<html><head></head><body><div class="yahoo-style-wrap" style="font-family:bookman old style, new york, times, serif;font-size:16px;"><div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false"><div><p class="ydp2da1d84MsoNormal"> <span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style", serif; font-size: 18pt;">Dear Tweeters,</span></p><p class="ydp2da1d84MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;line-height:normal;background:white"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Bookman Old Style",serif;mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";color:black"></span></p>
<p class="ydp2da1d84MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;line-height:normal;background:white"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Bookman Old Style",serif;mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";color:black"> </span></p>
<p class="ydp2da1d84MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;line-height:normal;background:white"><span style="font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Bookman Old Style",serif;mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";color:black">A few months ago, I put out an RFI about birding
in Taiwan. Having returned, I offer here a few tidbits.</span><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Bookman Old Style",serif;mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";color:black"></span></p>
<p class="ydp2da1d84MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;line-height:normal;background:white"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Bookman Old Style",serif;mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";color:black"> </span><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style", serif; font-size: 18pt;">I found no guide. One suggested by several
Tweeters proved to be utterly remiss in correspondence. After sending me a
proposal, he stopped answering messages. Repeated, polite, earnest requests for
response went unanswered. I decided to go ahead and bird Taiwan on my own. The
guide ended up e-mailing me after over a month, profusely apologizing, but I’d
already dropped him like a hot pot-sticker. </span></p><p class="ydp2da1d84MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;line-height:normal;background:white"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Bookman Old Style",serif;mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";color:black"></span></p>
<p class="ydp2da1d84MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;line-height:normal;background:white"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Bookman Old Style",serif;mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";color:black"> </span><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style", serif; font-size: 18pt;">BirdingPal used to be good. When it was
new, and had web pages designed to look like spiral notebook sheets, it helped
me on several trips. It might still be of some use, but I received zero
responses from the e-mails I sent to seven Birding Pals in Taiwan. I paid $10
to join, and got nada. I think it used to be free of charge. Oh, well.</span></p><p class="ydp2da1d84MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;line-height:normal;background:white"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Bookman Old Style",serif;mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";color:black"></span></p>
<p class="ydp2da1d84MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;line-height:normal;background:white"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Bookman Old Style",serif;mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";color:black"> </span><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style", serif; font-size: 18pt;">I spent roughly 16 days in Taiwan. Getting there
from Buffalo was one of the most punishing air journeys I’ve made. Next
time I cross the Pacific, I’ll stop off on the W
Coast or Hawaii for a day or two. Upon arrival at Taoyuan International, I felt
like I'd gone a few rounds with Two-Ton Tony Galento.</span></p><p class="ydp2da1d84MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;line-height:normal;background:white"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Bookman Old Style",serif;mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";color:black"></span></p>
<p class="ydp2da1d84MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;line-height:normal;background:white"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Bookman Old Style",serif;mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";color:black"> </span><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style", serif; font-size: 18pt;">Taiwan’s not cheap, but seems a tad less dear
than the US. Car rental and fuel costs were comparable. Cheap food is easy to
find. Good, cheap lodging was usually available. I ended up splurging on a few self-styled
5-star hotels. In some areas, it was hard to navigate to cheap hotels, for
various logistical reasons. Most of the 5-stars were bad bargains. Wealth
abounds in Taiwan; hotel parking garages were full of luxury sedans, plus one dirty
little Ford Focus with my fingerprints on it.</span></p><p class="ydp2da1d84MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;line-height:normal;background:white"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Bookman Old Style",serif;mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";color:black"></span></p>
<p class="ydp2da1d84MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;line-height:normal;background:white"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Bookman Old Style",serif;mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";color:black"> </span><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style", serif; font-size: 18pt;">Perfectly nice hotels can be usually be had for
under $70 a night; I could easily have found less costly.</span></p><p class="ydp2da1d84MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;line-height:normal;background:white"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Bookman Old Style",serif;mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";color:black"></span></p>
<p class="ydp2da1d84MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;line-height:normal;background:white"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Bookman Old Style",serif;mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";color:black"> </span><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style", serif; font-size: 18pt;">Fastest, cheapest way to feed oneself is at
7-11. They’re almost everywhere; the CPC gas stations that I patronized normally
have a 7-11 next door. I could get a whole day's food for under $20, and most
of it was quite good, especially the little triangular wraps (seaweed around
rice around various fillings). They also have sushi, cheese sandwiches, hardboiled
eggs, and hot dogs—even liquor and electronics, neither of which I bought!</span></p><p class="ydp2da1d84MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;line-height:normal;background:white"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Bookman Old Style",serif;mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";color:black"></span></p>
<p class="ydp2da1d84MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;line-height:normal;background:white"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Bookman Old Style",serif;mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";color:black"> </span><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style", serif; font-size: 18pt;">Some friends had told me of their travails navigating
to birding sites; they'd travelled as a couple, one driving, one navigating. Things have changed. Google Maps works great in 99% of Taiwan; eBird hotspots always have a "directions" button. None of the
above is possible if one does not equip oneself with a generous
data plan. My plan, however, was miserly with texts and calls, so I
used up my texts and calls in a week. That was okay, though, since I had data
for e-mail.</span></p><p class="ydp2da1d84MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;line-height:normal;background:white"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Bookman Old Style",serif;mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";color:black"></span></p>
<p class="ydp2da1d84MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;line-height:normal;background:white"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Bookman Old Style",serif;mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";color:black"> </span><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style", serif; font-size: 18pt;">I winged it for the whole trip. The only prearranged lodging was at a hotel near the airport, where I had to rest
up after arrival. It was tricky at first, but I got pretty good at finding
lodging, with practice. The downside of aggregator sites, such as
Booking Dot Com, is that they often try to sell you a hotel that is
"near" a desired location, when it is actually far off. I told
my wife when I got home that it would be like booking a hotel in Oso, for a
planned birding trip to Lyman, to put it in W WA terms. The aggregator would
find me a hotel that was "only 11 km" from the place I wanted to
bird, conveniently ignoring a 3000-meter peak that stood between the hotel and
the site!</span></p><p class="ydp2da1d84MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;line-height:normal;background:white"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Bookman Old Style",serif;mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";color:black"></span></p>
<div style="margin-bottom:0in;line-height:normal;background:white"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Bookman Old Style",serif;mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";color:black"> </span><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style", serif; font-size: 18pt;">Driving in Taiwan was pretty easy. I would say
that the drivers there are the best I’ve encountered, having driven in 23 countries.
They’re polite, cooperative, careful. It’s been a while since I’ve driven in
e.g. Austria or Sweden, but would say that Taiwanese drivers are as safe or
safer, certainly far safer and wiser than American motorists. I saw none of the
road rage, selfishness, or insane manouevers that I face every time I drive or
try to be a pedestrian here.</span></div><div style="margin-bottom:0in;line-height:normal;background:white"><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style", serif; font-size: 18pt;"><br></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom:0in;line-height:normal;background:white"><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style", serif; font-size: 18pt;">Considering their roads, the Taiwanese have to be good drivers. I joked with one fellow tourist that if large numbers
of Arabs or Latin Americans were to arrive in Taiwan and suddenly start
driving, there would be a hundred fatalities a day. Many roads are astoundingly
narrow--well paved and well maintained, but one might think that they were trying to save on asphalt or something. There is often a concrete water channel right next to the fog-line,
offering instant ruin to any undercarriage. Shoulder--what shoulder? Convex
mirrors at many intersections and curves are a life-saver. No--just a
fender-saver. People drive sedately enough so that, even if there is a wreck,
it is probably not going to be fatal.</span></div>
<p class="ydp2da1d84MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;line-height:normal;background:white"><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style", serif; font-size: 18pt;">Motorbikes have special lanes, and
they even have a special spot at the front of the line, so they can pass the
cars and line up at traffic lights. After it turns green, they zoom off, and
then the cars and trucks get to pass them—only to be passed again at the next
light. There are many, many lights, even at seemingly minor crossroads, and the
lights are long. There is no right turn on red. It all works out splendidly,
because virtually nobody tries to bend the rules or play stupid, macho games.</span></p>
<div style="margin-bottom:0in;line-height:normal;background:white"><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style", serif; font-size: 18pt;">Up in the mountains, especially on a weekend, it
takes a long time to travel just a few kilometers.</span></div><div style="margin-bottom:0in;line-height:normal;background:white"><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style", serif; font-size: 18pt;"><br></span></div><div style="margin-bottom:0in;line-height:normal;background:white"><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style", serif; font-size: 18pt;">I never felt the specter
of death that has stalked me on the roads in places such as Arabia, the Dominican Republic,
or Argentina.</span><br></div><p class="ydp2da1d84MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;line-height:normal;background:white"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Bookman Old Style",serif;mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";color:black"></span></p>
<p class="ydp2da1d84MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;line-height:normal;background:white"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Bookman Old Style",serif;mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";color:black"> </span><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style", serif; font-size: 18pt;">All of that said, even in a little Ford, it can
be extremely difficult to escape from the narrow little roads that traverse
rice paddies, or the alleyways of cities and towns. Even with the car’s backup
camera, I sometimes had to back up six inches, get out, check the cliff or
brick wall or ditch, get back in, and so forth. With nobody to take a turn at
the wheel to give me a respite, I was usually quite worn out by the end of
every day.</span></p>
<p class="ydp2da1d84MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;line-height:normal;background:white"><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style", serif; font-size: 18pt;">I can’t think of a people as kindly, helpful,
and polite as the Taiwanese. It was an honor to be there.</span></p><p class="ydp2da1d84MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;line-height:normal;background:white"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Bookman Old Style",serif;mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";color:black"></span></p>
<p class="ydp2da1d84MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;line-height:normal;background:white"><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style", serif; font-size: 18pt;">Birding, oh yeah, that's why I went to Taiwan!
Because of some bad planning on my part, I somehow managed to spend over two
weeks, and never even approach their best mountain/forest birding area, which
is Dasyueshan. I kept putting it off, and by the time I was ready, the weather
turned rainy, and I could not figure out lodging. </span></p>
<p class="ydp2da1d84MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;line-height:normal;background:white"><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style", serif; font-size: 18pt;">Other than a near gale on the 2nd day of the
trip, which thwarted birding at the N tip of the island, and the rain that set
in when I was planning to go to Dasyueshan, the weather was lovely.</span></p><p class="ydp2da1d84MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;line-height:normal;background:white"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Bookman Old Style",serif;mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";color:black"></span></p>
<p class="ydp2da1d84MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;line-height:normal;background:white"><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style", serif; font-size: 18pt;">I ended up driving a quirky route, clockwise
around “Formosa.” I skipped most of the east coast. About the only good
mountain birding I had was in and near Alishan Nat’l Rec Area. I blew a whole
weekend at the vaunted Hehuanshan, but I saw fewer than five species in that
lovely area, sending hours stuck in tourist traffic. Go on a Tuesday.</span></p><p class="ydp2da1d84MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;line-height:normal;background:white"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Bookman Old Style",serif;mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";color:black"></span></p>
<p class="ydp2da1d84MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;line-height:normal;background:white"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Bookman Old Style",serif;mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";color:black"> </span><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style", serif; font-size: 18pt;">I managed 162 species in all, and 35 lifers. Goal
was 30 lifers, so it was a productive trip in that sense. Omitting Dasyueshan probably cost me close to ten lifers, but no regrets. </span></p><p class="ydp2da1d84MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;line-height:normal;background:white"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Bookman Old Style",serif;mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";color:black"></span></p>
<p class="ydp2da1d84MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;line-height:normal;background:white"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Bookman Old Style",serif;mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";color:black"> </span><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style", serif; font-size: 18pt;">Rarest bird of the trip was a Lesser
White-fronted Goose that flew in with a staked-out Greylag. Another cool
"Euro" bird was a flyover Great Bittern, a species I’d heard once, but had
never seen, and had not expected to see in Taiwan.</span></p>
<p class="ydp2da1d84MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;line-height:normal;background:white"><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style", serif; font-size: 18pt;">Biggest ID challenge was the </span><i style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style", serif; font-size: 18pt;">Emberiza </i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style", serif; font-size: 18pt;">buntings.
When I look at my thousands of photos, I might be able to make some sense of some buntings and other birds. Maybe.</span></p><p class="ydp2da1d84MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;line-height:normal;background:white"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Bookman Old Style",serif;mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";color:black"></span></p>
<div style="margin-bottom:0in;line-height:normal;background:white" dir="ltr" data-setdir="false"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Bookman Old Style",serif;mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";color:black"> </span><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style", serif; font-size: 18pt;">Shorebirding was superb. One reason I missed so
many forest birds was that I could barely tear myself away from shorebirding, my
all-time favorite—and something lacking here in Western NY, compared to W
Washington, and of course Skagit County. I did once again dip on Swinhoe’s Snipe
and Nordmann's Greenshank. A Spoon-billed Sandpiper showed up somewhere in Taiwan while I was there, but I did not give chase.</span></div><p class="ydp2da1d84MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;line-height:normal;background:white"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Bookman Old Style",serif;mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";color:black"></span></p>
<p class="ydp2da1d84MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;line-height:normal;background:white"><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style", serif; font-size: 18pt;">Here are the shorebirds I saw; excuse the codes.
BBPL, PAGP, Siberian Sand Plover, Little Ringed Plover, Kentish Plover,
Pheasant-tailed Jacana, BW Stilt, Pied Avocet, Far-Eastern Curlew, WHIM,
Bar-tailed Godwit, Common Greenshank, Marsh Sandpiper, Common and Spotted
Redshank, Common Sandpiper, WOSA, GRSA, COSN, Greater Painted Snipe, DUNL, SAND,
Long-toed Stint, and Red-necked Stint.</span></p>
<p class="ydp2da1d84MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;line-height:normal;background:white"><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style", serif; font-size: 18pt;">I did little owling and found no owls, but saw a
Savannah Nightjar while lost on a rice paddy road.</span></p>
<p class="ydp2da1d84MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;line-height:normal;background:white"><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style", serif; font-size: 18pt;">Mammals were scarce: Formosan Rock Macaques, tree
squirrels of some sort, and one bat.</span></p><p class="ydp2da1d84MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;line-height:normal;background:white"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Bookman Old Style",serif;mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";color:black"></span></p>
<p class="ydp2da1d84MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;line-height:normal;background:white"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Bookman Old Style",serif;mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";color:black"> </span><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style", serif; font-size: 18pt;">Okay, I will wrap this up by thanking all of the
Tweeters who wrote with Taiwan ideas. If the above message is hard to follow or
boring, I will play my excuse card...I came down with Covid-19 shortly after
getting home, and am still blundering about in a state of febrile idiocy.</span></p><p class="ydp2da1d84MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;line-height:normal;background:white"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Bookman Old Style",serif;mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";color:black"></span></p>
<p class="ydp2da1d84MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;line-height:normal;background:white"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Bookman Old Style",serif;mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";color:black"> </span></p>
<p class="ydp2da1d84MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;line-height:normal;background:white"><span style="font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Bookman Old Style",serif;mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";color:black">Yours truly,</span><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Bookman Old Style",serif;mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";color:black"></span></p>
<p class="ydp2da1d84MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;line-height:normal;background:white"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Bookman Old Style",serif;mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";color:black"> </span></p>
<p class="ydp2da1d84MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;line-height:normal;background:white"><span style="font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Bookman Old Style",serif;mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";color:black">Gary Bletsch</span><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Bookman Old Style",serif;mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";color:black"></span></p>
<p class="ydp2da1d84MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;line-height:normal;background:white"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Bookman Old Style",serif;mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";color:black"> </span></p>
<p class="ydp2da1d84MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;line-height:normal;background:white"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Bookman Old Style",serif;mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";color:black"> </span></p>
<p class="ydp2da1d84MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;line-height:normal;background:white"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Bookman Old Style",serif;mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";color:black"> </span></p>
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