Birding Paradise

Taiwan is really one of the good place for bird watching. I was at Taipei, the capital of Taiwan earlier this week just for bird watching. However, what I didn't expect was the rain. It rained from the day I arrived on Tuesday all the way to Saturday the day I return to Singapore. Nevertheless, it was a very fruitful trip. I achieve what I have planned including watching Sacred Ibis or Black Headed Ibis. I will talk about that in another post.

Since I am taking morning flight on Saturday so nothing was planned this morning after breakfast, I just sit by my window of my hotel's room just to see what are the bird(s) that live within the heart of Taipei City. Is not 1, or 2 or 3!! I only watch for 30minutes and it was already more than 9 species sighted! Imagine if we move away from the city for bird watching, I'm sure I will be overwhelmed by the rich biodiversity of Taiwan.

Another good reason for choosing Taiwan as a birding place mainly is the people here! They are so friendly and helpful. During my stay at Taipei, I met a few birders and they are from Wild Bird Society of Taipei, must thanks them for their very helpful tips.

台北果然是賞鳥的好去處。此行雖然遇到下雨天，從星期二我到達的第一天一直到我星期六離開都還沒有停止過。雨水除了帶來一些不便外，並沒有減低賞鳥的樂趣或對鳥況造成太大的影響。我還看到了我來此的目的 - 埃及聖鹮！

我星期六要乘早上的班機所以沒有安排賞鳥活動，早餐過後我就坐在窗邊看看到底有那些鳥兒會在忙碌的市區跟人類共同生活。

沒想到短短的半個小時，竟然看到至少有九種以上不同的鳥類！在飯店竟然也能夠賞鳥！真的令我刮目相看。如果是離開市區的話，可以想像鳥類將會是多到目不暇給！

我稍後在給你報導此行的所見鳥類。

我在台北其間還遇到幾位台北市野鳥學會的朋友，要在此特別的謝謝他們！

Eurasian Tree Sparrow 麻雀
Light-Vented Bulbul 白頭翁

Glossy Starling 輝椋鳥

European Magpie 喜鵲

White Wagtail 白鶺鴒

Rock Pigeon
Spotted Dove 斑頸鳩

Grey Tree Pie 樹鵲
Red Collared Dove 紅鳩

Happy Moment

I still vividly remember when I was a child, I will wait anxiously every morning for my mum to return from the market. When my mum brought me my favourite peanut pan-cake from the market, I was so happy and contented and those are the momentous occasions that lingers in my memory till today.

I felt the same excitements when I was shooting a heronry at the north of Singapore last month! Seeing the chicks waiting anxiously and suddently jump in joy!
I'm not sure how the chicks knew that their parents is nearby, the chicks will get very excited & active before I even have the visual of the parents. There must be some form of communications that perhaps I didn't realize.
The chicks will rise from sitting and starts jumping and that prompt me that their parents is arriving.

The chicks can't wait to get their food from their parent.

I'm sure the food source is abundant as all the chicks got their fair share of food and they all look about the same size.Wow! This chick got a really huge eel for breakfast!

Is always an enjoyable experience to be able to watch and photograph feeding process. Feeding time means Happy Moment for me. How about you?

I Have Four Spoons

Have you ever heard about crabs that having spoon shaped pincers? Instead of the usual sharp pointed pincers, these crabs with spoon tip pincers and they use these 'spoons' to scrap off algae from rock surface for feeding.

This is the crabs that having spoon tip pincers and usually can be found at coral rubber. They usually hide under the rocks during day time and will come out for feeding at night.