
WHAT YOU COULD SEE
AROUND
WANG LONG LAKE
DAY TIME

Taiwan Yellow Water Lily
台灣萍蓬草
“The wind is mild; the wind is light. Alone and bored by the water side.
The water lotus is everywhere. Waiting for the dews to drop.” (lyrics)
This is an old Taiwanese song, and the water lotus in the lyrics is actually Taiwan Yellow Water Lily. In early days in rural areas of Taiwan, we can find it by the fish pools or water ponds, it’s an aquatic plant of native species only can be found in Taiwan.

Formosan Sweet Gum Tree
楓香樹
Formosan Sweet Gum Tree is a deciduous tree, it belongs to the Hamamelidaceae family. It has alternate leaves, and the fruits are capsules of ball shape with thorns. It’s different from the maple tree, who has opposite leaves and winged fruits. Taiwan is located in the subtropical zone, so the temperature in the flat land is still high in autumn when the leaves start to fall, therefore the maple leaves are not easy to turn red. When the first cold current strikes, the sudden drop of the temperature leaving no time for the chlorophyll to turn into lutein and erythrophyll, but the tree secrets the separation acid immediately, causing the falling of the leaves. This is the reason why we don’t see the scene of maple red leaves falling easily in the flat land of Taiwan.

The woodland elaeocarpus
杜英
The woodland elaeocarpus is an evergreen tree, it can grow up to 20 meters high. It is a big tree with straight trunk, having a very green tree crown like a big umbrella, dotted with some red leaves. It has single leaves clustered in the end of branches, the leaves have pinnate veins and are of lanceolate, oblong-lanceolate and oblanceolate shapes. The leaf is 7–12 cm long and 2–3.5 cm wide, sharp at both ends, with blunt serrated margin, smooth and glabrous with small stalk. Its flowering period is from May to August. Its fruit has an oval shape and is 2 to 2.5 cm long, the skin of which is hard and firm with many reticular grooves on the surface. During the fruiting period, which is from August to December, the fruits will turn from green to yellowish black. In autumn the leaves will turn red, which makes the woodland elaeocarpus a tree of ornamental value. In recent years, it has become the main tree species for afforestation in Taiwan, in order to increase the recreational value of the forests in the future.

Subcostate Crape Myrtle
九芎
Subcostate Crape Myrtle is a deciduous tree, we can easily recognize it from its trunk, which is brown with white patches and has a silky smooth touch, as if the trunk has been waxed. Even monkeys are not capable of climbing this tree, so it’s also called “monkeys slide tree” or “monkeys don’t climb”. Subcostate Crape Myrtle is very drought tolerant, and if we transplant its cutting, it will live very easily, which makes it an excellent plant for soil and water conservation. Its wood is hard and firm, and it will not deform after drying, so it’s an ideal material for making farming tools. Subcostate Crape Myrtle and Common Crepe Myrtle (Lagerstroemia indica) look quite alike, but the latter has no leafstalk, and usually has purple-red flowers and slightly larger fruits, so we can tell them apart by these point.

Red Fruit Fig Tree
雀榕
Red Fruit Fig Tree is called bird’s banyan in Chinese because birds just love its fruits. When the fruits are ripe, many birds will become excited because they are very delicious food to the birds. The Red Fruit Fig Tree is a plant of the mulberry/fig family, so usually we don’t see its flowers, since the flowers are mainly hidden in the fruits.

Ring-cupped oak
青剛櫟
Ring-cupped oak is an evergreen tree of medium size, with umbrella-shape tree crowns. It can grow up to 15~20 meters high, the tree has gray-brown bark and its twigs are covered with yellow fine furs. The biggest feature is in its leaves, the upper half of the leaf has serrated margin and the lower half is smooth. Its acorn cup is like a bowl and has series of concentric rings on the outside, covered with fine furs. The fruits are oval shape nuts.

Buttonbush
風箱樹
The Buttonbush is a deciduous shrub growing by the water, in early days it was an important plant for the protection of the banks. Our ancestors planted them on the riverbanks or stream sides to stabilize the embankment so it won’t collapse. The plant can also be food for the insects and provide honey for the bees. It also gives shelters to the fish and the amphibians in the water. In recent years, the streams and the ditches in the fields are severely sabotaged by the concrete, the amount of the plant has been sharply reduced. Now we can only find large amount of Buttonbush in the wetlands of Luodong, Yilan. Those we see in Wanglong Lake are the results of the restoration during recent years.

White ginger lily
野薑花
The white ginger lily is a perennial herb. Its flowering period is from May to November, during that time we can find its fragrant white flowers by the water or in mountain streams, looking like a flock of white butterflies dancing above the white ginger plants, that’s why it has another name as butterfly flower or butterfly ginger. While the white ginger lily is so good at flowering, it is one of the few flower species in the nature that is not good at seeding, so it breeds itself mainly by its underground stalks.

Small-leaved Barringtonia
穗花棋盤腳
Small-leaved Barringtonia is a sea drifting plant, which is an evergreen tree, with single alternate leaves, of long ovate or inverted lanceolate shape, and pointed front tip, the leaves can grow up to 40cm long and 15cm wide. The young leaves are of a semi-transparent burgundy color. The flowers are produced on hanging racemes up to 100 cm long, and bloom from the top to the bottom. The pinkish white flowers bloom at night and fall off in the morning, giving out a strong fragrance to attract insects to pollinate them. The stamens are numerous and significant. The drupes are spindle-shaped, 4-7 cm long, and slightly quadrangular. The excarp of the drupe is smooth, the mesocarp is rich in fiber, and the endocarp is firm and lignified. The light weight of the drupe enables it to float on the water, and the drupe can resist the salty water of the sea without cracking, so the seed is well protected during its floating. The inflorescences of this plant are in strings which gradually drew long, with round buds on them, they look like a bead curtain during the day. Those strings of bead hanging down closely and swaying with the wind makes people eagerly waiting for the nightfall, to see the flowers bloom. Then the flowers reveal numerous fine stamens, like splendid fireworks in the night sky, with unmatched beauty.

Deciduous (Bald) Cypress
落羽松
The deciduous cypress has small feather-shape leaves, in the winter the leaves will turn yellow-brown and fall off one by one, that’s why we call it “falling feathers cypress” in Chinese. They are world-famous species for waterfront landscaping. The deciduous cypress can effectively degrade herbicides, so we can plant them to repair the soil. We can also plant them in the freshwater basins for the afforestation purpose. The tallest known specimen of the deciduous cypress is 44.1meters tall, located in Williamsburg, Virginia, and the stoutest known has a diameter at breast height of 521 cm, located in Barton Rouge, Louisiana. And the oldest known living specimen is in North Carolina, in the east pat of North America, the tree is over 1,620 years old.

Gallinula chloropus (Common Moorhen)
紅冠水雞
Hello everyone, I am the common moorhen of the Rallidae family. I have shinny-black feathers and yellow pointed red beak, and a bright red frontal shield on my forehead. I like to eat aquatic plants and insects, mollusks and the sprouts of some plants. I live in the bushes of plants by the water or in wetland environments, such as ponds, lakes, marshes and rivers. I am a very common resident bird in Taiwan.

Gray Heron
蒼鷺
I come to Taiwan from the north to avoid cold winter, so I am one of the "winter migratory birds." My size is also one of the biggest of the heron family. My front neck has several black vertical lines and my back has decorated feathers. When I fly, I will give out a high-pitched sound like "Kwah-kwah". I am a bird who love to be alone, so I always find food by myself in the swamps.

Common kingfisher
普通翠鳥
I am the most common kind of kingfisher. I live in the coastal area and along the waterways. I eat small fishes as food, so I am also called as a "fish dog". I am about 15 cm long, a kind of small-sized birds. My biggest feature is that there is a light blue-green line on my back. You can also recognize me by my white spotted scarf and my orange-brown bib, they are my signature outfit!

Pycnonotus sinensis (Light-vented Bulbul)
白頭翁
The sparrows and the Japanese white-eyes (Zosterops japonicus) and I are collectively called "the city's three treasures". We often appear in packs in the bushes of the plains and hilly woods, but you can find me as well in the campuses, parks, or in the back yards of buildings. My biggest feature is the olive green color on my back, and the white color of my back head, which is called the occipital feathers, and they will become whiter and whiter as I grow up.
NIGHT TIME

Günther's frog
貢德氏赤蛙

Odorrana swinhoana
斯文豪氏赤蛙

Rana latouchii
拉督希氏赤蛙

Duttaphrynus melanostictus
黑眶蟾蜍

Rana adenopleura
腹斑蛙

WHAT YOU COULD MEET IN THE
OCHARD

Macaca cyclopis (Formosan rock macaque)
台灣獼猴

Nephila pilipes (Giant golden orb weaver)
人面蜘蛛

Heteropoda venatoria (Giant crab spider)
白額高腳蛛

Argyrodes miniaceus
赤腹寄居姬蛛

Hyla chinensis (Chinese tree frog)
中國樹蟾

Kurixalus idiootocus
面天樹蛙

Centipedes
蜈蚣

Millipede
馬陸

Anoplophora chinensis (Citrus long-horned beetle)
星天牛

Pyrocoelia praetexta
山窗螢

Erthesina fullo
黃斑椿象

Mecopoda elongata
台灣騷蟖

Hierodula patellifera
寬腹螳螂

Achatina fulica (Giant African snail)
非洲大蝸牛

Nesiohelix swinhoei (Swinhoei giant snail)
斯文豪氏大蝸牛

Japalura polygonata xanthostoma (Yellow-mouthed tree lizard)
黃口攀木蜥蜴

WHAT YOU COULD MEET
IN THE TRAIL

Microhyla ornata
小雨蛙

Polypedates braueri
布氏樹蛙

Kurixalus idiootocus
面天樹蛙

Rhacophorus prasinatus
翡翠樹蛙

Duttaphrynus melanostictus
黑眶蟾蜍

Cuora flavomarginata
食蛇龜

Trimeresurus stejnegeri
赤尾青竹絲

Cyclophiops major
青蛇

Ptyas mucosus
南蛇

Pareas atayal
泰雅鈍頭蛇

Protobothrops mucrosquamatus
龜殼花

Zaocys dhumnades
過山刀

Macaca cyclopis
台灣獼猴

Muntiacus reevesi
山羌

Achatina fulica
非洲大蝸牛

Nesiohelix swinhoei
斯文豪氏大蝸牛

Spilornis cheela
大冠鷲

Pomatorhinus musicus
小彎嘴畫眉

Cuculus saturatus
中杜鵑

Megalaima nuchalis
五色鳥

Urocissa caerulea
臺灣藍鵲

Oriolus traillii
朱鸝

Pericrocotus solaris
灰喉山椒鳥

Phoenicurus auroreus
黃尾鴝

Hypothymis azurea
黑枕藍鶲

Accipiter trivirgatus
鳳頭蒼鷹

Heteropoda venatoria
白額高腳蛛

Nephila pilipes
人面蜘蛛

Thomisidae
三角蟹蛛
