For the most part of my morning yesterday, I spent time watching out for wildlife in my grandmother's backyard. Not too much, but I came across a jumping spider and a buttefly belonging to the Lycaenidae. I think it may be a Jamides alecto dromicus, but I am not totally sure.
A very common bird in the backyward is the Eurasian Tree Sparrow (Passer montanus), seen in the top picture below. The sparrow, together with the Japanese White-eye (Zosterops japonicus) - middle picture, and the Chinese Bulbul (Pycnonotus sinensis) - bottom picture, are known as the "Big Three" in Taiwan due to their abundance all over the island.
My grandaunt keeps a pair of Common Mynas (Acridotheres tristis) as pets, which are quite popular in Taiwan because of the bird's intelligence and its ability to learn and micmic sounds.
In the afternoon, I biked around the village looking for more wildlife. Sadly, it was around time of schools finishing - causing traffic nightmares as I try to maneuver around cars and motorcycles. Nevertheless, in the empty elementary school, I saw a Red-collared Dove (Streptopelia tranquebarica) - left, and a White-vented Myna (Acridotheres grandis) - right.
I also saw a young Chinese Bulbul which I almost couldn't recognize due to its lack of the white patch on the head.
Overall, it was a great birding day since this was the first time that I paid attention to birds when coming back to Taiwan. All lifers for me!
Not common nor a wild animal, but this is my family pet, Xiao Hey (literally means Little Black in Chinese). Such a sneaky but wonderful dog!
A very common bird in the backyward is the Eurasian Tree Sparrow (Passer montanus), seen in the top picture below. The sparrow, together with the Japanese White-eye (Zosterops japonicus) - middle picture, and the Chinese Bulbul (Pycnonotus sinensis) - bottom picture, are known as the "Big Three" in Taiwan due to their abundance all over the island.My grandaunt keeps a pair of Common Mynas (Acridotheres tristis) as pets, which are quite popular in Taiwan because of the bird's intelligence and its ability to learn and micmic sounds.In the afternoon, I biked around the village looking for more wildlife. Sadly, it was around time of schools finishing - causing traffic nightmares as I try to maneuver around cars and motorcycles. Nevertheless, in the empty elementary school, I saw a Red-collared Dove (Streptopelia tranquebarica) - left, and a White-vented Myna (Acridotheres grandis) - right.I also saw a young Chinese Bulbul which I almost couldn't recognize due to its lack of the white patch on the head.Overall, it was a great birding day since this was the first time that I paid attention to birds when coming back to Taiwan. All lifers for me!Not common nor a wild animal, but this is my family pet, Xiao Hey (literally means Little Black in Chinese). Such a sneaky but wonderful dog!
2 comments:
Everything looks exotic!
The butterfly looks like some of our North American Hairstreaks.
Cool to see Eurasian Tree Sparrows in their native territory. Years ago, I worked on a paper about the birds that were introduced to St. Louis. http://bna.birds.cornell.edu/bna/species/560/articles/introduction
Thanks, barefootheart! That's a good reading paper.
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