Itinerary:

Day 1 Arrive Taoyuan International Airport (TPE) in the afternoon.Meet and pick up in the airport and take rest in Taipei City.

Day 2 Taipei Botanical Garden, Yangmingshan National Park & Dasyueshan Forest Recreation Area (lower elevation)

In the morning we will visit Taipei Botanical Garden and Yangmingshan NP to find endemics in urban parks (Taiwan Barbet, Taiwan Scimitar Babbler, Taiwan Blue Magpie, Taiwan Whistling Thrush) and Malaysian Night Heron. Then we will drive to Dasyueshan Forest Recreation Area (lower elevation) to find some low-elevation breeding birds such as Collared Fichbill and Plumbeous Redstart. Accommodation outside of Dasyueshan FRA.

Day 3-4 Dasyueshan FRA (higher elevation)

Dasyushan is the most important birding watching site in Taiwan. Among 27 endemics, we recorded 26 of them historically except Styan’s bulbul (only distributed in Southern and Eastern Taiwan). Our target species here are most of the endemics such as Mikado’s Pheasant, Swinhoe’s Pheasant, Yellow Tit, Flamecrst, Taiwan Cupwing, Taiwan Bush-Warbler, Taiwan Fulvetta, TaiwanYuhina, Black-necklaced Scimitar-Babbler, Morrison’s Fulvetta, Taiwan Hwamei, Rufous-crowned Laughtingthrush, Rusty Laughingthrush, White-whiskered Laughingthrush, White-eared Sibia, Steere’s Liocichla, Taiwan Barwing, Collared Bush-Robin, Taiwan Rosefinch. Except for these endemic, we also have the chance to see Vivid Niltava, Gray-headed Bullfinch and Golden Parrotbill. Accommodation inside of Dasyueshan FRA.

Day 5 Dasyueshan FRA, Huisun Forest Area and Wushe

This morning we have to leave Dasyueshan FRA and visit Huisun Forest Area to look for Chestnut-bellied Tit (former Varied Tit). Chestnut-bellied Tit is a very rare breeding birds in Taiwan, it’s only distributed in restricted mid-elevation forest in Taiwan. We also have a good chance to find Taiwan Blue Magpie and Malaysian Night Heron here again. Tonight we will stay in Wushe area.

Day 6 (Thur): Hehuanshan (Taroko NP), Guanghua (Firefly Lodge) and Rueiyuan River (optional)

Henhuanshan is a name of a peak over 3000 m in Taiwan, where is located in Taroko National Park region. However, we can drive to Hehuanshan region about 3200m with ease. We can find alpine birds such as Alpine Accentor, Eurasian Wren and Flamecrest again here. If we miss some mid-elevation species such as shy White-browed Shortwing or Taiwan Cupwing. We can visit Rueiyan River Major Wildlife Habitat (known as Pipe trail as well) to look for them again on the way down to the highway. This afternoon we will visit Guanghua Village, where the famous Firefly Lodge located. Here we can use the bird hide which has a very good chance to look at difficult Taiwan Partridge here and to see the Swinhoe’s Pheasant again. We will stay at Firefly Lodge tonight.

Day 7 Guanghua (Firefly Lodge), Budai wetland, Huben, Tataka at Yushan NP(optional)

This morning we have the second chance to use the bird hide for Taiwan Partridge and Swinhoe’s Pheasant again. If we haven’t seen Mikado’s Pheasant or any other high-elevation birds yet, with 1.5 hour’s driving distance we can visit Tataka (Yusnan NP) to look for them again. Otherwise, we will visit Budai wetland during the day to look for Black-faced Spoonbill (during Oct to June), Chinese Egret (during spring and autumn migration season) and some other waders. During Fairy Pitta’s season (late April to June), we will hire another special local guide, A-Kai, especially for Fairy Pitta in Huben village. We will leave late afternoon and next morning to Fairy Pitta, depends on the decision of A-Kai. Around Huben village, we also have a good chance to look for the shy Dusky Fulvetta, Black-necklaced Scimitar Babbler, and the beautiful Maroon Oriole. We will stay in Douliu downtown.

Day 8 Huben, Xietou Forest Recreation Area (optional), Chigu wetland and Kending NP.

Depends on the local Fairy Pitta guide A-Kai’s decision, we may look for Fairy Pitta in Huben this morning. We may visit Xietou FRA if some local bird sight breeding Island Thrush or Scaly Thrush recently. The local endemic race of Island Thrush (Turdus poliocephalus niveiceps) is the only race have prominent sexual dimorphism, which has a good chance to be raised to endemic species. They are nomadic birds, during 2016 spring we found 5 nests in Xietou FRA. Another important endemic race we may find in Xietou is the breeding Scaly Thrush (Zoothera d. dauma), they also bred at 2016 and sometimes we can find them in winter either. In the afternoon we will drive southward to visit Chigu wetland if we still need any waders. Chigu wetland is the most important wintering ground of Black-faced Spoonbill in East Asia, in winter about 50% of the world population will stay in Chigu region. In late afternoon we will drive to Kending National Park to take rest.

Day 9 Kending NP and Taoyuan International Airport (TPE)

On the last morning, our last target is endemic Styan’s Bulbul here. Styan’s Bulbul is a common bird in Southern and Eastern Taiwan, which have a totally exclusive distribution with very common Light-vented Bulbul. Depends on your schedule, we can drive back to Taoyuan International Airport within 4 hours. You may stay in Taipei for more days or have an extension to Lanyu island.

D10 Lanyu extension

If you want to take the Lanyu extension, we will take a 3-hour-ferry to Lanyu in the early morning and at day 9 and go back around noon at day 10. The ferry is available during mid-April and Sept. In Lanyu island we can find Elegant Scopus Owl, Japanese Paradise Flycatcher, Whistling Green-Pigeon, Philippine Cuckoo Dove and Lowland White-eye.