Twoton's Pitcher Post

I think I'm not too far off the truth when I say that few of us have ever seen a pangolin, and until last Saturday night around 2030 hours, that included me.

I was lying in bed, reading Thomas E. Ricks' "Fiasco - The American Military Adventure in Iraq", when the phone rang downstairs in the living room. I heard one of the kids pick up, and half a minute later both boys erupted into joyous ululations, yelling up the stairs "DAAAAD! GET DRESSED AND COME DOWN, QUICK! THE NEIGHBORS CAUGHT A PANGOLIN AND WANT TO GIVE IT TO US!!"

It took me a while to extricate my brain from the sticky cobwebs in which all those complex politics and military operations in the Middle East had thoroughly shrouded it, and tried to recalibrate it for use on the matter at hand. A pangolin? Shyeeeaahh. Right. Spitting cobras fly out of my butt, and Martian storm troopers are bivouacking in my ghetto blaster. I was convinced I had misheard, and reckoned the neighbors were actually bringing over pomelos or home-made dumplings, as they often do, or maybe a present for Hans' twelfth birthday today. But the inquiry I yelled back down the stairs while trying to pull on my britches without tripping over them still brought back the same message: the neighbors had found a pangolin, and did we want it, us being known snake catchers and all?

Wow. TRIPLE wow! You see, as crazy as I am about snakes, I'll gladly trade three of my cobras for one of your pangolins any day of the week. I have night-herped Taiwan's mountains extensively for two years and never ever seen a pangolin, not even a single scale. I managed to put on my shoes without strangling myself with the laces, and then my entire family accompanied me across the street to the neighbor's yard. There on the ground stood a blue wire cage for dogs, containing not a poodle, but one of the oddest creatures I have ever had the pleasure to lay eyes on.

As a long-time resident of Taiwan, I actually knew quite a bit about Chinese pangolins and had seen countless pictures, but never the animal itself. Until 1990, when Manis p. pentadactyla was put under strict protection, the natives used to catch these animals to use their scales in Chinese medicine and their meat in Chinese cuisine. All pangolin species are reportedly very tasty; and the African pangolins are very popular bushmeat. The "Armor that Burrows Through The Mountain" (穿山甲), as the Chinese call the animal, still falls prey to poachers here in Taiwan, but nowadays Taiwanese pangolins don't end up in local woks anymore, but are instead smuggled to Mainland China where they command top dollar.

Chinese pangolins spend their nights prowling lowland forests for ants and termites, and their days sleeping in self-dug underground burrows. Legend has it that they roll around in ant nests, trapping the insects under their movable armor scales. They then find a creek or pond, submerge and relax their scales. This forces the ants to the surface where the pangolin's tongue laps them up. Wikipedia has more:

Pangolins have large keratin scales covering their skin and are the only mammals with this adaptation. They are found in tropical regions of Africa and Asia. The name "pangolin" derives from the Malay word pengguling ("something that rolls up"). Pangolins lack teeth and the ability to chew. Instead, they tear open anthills or termite mounds with their powerful front claws and probe deep into them with their very long tongues. Pangolins have glands in their chests to lubricate the tongue with sticky, ant-catching saliva.

In case you're wondering where they put all that tongue - it retracts right down into the abdominal cavity, at or near the pelvis (no uncouth jokes, please.) Thanks to an anal gland similar to the model found in skunks, pangolins can give off a monstrously hideous stink, but this little guy, a rather young individual, just smelled of earth and dirt. Picking him up did not always cause him to roll up into a ball, whereas touching his surprisingly soft and hairy belly and palms did so without fail.

The main reason for my intense excitement at finally coming face to face with one of these "Old World Armadillos" (to which they're actually not at all related) is not so much their rarity or their weirdly cute appearance, but their ancientness. This is a living fossil, an animal that has not changed one iota for at least 56 million years. Compounding the awesome sensation of observing a genetic witness to prehistory is the fact that all these deliciously freaky features - the scales, the tongue, the toothless mouth, the über-specialized lifestyle - have actually survived those endless eons without a single major mutation, while the rest of the planet's fauna evolved into the furry hunters and grazers we commonly associate with the term "mammal".

Apart from all that, pangolins are also bona fide archetypes of antediluvian adorability, i. e. terribly cute. The next morning we took the ant fiend out of the dog cage and brought it to a spacious private garden featuring a lawn and large decorative rocks which I planned to use for backgrounds. The pangolin is such a docile creature that we didn't even bother with caging or bagging it for the short ride - the boys just held it on their laps, where it snored contentedly, snot dripping out of its little pink nose. At the garden I discovered that this docility does not readily translate into willingness to be photographed. As soon as we had placed the still bunched-up critter on the ground, it tentatively started to sniff and look around, and once we had stepped back about five feet, it unwrapped itself and took off across the lawn at quite an impressive clip. Photographing the creature in its rolled-out state seemed impossible, and the strategy of placing it on top of a large rock in the hope that it would not dare to jump off failed miserably: trusting his scales to dampen the impact, it ran straight for the edge, hurled itself off the precipice and hit the (fortunately muddy) ground tumbling, stumbling, and finally running. In the end, we discovered a large, artsy birdbath into which we lowered the animal. In the tub it immediately started to look for an exit, which afforded me a few shots of its active state, if only from above.

In the afternoon, we showed the primordial beast to Hans' birthday guests. Ten awe-hushed sixth-graders standing in a circle around the animal created second thoughts about escape. However, the pangolin didn't seem to want to curl up and sulk either; it only seems to do that if someone approaches within touching distance. So it just swung its neckless head here and there, walked around at a slow gait (on his knuckles - how freaky is that?), and I finally got a few proper shots of it in motion.

That night, we released the little pineapple pinscher at a remote place in the mountains. He wasn't well: dripping profusely from the nose, watery eyes, and since I can't imagine any vet here knowing anything about these walking pine cones, we released him in the hope that he'll dig himself a nice burrow and sleep through his cold before it gets worse.

CLICK ON PHOTOS FOR LARGER VERSION

Footnote: Further and very detailed reading on the status and natural history of Manis pentadactyla can be found here...

New FHF Posts So Far

2010-06-12T12:42:00.050+08:00

Here are the links to all the photo threads I've started so far on the NEW fieldherpforum.com

Sparkling Habu

Red Bamboo Ratsnake (O. p. kawakamii)

Enhydris chinensis - Chinese Water Snake

KraitZilla, Part One

Taiwan Trash Snakes, Part 1: Dinodon rufozonatum

Habu & Owl - A Taiwan Adventure

The Curious False Viper

Minimalist Krait

Green Day Vipers

Sleeping Greater Green

Dinodon eating Bufo

Big Fat Chinese Cobra - AT LAST!!!

Stinky Kings and Herping Clowns

Snakes On A Plate, Part II: Ptyas dhumnades

Russell's Viper (warning, crappy pix!)

Chinese Cobra & Little Twotons

Endemic Taiwan Elapid - Sinomicrurus hatori

An Indian Cobra in the Taiwanese Woods

Snakes On A Plate III: World's Most Beautiful Snake Belly?

Large Ptyas dhumnades

Two Greater Green Snakes (Cyclophiops major)

Rain Krait

One Man's Trash (Boiga kraepelini)

MacClelland's Coral Snake - Ecstasy & Tragedy

The Cobra That Hijacked The Camera Bag

Itsy Bitsy Baby Cobra

Ptyas dhumnades - Educating The Masses

Two Blackheads, One Orange

Mad Cobra At Night, Herper's Delight

Unruly Many-Banded Baby Krait

Psammodynastes pulverulentus - (Wannabe) Badass Ruler of the Sands

Green is Good; Greater Green is Better

FBK (Frickin' Big Krait)

Hello Kitty Cobra

Donald,the Chinese Pearl Snake

Orange-Red Bamboo Ratsnake

Scavenging Bamboo Viper

Horrible Habu, Heroically Hooked!

Pangolin - "The Armor That Burrows Through The Mountain"

Dark Mock Viper

Seriously Overfed Taiwan Pitviper Baby

Taiwan Gringo Herping, Part 1: Taiwan Beauty Snake

Taiwan Gringo Herping, Part 2: The Other Snakes

Big Fat Taiwan Herping Vacation!

Habu Baby - Baby Habu

Bitten By A Dinosaur

Greening The Planet, One Snake at A Time

Diurnal Pitviper Surprise

Extra-Cool Bamboo Viper Mimic!

Super Mom Pit Viper (Protobothrops)

Herper's Ball, Taiwan Style

2010-03-12T10:43:00.001+08:00

Mr. Onionsack, the man in these images, was so nice as to put this together....

SNAKESOFTAIWAN.COM finally ONLINE!

2010-02-28T22:58:00.003+08:00

Ladies and gentlefolk,

I'm proud to announce that after six months of gruesome toil, our long-awaited website SNAKES OF TAIWAN has finally gone online.

This website was conceived out of a need for complete, one-stop information on the snakes of Taiwan. Before we created this site, the only comparable resources were a number of field guides in Chinese, most of them outdated. Similar material in English did not exist at all.

With this site we hope to provide exhaustive and current knowledge in both languages: tons of photos and videos from the field, taxonomic descriptions, info on biology, ecology, distribution, etymology, toxicology and more - and if that's not enough, there are copious links to even more information on the Web.

The site is organized like a field guide, i.e., all species on the main menu are arranged by colors and patterns rather than in alphabetical order. This facilitates quick identification of any snakes you might encounter in the wilds of Taiwan.

Mr. Onionsack and I, the authors of this site, are not professional herpetologists, just two average guys with a strong infatuation for Taiwan's serpentofauna. We have researched and now present the information on this site to the best of our knowledge and abilities. If you spot any mistakes, errors, blunders, bloopers, typos, or maybe just have a comment or two, or want to link to your site with our banner, we would love to hear from you - please drop me a note!

Thank you very much in advance for your help and your patronage!

Cheers

Hans
PS: The Chinese part is still being translated and will go online in March - we'll let you know when it's done :-)

Mammals Suck At Ambush Hunting?

2010-02-13T10:46:00.004+08:00

Guess the sit-and-wait approach just doesn't work for endotherms, as these two images prove.

(Pearls Before Swine, 2/9/10; copyright Stephen Pastis)

Flickr: Snakes Eating in the Wild

2010-01-01T11:20:00.000+08:00

Twelve pages of images of one of the Holy Grails of field herping.....there's videos, too.

Snake Talks in Schools: Media Update

2009-12-24T21:29:00.004+08:00

The media are taking note. Two cable news stations have reported so far, one more to come tomorrow, and the second-largest newspaper ran a piece on my snake classes today.

Here's one of the TV news reports online:

Part One

Part Two

Happy Christmas from (relatively) Christmas-free Taiwan!

An Approach to Fear of Snakes

2009-12-20T11:23:00.002+08:00

I talk about ophidiophobia during my snake lectures in elementary schools (there are always some kids who display it). I tell them I know some of them fear snakes, and that it's OK, because phobias are normal. I tell them I'm not afraid of having any "disgusting" animal walk all over my body, including tarantulas, cockroaches and millipedes. I ramp up the excitement listing these eeew-y animals that I don't fear at all, eeeew-ing the students out to the max....and then I put the needle to the balloon: "But you know what I really AM afraid of? Flying. I become a pant-wetting wreck as soon as the plane takes off." (Well, it's not THAT bad, but "Chief Whiteknuckle" is one of my nicknames). That results in much head-shaking and giggling, because for most kids, sitting in an airplane is boring at best, not a cause for utter terror. Then I continue "And you know why? No? Me neither. It's all in the head, and it's something you need to identify as irrational and then fight it, because phobias mess up your lives"

That usually makes them think . "Wow, that big man with the six-foot snake around his neck, the guy who seeks out kraits and pitvipers in the dark of night, and takes close-up photos of them.....he actually FEARS something, and something that silly at that?"

FHF Posts so Far

2009-08-16T12:10:00.047+08:00

Here are the links to all the photo threads I've started so far on fieldherpforum.com

Howdy from Taiwan

First Photo Encounter with a Bamboo Viper

Herping Taiwan on Jason Voorhees Night (DUW)

Daytime Chinese Soft-shell Turtle

Taiwan Slug Snake (Pareas formosensis)

Taiwan Habu, Chinese Tree Toad, and other ugly pix

Thar's Snakes In Them Thar Sakuras! (Pareas formosensis)

Bankoro Toad and Swinhoe's Frog

Bugs & Flowers

More crawlies from the Taiwanese woods

Tree Snake Babies, Walking Sticks and Fishing Spiders

TwoTon's Terror Tooth, Tree Toad & Takydromus Trifecta

JACKPOT - Taiwan's prettiest and rarest pitviper!

Snakes on a Scooter, or Boigas on a Bike

My First Live Krait!

CruisinArt....or is it?

The Hundred-Pacer That Wasn't - A Tale from Taiwan

Formosan Dino Sex Show

Beautiful Taiwan Kukri Snake

MacClelland’s (Asian) Coral Snake

Two Taiwan Habus

Bamboo Viper vs. Tree Frog

Finally, an adult Habu in the open

Dinodon eating Toad

Water Wall Krait

DOR Chinese Cobra

Another Day, Another Green Tree Viper

Lots of Sundry Taiwan Snakes & Frogs & Stuff & Such

High Noon at the (Asian) Rat Snake Corral

Red Bamboo Rat Snakes

Big Habu

Nother Krait and a few photo tech questions

Whole Bunch of Taiwan Herps & Inverts

Big Fat Stinking Goddess (Elaphe carinata)

Another Stinking Goddess…in my backpack!

Green Tree Viper Potpourri

THE PEASANTS ARE REVOLTING! and other Taiwan Snake Sightings

Snake & Turtle Temple

Tree viper – actually IN A TREE this time!

Bunker-Guarding Pitviper

Close Encounter of the Third Krait

White Plum Blossom Snake

False Taiwan Habu

Two more False Taiwan Habus

Mock Viper (Psammodynastes pulverulentus)

King of the Ditch - Sauter's Water/Grass Snake

Asiatic Many-toothed Snake (Sybinophis chinensis chinensis)

Northern Taiwan - Huge Habitat Post

Where's Waldo (the Pitviper)?

The Fastest Snake in the East (Zaocys dhumnades)

Green Tree Viper Potpourri, Part Deux

Wild Taiwan - Herps, Inverts and Monkeys, oh my!

Taiwan's Prettiest Pitviper - The Second Coming!

Monster Taiwan Beauty Snake

Saturday Night Kraitapalooza

Taiwan Habitat, Part Two

Boiga kraepelini - Rare Coloration Pattern

Taiwan Herpers Association - 2009 Meeting & Show

FULL REPORT: Taiwan Herpers Association - 2009 Meeting & Show

Snakes of Borneo - need material for new website!

Record Hundred Pacer (graphic images!)

King of Taiwan's Aboriginal Culture - The Hundred-Pace Viper

Winter's here! All snakes are gone! (just kidding, see post)

Fighting Kraits

Fastest Snake in Asia - FINALLY BAGGED!

Snake Shows in Taiwan Grade Schools - a few photos

Taiwan Turtles

Taiwan Red Bamboo Ratsnake (O. p. kawakamii)

Juvenile Sinonatrix percarinata suriki

The Viper and the Walrus

Large Taiwan Beauty Snakes doing the Nasty

Sunday Night in the Taiwan Mountains - more pix

Taiwan (Herpeto)Fauna Potpourri

Huge Knife Crossing The Mountain

Three-Ring King Rat Circus

Viridovipera stejnegeri - a selection

Borneo Dispatches - The Inaugural Issue

Family Outing

2009-08-06T19:32:00.007+08:00

For the first time I've been able to see and observe wild monkeys in Yangmingshan National Park behind our house: Formosa macaques (Macaca cyclopis), the only monkey species on the island. The group consisted of one boss male, an adult female, a younger male and two kids. All of them were just as curious about me as I was about them, in particular the juvies, who kept trying to intimidate me with furious branch-shaking. They often came closer to get a better look at me, but never closer than six, seven meters. Of course, the light was completely useless - I was standing on the road in the blazing midday sun, and the monkeys were sitting under the murky light of the roadside canopy. Still, a very impressive encounter - at least half an hour went by before they took their show back on the road....

Graveyard Cobra

2009-03-19T19:13:00.005+08:00

This morning I searched a dilapidated and heavily overgrown cemetery for basking reptiles. The individual plots in Chinese graveyards are often quite large, covered with bricks or concrete and surrounded by low walls. I was sitting on one of those low walls eating a rice dumpling when I noticed a faint rustling behind the tombstone three feet away, and got to witness an almost seven foot long Chinese cobra (Naja naja atra) slinking off into the undergrowth without much apparent haste. I was too gobsmacked to take a picture (never saw his head anyway), and kept sitting there for at least another twenty minutes, savoring the privileged experience of having lunch at arm's length from one of the most awe-inspiring predators on this island.

Wild taro seed pod

2009-03-14T22:11:00.002+08:00

(Colocasia esculenta)

Fencin'

2009-03-14T21:54:00.005+08:00

I've been meaning to post this since I took it last July....Japalura polygonata xanthostoma is one of the more common lizards in Taiwan. He didn't mind me getting as close as two feet, not even when I set up the tripod and took a huge series of shots from various positions (there was also a baby mantis next to him on the fence)

Mossy Dragon

2009-03-14T21:40:00.004+08:00

A stone dragon guarding a small pond that's part of a luxuriously designed, but now dilapidated private grave in the Sanchih hills.

Bamboo Viper, Update

2009-03-14T21:29:00.003+08:00

The night of Friday the 13th (always my lucky day!) of February I went herping with a few friends, and on the way home I decided to show them the spot where I had discovered the wee tree viper in January - and would you believe our luck!?! Not only did we find it again, but it was actually perching on the very same twig as four weeks before!! Dig the infrared sensor pits between eyes and nostrils...

Buffalo at Work

2009-03-14T21:15:00.003+08:00

This is one of the last working water buffaloes in Taipei County (and Taipei City, I would presume). The gentleman behind the harrow (if that's what it is) was quite aware and proud of this fact, too: "Bet you haven't seen one of these in a long time, eh?" he beamed.

Fern Frond

2009-03-14T21:01:00.001+08:00

Late Thursday afternoon, in a neighboring forest.

Tree. Doves. Mountain.

2009-03-14T20:51:00.003+08:00

Not necessarily in that order. Red-collared Doves (Streptopelia tranquebarica ), Guandu Nature Park, early February.

Adieu, cherry season

2009-03-14T20:42:00.004+08:00

The red cherry blossom season is drawing to an end here in North Taiwan, the blossoms are littering the ground, and the canopy's hot pink is slowly being replaced by the tender green of the new leaves. These trees nicely represent the time before and after the change.

(Biological) Treasure Island

2009-03-02T15:11:00.005+08:00

I found these four signs at the Taipei Zoo's Taiwan Animal Area. They show in nice detail the wondrous biodiversity and immense endemism this little island has to offer.

The foremost reason for such bounty is the Central Mountain Range which, topping out at almost 4000 meters (13000+ ft), provides La Ilha Formosa with a large variety of biotopes at various elevations, from tropical beaches to alpine meadows. Being an island, endemism just thrives in such surroundings.

Out of every 120 known animal, plant, fungus etc. species in Taiwan, one is endemic: 12333 out of 1450832.

One in forty known animal, plant etc. etc. species on the planet lives in Taiwan - 36880 out of 1450832.

For a better understanding of the next two signs, which elaborate on the numbers for various plant and animal groups, check out this chart.

Misty Hills

2009-02-25T20:19:00.003+08:00

Sanchih County's Longyan Columbarium, nestled in the surrounding hills. The tall ridge in the back is Little Guanyinshan, the northernmost finger of the Yangmingshan range.

Cherry Blossom Season 09, Part 1

2009-02-25T20:00:00.004+08:00

Cherry blossom season is again upon us in Sanchih County, home of the finest sakura trees in all of Taiwan, so here's a selection of the hot pink ones adorning the countryside around these parts. The soft pink and white ones to follow soon (usually about a month later)

Getting Lost in the Woods

2009-02-04T12:00:00.014+08:00

During a recent hike, I got lost in a dense, pathless jungle. It was an unsettling experience, but this is what my good friend Chris Logan had to say about it:

"It seems dreadfully serious when you're tired and scratched up, watching the sun drop. But when you get home it has invigorated you by insisting that there really is a mysterious forest out there with no taxis, signs or crazy humans to draw you into the machine. It's a great luxury to get lost in the woods. Most people will never enjoy that."

Couldn't agree more.

Mean Green Killin' Masheen

2009-01-17T19:23:00.009+08:00

Crab spider (Oxytate striatipes): mean, green, and a formidable body size of seven millimeters! :-)

Bamboo Viper

2009-01-16T21:35:00.005+08:00

This was my first photographic encounter with a venomous snake ever. The ones I met since I bought my DSLR last March were either roadkill, or I didn’t have my camera with me.

But during my walk through the woods last night, I finally met a very nice and beautiful venomous snake I could actually photograph – and my absolute favorite species among the 53 on the island. Not only was this the first time I’ve seen a live Taiwan Bamboo Viper (Trimeresurus stejnegeri stejnegeri), but it was also a juvenile (about six inches), and thus the perfect training partner for photographing any venomous serpents I hopefully will meet later in life: as long as I kept a six-inch distance, I didn’t have to worry about how to explain to the nice 911 lady how to get the ambulance to that remote spot in the boonies where the encounter took place. Also, it was a pretty chilly night (ca. 57 degrees F), so the viper was too sluggish to run off, but not too inert to change positions all the time. In short, the perfect model!

Black-naped Monarch

2009-01-16T21:31:00.003+08:00

Yesterday, I finally saw and photographed my first Taiwan Black-naped Monarch (Hypothymis azurea oberholseri). Not the best composition, I know, but I'm so stoked about nailing him, I just had to post it....

Hasselblad Kingfisher

2009-01-16T21:23:00.003+08:00

I put my Dad's Hasselblad/Zeiss 500mm Tele-Tessar to the test today, and I'm very impressed. The colors and sharpness are definitively worth the hassle (the lens weighs five pounds and cannot be handheld). Here's a nice kingfisher I shot with my weird Pentax K10D/TeleTessar rig this morning.

Sparkling Dropscapes

2009-01-01T12:45:00.004+08:00

A few more sundew macros:

Drosera intermedia

Drosera nitidula x pulchella

Drosera spathulataDrosera dielsiana
Drosera intermedia

Drosera intermedia

Gastric Greetings

2009-01-01T12:24:00.003+08:00

This is the last thing you'll ever see, should you be swallowed alive by a tropical pitcher plant (Nepenthes sp.)

Happy New Year of the Ox!

(N. khasiana x ventricosa)

NoID Spider

2008-12-29T12:11:00.003+08:00

I took this shot on a recent night hike. I'm not sure about the species, but hope to find out soon.

Leapfroggin'

2008-12-29T12:07:00.005+08:00

These are two very nice specimens of Latouche's Brown Wood Frog (Rana latouchii) - and extremely docile ones, too: they let me approach to about three inches distance.

Drosera prolifera

2008-12-29T12:00:00.002+08:00

Not much dew, but pretty anyway

Drosera burmannii "Beerwah Queensland"

2008-12-29T11:56:00.001+08:00

Egret Tree

2008-12-25T15:33:00.004+08:00

A sunset shot of a few Intermediate and Little egrets (Ardea intermedia/Egretta garzetta) getting ready for the night on their favorite tree by the pond.

Alien Stormtrooper

2008-12-25T15:23:00.003+08:00

Made you look. No, in spite of the resemblance, this is not a CGI creature hellbent on making Jedi lives miserable. Rather, it's Statilia maculata, a mantis endemic to China, Japan and Taiwan. For this specimen, the warming asphalt road was more important than the possible danger from the sweaty hominoid crawling up to macro distance.

Two more from the kitsch front

2008-12-25T15:07:00.005+08:00

Another two sunsets....not that I go out of my way to shoot them, but sometimes they're unavoidable.

Drosera intermedia

2008-12-25T15:02:00.003+08:00

Sunset at the Graveyard

2008-12-25T14:50:00.004+08:00

I've never fancied myself a sunset photographer, but when I spotted this beautiful sky the other day on my way past a local columbarium, I couldn't help but grab a few shots.

Bamboo Spider

2008-12-25T13:48:00.004+08:00

My Dad retired his '72 Hasselblad V series gear, so I'm now the dazzled, befuddled, yet still highly confused owner of a truckload of world-class photo equipment.....none of which I really know how to master. Obviously, the Hassy stuff is all-analog, all-manual, and at the moment I can't even use the camera bodies, as medium format film is very expensive here in Taiwan; so I might as well save the money until I have enough for a digital back, which, of course, could take a few years or so. However, I did at least find a way to put those fantastic Zeiss lenses to good use in the meantime: a Zörkendörfer adapter for my Pentax K10D. Of course, even this way everything's still all-manual, as the lenses and the camera don't "talk" to each other: no auto-focusing, no auto-metering, no auto-anything at all. Adding to that the fact that the original optical properties of the lenses change due to the 1.6 crop factor of the Pentax sensor, I now have a whole world of learning to do. But who cares, with this kind of glass?

Here's a test shot of a non-ID'd spider, done with a 60mm f/3.5 Distagon. The realistic color rendering of the lens is truly spectacular.

Dhaman Rat Snake

2008-12-25T13:35:00.005+08:00

This Ptyas mucosa is by far the largest serpent I've ever encountered in Taiwan: about two meters (6 1/2 feet) of shining, angry glory (note the swollen neck). Having been awoken from his semi-hibernation by a unusually hot December day, he was still quite groggy and barely able to cross the road, which is where I came in. Judging by its size, he was at least ten years old, so it was just like helping an old lady across the road. I took the liberty to grab a few close-ups as compensation for my chivalric behavior.

Cyclophiops major

2008-12-25T12:45:00.003+08:00

Cyclophiops major - quite a mouthful. The Chinese in their eternal pragmatism just call it qingshe - Green Snake :-)

This one tried to hide from me in a ditch - unfortunately, I climbed in right after him, so he had no choice but to pose for me.

Masochistic Frog

2008-12-23T21:16:00.003+08:00

The Long-legged Brown Frog (Rana longicrus) is endemic to Taiwan and also a bit of a masochist, picking the coldest time of year to mate and lay eggs. Ski gloves are required for frogging at 3000 feet up on Yangmingshan in winter. Didn't somebody say this is a tropical island?

I can see my house from here

2008-12-23T21:13:00.001+08:00

Well, sort of. If you're to mosey out our front door and head straight for about one mile, then do an about-face, this is what you'll see - the northwestern hills of Yangmingshan National Park.

Cannas

2008-12-23T21:01:00.002+08:00

I love cannas. The contrast between the brilliant blossoms and those earth-toned, antediluvian seed pods resembling ankylosaurus tails is just striking.

Sun Eagle

2008-12-23T20:52:00.003+08:00

I was taking a midday stroll through a few neighboring fields when this Crescent Serpent Eagle (Chelornis speela) took off from a tree above me and started circling. I followed him for a series of about 30 wild and useless shots, but this one came out pretty OK, I think...(Yes, that's the sun there. 1/4000 sec made it possible)

Cruel Beauty

2008-12-23T20:37:00.005+08:00

I've been playing around with my macro gear and various lighting options again lately, so here are a few shots of a Madagascar sundew (Drosera madagascariensis) and an Australian Forked sundew (Drosera binata). I still have problems creating enough depth of field (even at f/32!), but will hopefully find a solution to this soon.

Taro Snail

2008-11-06T20:19:00.001+08:00

Taro leaf + Giant Snail = Crap on the Ceiling

Feral Pineapple

2008-11-06T19:05:00.004+08:00

Its ancestors must have escaped from a plantation. This plant, one of several growing in a little bamboo grove near my house, has become wild enough again to have shed many of the characteristics of its "tame" brethren.

Nutmeg Mannikin

2008-11-06T19:02:00.001+08:00

I love this bird, if only for its peculiar name :-)

Nutmeg Mannikin (Lonchula punctulata)

Dragonflies

2008-11-06T18:44:00.003+08:00

Taiwan boasts quite a number of dragonflies and damselflies, and most of them come with a bonus: their colors differ depending on age and gender. This makes identification sometimes difficult, but the rainbow of hues makes up for that.

Crimson Dropwing (Trithemis aurora)

Lesser Pruinose Skimmer (Orthetrum triangulare), male

Red Percher (Neurothemis ramburii)

Crimson Darter (Crocothermis servilia servilia); young male - that's why he ain't crimson :-)

Banyan Bunker

2008-10-08T22:10:00.005+08:00

This banyan tree (Ficus microcarpa) has decided that the Cold War is over and is now taking back his turf. The bunker is located about three klicks from the ocean near Danshui, but judging from the dense vegetation surrounding it it's been a few decades since it was last used as an observation outpost against Communist invaders.

Purple People Eater

2008-10-08T22:05:00.003+08:00

I haven't been able to ID this one so far, but it sure is purdy...

Fig Bonanza

2008-10-08T20:09:00.005+08:00

This majestic White Fig (Ficus virens) grows on a little farmstead here in my neighborhood. Armies of birds and insects visit the tree when it's in fruit.

Skeeter Hell

2008-10-08T18:54:00.007+08:00

These Asian Tiger Mosquitoes (Aedes albopictus) are being slowly devoured by pygmy sundews (Drosera pulchella x nitidula). I grow a whole battery of different sundews in a tank in my office, and their pots are standing in an inch and a half of water to emulate their natural swamp habitat. Naturally, this indoors pond is the perfect breeding ground for mosquitoes. I know, I know - who in his right mind would breed the little bloodsuckers on purpose, and in the &^%$#! house at that? Well, people who love their carnivorous plants, that's who. You have to admit that this sort of habitat offers quite amazing photo ops:

Pentax K10 D, Sigma 105 mm macro lens, 72 mm worth of extension tubes.

Wild Ginger

2008-10-07T17:44:00.004+08:00

Various species of wild ginger grow everywhere in lowland Taiwan.

Shell ginger, Alpinia zerumbet (seed pods)

Butterfly ginger, Hedychium coronarium

Tree Moods

2008-10-07T17:31:00.003+08:00

Two more CPs

2008-09-18T20:57:00.041+08:00

Rounding up the, uh, carnivorous plant roundup, here are two more protein-loving veggies:

Venus Flytrap (Dionaea muscipula), red variation

Drosera dielsiana, a tropical sundew

Pitchers! (Part 2: Nepenthes)

2008-09-18T20:57:00.035+08:00

And now, howzabout some Nepenthes, the plant genus for which I created this blog in the first place!

N. rajah, the largest pitcher plant on Earth. (No, not THIS specimen, of course!)

N. x "Red Leopard" (N. ventricosa x maxima)

N. ventricosa x pectinata

N. sibuyanensis, up close and personal

Pitchers! (Part 1: C. follicularis)

2008-09-18T20:57:00.025+08:00

I haven't posted any shots of carnivorous plants in a long time - shame on me, after all, this IS the Pitcher Post! Well, here comes a new batch now: a few pix of my Cephalotus follicularis, the Australian Pitcher Plant.

For the gear queers amongst you:
Pentax K10D
SIGMA 105mm F2.8 EX DG Macro
Kenko extension tubes (12+20+36 mm)
Tripod
IR remote

Dragonfly Naiad Shells and Friend

2008-09-18T20:57:00.017+08:00

These dragonflies - or rather, the naiad shells they left behind - seem to have come right out of some two-bit SciFi videogame. Insectoid Warriors from Outer Space! Soulless ectotherms with merciless eyes!

They can't be bargained with!
They can't be reasoned with!
They don't feel pity, or remorse, or fear!
And they absolutely will not stop, ever, until you are dead!
RAAAAHHHHRGH!

Ahem. My apologies to James Cameron - guess I got a little carried away there with those AlienTerminatorFromHell similes...

Anyway, what I like about this scene is how that cutsey-wootsey little ladybug literally walks all over those fearful creatures, tearing apart and taking the piss out of of their formidable War of the Worlds appearance...

A few random shots

2008-09-18T20:57:00.011+08:00

These are from the box labeled "POST ON BLOG, ALREADY!" that's been sitting under my desk for what seems like almost a year now...just an unconnected jumble of random shots.

Enjoy anyway!

Agapanthus africanus

Magnolia, backlighted

Water bamboo (Zizania caduciflora). Dig the artsy frame!

Duckweed forming some Central Asian country I can't remember the name of...one of those 'stans I think.

At Ch'ingshan Waterfall, Yangmingshan National Park, North Slope

Taiwan's Prettiest Arachnid

2008-07-31T17:07:00.006+08:00

Nephila maculata (人面蛛), the largest species of the Golden Orb spiders. That tiny orange putz is her husband....but who needs men for anything else but procreation, especially if you're Queen of the Underbrush?

The Purity of the English Language

2008-04-13T20:48:00.000+08:00

The problem with defending the purity of the English language is that English is about as pure as a cribhouse whore. We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.

^{James Nicoll}

Taiwan Road Trip, Day Four

2008-04-13T00:15:00.013+08:00

We spent the last night on the road in a picturesque bungalow complex (complete with a huge marble hot springs tub in the bathroom) just outside Puli. The next day, after breakfasting on the most humongous pork sandwiches I've seen in a good while, we sauntered up the hill across from the hotel to check out the hang gliding launch spot on top. Didn't see any gliders that day, but a bunch of other nice stuff:

Hillside betelnut plantation

Chung Chai Temple, an international centre of Buddhist academic research, culture and the arts.

As always, the flora didn't disappoint:

Golden Trumpet Tree, Tabebuia alba

Some kind of Christmas tree...

After that, it was time to hit the highway back to Taipei. In an autobahn rest stop by Hsinchu, we found this wonderfully wacky sign. This is what happens when dictionaries are used without protective gear and in the absence of professional supervision...

Now it's time to prepare for a trip across the Southern Cross-Island Highway - a road even more magnificent than the CCIH!

PS: Many thanks to Andy Wimmer who agreed to take over my camera for almost the entire trip, as my hands were usually glued to the steering wheel.

Taiwan Road Trip, Day Three, Part Two

2008-04-09T22:25:00.017+08:00

Above 2500 meters the flora changed drastically. Gone were the jungly taro leaves, the ubiquitous ferns and the flowering trees - this was now the realm of conifers, lichens, moss and general creepiness.

At 2600 meters, we passed the Sacred Tree at Pilu, a 3200-year-old, 40 meter tall fir tree (Cunninghamia konishii). It's an amazing feeling to touch a living creature that was already alive at the start of the Iron Age, around the time when the Romans established their Empire.

Just below the top we stopped for lunch in Dayuling. The restaurant had iron garage-style pull-up doors instead of front walls. These doors were wide open, and DAMN, was it cold in there. But the mountain cuisine helped us forget the arctic climes: wild boar, highland cabbage and tiger lily blossom soup. I'd crawl all the way from Hualien for that sauteed boar with wild onions!

At 3100 meters, the Hehuanshan guest house offers hikers a place to stay overnight for a nominal fee (breakfast included). Check out the hiker-made snowpersons (can't say if they're boys or girls). Sorry about the asinine pose, guess I've been in East Asia for too long.

Then the serious part began: narrow, slippery roads on tundra-like terrain, swept clean just that morning after a fresh snowfall, and fog. Boy, the FOG! If you want to see the view from Wuling Pass, the highest road in East Asia, you need to arrive before 1 pm, because after that the fog will restrict your line of sight down to five feet. Not desirable in combination with the above-mentioned road conditions and the gaping maw of the valley three feet to your left.

The fog stayed with us all the way to ca. 2500 meters and then finally lifted to reveal the lovely slopes of lower Nantou County, aka "Taiwan's Orchard".

More about that and Day Four tomorrow!

Road Trip Taiwan, Day Three, Part One

2008-04-07T22:38:00.011+08:00

Day Three found us traversing one of the most amazing mountain roads in Taiwan, the Central Cross-Island Highway, and of course the world-famous Taroko Gorge, which is actually the first 15 miles or so of the CCIH. Much has been written about the Gorge and the Highway, so in order to save valuable cyberspace, I'll let my photos do the talkin' and others do the explainin' - here are a few links about the history and sights of the Taroko Gorge and the CCIH:

Taroko Gorge

Taroko National Park (the eastern part of the CCIH)

Story of the CCIH

More pix from the CCIH

This trip takes you from banana plantations by the Pacific all the way up to the highest mountain pass in East Asia (3275 meters) which is covered in snow from December to March, and back down to sea level, all in one day. Hence, I decided to split this day into two parts: the first features the Gorge and the ascent, the second the icy realms of the pass area.

The gate to Taroko Gorge

The Gorge

Out of the gorge, and into the hills

Things to remember

A different fauna and flora: this nasty-looking piece of work is a local nettle, Urtica thunbergiana, aka "Cat That Bites" in Chinese (咬人貓). It forms huge bushes with fat, dripping poison glands on the large leaves. Touching them will guarantee the end of your boredom for at least two solid days.

As to fauna, we saw a Formosan rock macaque staring at us at eye level from a roadside tree when we came out of one of those narrow tunnels. I guess he was less surprised than us, but decided to haul butt anyway, just in case. You never know with these strange, pale bignoses. I couldn't get a photo of him, but here's a specimen of another widespread simian species:

Above 2500 meters, we also saw a whole slew of alpine birds, the most interesting among those the Formosan whistling thrush and the White-whiskered (Formosan) Laughingthrush, both endemic to the island.

Part Two coming tomorrow!

Road Trip Taiwan, Day Two

2008-04-04T10:55:00.012+08:00

Day Two:
The next day found us rolling along the Suao-Hualien Highway and marveling at its scenic wonders.

Just 15 years ago, this aptly named "Death Highway" used to be the most dangerous stretch of road in Taiwan - barely wide enough for two sedans, one-lane, pitch-dark tunnels, and packed from end to end with gravel trucks driven by suicidal, betelnut-crazed madmen with an codex of ethics that didn't permit them to decelerate below sixty miles an hour even in hairpin turns. All that with a 1000-foot drop into the ocean always looming just beyond the flimsy guard rail...

Today, the road is nice and wide, the tunnels have been widened and illuminated, and the Gravel Trucks from Hell seem to have found Jesus or something, so now one can actually concentrate on the fantastic coastline instead of constantly trying to dodge certain fiery death. This is how our friends at asia-planet put it:

"In addition to the Central Cross-Island Highway, another road that offers considerable attractions for the tourist is the old Suao-Hualien Highway. First opened to traffic in 1932, this 118-kilometer-long road was the first government-built road in the area, but its origins go back to 1874, when a road was first cut between Suao and Hualien under order of the imperial Chinese government. North along the road from Hualien is the Chungde Control. In the early stages of its development, the road could carry traffic in only one direction at a time, and vehicles had to wait at the control station for convoys going the opposite direction to pass. It rapidly developed into a spot where travelers would stop to enjoy the scenery, have a snack, and buy souvenirs. At the northern mouth of Chungde Tunnel, 182.5 kilometers along the Suao-Hualien Highway, is the Shiahai Trail. This is a perfect spot to view the Pacific Ocean. A walk of 10 minutes down the trail brings visitors to a shingle beach featuring limestone formations and a variety of rock-growing plants. The 20-kilometer stretch of highway between Chungde and Heping is the most tortuous and spectacular section of the Suao-Hualien Highway. Cliffs of gneiss and marble from sheer drops of more than a thousand meters, and the road winds its way precariously between the cliffs on one side and the ocean on the other. After this stretch, the road runs through to Heping and Guanyin, finally reaching Nanau and Dungau. In the vicinity of Nanau, the Wushr Promontory protrudes majestically into the Pacific Ocean, dividing the Suao-Hualien coastline into the Nanau and Dungau bays. Dungau is a major producer of lilies; moreover, the Japan Current brings this coastal area a rich annual harvest of fish."

Now for the pix!

This mighty dragon saw us off in Suao.

Sights from the highway.

Closer to Hualien, the cliffs drop straight into the ocean, continuing their vertical line up to 800 meters below the surface, allowing whales, dolphins and other large ocean dwellers to get close to the coast. Consequently, Hualien boasts one of the two only dedicated whale watching piers in the world. If you're in the Hualien area between May and September, make sure to take part in a whale-watching trip.

A few shots from the other side of the road

Sunken Mitsubishi. Poor sailor...

Protect your forest! Call us at these easy-to-remember numbers! Read with a Taiwanese accent, the Chinese characters below the numbers sound like the digits above them and make sense at the same time, e.g. 930 reads like "save mountains and forest", and 057 sounds like "Bureau of Forestry".

Sign at a college campus in Hualien

Aboriginal art

Hualien is one of the world's largest marble producers, and the airport the only one on the planet made mostly from this mineral. This fine piece of marble architecture can be found downtown.

Look for Day Three tomorrow!

Road Trip Taiwan, Day One

2008-04-03T17:31:00.026+08:00

I’m back from our Four Day Six Hundred Mile Easter Holiday Company Outing Island Road Trip that took us from banana and pineapple plantations by the Pacific shore across an ice-covered 11.500 foot pass (Hehuanshan) where we played with snowmen and then drove on to return back to the tropics proper five hours
later. This is definitely my favorite route around the northern half of the island: Stranded blowfish shoals! Roadside monkeys! Breakfast banana cake! Cloud forests! Bearded firs! Towering cliffs! Stone rhinos! And - of course - more! (did I mention steamed lobster with wasabi?)

Here’s my report, for those of y'all who didn’t fit in the car:

Day One:
Starting in Taipei County and ending in Suao/Nanfangao, the road led us east along the northern coastline with its picturesque fishing villages, rocky outcrops, endless pebble beaches and a nuclear power plant or two.

This rare specimen of a Taiwanese Pebble-Gobbling Rhino dwells right outside Shimen.

Sweet potatoes - nowhere better than in Sanchih County! (Also double as large-bore artillery shells)

Bisha Harbor, one of the largest seafood markets on the island.

Coastline

Japanese fin de siècle gold processing plant outside of Jiufen
At Fulong Beach, we were treated to the eerie sight of dozens of beached porcupine pufferfish. No other species of fish was present, only the porcupines. A quick investigation into the matter revealed that they must have been pulled
out by anglers (the Taiwanese are completely crazy about seafood) and thrown back in because they're not exactly convenient to prepare for the dinner table.

Alas, that did't keep this intrepid blogger from getting a quick protein fix. Maybe he should have read up on the genus Diodon first: When inflated they pose a major difficulty to their predators: a large diodon fully inflated can choke a shark to death.

One creature's trash is another one's lifeboat.
No place in Taiwan is further than 45 miles away from the ocean, as the crow flies, and seafood's a way of life. This was our dinner that day, in a harbor restaurant at Nanfangao.

Day 2 Report coming tomorrow!

20 Ways The World Could End

2008-03-29T19:47:00.004+08:00

And there you were, thinking the worst that could happen to you is a rogue truck kissing you on the way to work. Well, think again. I wasn't aware of half of those possibilities. So, what's your favorite? Me, I like the roving black hole..and of course, number 20!

Quotes and Durians

2008-03-29T15:58:00.006+08:00

Want to kill a few weeks' worth of time? Well, look no further than Wikiquote!

As an aperitif, I suggest you move straight on to what A. R. Wallace's contemporaries had to say about his odes on Durians:

The durian — neither Wallace or Darwin agreed on it.
Darwin said 'may your worst enemies be forced to feed on it.'
Wallace cried 'it's delicious.'
Darwin replied 'I'm suspicious,
For the flavour is scented
Like papaya fermented
After a fruit-eating bat has pee'd on it.

After that, you're on our own. Don't say I didn't warn you.

Damn the torpedoes - I love SciFi!

2008-03-29T15:48:00.004+08:00

“Sci-fi can be succinctly defined as speculation, whether based on established scientific facts or on logical pseudo-facts consistent with the framework of the fiction in question, involving smelly green pimply aliens furiously raping or eating, or both, beautiful naked bare-breasted chicks, covering them in slime, red, oozing, living slime, dribbling from every horrific orifice, squeezing out between bulbous pulpy lips onto the sensuous velvety skin of the writhing sweating slave-girls, their bodies cut and bruised by knotted whips brandished by giant blond vast-biceped androids called Simon, and written in the Gothic mode.“

Peter Nicholls, True Rat 7, 1976

Nepenthes ampullaria heaven

2008-03-28T09:35:00.004+08:00

Mr Apis from Thailand posted a few pictures of his world-class Nepenthes ampullaria collection on pitcher-plants.com, and Sehtnepen was so kind to create a collage from these photos:

This is hands-down the most stunning array of N. ampullaria varieties I've ever seen - talk about a man with ten dark-green thumbs!

Thank you, Apis and Sehtnepen, for permitting me to post your creations here

E-ty-mo-lo-gy

2008-03-22T20:38:00.006+08:00

No, that's not the science of bugs - you're thinking of entomology.

Etymology is the study of the history of words - when they entered a language, from what source, and how their form and meaning have changed over time

Thank you, Miss Wikipedia. So where do you go if you want to know where the word "jabberwocky" comes from, or why striped cats are called "tabbies"?

Well, look no further than here, in the best Online Etymology Dictionary on the Web.

Achtung! If you desperately need to understand why the frick your parents named you Winston-Wilbur, this should be your next stop. Disclaimer: sometimes knowing the origins of your name only makes it worse ...doesn't it, Joystone-Desirefortress?

The Adorkable Spork and the Crapsicle

2008-03-22T20:32:00.004+08:00

As a language enthusiast and owner of a wacky personality, I love new linguistic inventions, and here's a whole dictionary of word melanges, aka portmanteaus. If you're anything like me, this page will suck the productivity right out of your workday.

National Geographic Photo Awards '08

2008-03-21T21:37:00.011+08:00

No comment - all stunning!

Just before the sakura season ends...

2008-03-21T21:26:00.004+08:00

...two blog entries from a friend who's clearly more gifted with a camera than me. All pix taken within walking distance from my house.

Up on the hill

Down by the temple

Spring's back! (Part 2: Assorted Greenery)

2008-03-08T21:27:00.022+08:00

While the cherry trees might be the 800-pound gorillas in the special effects department, a closer look around quickly reveals thousands of other beings that also have arrived for the spring bash. Beings that might not be as obviously spectacular, but highly attractive nonetheless.

(Click for larger version)

Trees...

Fern trees...

Things that grow on trees...

Flowers...

Grasses...

..and even those usually better known for their no-frills attitude than their frilly accessories.

Of course, once the afternoon fog rolls in from the sea, even the palm trees find it difficult to keep up the feeling of spring in the tropics.

Spring's back! (Part 1: Cherry Blossoms)

2008-03-08T20:01:00.021+08:00

The bittersweet days of back-to-back cold fronts from Mongolia, soaking in hot springs, and six-pepper-alarm fondues are over, and nothing proves it like cherry trees in bloom.

There are only two native cherry species in Taiwan, but in their effort to thoroughly Nipponize all their colonies, the Japanese spared no effort and brought at least eighteen other species to La Ilha Formosa – and all of them are in full splendor from February through April, during which time Yangmingshan National Park (our quasi-backyard) displays breathtaking vistas: entire hillsides covered in rich greenery and interspersed with all sorts of pink splotches in every conceivable shade from almost white to deep magenta. Here are a few impressions from the last few days.

(Click for larger version)

Mad, Bad and Dangerous to Know

2008-03-08T18:03:00.021+08:00

I just realized that I haven’t posted anything in over half a year, so I decided to start the new year (which, of course, is already three months old) with a bang:

WARNING!

Under no circumstances approach these two boys! They are armed with an unlimited supply of wicked impishness and will not hesitate to apply it with extreme prejudice against anyone crossing their path.

(click for larger version)

2007-10-15T22:11:00.007+08:00

I love autumn. Even here in the subtropics, the light turns a more golden shade, some trees even lose their leaves, and everything alive has had the entire summer to fatten up. The plants seem greener, which makes for even more verdant landscapes, and the insects and reptiles are nice and chunky.

Here are some impressions from the last two days, much of which I spent walking in the hills behind the house.

Roadside shrine

Shell ginger, Alpinia zerumbet

Phat Phungus

Treefern, Cyathea lepifera. Very common in these woods, and my favorite tree (although it's not a tree)

Medieval-looking tomato, Solanum aculeatissimum

No two ways about it - with a six-inch span from toe to toe, this golden orb spider (Nephila pilipe) is the baddest ass in the valley. I'm always fascinated with the shining black armor encasing the legs. If you look closely, you can
see her snacking on a freshly caught bluebottle.

Another knight in shining armor: Neolucanus swinhoei

Endemic Taiwanese Damselfly, Euphaua formosa. Love the racing stripes!

Papilio memnon heronus, one of the many papilio species around here

Symbrenthia lilaea formosanus, another endemic butterfly

Top 10 Places in Kuching to eat laksa

2007-09-05T10:40:00.001+08:00

This does it. I'm emigrating to Sarawak!

Borneo Trip

2007-09-03T16:45:00.001+08:00

Just got back from my conference/field trip adventure in Kuching (Sarawak, East Malaysia, Borneo). If you like steamy jungles, colonial fortresses and shaved ice-cream with coconut milk, check out my photo reports neatly divided by topic, so you can skip the parts you don't want to see!

"Tigers are classified as liquids"

2007-03-07T21:42:00.001+08:00

...says Hobbes, Calvin's tiger, in one of their strips. Guess this also applies for house cats.

Alien Crushed by Falling Anvil! Film at 11!

2007-02-15T21:03:00.001+08:00

OK, I could have picked a more romantic header. But doesn't it just look like it? This is what's left from the gorgeous cherry splendor (see further below). The tree is void of blossoms now, they're all on the ground in my parking spot. I swear, this is how I found it.
Amazing what a little wind and time can do. I stood there with my two sons (5 and 8) for a long time, swapping impressions ("It's a troll face!" "No, it's a map!" "No, it's a mutant lobster!"...)

Dirty Car Art

2007-02-12T19:54:00.001+08:00

Maybe I should let this guy have a shot at my jalopy. Washing your car is overrated, anyway.

Cherry (Flower) Float

2007-02-10T13:58:00.001+08:00

If you just wait long enough, things will beautify themselves.
(Comments about my grimy car will be deleted)

Clear Skies, Bad Air

2007-02-09T16:50:00.001+08:00

The weather just doesn't quit. I took these pix yesterday on the drive back up to our house. The air was so dry the only particles whatsoever were the smog enshrouding Taipei City...

Heralds of Spring

2007-02-07T12:37:00.001+08:00

Chinese New Year is almost upon us, and harbingers of spring abound. Apart from the unusually warm weather (28°C/82°F) and our sons' particularly rowdy behavior, there's the cherry trees.

This one grows just across the road from our house.

Twins!

2007-02-06T18:47:00.001+08:00

As if one's not enough...

New arrival: N. glabrata

2007-02-06T15:28:00.000+08:00

The unusually warm winter of 06/07, with its sometimes very warm days and cool nights, has lured me into impulse-obtaining a whole slew of highland Nepenthes. They're doing very well now....let's hope I won't regret it once April officially rings in the summer.

Anyway, I finally managed to find a n. glabrata. Boy, she sure is dinky!