Royal Ontario Museum & Toronto Zoo

My friend and I visited the Royal Ontario Museum two days ago. It's a great place to visit as a tourist, plus the building from the outside looks absolutley ridiculous, but keep in mind that it is quite impossible to tour the entire museum in one day, so pick your exhibits wisely.

One of the Chinese art pieces that I really like - from the 7th century, Three Kingdoms Period.

Yesterday, I visited the Toronto Zoo by myself. Having spent some time in Taipei Zoo and working behind the scene and along side zookeepers and vets, as well as taking care of animals this summer, I began to view the zoo from a different perspective. I no longer looked at it as a place of just animals in display, but looking at the behaviors of the captive animals, the enclosure set-ups, and sometimes peeking behind the back to see the work areas of the zookeepers.

As always, here are some photos to share. I tried avoiding taking them in their enclosures (omitting or cropping out the wires or fences) and focusing on the animal's behaviors or reactions in their captive environment. Yesterday's weather was nice and cool, with some downpours here and there, so the animals were either sheltering from the rain or taking a nap when the sun came out.

Polar Bear

Good-bye, 2009. Hello, Year of the Tiger!

As I leave 2009 behind full of good (some bad, but mostly good) memories, I am also looking forward to 2010 - because I was born in the Year of the Tiger!

I like tigers. They are one of my favorite animals in the world, mostly because of my birth sign, but also because it is the 3rd animal of the cycle (my favorite number) and because it is yellow (my favorite color) and black.

I even had the chance to see and touch one in-person when I assisted in the health check-up of captive tigers when I was an intern in Taipei Zoo two summers ago. I don't think I will ever forget the moment.

Photo taken on 2008-08-25.

While tigers, the largest of all cats, is one of the most charismatic species in the world and one of the first animals that come to mind when we think about the jungle, we need to bare in mind that it is also one of the most threatened. There is only 1 species of tiger and 9 subspecies, and 3 out of the 9 subspecies have already gone extinct in the past century.

There are more fundamental information about tigers on the WWF website that I think people might be interested in. Afterward, donate, raise awareness, tell your children, do whatever, but please think about this animal as we move into the Year of the Tiger. Me personally would like to see these animal still living in the world many more Chinese Zodiac cycles down the road and perhaps even see them in the wild (like I always read about in the Walk the Wildness blog, an excellent blog to check out) - safe and surviving.

Happy New Year to all!

365 days ago (2008-12-31) ...
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Visited C.K.S. Shilin Residence Park

On the second day of this long weekend, I visited the Chiang Kei-Shek Shilin Residence Park in Taipei City. It is the official residence of the former president, Chiang Kei-Shek, and it has been transformed into a park/garden/historical attraction. I would definitely recommend this place to visitors coming to Taipei City as it is a free park and offers plenty of photographic opportunities - people, wildlife, nature, landscape, architecture, etc.

I took many photos today, so I will just briefly comment on each photo.

Entrance of the park.

Views inside the park - ranging from trails in the mountains to well-cared gardens to an outdoor concert center.

There are plenty of Muller's Barbet in this park too.

Evident by the crowd hanging outside a barbet's nest - from curious visitors to serious photographers.

An unidentified skipper. It is a butterfly belonging to the family Hesperiidae, that's all I know for now.

A juvenile Malayan Night Heron (Gorsachius melanolophus). The juvenile has black and white spots with streaked underparts. Compare it to the adult at the end of this post.

One of the biggest attractions is the beautiful and colorful roses, orchids, and other flowers.

Three unknown beetles enjoying the sweetness of the flower.

There is a small ecological pond that attracts many insects, including this Ceylon Blue Glassy Tiger (Ideopsis similis).

Beside the nest of the barbet surrounded by people, I stumbled across this site all by myself and watched by no one. So exciting. In the bottom right photo, a preying matis was caught by the adult barbet.

An unidentified dragonfly.

An adult Malayan Night Heron (Gorsachius melanolophus).

A Common Tiger (Danaus genutia) - closely resembles the Monarch butterfly (D. plexippus) of the Americas.

Thank you, caretakers of the park, for maintaining this beautiful park!
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Wildlife viewing at Da Xing

Yesterday, I spent most of my day yesterday walking and biking at a more rural part of the town where my aunt works as the local kindergarten teacher. This was also the school that I went to when I was young, so it certaily brought back some precious memories. Of course, the wildlife was a bit more interesting since the surrounding areas are farms of green peppers, rice fields, poultry farms, etc.

On one of the abandoned lands, I saw many Chinese Bulbuls carrying praying mantises and other insects in their beaks.

Also observed were these bright Anomala expansa, also known as the Taiwanese Green Bronze Beetle (translated).

Beside the wild animals. Some include the domesticated free-range domesticated Muscovy Duck (Cairina moschata). What a face!

Near the farms, there are also plant-rearing centers, which attracted some pretty lovely insects, including this Ceylon Blue Glassy Tiger (Ideopsis similis).

Afterwards, I borrowed a bike from one of my aunt's friends, and I saw three lifer birds!

The first thing that I noticed about this particular bird was its harsh clucking sounds and its very long tail. It is a Gray Treepie (Dendrocitta formosae formosae), an endemic subspecies! Sadly, it waswary of my position and intention, and fly away whenever I got a little bit closer. The below photos were the best ones that I got. One was when it was perched far far away on a telephone pole, and one was when it was sheltering underneath the dark canopy and me hiding from being seen by the bird.

Along the narrow roads, I also saw a warbling Plain Prinia (Prinia inornata) - top photo. Another is the Nutmeg Mannikin (Lonchura punctulata) - bottom photo.

Overall, it was a very nice day with excellent birding results.
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