Tainan Young Birder Blog

In the next few blog posts, I will be talking about some cool birds that I saw. This particular post I will be sharing about the Blue-winged Leafbird. This bird is very attractive, it has a green back, crown, a yellow belly and breast, a blue-tipped wing, and a black throat. This Leafbird is usually found in broadleaf forests. It is related to fairy-bluebirds, birds I also saw in Malaysia. The Blue-winged Leafbirds are omnivores, mainly consuming insects and arthropods, and the occasional fruit. Besides that it is presumed to consume nectar as well. Leafbirds are interesting because they are one of the few birds that evolved in South-east Asia, and later spread to the himalayas and other parts of Asia.     I saw this bird on the second day in Kubah, around noon. It was before the pavilion where we were going to head back. There was a lot of commotion, and all sorts of different birds started to show up, Fulvettas, Orioles, Drongos and of course, two Blue-winged Leafbirds. It was me t

In this blog post I am going to talk about relatively common birds that I saw in Sarawak, but that are rare in Taiwan. There will be seven birds that I will share: the Brahminy Kite, White-breasted Woodswallow, White-bellied Sea-Eagle, Western Hooded Pitta, Pied Triller, Scarlet Minivet, and the Collared Kingfisher. Brahminy Kite       Four of the seven birds were seen in and around Kuching, and quite effortlessly. I will arrange the birds in the order of which I saw them, the first being the White-breasted Woodswallow. This bird is very unique looking, with a grayish head and back, a large beak, and a white breast. Woodswallows are quite interesting because, despite their name, they are not swallows, but rather part of a group related to Corvids aka crows and ravens. They belong in the family Artamidae, and are related to butcherbirds and the Australian Magpie. Its behavior is similar to flycatchers. They are insectivores, sallying bugs from the sky. We saw this bird right outside our