Saturday July 13th, 2013

In the wee hours of the morning, Mother Nature was not at her finest ... or perhaps she was.

Typhoon Soulik (蘇力) roofed Taiwan with torrential rains and powerful winds whipping up to 190 kilometers per hour.

The apartment trembled and the windows thrashed; the high-pitched wind threatened to shatter one just to prove her strength. It was hard to get much sleep and the eerie calm that came come sunrise was somehow deafening.

The surrounding mountain community stared back gloomily with signs of distress and devastation. Soulik littered it with leaves, branches and uprooted trees.

My two favorite bird trees have turned into a pathetic-looking one

The second bird tree has been uprooted

What makes these two of my favorite trees is that they both can be viewed from three of the five windows I have on my corner apartment and they have resident birds.

I'm not sure what type of bird it is that frequents the trees but they are extremely territorial.

This video HERE shows that if any other bird dares to sit on a branch, it best beware and get out ... and please note in the video the size of the trees compared to the above image to put the storm's destruction into perspective.

Last year, these same birds would taunt my cats almost daily. I made a video HERE. Please mind the quality.

I saw the birds looking a little confused this morning. They tried relocating to a nearby tree but it's much lower with branches that aren't quite as sturdy.

I will miss their daily activity and can only hope that they will return once the trees have grown back.