After my rainy adventure to the prehistoric site, I made my way to the Zhishan Cultural and Ecological Garden [芝山文化生態綠園 (one funny thing about the website is that it has a tab for English but clicking it takes you to the Chinese page)]. Admission is only $50NT [$30NT for students]. Before I entered a bird enthusiast showed me through his telescope a magnificent Crested Goshawk [Accipiter trivirgatus] that was perched atop a tree 100 or so yards away.
The woman who works the ticket booth owns a very cute dog. This picture is my first picture on Flickr to ever to have one view, one comment, and one favorite shortly after I uploaded it.
This straw house was built in accordance with the pillar holes left from the area’s previous inhabitants.
Next I checked out the Zhishan Exhibition Hall, the entrance has a tank featuring a couple Paradise Fish [Macropodus opercularis]. Paradise Fish are fairly tolerable fish when it comes to temperature and water quality. However, their numbers in Taiwan have been decimated from pollution. They are important because in their native habitats they consume mosquito larvae, thus helping to thwart the spread of Dengue Fever, which is spread by mosquitoes [source]. The first floor also contains many artifacts unearthed from the nearby archaeological excavations, as well as timelines, and information regarding these populations [all in Chinese]. The second floor has a room for kids to pretend to be news broadcasters.
The Chinese/English map that was printed on my ticket stub listed a building called the “Fantastic Greenhouse” next to Exhibition Hall. I was quickly intrigued, what botanical treasures awaited me in this greenhouse? I approached only to find the building blocked off due to structural damage from the wind. There was broken glass everywhere inside.
The next attraction was the Bread Home which is a rehabilitation center for injured birds established by the Wild Bird Society of Taipei with a sizable donation from Hotai Motor Company. Inside there were a few Pigeons, a trio of Collared Scops-Owls, a Formosan Magpie, and a few others.
And yes, I did use two different romanizations for this post and the previous post. Each attraction used a different system, the ones on this site are what you will see at each location.
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