Touring Taipei

Visiting Taiwan, you say?  Not particularly interested in birds / birding / standing next to a 400-year-old Buddhist temple, looking in the opposite direction with binoculars trained at some distant bird-like silhouette on the horizon?  Gasp!  Doth my ears deceive me?

For readers without birds on the brain (literally and figuratively), I’ve compiled a short list of must-see attractions in Taipei City, geared toward those with only a few days to spare.  These are just the sites that Melanie and I actually visited; there are so many more things to see and do in Taipei City, so get out there and explore!

#1: The National Palace Museum (國立故宮博物院)

How to get there: The National Palace Museum is located in the Shilin district of Taipei City.  There are several ways to get there.  You can take the Tamsui Line (Red Line) of the MRT and get off at Shilin Station, then take a Red 30 bus to the Museum.  Other buses that will get you close the Museum are 255, 304, 815, and Minibus 18 and 19.  Alternately you can take the Wenhu Line (Brown Line) to Dazhi Station and take a Brown 13 bus to the Museum.  Lastly, getting off the Wenhu Line at Jiannan Road Station and taking a Brown 20 bus will also take you to the Museum.

MRT Map to the National Palace Museum.  Each station mentioned above is circled in red.

Why go there: Besides the amazing grounds and architecture, the National Palace Museum is a national museum of the Republic of China, and houses some 700,000 artifacts covering nearly 8,000 years of Chinese history.  The Museum was originally established in Beijing.  During the Chinese Civil War, it was relocated to Taipei.  Only about 22% of the artifacts from the Beijing Museum were transported to Taiwan, but these represent some of the finest pieces in the collection.  Photography is prohibited within the Museum, so you will have to see the collection for yourself.  Numerous artifacts, ranging from rare book collections to Imperial items to works of art, are on display at the National Palace Museum.

The main entrance to the National Palace Museum.

Overlooking the grounds of the Museum.

Be sure to grab a bite to eat at the Sanxitang Teahouse on the fourth floor.

Adjacent to the National Palace Museum is the Zhishan Garden.  Tranquil koi ponds and quiet winding paths weave their way across the Garden.  Large koi are kept in the ponds, and several covered pagodas offer shade and relaxation.  There is also enough habitat to attract wildlife, including black-crowned night-herons, Malayan night-herons, black drongos, Taiwan barbets, and even crested serpent-eagles riding the thermals over the surrounding mountainside (I found three of these birds soaring overhead during my visit).  The Museum also keeps a pair of black swans and other domestic waterfowl on site.

The Zhishan Garden, adjacent to the National Palace Museum.

Juvenile Malayan Night-heron (Gorsachius melanolophus) at the Zhishan Garden

Black-crowned Night-heron (Nycticorax nycticorax nycticorax) at the Zhishan Garden

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#2: Shilin Night Market (士林夜市)

How to get there: The Shilin Night Market is easily accessible via the MRT Tamsui Line (Red Line); get off at the Shilin Station and you’re there.

Why go there: The Shilin Night Market is the most popular of Taipei City’s “night markets.”  A shopper’s paradise with a carnival atmosphere, the night market tempts the senses and tries one’s patience with exotic, robust tastes and aromas combined with seriously backed-up foot traffic.  Regardless of what you’re looking for, this night market has it.  Foods from around the world can be purchased conveniently and cheaply from countless street vendors.  If you stop nowhere else, be sure to hit up the Hot Star Large Fried Chicken stand.  The stand is easy to find, just look for the long line of people waiting patiently with the same look on their faces that a hungry dog gives to a three-legged cat.

The Hot Star Large Fried Chicken Stand…there’s always a line up here, and for good reason!

Fried chicken not your thing?  Try any of the other street vendors.

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# 3: The Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall (国立中正纪念堂)

The Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall, with gardens in the foreground.

How to get there: The Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall is accessed via the MRT Tamsui Line (Red Line).  Simply get off at the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall Station; this is also a transfer station for the Xiaonanmen Branch Line.

A map of the Taipei MRT.  The Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall Station is circled in red.

Why go there: No trip to Taipei City would be complete without a visit to the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall.  Built in memory of the late President Chiang Kai-shek (1887-1975), the Memorial Hall is a popular tourist attraction in Taipei City.  The main Hall houses a statue of the late President, and the lower levels of the Hall are home to a museum portraying the President’s life and military and political history.  Many unique and rare artifacts, such as the President’s car, reading glasses, and military service medals, are on display in the museum levels.

The Main Gate at the CKS Memorial Hall.  The inscription on the gate names this place “Liberty Square.”

The National Concert Hall at the CKS Memorial.

The imposing facade of the CKS Memorial Hall.  There are 87 stairs to reach the main hall, one for each year of the President’s life.

Inside the Main Hall at the CKS Memorial.  Members of the Honor Guard are on-site at all times; on the hour there is a changing of the guards which attracts many visitors.

The Memorial Hall is just one part of an expansive square, which serves as a popular public meeting place and the location of the National Theater and National Concert Hall.  Twin gardens adorn either side of the square, and there is an impressive gateway at the main entrance to the square.  These small oases in the concrete jungle of Taipei City also attract a wide variety of wildlife.  The koi ponds are host to many fish and turtles, and Eurasian moorhens breed here.  In the late summer you can see and feed the small chicks as they swim around the pond.

One of the koi ponds at the CKS Memorial Hall.

A view of one of the garden plots at the CKS Memorial Hall.  The National Concert Hall is in the background.

All manner of bird life can be found in and around the gardens.  Including the moorhens, black-crowned night-herons and Malayan night-herons can be found at the ponds and throughout the gardens.  Common and Javan mynas are plentiful, as are spotted doves and red collared-doves.  On my visit to the CKS Memorial Hall, I found several light-vented bulbuls and Japanese white-eyes, black-collared starlings, and black drongos.  You may also find grey treepies and oriental magpie-robins.  Head over there at dusk to watch the sky fill up with Pacific and barn swallows, and maybe even the occasional bat.

Red Collared-dove (Streptopelia tranquebarica humilis) at the CKS Memorial Hall

Juvenile Eurasian Moorhen (Gallinula chloropus chloropus) at the CKS Memorial Hall koi pond.

Black Drongo (Dicrurus macrocercus harterti) at the CKS Memorial Hall

Juvenile Oriental Magpie-robin (Copsychus saularis prosthopellus) at the CKS Memorial Hall

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Taiwan: Lifer Mania Part I

The sun rose on our first morning in Taiwan.  It was going to be a hot and humid day, with a chance of thunderstorms later in the afternoon.  Having already added two new birds to my list, just by travelling from the airport to our hotel, I was anxious to get out and find some more birds.

The top of my list for birding sites in Taipei was the Taipei Botanical Garden (台北植物園), where my research told me Malayan night-heron was a slam dunk.  The Garden is located just a 5 minute walk from the Xiaonanmen subway station.  There is no entry fee, and the Garden is conveniently open from 4am to 10pm.  It’s as if they’re specifically targeting birders with that early morning opening.  Upon reaching street level at the Xiaonanmen station, I pointed out two Javan mynas to Melanie.  This species, like many of the mynas, was introduced to Taiwan and managed to sustain a population within in the country.

The entrance to the Taipei Botanical Garden.

We had no sooner walked through the gate then I found my target bird.  Just to the right, in a closed off portion of the garden, stood a Malayan night-heron!  If only all lifers were this easy.  The Malayan night-heron prefers dark, damp forests over marshes and wetlands.  All of the Malayan night-herons I would see during my time in Taiwan were foraging on the ground, away from water, picking through leaf litter or grass clippings.  These night-herons also seemed unusually acclimatized to humans, and you could walk up to them very close without flushing them.

Malayan Night-heron (Gorsachius melanolophus)

A little ways from the entrance was an intersection of trails.  I stopped here for a moment to take some notes, and in so doing spotted a Taiwan barbet, black bulbul, and several light-vented bulbuls flitting around in the trees.  It was a literal buffet of lifers: almost every hint of movement in the vegetation revealed another species I had never seen before.

This path seems like a good choice.

The intersection had three branches, each of which would meander through the Garden and eventually take me back to where I started.  In times like these, I find it’s always a safe bet to go up the middle.  This path took us towards the Bu-Zheng-Shi-Si Yamen (臺灣布政使司衙門), the Office of Provincial Administration Commission.  Originally built in 1887, when Taiwan was declared a Chinese province, the Yamen (“Imperial bureau”) housed the administrative functions of the regulatory authority Bu-Zheng-Shi-Si.  The Yamen was later dismantled and parts of the structure were rebuilt at different sites, including the Botanical Garden.

Bu-Zheng-Shi-Si Yamen

I really liked this flower by the entrance.

The long hallway entrance of the Bu-Zheng-Shi-Si Yamen.  Every inch of the structure was ornately decorated.

A small stream flowed through the Garden, and near the Yamen there was a small footbridge overlooking the water.  A tall bush grew close to the bridge, and it was dripping with birds.  The vast majority were Japanese white-eyes, but several light-vented bulbuls were also foraging there, as well as a single black bulbul which had completely molted its head feathers.  A short distance downstream I noticed an oriental magpie-robin sunning itself on a huge palm leaf.

Japanese White-eye (Zosterops japonicus simplex).  This was by far one of the most numerous bird at the Botanical Garden.

“Taiwan” Light-vented Bulbul (Pycnonotus sinensis formosae)

A male Oriental Magpie-robin (Copsychus saularis prosthopellus)

A “Taiwan” Black Bulbul (Hypsipetes leucocephalus nigerrimus), looking ridiculous without its head feathers.

Nearby was a large greenhouse, which housed the Garden’s more predatory plants.  Although the greenhouse was locked, through the windows we could see scores of pitcher plants, likely several different species, covering the whole of the interior.  Many visitors were lining up near one window, which had several large pitchers growing right against the glass.  The greenhouse also had several flower beds nearby, and a small pond with lilypads.  Eurasian tree sparrows and light-vented bulbuls were feeding around this area, and I also was able to photograph several dragonflies near the pond, including a crimson dropwing and a crimson-tailed marsh hawk.

The Greenhouse.  It was closed, but through the windows we could see that the interior was covered with pitcher plants.

A male Crimson Dropwing (Trithemis aurora)

A male Crimson-tailed Marsh Hawk (Orthetrum pruinosum)

We continued on through the Garden.  I was looking for one of the Garden’s star features, the Lotus Pond.  We eventually stumbled onto it – the pond was entirely covered in lotus plants.  Only a few blossoms were in bloom (it was mid-August after all), but the leafy parts of the plants dominated the pond, and the area looked more like an overgrown field than a tranquil pond.  A little egret and two Eurasian moorhens were making good use of the cover provided by the lotus plants.  A common kingfisher briefly buzzed by the area, quickly disappearing into some heavier vegetation around the edges.  On one side of the Lotus Pond there is a small pavilion with benches, so we decided to take a break there and have a quick snack.

The Lotus Pond at the Taipei Botanical Garden.

A nominate Eurasian Moorhen (Gallinula chloropus chloropus).  Click this photo to see a video of this bird preening.

Our reluctant hero never misses a photo op…well, almost never.

Sunlight filters through the trees behind a pagoda at the Lotus Pond.

As we approached, we noticed several photographers camped out in the corner of the pavilion, all of them looking at a large tree nearby.  I couldn’t see anything in the branches, so I went over to see what was so interesting.  It turned out to be a Taiwan barbet nest, and as I watched, an adult barbet emerged from the cavity, flew off, and was followed by a juvenile barbet that stuck its head out of the hole, intermittently calling to the adult for food.

A juvenile Taiwan Barbet (Megalaima nuchalis).  This species is endemic to Taiwan.

As we all took turns getting photos, I noticed three juvenile white-breasted waterhens foraging near the edge of the pond.  The waterhens resembled skinny chickens with long necks.  Watching these birds move and run around, it’s easy to see how birds evolved from dinosaurs.  Take away the wings and add some forelimbs, and you’ve got a small dinosaur instead of a rail.  A group of six grey treepies also put in an appearance, scattering the Eurasian tree sparrows that were foraging in the area.

One of three juvenile nominate White-breasted Waterhens (Amaurornis phoenicurus phoenicurus)

Grey Treepie (Dendrocitta formosae formosae)

Common Flangetail (Ictinogomphus decoratus melaenops)

Having spent the whole morning touring the Garden, it was time to check out some other sites nearby.  Whether you’re in Taipei for a few days, or you only have a few hours to spend, the Taipei Botanical Garden is a must-see location.  No birding trip to Taipei is complete without a stop here.

After a short break for lunch, it was on to the Xingtian Temple (行天宮) and Hua Jiang Wild Duck Nature Park.
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Day List: 13
Lifers of the Day (8): Javan Myna, Malayan Night-heron, Taiwan Barbet, Black Bulbul, Light-vented Bulbul, Oriental Magpie-robin, Grey Treepie, White-breasted Waterhen
Taiwan List (to date): 15
Life List: 512