Golden Orb Web Spider or Giant Wood Spider
I have so many of these in the forest around my home that I never thought to post some close up pictures of them. I took these pictures this morning.
They are bigger than my fully outstretched hand and their webs are strong enough to catch small birds, although they don’t eat them.
Taiwan King Fisher
These are all over the farmlands up here in San-Zhi. One day one of these happless fellows crashed into my living room’s big picture window and knocked himself unconscious. Since I was sitting in the living room watching NFL Football I was able to rescue him from the clutches of my dog minions. I put him in an old bird cage in my living room until he shook the cobwebs out of his head and was able to fly. I put him outside on my back deck and he flew away. These are so beautiful and the blue color really stands out in the sunlight.
Common Kingfisher (Alcedo atthis) informational page
Photo credit to Birding In Taiwan website.
Taiwan Crested Serpent Eagle
So, I was on my daily morning jog through the farmlands enjoying the sunshine and cool (not humid) weather when I saw a Crested Serpent Eagle slowly circling back and forth in the thermals. Suddenly, it dove straight down into an empty field and landed with a noisy thud as dust and dirt flew up in a spectacular cloud! A few seconds later and he was back in the air flying back up with a very unlucky mouse grasped tightly in its talons! As luck would have it, he decided to land in a tree nearby and have his morning breakfast while I took pictures and videos. I apologize for the poor quality of the images and video, but I don’t usually jog with any camera better than my little Sony Cybershot DSC-HX5. Enjoy everyone!
Video clip #1 - Just getting started
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmEO2GdYG7s
Video clip #2 - The middle of the meal
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IWy_OjcvTcM
Video clip #3 - Choking down the rest!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L__646I7vDI
Video clip #4 - Cleaning up after finishing his Mouse McMuffin
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZaQYFazTbg
Video clip #5 - Final clean up - modeling turn - preparing to fly off
Seen quite a few in Carnage on a wednesday night or two- feral indeed.
While driving last weekend, I saw a raccoon-like animal run across the road at night. It may have been a masked palm civet (Peguma larvata).
Doesn’t count if you don’t have pictures. 
Great pix Sir Surf!
I was just sitting here working away at my desk when a shrew ambled out and bit me on my toe. That was pretty wild. Cheeky bastard.
Does that count?
(And how do I get rid of them from my house without resorting to genocide? They’re so blind and bumbling even my cat doesn’t want to lift a paw against them. )
You can’t get rid of them! They’re known locally as money mice and if you have them in your home it’s a sign of great propitiousness!
Money mice? You made that up? 
Okay, last month I ran into a spider web and found one of those golden beasts on my shoulder. What does that signify?
Mr Mucha, He didn’t make it up. They are indeed, money mice… Qian su.
I think I inadvertently started this plague by bringing one home from a restaurant where the proprietor, of course, could not evict it without bankrupting her business. I put it OUTSIDE, but it seems to have decided inside is more pleasant, then called all it’s relatives too. Pretty much like the Onceler. They’re not going to leave till the last truffula is felled and the last swamee swan flown.
I don’t know how eating me out of house and home is going to make me rich. 
And they’re so blind, they have to TASTE something before they figure out if it’s edible or not. Even my toes are not safe from this wildness all around me.
Woe.
Nice stuff, NCS! Kudos on the kingfisher - although they’re indeed in every stream and pond over here (a fact European birders hate us for), they must be the most paranoid birds in the world. Getting this close with a P&S is an amazing feat!
Here’s one I took from 15 meters with a 500mm lens…Damn that twig!
2.bp.blogspot.com/_iyYyAENKd_o/S … resize.jpg
[quote=“TwoTon”]Nice stuff, NCS! Kudos on the kingfisher - although they’re indeed in every stream and pond over here (a fact European birders hate us for), they must be the most paranoid birds in the world. Getting this close with a P&S is an amazing feat![/quote]Actually, this is not a picture I took myself. It’s just an example of what I see on my daily jogs. Common Kingfisher (Alcedo atthis) informational page Photo credit to Birding In Taiwan website. You are right about how paranoid they are, however. If I sit very still on a rock wall at a stream near my house, they will fly back and forth and land relatively close to me, but the moment I made a slight move to raise my camera, they’re off like a shot. Regarding the one that flew into my picture window and knocked himself out, I really regret not taking his picture at that time. When I finally took him out of the old bird cage and set him on the railing of my deck, I really had a great photo opportunity because he just sat there for 5 or 6 minutes glistening in the afternoon sunlight. He was only 2 feet away from me at that time. I just sat there watching him until he decided to fly away. It was about 2 seconds after he flew away that I kicked myself for not photgraphing him! Duh!! :loco: [quote=“TwoTon”]Here’s one I took from 15 meters with a 500mm lens…Damn that twig![/quote]Wow! What an awesome pic, I don’t even care about the twig. It just adds spontaneity and realism to your picture. And what a picture that is! I can only imagine what kind of “portraits” you could have gotten for the Crested Serpent Eagle if you had been there instead of me! National Geographic quality my friend. Oooh. I forgot to mention your cobra pics and your pangolin pics…absolutely top shelf,top shelf! :bravo:
Thank you very much for the compliments! Alas, the kingfisher was a total fluke… I camped out by a small pond with a breeding pair and waited an hour or so until one came close enough.
I’ve never had that kind of luck with the eagles - mostly because I’m too lazy to lug around my 500mm howitzer on my hikes and have to make do with a 300mm. I see them all the time sitting in dead trees and on power line poles, but they never let me get close enough for a proper picture.
I did, however, once manage to shoot this one, which I kinda like 
Give me a cobra any old day…they’re easier to photograph than cows!
By the way, you mentioned somewhere that you guys feed fruit to the civet cats in your backyard. I’d love to see that…can I come over for a photo session? Don’t tell the locals, by the way - while civet cats are protected, local poachers sell them for around NT$8000 a pop to specialty restaurants. I meet these poachers in the woods all the time…they shoot the civets off the trees with slingshots.
[quote=“TwoTon”]By the way, you mentioned somewhere that you guys feed fruit to the civet cats in your backyard. I’d love to see that…can I come over for a photo session?[/quote]Sorry for the late reply, I just finally saw this post. You could come over, but I have no guarantee that you’ll see one. You see, it’s really hit and miss. We throw our old fruit out into the forest in the same place. Sometimes they come and sometimes they are so quiet we never know about it. They are very quiet, slow moving, and also I believe solitary as I’ve never seen more than one at a time in the forest. I’ve never seen them together in a group like racoons. When I see them, it’s usually between 2am~4am and the my dogs have alerted me to its presence. Once I shine the light on them, they amble off into the trees. They really don’t like human contact. I have only seen one since last September. It was about three weeks ago.
[quote=“TwoTon”]Don’t tell the locals, by the way - while civet cats are protected, local poachers sell them for around NT$8000 a pop to specialty restaurants. I meet these poachers in the woods all the time…they shoot the civets off the trees with slingshots.[/quote]No, there’s no way that I would alert the locals to their presence. I was coming home late one night and I was still on Tan-Jing Road just past San-Zhi and I came upon a car stopped in the right lane and two occupants of the vehicle were standing out in front of their car with one holding his jacket like a bullfighter’s cape. In front of him was a very confused civet cat who just wanted to cross the road. I asked the guys what the hell they thought they were doing and they replied that they were waiting for a relative to come with a cage so they could take it home and sell it to a restaurant. I went back to my car and got my camera and started popping photographs of their car, their license plate, and of them badgering the civet cat. I informed them that the civet cat is a protected species and that I would be turning their pictures over to the police and to the media like Apple Daily. I also told them that I was now returning to my car to put the camera away and that I would come back and beat the shit out of both of them if they didn’t get into their car and leave immediately! Guess what? They left. Fuckers!
Let’s get this thread revived for 2011!
Today at the beach I ran across this lizard enjoying the sunshine on the walking path. I’m not sure what species he is, but I’m guessing he’s some type of skink. Anybody know exactly what this bad boy is? If you think he looks big, it’s because he is! From head to tail he was about 25 cm long and boy could he run fast. I finally got these pictures after I tired him out chasing him all over the beach park!
HOOah! A Chinese Skink (Plestiodon c. chinensis)! Pretty rare critter. Which walking path? The one by the little harbor, at the end of the road that leads past the west end of Baishawan?
This year I’ve seen eleven snakes and two civets (great civet story, btw!), the latter on the same night and the same road, three hundred yards apart.
I wish the cobras would come out already…
They’re rare? I usually see at least tow or three of them things every day when I’m walking the dog.
Take a picture next time. I’d bet they’re Indian Forest Skinks
[quote=“TwoTon”]HOOah! A Chinese Skink (Plestiodon c. chinensis)! Pretty rare critter. Which walking path? The one by the little harbor, at the end of the road that leads past the west end of Baishawan?[/quote]No, the far eastern end on the walking path at the parking lot adjacent to the Coast Guard Station. In fact, he was in the parking lot and I almost stepped on him as I got out of my van to check out the surf at the point break!
[quote=“TwoTon”]This year I’ve seen eleven snakes and two civets (great civet story, btw!), the latter on the same night and the same road, three hundred yards apart.[/quote]Do I really need to beg for pictures and a story? Come on now… 
[quote=“TwoTon”]I wish the cobras would come out already…[/quote]Yeah…me too…but mother nature is going to have to cooperate and kick old man winter to the curb and get a good burn going before that’s going to happen.
How about the blue tailed skink? I see these guys all the time. My biggest challenge is to try to keep them in the forest and out of my yard so they don’t become a victim of my dog minions!
