I spent last week in Taipei and performed casual bird observing whilst
there. I travelled with a photographic guide to birds in China: totally
inadequate.
The birding was sparse, dominated by Eurasian tree sparrows, Spangled
drongos and Light-vented bulbuls. Many egrets and herons around the rivers.
The most interesting observation for me was the Black-crowned night-heron in
breeding plumage - most beautiful.
However, I also saw some unidentified birds. the one for which I would
appreciate some help was a finch-type bird which was basically blue-grey
with a yellow-orange bill but with a distinct oval-shaped white patch on the
side of its neck outlined in black. I got only one quick glimpse of this
lovely bird as it moved from grass to a low bush and then off.
The closest bird I have found in the various books I have, from the broad
features I described, is a Java sparrow (Padda oryzivora). But I don't know
about this bird's geographic distribution, and anyhow, the features were not
quite right.
Any ideas from those of you familiar with Asian species?
=========================================
David Rosalky
Canberra, Australia 61-2-62731927
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