Birding in Taiwan

 

 

Birds in Taiwan

Endemic Species

Collared Bush-Robin

Flamecrest

Formosan Magpie

Formosan Whistling-Thrush

Mikado Pheasant

Steere's Liocichla

Styan's Bulbul

Swinhoe's Pheasant

Taiwan Barwing

Taiwan Bush-Warbler

Taiwan Partridge

Taiwan Yuhina

White-eared Sibia

White-whiskered Laughingthrush

Yellow Tit

 

Possible Future Full Species

 

Endemic Sub-Species

Alpine Accentor

Barred Buttonquail

Besra

Black Bulbul

Black Drongo

Black-browed Barbet

Black Kite

Black-naped Monarch

Bronzed Drongo

Brown Bullfinch

Brown-eared Bulbul

Chinese Bamboo-Partridge

Collared Finchbill

Collared Scops-Owl

Collared Owlet

Coal Tit

Crested Goshawk

Crested Serpent-Eagle

Dusky Fulvetta

Eurasian Jay

Eurasian Nutcracker

Gray Treepie

Gray-cheeked Fulvetta

 Gray-headed Bullfinch

Green-backed Tit

House Swift

Hwamei

Island Thrush

Lanyu’ Scops-Owl

Maroon Oriole

Mountain Scops-Owl

Oriental Skylark

Oriental Turtle-Dove

Plain Prinia

Plumbeous Redstart

Pygmy Wren-Babbler

Ring-necked Pheasant

Rufous-capped Babbler

 Rusty Laughingthrush

Streak-breasted Scimitar-Babbler

Streak-throated Fulvetta

Striated Prinia

Varied Tit

Vinaceous Rosefinch

Vinous-throated Parrotbill

Whistling Green-Pigeon

White-bellied Green-Pigeon

White-browed Bush-Robin

White-browed Shortwing

White-tailed Robin

White-throated Laughingthrush

Winter Wren

 

More Birds in Taiwan

Black-crowned Night Heron

Black-faced Spoonbill

Black-naped Oriole

Black-throated Tit

Black-winged Stilt

Brown-headed Thrush

Cattle Egret

Chinese Crested Tern

Chinese Goshawk

Cinnamon Bittern

Common Kingfisher

Common Kestrel

Common Moorhen

Daurian Redstart

Eastern Marsh Harrier

Eurasian Wigeon

Fairy Pitta

Fork-tailed or Pacific Swift

Garganey

Gray-chinned Minivet

Gray-faced Buzzard

Gray Heron

Great Cormorant

Great Egret

Greater Painted-Snipe

Ijima’s Leaf-Warbler

Intermediate Egret

Japanese White-eye

Lesser Coucal

Little Egret

Little Forktail

Little Grebe

Malayan Night-heron

Northern Pintail

Northern Shoveler

Osprey

Pale Thrush

Red Collared-Dove

Russet Sparrow

Spot-billed Duck

Spotted Dove

White-breasted Waterhen

Yellow Bittern

 

 

Plumbeous Redstart

Rhyacornis fuliginosa affinis

Endemic Subspecies

A small (13 cm), active bird found around streams and rivers.  The male is slaty-blue overall, with a rufous tail, rump and vent, a black bill and flesh-coloured legs.  The female is gray above, with two thin white wing-bars, white below with gray barring, a white rump and vent, and a black tail with white bases to the outer tail feathers.  The Plumbeous Redstart feeds on insects and insect eggs, which it finds along the edges of streams and rivers and on rocks in or near the water.  It forages on foot along the water’s edge or on rocks, occasionally wading into the water; it also makes short flycatching flights and snatches insects from the water surface.  Plumbeous Redstarts also eat some berries and seeds.  A notable habit of this species is its frequent opening and closing of its tail, scissors-like, and its wagging up and down.

 

In Taiwan, the Plumbeous Redstart breeds along boulder-strewn streams from 600-2000 meters elevation, and winters down to adjacent lowlands.  From a rock or in flight, the male sings a shrill, chirpy, cricket-like song on its territory, which consists of a stretch of stream or river.  Call notes include a sharp “ziet, ziet”.  The nest is a deep cup of roots, grasses, leaves and moss, lined with fine rootlets, fibres and even hair; it is placed near running water in a rock crevice, on a rock ledge or bridge overhang, in the side of a tree, etc.  The female lays 3-5 eggs.  The Plumbeous Redstart is a common resident of Taiwan in suitable stream habitat.

 

 

References:  Handbook of Birds of the World Vol. 10; A Field Guide to the Birds of China (Mackinnon and Phillipps)