Birding Guishan Road, Wulai, Taiwan

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May 2026 20C

OM1mk2 150-400mm Zuiko Pro

In Taipei again for a meeting and had a morning free to bird….my host kindly brought me out to Guishan Road, Wulai where there is an ice cream factory….we got there by 730am and made our way down to the river where there were already 50 photographers all staking out the Maroon Oriole Family! In addiiton to the parents, there were 3 baby chicks which had hatched but a few days ago and the parents were busy feeding them….

walking down to the river from the ice cream factory, this was the scene…..with many more photographers on the road leading down perched to get eye level shots….
before long, in a flash of brilliant sunlit red, the male maroon oriole flew in and perched
Just magnificently coloured!
The female maroon oriole is only slightly less colourful with black and white striations on her belly
female maroon oriole
probably the first and oldest chick…the red is only beginning to show
chick no2 looks almost grotesque…a bit ET like
chick no 3 was somewhere else and waiting to be fed
mum in flight
Dad in flight…the parents worked very hard to feed the chicks…..flying back and forth
The lucky chick got a juicy caterpillar
But I want some more, Dad!
we left after an hour with a view of two chicks perched together…

We drove further along the road to Guishan Road 61 with a walk to the temple at the end seeking the northern boobook….we heard the rufous capped babbler and had a quick glimpse of him as he zipped in and out …alas not stopping for a photo….black naped monarchs were also heard but not seen…..then a loud call which Merlin identified as a Black necklaced scimitar babbler! We saw him skulking about 50m away in deep shadow and I just shot a few hopeful shots……

I was totally delighted that my shots in the dark yielded about 3 acceptable shots of a splendid black necklaced scimitar babbler…..we’d shot the much easier and closer Taiwanese scimitar babbler the year before in Sun Moon Lake.
Bronze Drongo in the sunshine
The temple did indeed have the Northern Boobook in its grounds…
on our way out, another bronze drongo with a moth eaten(!) breakfast
Grey treepie
and last bird of the morning was this magnificent Crested Serpent Eagle….but a lot greener than I have seen before…

So just two hours birding but with local knowledge made it a most fruitful expedition indeed….highly recommended!

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