April 28-May 9, 2026 with Phil Gregory & Arco Huang
This was our fifth run for the revised Taiwan tour, being just the fourth iteration of the spring trip post-pandemic, with our local organizer Arco being very good and enthusiastic, and knowing the best local sites to visit. The weather was again remarkably kind to us, and we had no significant daytime rain, somewhat to my surprise, whilst temperatures were pretty reasonable even in the mountains. Fog and cold weather at Houhanshan summit was a shame, but at least the mid and lower levels stayed clear and otherwise the lowland sites were all good and nowhere really hot except Kenting on one day.
Arrival day saw some of us just do a bit of local birding near the hotel near the airport, and we set off next day for the mountains at Dasyueshan, taking in the lovely Taiwan Blue Magpie en route plus nice views of Taiwan Hwamei and an early bonus of Malay Night Heron.
The mountain was very rewarding, with great views of Swinhoe's Pheasant and brief views for some of Taiwan Partridge, Rufous-crowned Laughingthrush, the tame and confiding White-whiskered Laughingthrush, Taiwan (Steere's) Liocichla, Yellow Tit, skittish Flamecrest, 3 species of fulvetta, a great look at a singing Taiwan Bush-Warbler, the very vocal Yellowish-flanked Bush-Warbler, Taiwan Shortwing heard, elusive Taiwan Cupwing heard, Rufous-faced Warbler, and Chestnut-bellied Tit. Reeves' Muntjac or Barking Deer showed well at the summit too.
Guguan Hot Springs came up with Plumbeous Redstart and Brown Dipper.
Next came the heights of Hohuanshan in cold foggy weather this year, with lovely looks at Alpine Accentor, Taiwan Barwing, and Taiwan Rosefinch, and beautiful atmospheric montane scenery. The nearby lowlands were mist-free and gave the tame Malay Night-Heron, the distinctive and striking Maroon Oriole, Taiwan Bamboo-Partridge, and Chestnut Munia.
Yushan gave us a showy pair of Golden Parrotbills that were collecting nest material. Taiwan (White-browed) Bush-Robin also showed well here, now split at last and obviously distinct from the mainland Asian birds; same comment applies to the distinctive owstoni Spotted Nutcracker, which is now part of Southern Nutcracker. Collared Bush-Robin showed well too and we had some entertainment when an enterprising Taiwan Macaque bit a bag being held by a Chinese visitor, giving h er a terrible fright until Arco drove it off with his green laser pointer! A 2700-year-old sacred giant Chamaecyparis tree at Luilin was also astonishing to see, simply enormous, and we score big-time with both Taiwan Shorting and Taiwan Cupwing that we had only heard thus far.
Heading south, we got the extreme south-Taiwan endemic Styan's Bulbul quite easily, though a Chinese Egret was missing in action at Long Luan Lake. Next day we birded some of the lowland areas, being rewarded with Pheasant-tailed Jacana, Oriental Pratincole, Barred Buttonquail, and the endemic formosanus taxon of Ring-necked Pheasant.
Owling on the tour was productive, with heard in the fog Collared Scops-Owl and Northern Boobook at Firefly Lodge, and two roosting Collared Scops-Owls at Linhoulin Community Park near Hengchun. We got a terrific Mountain Scops-Owl at Huben, along with a Northern Boobook , the thermal imagers really helped here.
A huge saltpan area at Budai gave a good count of 50+ Black-faced Spoonbills, Bar-tailed Godwits, Pied Avocet, Curlew Sandpiper, summer plumage Siberian Sandplover, 5 Broad-billed Sandpipers, Caspian, Whiskered, and Little terns. A pair of Oriental White Storks were nesting on a pylon en route, with 2 big chicks, this is a vagrant here but may be getting established. A Little Whimbrel oddly hiding in a wet paddyfield led us a dance but we eventually got it, and some Greater Painted Snipe as well.
Fairy Pitta was harder this year as photographers were staking out the nest, but the second site came good where an easy short walk with Acai, the local guide, gave us a great look at this beautiful rarity, not long arrived back. We followed that with some celebratory coffee at the Pitta Café.
Our journey back to the airport was enlivened by Snowy-browed Flycatcher, great looks at Taiwan (Steere’s) Liocichla, Red-faced Warbler, Rusty Laughingthrush and Taiwan Whistling-Thrush at Xitou Nature Education Park in dull showery conditions.
Next came a visit to the extraordinary Wushang Temple at Jiji, which was rebuilt after being destroyed by a 7.4 magnitude earthquake in 1999. The ruins are retained in situ, and the miraculously unscathed Daoist deities duly relocated to the new adjacent site, where there is also an astonishing wooden gallery bridge over the river there, built without nails or screws. We had lunch by the temple and duly bade farewell to Arco here in his home town before heading back to Taipei.
We used a varied assortment of local eating places with primarily local menus, with assorted rice, dumpling and noodle dishes. The food was a highlight in fact, as it was varied, often delicious and best of all served quickly whilst being both hot and fresh. A nice adjunct to the trip, working for the as ever varied dietary preferences and it avoided losing lots of time with elaborate meals.
Following recent research, Taiwan now has 32 endemics, and an extraordinary 56 endemic subspecies, so there is a good haul for listers and many spectacular birds, with Swinhoe’s and Mikado Pheasant as iconic birds, and Fairy Pitta a great addition. Altogether, it was a great success from the birding point of view, having good views of almost all the endemics, bar Taiwan Thrush which was a ghost bird this year.
Taiwan is a beautiful country, with great scenery, some attractive hotels, enjoyable cuisine and friendly people, with a very interesting culture -- those Daoist temples are something else! A few extra days sightseeing before or after the trip is recommended.
My thanks to Arco and Luna, our local agents, and to Arco the Energizer Bunny for his energetic guiding as well as helping with the complexities of mealtimes, also to our two excellent car drivers, and to Sue and Rowan at Sicklebill Safaris, and Ruth at Field Guides for their hard work in putting together this very enjoyable fifth iteration of the new Taiwan tour. Thanks also to the group for very good company and a positive attitude to the various intricacies of the tour.
A very fine trip, a nice good-humored group, enjoyable and not too strenuous, with some wonderful birds and gorgeous scenery, and an interesting cuisine to sample too, not forgetting the wonderful Daoist temples, a remnant of historic Chinese culture. Why not join us for 2027?
Mammals on the tour: Taiwanese Macaque (Macaca cyclopis) Dasyueshan and Tataka; Pallas's Squirrel (Callosciurus erythraeus) Dasyueshan, Huben; Maritime Striped Squirrel (Tamiops maritimus) at Dasyueshan; Red-and-white Giant Flying Squirrel (Petaurista alborufa) at Dasyueshan; Reeves's Muntjac (Muntiacus reevesi) at Dasyueshan, Guguan, and Tataka, Taiwan (Formosan) Serow (Capricornis swinhoei) showing amazingly well at the car park at Km 50 at Dasyueshan.
You can see my complete trip report on eBird at this link: https://ebird.org/tripreport/510541
Sicklebill (Phil Gregory)