Japanese Sparrowhawk

 A female Japanese sparrowhawk was calling in a tree.

What a beauty!!

Birding in Taiwan 2024 - I

We're back in Taiwan!!

It's for the first time since 2015 and we took the THSR (Taiwan High Speed Rail) from Taoyuan to Taichung to be picked up by our friend & bird-guide, Ko-san.

It took only half an hour from the airport to Taichung and the train ride was really comfortable👍

We headed for Guguan 谷關, a famous hot spring town at about 700-1000m above sea level, to stay the night and do some morning birding next day. 

It was a pleasant morning in Guguan in spite of the terrible thunderstorm the previous evening.

Black-crowned night herons (goisagiゴイサギ) were everywhere along with some Little egrets (kosagiコサギ).

Brown dippers (kawagarasuカワガラス) were foraging.

Grey wagtails (kisekireiキセキレイ) and Common kingfishers (kawasemiカワセミ) were seen well too.

A female Plumbeous redstart (kawabitakiカワビタキ) was sitting on the rock but didn't move much... 

In the trees on the other side of the river, we spotted a Crested goshawk (kammuri-ootakaカンムリオオタカ) and a Crested serpent eagle (Kammuri-washiカンムリワシ, both of which were a bit too far for clear pictures..

We managed to see/hear quite a few species by the river even before breakfast. 

Tundra Bean Goose

There have been a few wintering Tundra bean geese (Hishikuiヒシクイ) by Lake Imbanuma for the last few winters and this winter three have been seen on the same paddy fields as before.

resting in the middle of the fields

 They started foraging in the fields. Still far...

and flew towards the even farther end of the fields...

 

 There happened to be a Black-eared kite (Tobiトビ) sitting on the field and a flock of Lapwings (Tageriタゲリ) flying over the edge of the patch in one frame.

The geese & lapwings flew because they saw a better option - a working tractor! 

more than 4 Grey herons (Aosagiアオサギ) were following the tractor - one was actually getting a ride on the tractor! and quite a few Lapwings were on the churned up fields. 

Happy evening snacking time!

 

Time for heading back home for us as well. Bye!

Imba-numa

great views of Lake Imbanuma

everybody's favourite, Kanta-kun (great white pelicanモモイロペリカン), not an ornament😁

The gentleman is a friend of Kanta-kun, feeding him from what he has caught in the lake.

Eastern Buzzard (Nosuriノスリ)

Falcated ducks (Yoshigamoヨシガモ)

female Daurian Redstart (Jobitakiジョウビタキ)
 

a pair of Little grebes (Kaitsuburiカイツブリ), they were calling each other many many times.

a sign of spring!

a pair of Moorhens (Banバン), another sign of spring💗

Great white egret (Daisagiダイサギ)

Eastern Marsh Harrier (Chuhiチュウヒ) skimming over the reedbeds

 It was just great to be there, seeing lots of birds within a few hours!

Birds in the Southern Part of Boso I

Black-eared Kites (Tobiトビ) are seen almost everywhere, inland or on the coast in Boso, Chiba.

Resting Temminck's Cormorants (Umiuウミウ) and Great Cormorants (Kawauカワウ)

It's almost impossible to tell them apart from a distance! 

A Glaucous-winged gull (Washikamomeワシカモメ) with 3 Black-tailed gulls (Uminekoウミネコ)

The Glaucous-winged gull was on our list of birds which we wanted to see on that day. Yay! 

These were the only gulls seen in the small fishing port then and it felt very strange with so few gulls by the coast. I don't know if it's just this winter or it's normal in the area.

A Grey heron (Aosagiアオサギ) was standing on top of the rock like a lord😆

Osprey (Misagoミサゴ)

I love Ospreys! They are really magnificent (in my opinion!).

 

Ecology Park

A Japanese Sparrowhawk (Tsumiツミ) was making a racket in the tree at the park.

I saw two of them chasing in the air later on so he probably didn't like the other one in his territory. I wonder if the J sparrowhawk breed in the park.

Hawfinches (Shimeシメ) were everywhere, fuelling up for their migration.

It was rather gory but that's nature for you.

The Bullfrog was trying not to be swallowed by the Grey Heron (Aosagiアオサギ) by pumping itself up but it was no use against Heron's powerful spear-like beak after all... 

Spain VII

The Northern Bald Ibis (Hooaka-tokiホオアカトキ) was reintroduced into Andalucia and the project has been successful. One of the breeding sites the Ibis chose (apparently they didn't like the site humans chose for them!!) is on a cliff by a busy road.

Their plumage was very beautiful and their faces were ... yes, very bald!

They were sharing the cliff with the Western Jackdaw (Nishi-kokumarugarasuニシコクマルガラス).

On the way to the Strait of Gibraltar, we stopped by a lake to check if there was something interesting to see.

Vicent spotted an Osprey (Misagoミサゴ) sitting on a pole in the lake.

resident

Barn Swallows (Tsubameツバメ) and Red-rumped Swallows (Koshiaka-tsubameコシアカツバメ) were flying around and male Stonechats (Yoroppa(Europe)-nobitakiヨーロッパノビタキ) were singing on top of their singing posts.

Barn Swallow - resident

Stonechat - resident

We ended our 2-day birding trip with the Spanish Imperial Eagle.

We really enjoyed every moment of the two days with Vicent. If you have a day or even half a day in Andalucia to spare, we highly recommend to contact him.
Thanks Vicent!

Click here for Vicent's Doñana Wings