Mikado Pheasant of Taiwan

Dasyueshan National Forest Recreation Park is also known for it's high concentration of the Mikado Pheasant and Swinhoe's Pheasant, it is a preferred birding site among the birders to look for these endemic pheasants in Taiwan.

Mikado Pheasant (Syrmaticus mikado, 帝雉), also known as an Emperor Pheasant, is an endemic species of bird in Taiwan. The male has very beautiful striking blue plumage with an elegant pheasant tail, a majestic pheasant that a birder must not miss while birding in Taiwan. It is one of the beautiful, elegant and majestic pheasants that I have ever seen.

Both male and female were my lifers on 15 April in Dasyueshan.(click on the pictures to enlarge)

The majestic male Mikado Pheasant

The female

Happy Birding.

Swinhoe's Pheasant of Taiwan

Swinhoe's Pheasant (Lophura swinhoii, 藍腹鷴) is an endemic Galliformes in Taiwan. It's my lifer on 14 April in Dasyueshan National Forest Recreation Park, it's a male Swinhoe's Pheasant. (click on the pictures to enlarge)

front view

back view

side view

Besides the Swinhoe's Pheasant, I also spotted a Spotted Nutcracker (nucifraga caryocatactes, 星鴉) at the same spot. Nutcracker is belong to Corvidae family, they are adaptive birds and as smart as the crow.

Happy Birding.

Taiwan's Endemic Laughingthrush and Sibia.

Dasyueshan National Forest Recreation Park is one of the birding sites with high concentration of endemic species of birds in Taiwan. I spotted eight endemic species in my recent birding trip to Dasyueshan on 14/15 April, namely the Mikado Pheasant, Swinhoe's Pheasant, Collared Bush Robin, Taiwan Barwing, White-whiskered Laughing-thrush, White-eared Sibia, Steer's Liocichla, and Taiwan Yuhina.

Taiwan has 24 endemic species of birds. Taiwan Huamei, Taiwan Bush-Warbler, Taiwan Wren-Babbler, Rufous-capped Babbler, Rusty Laughing-Thrush, Taiwan Fulvetta, Black-necklaced Scimitar-Babbler and Taiwan Hill Patridge are the endemic species of Taiwan that I have yet to encounter.

Here are my digiscoped pictures of the endemic species of White-whiskered Laughing-thrush, also known as Taiwan Laughing-thrush (Garrulax morrisonianus, 台灣噪眉), and White-eared Sibia, also known as Taiwan Sibia (Heterophasia auricularis, 白耳畫眉).

White-whiskered Laughingthrush

White-eared Sibia

White-eared Sibia (rear view)

Happy Birding.

Little Forktail at Dasyueshan, Taiwan.

(15-4-2002, Dasyueshan, Taiwan.)

Little Forktail (Enicurus scouleri, 小剪尾) is one of my lifers on today's birding at Dasyueshan National Forest Recreation Park, Taichung, Taiwan. It is an endemic sub-species of Taiwan, and the only Forktail species exists in Taiwan, with the average size of 12cm, which is smaller than Forktail species that I had seen in Malaysia.

Little Forktail is rare and also known as one of the four celebrities of stream birds in Taiwan. It took me almost two years to find this Little Forktail. I finally spotted and digiscoped it in Dasyueshan on 15 April.

(Click on the picture for an enlarged view). 

The other three popular stream birds of Taiwan are:

Taiwan Whistling Thrush (Myiophoneus insularis, 紫嘯鶇), it is rare and endemic species of Taiwan. I spotted this bird in Taroko, in 2009.

Plumbeous Water Redstart (Phoenicurus fuliginosus, 鉛色水鶇), an endemic sub-species of Taiwan. It's very common in Alishan Recreation Park, I spotted it in 2009. But, now it is hardly seen in Alishan due to the park is over crowded by tourists, or perhaps you have to be there before the crowd. 

Male Plumbeous Water Redstart

Female Plumbeous Water Redstart

Brown Dipper (Cinclus pallasii, 河烏), I spotted this bird in Wulai in 2009, and it is still easily spotted there.

Happy Birding. and
Keep Watching, Keep Listening and Keep Exploring.

Crested Goshawk Guarding Its Nest.

Today, I spotted a male Crested Goshawk in NCKU, perching on a tree branch and seriously guarding its nest with one of its legs hiding inside its belly feathers. The breeding plumage is pale and grayish in color, especially the grayish head plumage.

glimpsed at me....

then, turned its head, starring at the nest, 
and ignored me.

Click HERE to view my last year pictures of Crested Goshawk.