Winter is upon us and a flock of winter migratory birds has again stopped over on Penghu Island. On Nov. 1, six large ducks appeared at the Penghu Chenggong Reservoir and flocked on the water for a leisurely swim and to hunt for food. A bird watcher, surnamed Lee, who discovered the birds, informed the Wild Bird Society of Penghu, who verified the birds as rare migratory “bean geese.” Because bean geese are naturally wary, the society has called upon the public not to disturb their ecological environment and to admire the birds from a distance.
According to the literature, bean geese are classified as a rare winter migratory bird. The male and female are identical in appearance, and they are naturally wary and predisposed to living in wide-open spaces. They remain alert with their necks outstretched while feeding on grass and seedlings and emit a dull honking sound.
Although bean geese are a type of large duck, they differ from normal geese in that they are innately wary and become agitated easily. If their resting environment is not large enough, they will not dare to linger; therefore they are rarely seen in Penghu and Taiwan in general. It is thought that the birds have appeared in Penghu Chenggong Reservoir this time due to the high level of rainfall this year. With the reservoir’s water level full-to-brimming, the surface area of the lake is comparatively large, which also makes it easy for the birds to hunt for food. This is why the bean geese chose the reservoir as their temporary stopover point, which has provided a feast for the eyes of bird watchers.
(Liberty Times, Translated by Edward Jones)
Photo: Courtesy of Chou Lee-chao
照片：周麗炤提供
時序入冬。又有大批冬候鳥過境澎湖，十一月一日澎湖成功水庫出現六隻大鴨，成群結隊在水面上悠游覓食，發現的李姓鳥友通報澎湖縣野鳥學會，證實為稀有過境鳥「寒林豆雁」。由於其生性機警，鳥會呼籲勿打擾其生態，遠距欣賞就好。
根據文獻記載，「寒林豆雁」屬稀有冬候鳥，雌雄同型，生性機警，以家族型態生活在開闊陸域環境，連覓食草類、秧苗時都會引頸警戒，還會發出深沉的喇叭聲。
雖然寒林豆雁是大型鴨子，跟一般看到的鵝一樣大，但因為生性機警，易受驚擾，所以如果棲息環境範圍不夠大，不太敢停下來，因此較少出現在台灣和澎湖，此次現身澎湖成功水庫，猜測與今年雨量豐沛，成功水庫儲水滿水位，因此湖面相當廣闊，同時容易覓食，才會選擇在成功水庫做為短暫休息點，讓鳥友們大飽眼福。
（自由時報記者劉禹慶）
Long before numerals and arithmetic systems developed, humans relied on tally marks to count. These simple, repeated marks — often just straight lines — are one of the earliest and most widespread methods of recording numbers. Archaeological findings suggest that humans began tallying in prehistoric times. During the Late Stone Age in Africa, humans began to carve notches onto bones to create tangible records of quantities. One of the earliest known examples is the Wolf bone, an artifact unearthed in Central Europe in 1937. This bone bears notches believed to be an early form of counting. Even more intriguing
A: In addition to Teng Kai-wei, Taiwanese infielder Cheng Tsung-che was called up temporarily to play for the Pittsburgh Pirates in early April. B: Yeah, Cheng is the 18th player in Taiwan’s baseball history to be moved up to the majors. A: Back in 2002, Chen Chin-feng became the first Taiwanese to play in the Major League Baseball (MLB), followed by Tsao Chin-hui, Wang Chien-ming, Kuo Hung-chih, Hu Chin-lung and Lin Che-hsuan. B: Those pioneers were later joined by Lo Chia-jen, C.C. Lee, Ni Fu-te, Chen Wei-yin, Wang Wei-chung, Hu Chih-wei, Tseng Jen-ho, Lin Tzu-wei, Huang Wei-chieh, Yu Chang,
When Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang revealed on Friday last week that the company is working with the Trump administration on a new computer chip designed for sale to China, it marked the latest chapter in a long-running debate over how the US should compete with China’s technological ambitions. The reasoning has sometimes changed — with US officials citing national security, human rights or purely economic competition — but the tool has been the same: export controls, or the threat of them. Nvidia believes it can eventually reap US$50 billion from artificial intelligence (AI) chip sales in China. But it so far has
Continued from yesterday（延續自昨日） https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/lang In many Western countries, the most common form of tally marks employs a five-bar gate structure: four vertical lines followed by a diagonal slash. To form this group, one begins by drawing four parallel vertical lines, each representing one. For the fifth, draw a diagonal line across the existing four. This diagonal stroke effectively creates a distinct group of five. To continue counting, just initiate a new cycle in the same manner. A set of five tallies combined with a single vertical line next to it represents the number six. Across many Asian countries, the Chinese character
RSS