More than 20 members of a native subspecies of ring-necked pheasant, commonly known as the “wailing chicken,” have been spotted by birdwatcher Huang San-ming within the Jinsha Borough of Tainan’s Sigang District. There have also been separate sightings of Formosan ring-necked pheasants perching in Beipu Borough in Jiangjun District and in Fandian Borough in the city’s Yanshuei District.
The Formosan ring-necked pheasant, Taiwan blue pheasant and mikado pheasant are the three main types of protected pheasant in Taiwan. The “wailing chicken,” or Formosan ring-necked pheasant, mostly perches in flat open fields and used to be a common sight in Taiwan. However, a combination of excessive hunting and overdevelopment has meant that these days it is rare to catch a glimpse of the bird. Huang says that Formosan ring-necked pheasants will immediately take off if they catch sight of a human or hear the wind rustling through the grass, which makes watching them extremely difficult.
(LIBERTY TIMES, TRANSLATED BY EDWARD JONES)
Photo courtesy of Huang San-ming
照片:黃三明提供
台灣特有亞種環頸雉(俗稱啼雞)在台南市西港區金砂里被鳥友黃三明發現有廿多隻出現。此外,將軍區北埔里、鹽水區飯店里也有台灣環頸雉棲息。
台灣環頸雉、藍腹鷳,和帝雉是台灣三大保育類雉雞。其中俗稱啼雞的環頸雉主要棲息在平地田野,早年常見,因濫捕加上過度開發,現在很少看到牠們蹤跡。黃三明說,因為啼雞一見人或風吹草動就跑,要看到牠們的身影不容易。
(自由時報楊金城)
The strongest earthquake to hit Taiwan in 25 years killed at least 16 people and damaged dozens of buildings, but the destruction was largely contained thanks to decades of preparedness work. Taiwan sits on the “Ring of Fire,” an arc of intense seismic activity along the Pacific Rim, and — much like neighboring Japan — has a long history of catastrophic quakes. How does April 3 compare with other recent quakes? The April 3 earthquake, which measured 7.4 on the moment magnitude scale, was felt across Taiwan. It was the most severe since a 7.6 magnitude quake in 1999 killed
A: Artificial intelligence technology has been causing controversy lately: a student was caught cheating with AI to win the grand prize in an art contest. B: That’s so absurd. Does this mean that AI paints better than humans? A: Maybe. Luckily, the student was later disqualified. B: And more absurdly, it’s becoming more and more popular to use AI technology to “resurrect” people. A: Yeah, some netizens even posted videos featuring the late singer CoCo Lee, who was “resurrected” by them with AI software. A: 人工智慧的爭議不斷,有學生違規使用AI參加美術展,甚至贏得首獎。 B: 真誇張,這是不是代表AI比人類還強大? A: 或許吧,幸好得獎資格被取消。 B: 還有更誇張的︰讓死者重現的「AI復活」技術越來越熱門。 A: 對啊,還有網友製作已故歌后李玟「復活」的影片呢! (By Eddy Chang, Taipei Times/台北時報張聖恩)
Around the time of the Dragon Boat Festival in June, the streets of Taiwan are filled with the delightful aroma of zongzi, a traditional snack made of sticky rice wrapped in leaves. The leaves are folded into a cone and then filled with sticky rice and other ingredients such as braised pork belly, peanuts and salted duck egg yolks. The filled leaves are then tightly tied with kitchen twine and ready for cooking. 每到六月端午時節,街頭巷尾就會飄出粽子的香氣。粽子是將糯米包進粽葉的傳統美食,先將粽葉折成圓錐狀塞入糯米,以及紅燒肉、花生、鹹鴨蛋黃等配料,用棉線綁緊後即可烹煮。 Dragon Boat Festival (n. phr.) 端午節 aroma
It’s another school day with the same ritual. You wake up to your smartphone’s alarm, scroll through messages during your commute, and listen to your favorite playlist with your wireless earbuds between classes. These devices, integrated smoothly into your daily routine, certainly make life more convenient. However, where do these devices end up after you replace them? In fact, the issue of electronic waste is a growing global concern. According to the United Nations, in 2019 alone, we generated an astonishing 53.6 million tons of e-waste—an average of 7.3kg per person. Projections hint at the figure soaring to 110