Birding Taiwan's Beautiful Endemic Birds
Tour Date:
March 8, 2026.
Tour Price (Per Person):
$2440. Single supplement $450. Includes transport, food, hotels (two nights at Snow Peak Lodge in Dasyueshan), guiding.
Tour Type:
Easy birding. Small group of max 8 people
Most breakfasts, lunches, and snacks will be picnic-style. A wide variety of familiar foods (cereals, fruit, bread, eggs, tea, coffee, snacks, chocolate, ham, cheese, etc) are available. The evening meal will be traditional Taiwan-style.
Comfortable hotels.
WiFi available 99% of the time.
Update!
The scouting trip Gunnar did in September was a great success in laying out the final version of our next Taiwan trip. Originally, the idea was to only provide a very short trip, getting you the majority of the endemics in a limited time, but since additional time may be needed to adjust for bad weather or other problems, the trip is now extended to a full week, in which all the possible endemic birds will be targeted. Since many of the endemics are of a rather skulking nature, it is a good idea to add more time, especially at Dasyueshan, where the majority of the endemics are found, and which has excellent lodging in striking range.
Birding Taiwan - Description
Taiwan is the land of the cute – “kawaii” (or ke ai, in Mandarin). A Japanese word, but Taiwan has adopted it to the extreme. The birds in Taiwan are also kawaii. They are not boring Little Brown Jobs, but spectacular in their color variation and cuteness.
Taiwan has no less than 30 endemics, plus many local subspecies that may be considered good species when the systematics catch up.
There are the small and cute endemic Flamecrest, Taiwan Yellow Tit, and Taiwan Cupwing, as well as the small panda-patterned Black-throated Tit.
The larger endemic birds are equally spectacular, with two species of beautiful pheasants, two partridges, and the iconic Taiwan Blue Magpie.
The birding in Taiwan is not complicated, and there is easy walking on good surfaces, never far from the vehicle. The large number of bird photographers feeding birds has made the game birds extremely confident.
There are no real dangers, with an extremely low crime rate, no malaria, dengue, ticks, leeches, or rabies.
Taiwanese food is delicious, and there are excellent options for vegetarians.
Taiwan also has several endemic cool mammals, many of them best searched for at night.
- Formosan Rock Macaque (endemic)
- Pallas’s Tree Squirrel (endemic subspecies thaiwanensis)
- Maritime Striped Squirrel (endemic subspecies formosanus)
- Reeve’s Muntjac (endemic subspecies micrurus).
- Perny’s Long-nosed Squirrel (rare, endemic subspecies owstoni)
- Yellow-throated Marten (endemic subspecies chrysospila)
- Great Himalayan Leaf-nosed Bat (endemic subspecies terasensis)
- Taiwan Serow (endemic)
- Formosan Red-and-white Giant Flying Squirrel (endemic), aka as White-faced Giant Flying Squirrel.
- Taiwan Giant Flying Squirrel (endemic)
DETAILED ITINERARY
Birding Taiwan Itinerary
Day 1.
Birding Taipei and sight-seeing. Arrival before 10 am.
Leaving the Taoyuan Airport our Birding Taiwan adventure starts with an hour ride south to the Shimen reserve where particular targets will include the stunning Taiwan Blue-magpie, Gray Treepie, Taiwan Barbet and Taiwan Scimitar-Babbler.
In the afternoon, we continue to Taiwan’s number one birding hotspot, Dasyueshan (Daxueshan) Forest in central Taiwan. If we did not see Taiwan Hwamei at Shimen, there is a good spot at km 4 on the Dasyueshan road.
The rest of the day, we’ll be spending looking at the lower part of the road, particularly looking for Swinhoe’s Pheasant.
We head back towards Fenguan, located on the outskirts of Taichung City.
Day 2-4. Dasyueshan.
We have three full days in Dasyueshan, with two nights in the excellent Snow View Lodge. While many endemics like White-eared Sibia, Flamecrest, Taiwan Liocichla, Taiwan Yellow Tit, White-whiskered Laughing-Thrush and Collared-Bush Warbler are easy to see, others such as Taiwan Shortwing, Taiwan Cupwing, Taiwan Bush-Warbler, Taiwan Thrush and Taiwan Bush-Robin are skulkers and require more time.
Many of the latter are best seen high up between the lodge at km 43 and the end of the road at km 50, where there are many trails. Up here we will also look for Mikado Pheasant.
We will also work the road below the lodge to try to get Taiwan Partridge and Taiwan Bamboo Partridge.
At night we will look for mammals like: Reeves’s Munjak, Formosan Serrow, White-faced Flying-Squirrel and Masked Palm Civet.
Owls to look out for are Himalayan Owl and Mountain Scops Owl – both represented by endemic subspecies.
By the end of our stay we will have seen a good number of Taiwan’s endemics. Birding Taiwan sure is rewarding in a place like Dasyueshan.
At the end of day four, we drive on to Revei in the Hehuan Mountains.
Taiwan Yuhina, Taiwan Rosefinch, Taiwan Bush Warbler, Taiwan Fulvetta, Taiwan Barwing, White-whiskered Laughingthrush, Taiwan Shortwing, Taiwan Partridge, Mikado Pheasant, Swinhoe’s Pheasant, White-eared Sibia, Steere’s Liocichla, Flamecrest, Collared Bush Robin, Eurasian Jay, Rusty Laughingthrush, Rufous-crowned Laughingthrush, Ashy Wood Pigeon, Besra, Chestnut-bellied Tit, Fire-breasted Flowerpecker, Little Forktail, Brown Dipper, Red-rumped Swallow, Plumbeous Redstart, Dusky Fulvetta, White-rumped Shama, White-bellied Erpornis, White-dumped Munia, Striated Heron, Collater Finchbill, Yellow-bellied Bush-warbler, Eurasian Wren, Grey-chinned Minivet, Black Drongo, Bronzed Drongo, Rufous-capped Babbler, Plain Prinia, Yellow-bellied Prinia, Striped Prinia, Maroon Oriole, Black Eagle, Mountain Hawk-eagle, Oriental Honey Buzzard, Black-necklaced Scimitar-babbler, Vinous-throated Parrotbill, Oriental Skylark, Green-backed Tit, Plain Flowerpecker, Black-throated Tit, Morrison’s Fulvetta, Taiwan Hwamei, Asian House-martin, Taiwan Bamboo-partridge, Taiwan Thrush, Taiwan Yellow Tit, Snowy-browed Flycatcher, Brown Bullfinch, Taiwan Bullfinch, Taiwan Niltava, Coal Tit, White-backed Woodpecker, Eurasian Nuthatch, Southern Nutcracker, Large-billed Crow, White-bellied Green-pigeon and Crested Serpent-eagle.
Birding Taiwan sure is rewarding in a place like Dasyueshan.
Day 5 Hehuan Mountains to Toroko Gorge
We will cross over the ridge, where we look for Taiwan Rose-Finch, endemic ssp of Alpine Accentor and perhaps Taiwan Bullfinch. The night near Xincheng on the east coast after having traveled through the Taroko National Park.
Day 6. Hehuan Mountains.
We travel back to Hehuan Mountain after having secured the endemic Styans’s Bulbul at the Taroko National Park visitor center. At Hehuan we will catch up with any species still missing. Then, we continue driving to the foot of the Baxianshan Forest Reserve and should arrive by nightfall. The Mountain Scops Owl often calls from the garden of the hotel.
Day 7. Baxianshan Forest Reserve to Taoyuan Airport.
This morning we look for the last endemic of the tour. The local Chestnut-bellied Tit before breakfast. The most reliable place for it is at the bottom of Baxianshan Trail
This morning we look for the last endemic of the tour. The local Chestnut-bellied Tit before breakfast. The most reliable place for it is at the bottom of Baxianshan Trail
After breakfast we will make our way back to Taoyuan Airport, perhaps stopping at at a wetland en route to pad the list.
Extensions.
Compared with other Taiwan birding tours you may find on the net, we are not doing much birding at wetlands, and we skip the ferry to Lanyu Island.
If you decide to stay on in Taipei, you must visit the outstanding National Museum with Chinese artifacts, the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial, the many temples, and the night markets. It could be an idea to arrive early to explore some of the interesting cultural aspects of Taipei.
Possible extensions include our short Culture and Wildlife tour to mainland China or perhaps Okinawa in Japan for three days (featured as an extension on our Japan tour). Okinawa is just an hour away with regular direct flights. You may also complete your set with Taiwanese birds with an extension to Lanyu Island for Lowland White-eye and a couple of island endemic subspecies such as the local Lanyu subspecies of Ryukyu Scops Owl. Check Budget Birders´s trip blog post about Lanyu to get an idea.
Email us at kolibriexp@gmail.com for more information.