In Taipei for a meeting and we arranged an overnight trip up to Alishan(literally Mount Ali) to do some birding. We took the High Speed Rail for the hour long trip from Taipei Station to Taichung where we were picked up by our guide Ms Liao who had guided us in Daxueshan a few years ago. It was about a 2 hour drive up towards Yushan and Alishan and we birded along the way….
A striated swallow was the first bird to greet us on the way..as we climbed the scenery got more interestingat our first stop halfway up to Alishan, this splendid Rusty Laughing Thrush showed, first lifer and endemic of the dayRusty laughing thrushfollowed by Steere’s Liocichla, a yellow hued bird, 2nd endemic and liferthe white eared sibia were everywhere but highly active and difficult to shoot! 3rd endemicWhite eared Sibiathis is the road we took up, passing through Yushan and Tatako on the way to Alishanour guide spotted this tiny Collared owlet..this is the back of the head with it’s pseudoeyes!and here the collared owlet with its head facing us , gazing at us with its actual eyes!Here, a charming black throated tit watched us….in chinese, it’s called a xiao ding dang!the Taiwan Yuhina was probably the most commonly seen bird on this trip….they were everywherebeautiful scenes everywhere we lookedwhere we stopped for hotpot lunch, this white browed laughing thrush entertained usas did this green backed titarguably the prettiest bird of all was this Collared bush robincharming Rufous capped babbler or ‘shan hong tou’ or mountain red headyellow bellied bush warbler…it’s song is a series of ascending notes each just a little higher than the last!ferruginous flycatchers were pretty commonyet another pretty white whiskered laughing thrushsea of cloudsThe Taiwan bush warbler was very shy and elusive and it was a while before he showedtaiwan bush warbler another steere’s liocichlataiwan barwingthis curious black throated tit gazed at meLast endemic and lifer of the day was the grey cheeked fulvetta or Morrison’s fulvetta…the white eye reminiscent of the oriental white eye…We ended the day at Alishan where we checked into the Alishan Gou Hotel…a functional and perfectly adequate hotel on the slopes of Mt Ali
The Natural Traveller 
Looks like a wonderful trip! Would you be willing to share the contact info for your bird guide, Ms. Liao? Planning my own Taiwan trip!