That’s A Wrap! (Of Taiwan) …And we almost didn’t get to leave!

When we visited Thailand in 2015, we met Dominic Le Croissette, a fellow birder, along a trail. He happened to be birding many of the same areas in Thailand that we were so we went out for a morning or two and birded together. We talked over a lunch. He told us of how he used to live in Taiwan working as an English teacher and how he loved to go birding and ride his motorbike everywhere he went. He spoke so highly of Taiwan. He genuinely loved the country and had a blog devoted to his birding jaunts while he lived there. Ross and Dom kept in touch over the years. Dom had married an American and moved to the states. Ross and Dom would chat often about birds or life and we even invited him to join us on our trip to Ghana in 2020. He couldn’t join though because he already had a birding trip to Panama planned. We were in Ghana when we learned that he had passed away. He contracted some kind of mysterious illness while in Panama and died just a few days after getting home. He was only 42.
We had only met Dom in person for such a short amount of time but I think of him often because he made such a big impact on me. He genuinely was one of the nicest people I’ve ever met. So when we visited Taiwan, I couldn’t help but think about birding the country that Dom loved so much. I would think of him visiting the same places that we did. Sometimes we even referenced his blog and compared notes. I tried to look at everything I did through his lens of positivity. I could never love Taiwan the same way he did, but I wanted to try.

Taiwan has everything a great birding destination (or any destination) needs: fantastic birds, breathtaking scenery, friendly people, reasonable prices, and delicious food… if you know where to look. (However, if you don’t know where to look, finding food can be a challenge anywhere other than a convenience store or a fried chicken stand. It’s probably a breeze if you speak Taiwanese or Chinese, but for foreigners who don’t, good luck!) The people were so friendly, and I was blown away by how much love Roger received from random strangers we encountered during our trip. I’m not sure if it was because he stood out with his blonde hair and blue eyes, or if they treat all babies with the same kind of admiration, but I imagine it’s the latter because so many of the hotels gave us special baby items when we checked in, like a mini bathtub to put in the shower or special baby soaps. One hotel even gave us a baby toothbrush with suction cups on the bottom that is just as nice as anything I would buy in a store. (I needed a toothbrush for Roger anyway, so that gift will certainly come in handy when he has more than 2 teeth.) Often, I could just hand my baby over to random strangers for them to walk around and bounce in their arms. They would talk to him in Taiwanese and smile. He loved it because he loves everyone, and I think they loved that we were traveling with a baby. (I have no idea why I didn’t take a single picture of a single grandma holding him though. I really should have!)

I’ve heard the food in Taiwan can be great, it’s similar to Chinese cuisine after all, but we didn’t eat at many fancy restaurants. The easiest place for us to grab a meal was at the aforementioned Family Mart or 7-Eleven convenient stores. Don’t think of Taiwanese convenient stores with any negative connotations though; these convenient stores often have dine-in areas and are clean and full of good food. They are a great place to grab a quick but delicious meal. Speaking of food, here’s a few of the places we fed Roger while in Taiwan:

After we got off the ferry from Lanyu, we essentially began our journey towards Australia. We only had around 48 hours left in Taiwan before our flight to the land down under so of course we were going to make a few stops as we worked our way towards the airport. Most of our time in Taiwan up until this point was spent in the montane forests at a comfortable temperature but we were sure to bird a bit of the lowland coastal scene to experience the high humidity and borderline sauna-esque qualities that we’ve come to love about a southeast Asian country! We had a few rice pattie specialists to check out like Pheasant-tailed Jacana, Yellow-bellied and Plain Prinias, Golden-headed Cisticola, Styan’s Bulbul, and Vinous-throated Parrotbill.

Because who doesn’t love some last minute drama, let me share about how we almost missed our flight to Australia. We only spent one night/morning at the lower elevations and on our last day we only had one bird left to see: Alpine Accentor. Our flight was set to leave at 10PM so we really still had a full day to bird. Alpine Accentors, as the name might suggest, live in alpine habitats above the tree line at the tops of mountains. The plan was simple, drive up and down on a mountain road through Taroko National Park on our way to the airport and while crossing over the mountain, stop and appreciate the Alpine Accentors at the top. We had just gotten to the top of the pass at Taroko National Park, the highest road in Taiwan, and had pulled into the parking lot when surprisingly an Alpine Accentor flew in and landed not far from where we had parked our car. Too easy! And then the ever-stunning Taiwan Rosefinch made an appearance and Ross spent a while photographing the extremely cooperative male. We also had another sighting of Taiwan Bullfinch from this parking lot. This was turning out to be the perfect last day of birding in Taiwan.

While at the top of the pass, we ran into another young, local birder and we got to talking about how we still had a 3 hour drive back to Taipei so we could fly out that evening. We had already driven several hours to the top of the mountain and were about to go down the other side when this guy informed us that a landslide blocked the road down! Cleanup crews were on scene but it was no guarantee that the road would reopen that day. Suddenly we had to scramble. If we were to turn around now, we would essentially have to drive 3.5 hours back to the very town we had started our morning in and then another 4 hours to Taipei. We had a flight to catch that evening and it was already almost 2PM. An unexpected 7-hour drive at this point (when we thought we only had a 3-hour drive left) would be cutting it extremely close for our 10PM flight, if it could even be done at all with a 9-month old who would need to stop several times along the way. Our only other option was to wait and see if the cleanup crew could get the road open in time to go the way we originally intended. What would you do? Turn around, cut your losses, and start on the guaranteed 7 hour journey with just enough time to make it to your flight or risk waiting for the clean up crew to open the road with no idea if or when it would open at all?? We didn’t know what to do. Neither option was sounding great at this point. We asked a few other people and most of them seemed confident that the cleanup crew would be able to move the dirt from the landslide for the road to open in a few hours. It was a risk, but we couldn’t bear to keep Roger in his car seat for 7 more hours if we could avoid it so we went with plan b. We drove down the mountain as planned until we could go no further and joined the line of 200-ish cars on the side of the road. This landslide was no joke but the cleanup crew worked tirelessly for hours moving the dirt. An excavator scooped up the soil into dump trucks and when one truck would fill up, another would take its place. The soil was constantly being moved. It was amazing to see what these guys and a few big toys could accomplish in just a few hours. Sure enough, the road opened as planned and our three-hour drive back to Taipei was a breeze after the 2 hour wait. Our risk certainly paid off. We made our way to the airport and closed the Taiwan chapter of our trip.

Huge shoutout to Paul Schaeffer for all of his help on this trip. Paul is a reader of our blog, originally from Pennsylvania who now lives in Taiwan, and when we announced we would be visiting Taiwan, he reached out to offer assistance on where and how to bird around! Unfortunately Paul was in PA/Tanzania while we were in Taiwan so we missed crossing paths and meeting up in person. Paul, thanks again — the information you gave us was so valuable along the way!

This birding occurred 2-3 July, 2023
eBird checklist from the top of the pass: here