Athyma selenophora laela [單帶蛺蝶]

Yesterday’s hike started much the same way the Caoling Historic Trail hike ended. I left Taipei by train for Yilan County’s Dali [大里]. I started by making my way from the Dali Tian-Gong Temple [大里天公廟] to the area on the Caoling Trail near the Tiger inscription where visitors have the option of turning south along the Taoyuan Valley [桃源谷].

Heliophorus ila matsumurae [紅邊黃小灰蝶], female

During the start of the trail I was greeted by the sounds of birds and insects both familiar and unusual. There were plenty of butterflies along the lower altitude areas of the trail where it wasn’t so windy [special thanks to flickr contact Frederic D. for help with identification].

Heliophorus ila matsumurae [紅邊黃小灰蝶], male

Species unknown

I saw a handful of birds along the beginning of the path, but this beautiful Muller’s Barbet was the only one I was fast enough to photograph:

Muller’s Barbet [Megalaima oorti 五色鳥]

The trail I took ended at Dasi Riverside Park. It was there where I saw a squirrel carrying what looked like a piece of bread in his mouth. Out of nowhere a Formosan Blue Magpie came swooping down to take the bread.

Formosan Blue Magpie [Urocissa caerulea 臺灣藍鵲]

A small scuffle ensued between the magpie and the squirrel. I was too busy fishing my camera out of my bag during the fight, but I did get a few pics of the triumphant magpie and the defeated squirrel before one flew away and the other walked away.

A very angry and confused squirrel:

More posts in this series:

• Taiwan Water Buffaloes
  
• Views and Dasi