Early Morning Birdwatching Walk

On the last day of the eco-tour, the local members of Wild Bird Society took us to the campus of National Chung Hsing University (国立中興大学) for an early morning birdwatching walk.

There is a pond in the middle of the campus, which is a perfect herony site!

Many Black-crowned Night Herons (Goisagiゴイサギ) were breeding in the trees.

Some were still sitting on their eggs,

some already had small nestlings,

the others had rather large chicks.

Among the night herons, some Little Egrets (Kosagiコサギ) were nesting too.

Alongside a stream by the campus, we saw a Brown Shrike (Akamozuアカモズ),

a Black Drongo (Ohchuオウチュウ),

a Red Turtle Dove (Benibatoベニバト),

a Scaly-breasted Munia (Shima Kimparaシマキンパラ),

lots of orchids & a nest of the Japanese White-eye.

Thank you everyone from the Wild Bird Society for this lovely morning walk.

It was amazing that there are so many bird species on a campus in the middle of Taichung city! 

From the Hotel Window

There were nests of House Swifts (Himeamatsubameヒメアマツバメ) near the top of a bank, which was just opposite from where we stayed.

In the evening, I heard them screeching around the nests, flying busily in and out.

I managed to take some pics of the parents in the morning.

I failed to take a photo when a parent actually went into the nest but saw them do so several times.
I feel so lucky that our room was on the 7th floor and that we were able to see them quite close from the window!

African Sacred Ibis

The natural habitat of the Sacred Ibis (Afurika Kurotokiアフリカクロトキ) is sub-Saharan Africa but they have established themselves in the coastal areas in Taiwan.

Gaomei Wetland is no exception, we saw many of them foraging in the grass.

One of them came very close to the boardwalk which a lot of people were on.

Probably he couldn't have resisted something tasty!

Barn Swallow

We saw a lot of Barn Swallow (Tsubameツバメ) nests near the Gaomei Wetland when we were observing Barn Swallows with local school pupils.

Most of the nests were a lot larger than the ones I'd see in Japan and look at this one!
ABSOLUTELY ENORMOUS !!

The local residents with the nests were very friendly towards swallows and towards us:)
Lots of them put a box or a wooden panel underneath the nests and I had the impression that they welcomed the swallows. The pupils gave them a sticker, which one of the residents stuck on their sign outside as soon as it was given.

I wish there were more people like them, who are happy to share their lives with other creatures.

Back in Taiwan!

The Wild Bird Society of Japan were looking for volunteers to go on an eco-tour organised by them and an eco-tourism company in Taiwan to do some conservation work for Barn Swallows in Taichung, Taiwan.

http://www.wbsj.org/activity/event/greenholiday/gh-taiwan-ja2/


It was only for 3 nights and the main itinerary was to get rid of invasive plants in an IBA site (Important Bird and Biodiversity Area) for 2 mornings and to observe the Barn Swallows with local primary school pupils for 2 afternoons.

The beautiful Gaomei Wetland (高美湿地)

a long boardwalk

non-native grass

hard work!

on a wall in a primary school in Taichung, which has special environmental study classes

environmental studies

(What sort of people would be happy to do conservation work and not think money is everything? They are likely to be the people who have been brought up with nature.)

(There were green curtains outside the school building, which is the most natural, economical and efficient way to control the heat in the building. We planted several species of climbing plants to increase the greenery and for it to look pretty at the same time.)



Even a Malayan Night Heron (Zuguromizogoiズグロミゾゴイ) was breeding in a tree by the school building.

It was a great opportunity to take a look at such a school and I was amazed how happy the pupils looked to get involoved voluntarilly in nature.