The collared Scops owl will call back to humans, and one can also look for crested serpent eagles to "roll in the air and grasp each other's feet, which is their way of expressing affection," or see same species "leading their offspring, teaching them flight skills."
Among species to look for are the plain flowerpecker, rough-legged buzzard, white-rumped munia, white-eared sibia and yellow-bellied prinia (who can make "monotonous sounds like the baa-ing of sheep"); the black-naped blue monarch, the spruce siskin, the "dinosaur-like" Swinhoe's japalura, and others.
The writers can be effusive, describing the 108-year-old botanical garden as "like an ark from the last century, stranded in Taipei City." These living specimens from other continents are now the most precious natural assets of Taipei, and have contributed greatly to education and recreation. The Malaysian night heron, which boarded this botanical ark by accident, further adds to the legendary past of Taipei Botanical Garden." It is a fine garden -- and free of admission charges, unlike the famous gardens worldwide that its exhibits depict.
Nonetheless it's clear that this book is not a scientific exercise but one of pleasant propaganda: "It's very rewarding to pay more attention to the plants and creatures in urban forest parks. This is one of the reasons why the Taipei City Government has put so much effort into bringing Daan Forest Park to our residents." A reference is made to the site's past as a squalid military village, but a photo from that era might have made the transformation more impressive. In general the book slights such social issues -- particularly the implicit truth that the greatest threat to these birds is the city itself.
RSS