Birding

Some more Birds of Taiwan

April 27, 2026 by Kai Pflug No Comments

On my November 2025 Taiwan trip, there were some birds I did not get enough good photos to justify a separate post, or in locations that did not yield much, or species that might not even be that interesting. This post is about those birds – and I know that this first paragraph is the equivalent of a second-hand car dealer telling you that all his vehicles are lemons.

Still, sometimes the lemon is the situation or the photographer, not the bird. I have tried several times to see an Eastern Grass Owl (aka Australasian Grass Owl) in Shanghai without success, so seeing one in Tainan was satisfying, even if the resulting photos could be better.

This owl is closely related to the Barn Owl (same genus) and looks quite similar too, though it has longer limbs (as indicated by the longimembris in the scientific name Tyto longimembris). It is also a more specialized owl, adapted for tall grasslands rather than general open-country habitats. As a consequence of their reliance on flushing through grass, they are also harder to see.

The same field near Tainan also had many Savanna Nightjars, partly doing what appears to be their usual thing, which is sitting on roads at night.

I still prefer seeing them during the day and also somehow liked them more in East Java, where I had seen them a year earlier.

The Taiwan Blue Magpie should have been a great bird to see, but turned out to be a disappointment, as I only saw it from a distance somewhere at Wulai, quite close to Taipei. As punishment to the species, I will not write about it much. May that be a lesson to other species.

At the same location, a Crested Goshawk was much more patient with a poor photographer. But then again, it is a species I can also see in Shanghai if I am lucky.

I am not going to spare you a very bad joke. According to my knowledge, this species is sponsored by Adidas, as indicated by the scientific name Lophospiza trivirgata (three-striped).

Wulai also had a male Maroon Oriole, presumably a stunning bird if you can get a better photo than I did.

Though the subspecies name Oriolus traillii ardens (ardens means burning) sounds a bit too much like a desperate attempt to market the subspecies.

And of course, Wulai had both myna species common in Taiwan: the (to me) rather ordinary-looking Common Myna (or maybe it is just the name) …

… and the way cooler-looking Javan Myna.

Anyway, that’s it for the B-sides of my Taiwan trip — the birds that didn’t quite earn their own posts.

Written by Kai Pflug
Kai has lived in Shanghai for 22 years. He only started birding after moving to China, so he is far more familiar with Chinese birds than the ones back in his native Germany. As a birder, he considers himself strictly average and tries to make up for it with photography, which he shares on a separate website. Alas, most of the photos are pretty average as well. He hopes that few clients of his consulting firm—focused on China’s chemical industry—ever find this blog, as it might raise questions about his professional priorities. Much of his time is spent either editing posts for 10,000 Birds or cleaning the litter boxes of his numerous indoor cats. He occasionally considers writing a piece comparing the two activities.