Warm Snake and Aowanda.

This year of the Snake is off to a warm start, I wonder/fear there will not be any more winter before the long summer starts again.

Aowanda.

Over the long holiday I was pleased to make it to this excellent forest area (wasn’t there at all last year) in central Taiwan. Only a day-trip, and not birding as such, but still managed to get views of a nice range of birds in the recreation area and the near the village of Chingai 10km before.

Aowanda on bottom right. Renai = Wushe. Roads north of the
lead to Lushan and Hehuan.

Some of what seen: Blue Magpie, Sibia, Yuhina, White Wagtail, Minivet, Treepie, White-eye, Crested Serpent Eagle, LB Crow, Yellow Tit (best ever views), Green-Backed Tit, Black Bulbul, Pacific Swallow, Bronzed Drongo, Plumbeous Redstart, Daurian Redstart, Vollare Finchbill, Black-throated Tit, Arctic Warbler, Erponis...and several others.

Aowanda is approached from the village Wushe, which in turn is most accessible from the small city of Puli. The road from Puli is very vulnerable to landslides in heavy rain. Good accommodation within the FRA, 10km before and in the Wushe area.  

This is the time to be birding on the Southwest coast - lots of excellent wintering shorebirds of all sorts. As well as a couple never-seen-before exotic cage escapees, I was pleased to have my first views in the last 14 months of an American Wigeon in the maze of ponds north of Aogu.

The next few weeks will be very busy looking for birds in top habitats. My eyes though will be wandering to Gentians, Gomphidae, and Polypodiaceae...

New Bird: American Wigeon    Anas americana