In Search of the Endemic Birds of Taiwan

At the weekend I headed down to Cambridge to give my talk 'In Search of the Endemic Birds of Taiwan' to the Oriental Bird Club for their Autumn meeting. It was a humbling experience to be asked to talk to to the group so a massive Thank You for the opportunity. I hope I did ok!!!

There was a wide range of really great, varied, and interesting talks during the day such as:

• 'China's Grippers - a talk on the most sough-after birds of China' by Pete Morris, Bridquest
• 'Baer's Pochard: responding to a critical situation' by Dr Debbie Pain, Director of Conservation at the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust
• 'In Search of the Endemic Birds of Taiwan' by Andy Walker, Birding Ecotours
• 'Restoration of Indonesian Rainforest - sustainable model or Government whim?' by Andrew Impey, Head of Global Habitats, RSPB
• 'Bangladesh's Spoon-billed Sandpiper and World Shorebirds Day' by Mya-Rose Craig (aka Birdgirl)
• 'Videoing around the Philippines' by Keith Blomerley

The OBC should be commended for such a great job on the day, and no doubt in all the planning before hand. The cakes were a particular highlight! Looking forward to next years meeting already! Really enjoy being part of the OBC!

It was great to meet such a wide range of people, all ultimately with a goal of conserving the special Oriental region. There is a lot of positive stuff going on over there now, but (as in the rest of the world) some pretty horrific and concerning stuff too (Baer's Pochard is in dire straits for example). It was also great to finally properly meet Mya-Rose 'Birdgirl' Craig (and Chris & Helena of course!), Mya was giving a talk on the Spoon-billed Sandpiper, a species I'm looking forward to seeing again in the New Year in Thailand during a couple of customized tours.

Here are a few random photos of some of the slides from my talk: 

And although not an endemic it would be rude not to consider the wonderful Fairy Pitta, the main reason I went to Taiwan in the first place, and the best place in the world to see it!

Have to give a huge shout out to everyone who let me use their photos - some of the above are even my own!

Can't wait to get back over to Taiwan for some more great birding - check out the exciting itinerary we have here: http://birdingecotours.com/tours/destination/country/taiwan

Taiwan Trip Report

I've put together my Taiwan Trip Report (below).

This was a really successful, short birding trip to Taiwan and Lanyu Island in May 2014 (14th-24th). The main target was Fairy Pitta. Once seen the focus was on seeing as many of the endemic species and endemic sub-species possible in the time allowed.

We saw all of the endemics, and pretty much all of the endemic sub-species that may one day get raised to full species status. In addition there was a high number of other endemic races seen. Birding highlights included Fairy Pitta, Swinhoe's Pheasant, Mikado Pheasant, Lanyu Scops Owl, Japanese Paradise Flycatcher and many more!

I've put a few photos in the report and there are some also in the post below.

If you have any questions/comments please feel free to drop me an email.

  Taiwan Birding Trip Report

Plumbeous Redstart, Andy Walker