Fushoushan Farm, May 2025
The trail near campsite at Fushoushan Farm, Heping District, Taichung City, 31st May 2025
福壽山農場露營區旁的步道, 台中市和平區, 2025年5月31日
Fushoushan Farm was a place I only visited after I started doing field recordings. Before that, I had only heard people say how beautiful the place was.
The farm sits at an elevation of about 2,100–2,600 meters, and the trails near the camping area are around 2,500 meters.
I stayed at the campsite the night before. Since it’s a popular tourist destination, I knew I wouldn’t have any chance to record during the daytime, so I set out around 4 a.m., while it was still dark. During this season, the frogs are very active. When I walked past the campsite and around Lanyin Pond, I had to keep my flashlight pointed at the ground to avoid accidentally stepping on frogs.
The soundscape around Lanyin Pond was lively with frog calls, but I wanted to record the dawn chorus, so I headed toward the trail. I reached an open area surrounded by pine forest. It was almost 5 a.m., so I quickly scouted for a suitable recording spot where I could hear the frogs from Lanyin Pond and hopefully catch some birdsong as well.
The wind was strong that morning, and the gusts through the pine forest created a noticeable low-frequency noise. I placed the microphone on a small tripod close to the ground to reduce the wind noise, but it didn’t seem to help much.
Mornings in the mountains are particularly cold. After about an hour and a half of recording, my clothes were soaked from the early morning dew.
As with many scenic spots in Taiwan, starting from a little after 5 a.m., the sounds of hardworking workers and tourists driving cars and scooters could be heard from time to time. I kept only the segments without human-made noise, though unfortunately, many of the most interesting parts had to be removed because of it.
Among the birds recorded, the one that left the deepest impression on me was the Yellow-bellied Bush Warbler. The last time I heard this species was at Cuifeng Lake in Taipingshan, also at mid-high elevation, but the number of warblers at the Fushoushan campsite was much higher. You could hear a whole group calling intermittently—first climbing in pitch, then dropping in a series of descending notes. Their calls are extremely distinctive.
📍 Location: 24.222181, 121.241366 Heping District, Taichung City, Taiwan
🌤 Weather: 13°C, Cloudy, 90% Humidity
🌿 Ambient Sound: Birds, Frogs, Rustling Pine Trees
🎤 Setup: Sennheiser MKH8020 (AB40), Sound Devices Mixpre-6II
福壽山農場, 2025年5月
福壽山農場也是因為田野錄音後才去的景點，在那之前我只聽去過的人都說那裡有多美。
農場的海拔高度約在2100-2600公尺，而露營區附近的步道約在2500多公尺。
前一晚住在露營區，由於是熱門景點，我很清楚白天並沒有錄音的機會，於是趁著凌晨4點天還沒亮的時候才動身。這個季節的蛙很活躍，走路經過露營區藍茵湖週邊時我的手電筒必須一直照著地面，才不會不小心踩到蛙。
藍茵湖的蛙鳴聲景很熱鬧，不過我想要錄一些晨曦的鳥鳴，所以便往觀山步道的方向走，來到一處周圍是松林的空曠處，這時候已經快要5點，趕緊在鳥兒們開始鳴叫前勘查了適合的錄音地點後，選擇一處可以聽到藍茵湖的蛙鳴並且可能可以聽到鳥鳴的位置。
這天的風比較大，風吹過松林產生很明顯的背景低頻噪音，我將麥克風以小腳架放在靠近地面的高度希望降低風噪聲但似乎沒有用。
山區的清晨特別冷，總錄音時間大約1個半小時錄完音後，衣服因為清晨的露水全都溼了。
和台灣多處景點一樣，清晨5點多就不時有辛勤的勞工及遊客駕駛汽機車的噪音，這段錄音截取了沒有人為噪音的部分，可惜的是我覺得最有趣的錄音片段都因為噪音而必須拿掉。
錄音裡的鳴鳥令我印象最深刻的是深山鶯(黃腹樹鶯)。我上次聽到深山鶯是同樣在中高海拔的太平山翠峰湖，但福壽山露營區這裡的數量比太平山更多，可以同時聽到一群他們此起彼落地持續拉高音階，然後連續的下降音，辨識度非常高。