Tuesday, 24 November 2009

Great birds in Taiwan




Alright, I know it's not Ceredigion but thought you might enjoy a change. While this was a work trip sponsored by the National Science Council of Taiwan in connection with the work that we do at IBERS on the giant energy grass Miscanthus, I did get a chance to see a few birds and identify the birding hot spots. Birds included Malaysian Night Heron and Black -collared starlings (above) in the impressive Chang Kai Shek Memorial Park in Taipei, varied tits and black-crowned night herons at the Endemic Species Research Institute, firecrests and crested mynahs coming down from a cold and wet night at 3190m, and 92 wintering Black-faced spoonbills (too far for my camera so I have photographed a poster), caspian terns, cattle, little and great white egrets, kentish plover, Eurasian curlews at the lagoons outside Tainan in the bottom of the island. They are very proud of their black-faced spoonbills, around half of the total world population around 2000 wintering in Taiwan, and one of the five if I remember rightly species of spoonbills.

Bought a book entitled Birdwatchers Guide to the Taipei region and have literature and DVDs on the lagoons of Tainan, the black-faced spoonbills, ferns and so on which could be used as the basis of a birding holiday with great food and culture thrown in. Flight available for around £500.