2009/11/02

Beautiful day at Sheding Nature Park (2009-10-16)

After the exciting encounter with the Beauty Snake, we rode our motor scooters to the Sheding Nature Park close to the research center.

That morning, the park was BEAUTIFUL! The beautiful blue sky with a large grassy field, and a comfortable warming sky. Life did not get better than that!

Sheding Nature Park - Beauitful Morning
Sheding Nature Park

Since we arrived extra early without all the tourists yet, there were several egrets still wandering around freely on the field.

In southern Taiwan, one of the birds you must see is the Styan's Bulbul (a.k.a. Taiwan Bulbul) (Pycnonotus taivanus). P. taivanus is endemic to southern and eastern Taiwan, and even though it may looks similar to the Light-vented Bulbul that I posted oh-so many times before from northern Taiwan, the distinct feature of Styan's Bulbul is its black crown (rather than white in Light-vented Bulbul).

Styan's Bulbul/Taiwan Bulbul (Pycnonotus taivanus) - 烏頭翁
Styan's Bulbul/Taiwan Bulbul (Pycnonotus taivanus)

Even though Styan's Bulbul and Light-vented Bulbul share a common ancestor, Styan's Bulbul is proposed to arrived earlier in Taiwan Island than Light-vented Bulbul from mainland China. And where the two species overlap, hybridization may take place. Lately, due to the religious releases of caged birds (i.e. Light-vented Bulbul) not in their natural distributions, the purity of the genetics of Styan's Bulbul is affected and causing concern among conservationists.

Styan's Bulbul/Taiwan Bulbul (Pycnonotus taivanus) - 烏頭翁
Oh, what to do, you pretty bird?

Anyways, after researching in the park, we headed back to the research center to get some personal belongings and then went into town for lunch.

Gorgeous Southern Taiwan weather
Outside the center, we took several beautiful shots of Hengchun Township. It's almost just like last year on Lanyu (Orchid Island)! I love this kind of weather!!!

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