Stripe-tailed Rat Snake in Hengchun Research Center!

Richmond is still being a wet, gray, gloomy, and not-outdoor friendly place. So I continued to shift my attention to the sunny Pingtung County of southern Taiwan.

After a very educational and fruitful day at NMMBA, we returned to our reserved dorm in Hengchun Research Center, which is another place belonging to the governmental organization - Taiwan Forest Research Institute (TFRI).

The following Friday morning (10/16), we were ready to leave the research center and began our tasks. But before we even left the place, we saw a beautiful snake crossing the trail. It was a Stripe-tailed Rat Snake (Elaphe taeniura)!

It was aware of our presence when we approached, and acted very scary!

E. taeniura (Colubridae) is not a poisonous snake, although it can grow up to 250-cm. This one was at least 150-cm and very beautiful. It has a olive-yellowish color with black diamond patterns on the first half of the snake, and then a stripe running down the rest of its body.

The patterns.

Another common name for E. taeniura is Beauty Snake. It used to be commonly found in Taiwan, but because of its beautiful patterns and suitable length and width, it was captured to make belts during the times when Taiwan was under Japanese rule. It is also common pet to be kept. Currently, E. taeniura is a protected species in Taiwan.

Another distinct feature of this species is the black brow. What a beauty and an excellent start to the day!

Oh yeah! Happy Halloween to all!!

365 days ago (2008-10-30) ...

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Visiting Zhishan

On the last day of this long holiday break, I decided to go check out a Zhishan Cultural and Ecological Garden mentioned in the traveling guides. However, the place was harder to find than I expected. But I still managed to find this pretty interesting geological landmark in the Zhishan Park, and it offers a pretty nice view of the city at its highest point of 52.8-m above sea level.

On the other side of the mountain is this nice-looking temple.

Along the way, there was this large Cinnamomum camphora tree more than three hundred years old! It is the oldest tree in Taipei City - the reasons why it has not chopped down during all of this time were: the entire mountain was a military base during the takeover by the Japanese government of the island, and the fong shui is excellent on this mountain so that nothing was disturbed.

Afterwards, I finally found the way to the garden that I was looking for. I came across another large tree along the way.

Near the entrance of the garden, several of these crawling bright red Leptocoris abdominalis were found all over their dead friends.

Finally, I had arrived.

Now, to tell you the truth, I don't think I would visit this place again as it was poorly run and very small. The entrance fee is less than $1 CDN, so it's not a big concern. The only thing I can justify for visiting this garden is its Wild Bird Rehabilitation Center which houses several injuried and sick birds.

I finally got a decent photo of an Intermediate Egret here in Taiwan!

When you first enter, you will cross over a small pond on a bridge. The first thing I saw was this King Ratsnake (Elaphe carinata) over 1-m long. It was very cool. It was looking for food and swam across the pond.

The Wild Bird Rehabilitation Center. In it includes several Magpies, Egrests, Herons, Owls, Doves, Pigeons, etc.

An injuried Black-crowned Night Heron.

An injuried but graceful-looking Cattle Egret (Bubulcus ibis).

Outside the cages was this wandering Spotted Dove (Streptopelia chinensis).

Touring the entire garden took less than 30 minutes as there was not a whole lot to see and learn. So sad. I hope this place will improve in the future.

Finally, back to work tomorrow!
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