Taiwan 1

We're back from Taiwan. I like that place. People are friendly, the food is good. Culture is interesting and so are the birds. There were not so many opportunities to go out to the parks or forests, mainly because the weather was bad. It rained, rained and rained. Only once, in Tainan, I squeezed an hour from our sched, walked to the nearest park and managed to photograph some endemics.

TAIWAN BARBET

I was lucky to find this pair building a nest in the middle of the park which was crowded with elderly people doing exercises and filling up rappidly with children on field trips. The 2 birds didn't seem to be bothered much and continued their activities.

Can you see it's rictal bristles?

I don't know which one is male and which one female, but I like to think of this one as the lady.



In the past I have walked many miles to get a good look at these colorful birds. I've never been this close.

Barbets behave much like woodpeckers. With their strong and heavy bills they work at the tree and methodically remove little chunks of wood. Watching them for just a few minutes gave me the impression their apartment would be finished within a week.

Keeping them company were 20 - 30 Chinese Bulbuls, noisily flying from one tree to the other.

I didn't see any Taiwan Bulbuls this time, but have seen them on previous visits.

CHINESE BULBUL

And also at the same spot, noisier then any of the birds: a Red-bellied tree squirrel.

More Taiwan images will follow, but no more wildlife. This was it.