In my humble oppinion the greatest accolade that can be bestowed upon
anyone is an invitation to visit someone’s home, which was the situation as we continue
the
Taiwan Odyssey!
Vicky Cheng had already excelled and endeared herself to me, highlighted
by the host of ‘goodies’ shown on last Sunday’s post, and now there were to be
more!
Not a route march by any means but enough distance, through a heavily
wooded area, where the day tally had shown a few birds and diverse countryside
leaving the
Hotel and Village
BLACK-THROATED TIT
the ubiquitous
TAIWAN BLUE MAGPIE
followed by a 'rare' form of the same speicies only minutes later
a leaucistic individual with the pigment missing and Vicky only having seen c2 of the kind before!
Through virgin jungle with just occassional peeks of
CIVILISATION
PALLAS'S SQUIRREL
While along the course of the river
a true delight not even considered on the Imaginary List
BROWN DIPPER
Local Temple
A lille further on to the flatlands and now getting
Far from the Madding Crowd
HOODED CRANE
any of the family group always a delight to add to the ever lengthening list'
Before Vicky spotted in quick succession both
PLAIN PRINIA
and the sharply contrasting
LONG-TAILED SHRIKE
before crossing the
RICKETY RACKETY BRIDGE
and her families
Place of Worship
before the vista opened up to mile upon mile of
RICE PADDIES
her families stock-in-trade. We could have gone directly to her home but our attention was caught by the sighting of a
PACIFIC GOLDEN PLOVER
something a 'mega' when found on UK turf but many dozens here followed by the Real Delight of the who day meeting the
CHENG FAMILY
with the only regret being the moment taking over the whole scene and no taking enough photos of a Warm - Warm - Welcome! Mum and Dad just beyound the stool and
UNCLE DJEONG
performing his party piece tying his ear lobes below his chin, sometimes you get to thinking you have
Seen It All?
Also across the paddies were a number of other Wading Birds the highlight of which were many, many
LONG-TOED STINT
which was contender for if not THE
BIRD of the TRIP
in as much as not only a longed for 'Lifer' but the last of the c4 species of Stint in the World recorded
(the 2 images above have been 'borrowed' as all at the site kept their distance)
Just for your interest the other 3 family members all seen in Dorset are
Ferrybridge - 19/09/1976
RED-NECKED STINT
Ferrybridge - 27/08/2010
and
TEMMINCK'S STINT
Lodmoor - 16/05/1982
A huge wrench to pull myself away but there were other things to see and if we were going to follow Vicky's plan of attack we would have to seek higher ground - something of a plod until Lady Luck once again visited us. Not a mile up the hill yet there before us appeared the
ROAD CLEANERs
who agreed to take us to the place we wanted and then clean from top to bottom!
On the decent the delights included
GREY TREEPIE
CHASM
SPOTTED DOVE
WHITE-WHISKERED LAUGHING THRUSH
The only Moth of the trip and
TAIWAN SIBIA
With still more to come, again we hope this is as enjoyable to view as it has been to cobble together!
