the chance to see the lovely blue plumage.

A couple of large swifts flew over and as we watched them, we realised they were Silver-backed Needletail - a species we had been surprised not to have seen up in the hills.   We saw several flying overhead as we all gazed up to the sky.   At one stage there was what appeared to be a large migration of House Swifts, Barn and Pacific Swallow.

After taking tea and coffee we moved off above the town through  residential properties and overgrown banks.   Bulbul and drongo were the most common birds seen with Japanese White-eye also being quite numerous.    At one stage a pair were hanging upside down off a street lamp where they had presumably found some insects to feed on.   As we were nearing the end of the circular walk three pigeons flew over - we got absolutely nothing in them so decided to go off on pursuit, unfortunately the road was steep and it was hard work in the rain, but we were more than happy to do it - we found two females and a male White-bellied Green-pigeon.   They were sat up high in a tree, giving great views, the females were seen first, showing absolutely no white on them, then the more handsome male turned up - he was a stunner, with maroon wings, a bright lemon yellow head and a white belly, vent and undertail coverts with dark flecks.   Although I only got very scrappy photos, at least it showed the differences between the two quite well.

White-bellied Green-Pigeon

Buoyed up with this latest addition to our list we went off for lunch, which was the usual Chinese banquet of prawns, fish, duck, tofu, salad, scrambled egg with tomatoes and seafood soup.   

The afternoon was spent looking at the river from a couple of viewpoints, After this we paid a visit to the Taiwan Wild Bird Association offices and made a few purchases to put some money and encouragement into the coffers.



All that was left was to get out of the rain which our guide believed would last for the next two months, relax back at the hotel, prepare for our final goodbye dinner and start packing for our journey home tomorrow.