Northern Walkingstick (Diapheromera femorata)

While opening the porch door this morning to get some fresh air, I noticed an insect on the screen door (aside from the usual jumping spiders).  It was some kind of a stick insect, so the first thing I did after getting out of bed was grabbing my camera and snapping some photos!  Stick insects are one of those groups of animals that most people (i.e., me) rarely seen because they are so well-camouflaged.  According to my blog tags, I only saw stick insects (in the wild) four times since I started this blog.  So today is lucky number 5!

After taking the photos and a quick Google search, I believe this is a Northern Walkingstick (Diapheromera femorata), the most common walkingsticks (Order Phasmida) in North America.  This species feeds on oaks, cherries, and black locust trees, which can be found in the little woodland behind my house.  Ms. Leckie posted about these insects before too (in greater detail).

This individual is 63 mm long (I just measured it because it is currently in my room) and missing one leg.

More photos - Awenda & Muskoka Wildlife Centre & others

Good evening everyone. I just spent the past two-and-half days camping in Algonquin Provincial Park and enjoying my long off-days. It was an amazing experience. Hopefully by next time I post, I will have sorted the photos to share, e.g. otters, moose, beautiful lakes, etc. But now, here are photos from the past two weeks and my last off-days.

A nice photo from Awenda Park

The final part of my southern Taiwan trip (2009-10-17)

Doing some internet surfing on Flickr when I came across this picture and chuckled at myself at the caption below "...in BC if you're waiting for the rain to stop before you go out, there's every chance you'd die of old age first." Very true.

I have been putting off writing the last few parts of my southern Taiwan trip, and I think I will continue today (from last month). One of the things that we were there to do was to find some Taiwan Barbet nest cavities, as well as to witness and gather some information about the famous raptor migration occurring during the beginning of autumn. It is a spectacular sighting to see tens of thousands raptors flying and gliding on currents of hot airs rising through the peninsula.

On October 17, we woke up quite early, had simple breakfast, and rode our scooters back to Sheding Nature Park where many bird-watchers and photographers gather to see and capture this phenomenon.

Shortly after leaving the dormitory, we saw a Grey-capped Pygmy Woodpecker (Dendrocopos canicapillus). It was definitely to find a lifer for me, as well as the idea of another cavity-nester sharing the same habitat as our Taiwan Barbet. I wonder if there are direct competitions between the two species in terms of cavity resources.

Later on, we also came across a group of Formosan Rock Macaques which are pretty common in the area.

On the way to the platform of the highest point in the park, we encountered a few more interesting animals/plants.

Plank Root Tree (Heritiera littoralis). From its root system, you can probably guess that this is a species that live near mangroves with fluctuating tides.

Taiwan Giant Cricket (Brachytrupes portentosus) - it was already dead but I uprighted it for a documentation.

A friendly dog belonging to the person in charge of the dormitories.

Candidiopotamon rathbunae with my shoe stopping it from moving for a second. C. rathbunae is a freshwater crab and has the widest distribution in Taiwan. Even though both pincers are about the same size, the left is slightly larger. They are the largest and most fierce freshwater crabs in Taiwan, and they can be found underneath rocks or leaves alongside streams, as well as in muddy holes.

Athyma cama zoroastres.

An unknown species from Family Pompilidae.

Once we arrived at the platform, there were probably tens of photographers and birders there. Even though I can see many birds flying in the sky, there were too unfamiliar for me to identify right away (and plus they were just too fast). I didn't capture any images of the must-see Grey-Faced Buzzard. Instead I got a couple of shots of bird-in-flight (one of the reasons why I would like to own a DSLR) and identified only after I sat down and opened my field guides. Needless to say, they are all lifers for me!

Besra (Accipiter virgatus)

Oriental Honey Buzzard (Pernis ptilorhynchus)

Oriental Honey Buzzard (Pernis ptilorhynchus) - a honey-feeding accipiter. I believe this is a male because it is lighter in color.

After lunch, we headed to the Manzhou Eagle-watching Expo, but it was too far away and by the time we got there, the expo already came to an end.

Near dark, we scootered back towards our dormitory (along the windy waterfront and the dangerous encounter of a bull out-of-nowhere in a dark road) to pack up our luggages and prepare heading to Taipei.

Along the dark roads, we came across a roadkilled Taiwan Green Snake (Cyclophiops major). RIP.

As well as finding a stickbug (Entoria koshungensis) right outside or dorm. So cool! The people that helped me id this believe it is a male.

After dinner, we took a taxi ride to Kaohsiung (about 2 hours). Spend another hour or so in Kaohsiung waiting for the shuttle bus to Taipei. We left Kaohsiung just past midnight, and when we woke up in Taipei, it was almost 6-am (of October 18th, Sunday)! We ate some early breakfast and said good-bye to each other and headed to our own homes - because we have a get-together later that night in a friend's home again.

So early...and so tiring!

That concludes my work-trip to Southern Taiwan which was both memorable and important (to me) at the same time. I miss it so much.

366 days ago (2009-01-29) ...
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Visiting Junjianyan Hill

I had a nice long sleep until late morning. After having breakfast and lunch at later times than usual, I decided to hike Junjianyan, a local hill with an elevation of 192-m that is a popular location among daily morning hikers and families during the weekend.

Sights along the hike. From here you can see most of the urban northern Taipei City.

Junjianyan means "Battleship Rock" in Chinese - because at the top of the hill, a large white rock resembles the front of a battleship.

Me standing at the highest point of the rock and enjoying the blue sunny day.

Afterwards, I hiked to the nearby Huang-Xi Shan (shan = mountain).

There are plenty of beautiful plants to photograph, including these colorful flowers.

The mountain is covered by mid-altitude shrubs, ferns, and trees and is very hot in the mid-day. Therefore, animals were very difficult to spot. Can you see the animals in the above pictures?

Other insects provided less problem in seeing them.

That's all for today. I am feeling quite sleepy after a nice cool beer after the shower, and need to arrive early for work tomorrow. Have a nice new week, everyone.
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Hiking up the Tianmu "Ancient" Trail

I don't like having such a long holiday because the natural places in Taipei City that I know of and can go to are quite limited. Nevertheless, I discovered another excellent place to visit just near where I live. It's a 2.8-km trail to the mountains in northern Taipei. At the end of the trail, there are other places to visit and trails to continue. Due to time limitation, I only hiked up the short trail, and with me being a shutter bug, a relatively short hike turned out to be more than five hours journey.

The entrance to the Tian-Mu Trail, and the tropical views along the trail. Plus, you can almost see the entire urban Taipei right below you.

One of the fascinating creatures that I encountered was this stick insect! So beautiful and well-camouflaged.

Thanks to some help, its scientific name is Phraortes illepidus.

There are plenty of crevices between the rocks and boulders that they provided excellent hiding places for this Indian Forest Skink.

Such a neat find of this Sphenomorphus indicus.

An unidentified insect that I am still working on. The only thing I know is that it belongs in the Family Pentatomidae. [Edit: I think this is a Dalader formosanus.]

Hiking up the stairs with humans was this puny Blister Beetle (Epicauta hirticornis). I picked it up with a leaf and put it where it won't get stepped on.

A japalura catching a nice fat meal of some sort of a larvae. Yum.

One of the animals that I hoped to encounter but didn't was the Formosan Macaque. Maybe next time.

Some of the prettiest sights along the trail were these beautiful Lepidopterans.

Clear Sailer (Neptis nata lutatia)

Neope muirheadi nagasawae

Nyctemera adversata

One of the side trails off the main trail leads to this 4-m tall waterfall named Chui-Fong Waterfall. Not too impressive but it makes a beautiful photographic moment, especially being surrounded by a serene tropical forest.

In the evening, a couple of friends (from the Botanical Garden) and I went out for dinner together. Afterwards, we headed to Danshui to enjoy the busy night market and the views across the river.

And before you know it, another day has passed.. Time sure goes fast when you are having fun.
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