The first adventure besides figuring out how to take the bus from the airport to my hotel was a Daan Park Taiwan birding adventure. My flight arrived at 4:30 a.m. and the hotel did not allow early check-in, so I had a considerable amount of time to kill. On Google Maps, it indicated that Daan Forest Park was only a fifteen minute walk away. It was already hot and humid in Taipei. I got there around 8 a.m. and was already a sweaty mess. I found some shade and tried to cool down a bit.
An inviting seat in Daan Park Taiwan
Malayan night heron on a Daan Park Taiwan birding adventure is my first bird and photograph
While sitting in the shade, I saw my first interesting bird. A small heron landed right next to me and was collecting twigs for a nest. It was a Malayan night heron. I took my first couple pictures while in Asia. While taking these pictures, I noticed a group of older gentlemen with long lenses and tripods focusing on a tree in the corner of the park.
Related: Birding four Bangkok city parks
My first bird from Taiwan and from Asia is a Malayan night heron.
Gentlemen with tripods and long lenses indicate a Taiwan barbet
You know when you see some gentlemen with long lenses and tripods that some serious birding is going down. I quickly joined them and tried to discover what they were pointing their cameras to. It turned out to be a Taiwan barbet tending to a hole in the tree. Further investigation showed that the hole had at least one young one in it.
Taiwan barbet in a tree found in the northwest corner of Daan Park.
Young Taiwan barbet looking for food.
The Taiwan barbet is endemic to Taiwan, so this was one species I was hoping to see in Daan Park and in Taiwan in general. I was pleased that it did not take long to add this lifer to my birding list. This was bird species number 403 on my ebird list. My goal was to surpass 500 during the five weeks I was spending in Asia.
Swinhoe’s white eye was one of the many lifers seen on this day.
Tally up another lifer with this Javan myna.
Almost every bird is a lifer on a Daan Park birding adventure
The nice thing about visiting a new country is all the birds, even the common ones in the park, are lifers. In quick succession, I added the Oriental turtle-dove, the Oriental magpie, the black bulbul, the light-vented bulbul, Swinhoe’s white-eye, the Javan myna, and the Eurasian tree sparrow just to name a few. There were a few birds that I have seen before on other recent Asia trips including the common myna and the oriental magpie robin, but many were first timers.
The most common bird, other than the oriental magpie robin, was the light-vented bulbul, which was also a lifer for me.
Even the mundane dove, or more specifically, the oriental turtle dove was a lifer.
One bird species that was familiar to me was the cattle egret; however, it was actually a new species. I have seen many cattle egrets in Florida and the Caribbean, but I did not know the species was divided up into eastern and western. I saw many western cattle egrets in Daan Park, so this was another new species for me.
Beautiful eastern cattle egret on a Daan Park Taiwan birding adventure.
Daan Park Taiwan egret and heron rookery
I noticed on the map of the park and from various signs that there was a lagoon or pond. I ventured in that direction and was delighted to see a rookery of nesting egrets and herons. Most notably for me was a significant amount of nesting black-crowned night herons. This is another species familiar to me as I have seen black-crowned night herons in my hometown of Barrington and in nearby River Park in Chicago where I live now. Unlike the cattle egret, the black-crowned night heron is the same species in Chicago as it is in Taiwan.
Black-crowned night heron in the lagoon of Daan Park.
Black-crowned night heron in a nest with two young ones.
Black-crowned night herons are found in Taiwan too
Growing up in suburban Barrington, I used to take my dog Barney on walks to nearby Baker’s Lake. There was a colony of nesting black-crowned night herons there, so this was one of the first species that got me interested in birding as a kid. It was interesting that I was seeing not only endemic species like the Taiwan barbet, but also certain species seen in other Asian countries like the oriental magpie robin, and also some species I was familiar with seeing at home in the United States.
Eastern cattle egret with young at the rookery in the lagoon.
Enjoying Daan Park Taiwan
Besides seeing birds, the park was just generally a neat place to walk around and see the interesting exhibits and displays and the beautiful trees. There were many people enjoying an early morning stroll or run. There were groups of people doing coordinated exercises with music. It was not overcrowded however. I could easily walk under a tree and feel like I was in a somewhat secluded area.
Taiwan barbet with a lot of protein.
The Taiwan barbet at the entrance to the park was not the only one I saw. I got a great view of another bird, or it could have been the same one, deeper in the park on a tree. This one had a cicada in its beak, so perhaps it was going back to feed its young one in the tree.
Little egret wading in Daan Park Taiwan
Five week Asia trip off to a great start in Taipei, Taiwan
After several hours of birding, I returned to my hotel. I got some bao buns at a restaurant close to my hotel and a smoothie. After a 15 hour flight from Chicago and then a three hour Daan Park Taiwan birding adventure, it was time to get some sleep. I ended up sleeping from 3 p.m. until the next morning. I was excited to get my five week Asia adventure off to a great start.
Adventure on!
