Just off the coast of Taiwan sits the lush, mountainous Lanyu (Orchid) Island. This volcanic island is home to several endemic subspecies of birds, making it an enticing destination for Ross, who is known for his passion in tracking down subspecies with as much enthusiasm as he devotes to finding full-fledged species. So, for the sake of adventure, we decided to take the ferry from Taitung and journey to Lanyu. Why not?!
Upon arriving at the ferry terminal on Lanyu, we made our way across the small parking lot to the man with the “rental car” we were borrowing. Renting a car as a foreigner can be challenging on Lanyu since most people opt for motorbikes. Fortunately, we had an internal resource who helped coordinate the rental for us. (Thanks again, Mark, for your assistance in getting us this car!) Although we would have rented motorbikes if it were just us, a baby and bunch of birding gear made us glad to have our 90’s-era Honda CR-V. As we picked up our island beater, Ross fondly reminisced about his days living on Japan’s Okinawa, driving around in his own little island beater. With our rental island beater in hand, we jetted off to a nearby birding location, ready to embark on our Lanyu adventure!
We set a goal for ourselves to see if we could tally all of the subspecies found on the island in just three hours.
There are a few birding highlights to be found: ‘Lanyu’ Scops Owl (currently a ssp. of Ryukyu Scops Owl but increasingly considered a full species), Brown-eared Bulbul, Lowland white eye, Japanese Paradise Flycatcher, Whistling Green Pigeon, Philippine Cuckoo Dove, and Blue Rock Thrush. According to Birdlife, Lanyu has 47 resident bird species and 42 common migrants, with a total of 181 species being recorded on the island. I’m sure it would be fun to track down all 47 resident species, we just didn’t have time for that so we focused on these 7 targets.
Brown-eared Bulbul and Lowland White-eye numbered into the hundreds and Ross joked they didn’t even count towards our goal because they were so common. It actually might be impossible to visit Lanyu and not see these two species of birds. They are everywhere in abundance. The Japanese Paradise Flycatcher came easily, and we got to watch as a beautiful, long-tailed male fed a recent fledgling. Even the Lanyu Scops Owl started calling spontaneously after just 15 minutes of walking along the trail at “Flycatcher Creek.” As is often the case with tiny-island scops owls, these birds are common and belligerent. We had several Whistling Green Pigeons in the area and happily watched as one perched up at the top of a tree.
Unfortunately after just 30 minutes of walking Roger seemingly gave up on birding. Perhaps it was the 90°F temperature and 80% humidity, or maybe it was the new tooth poking through his gums, but we decided to take a small refresher by checking into our homestay mid-day so he could take his afternoon nap. I say homestay because a lot of the accommodation on the small island is in someone’s house where each room is rented out to tourists.
At this point only the cuckoo-dove eluded us, despite us hearing one call within close proximity of the trail after just 5 minutes of walking. Technically the Northern Boobok eluded us as well but we weren’t planning on trying for that one until nightfall. Could the three-hour deadline we gave ourselves be paused while Roger took his afternoon nap? We arrived at our homestay and enjoyed a bit of downtime. I didn’t know Ross was capable of “downtime” while on a birding trip until now but I wasn’t going to complain. Another one of the side effects of traveling with someone who likes to touch every conceivable surface, stick his hands in his mouth and then in your mouth, is that you are more likely to pick up some kind of ailment. I was battling some kind of cold and was very happy to have a bit of rest.
After Roger woke up we decided to do a drive around the small island. The coastal road doesn’t take long to complete and offers views of the ocean and some unique rock structures that the island is known for. The island doesn’t feature nice beaches in the way of soft sand, but the rugged coastal caves and rock formations jutting out of the water are pretty cool and I’m sure the diving/snorkeling more than makes up for the lack of sand!
It was on Lanyu that Roger stuck his feet in the ocean for the first time. (He was not a fan.) After our circle of the island we went off and found ourselves a cooperative Philippine cuckoo dove, effectively cleaning up our daytime targets. A most delicious dinner of “laksa” at the small restaurant next to our homestay was the perfect pause before going out owling. We drove up a small road and had a super cooperative Lanyu Boobok sitting above our heads, and the ‘Lanyu’ scops owls were calling incessantly just as we had imagined.
The following morning we went birding again and had all of the previous days targets seen in just 30 minutes, including both owls. So yes, to answer my own question, all of the targets can be seen in less than 3 hours.
Who knows if any of these subspecies will ever be split. Maybe they won’t. But we came all the way to Taiwan, why not take a two hour ferry to see a remote, beautiful little island along the way?
This birding occurred on July 1-2, 2023.
eBird checklists: here and here and here.
Homestay: Yishanan B&B (22.038038, 121.566402), basic but relatively inexpensive at NT1500 per night.
Rental car: NT2000 (motorbike around NT400?)
Ferry: NT4700
My wife and I visited Lanyu a few years back and saw pretty much all those birds, but my two biggest memories were eating fried flying fish (the whole fish, fried with :”wings” extended,a spectacular thing on your plate) and seeing my lifer Sperm Whale from the ferry.