Northern California Herps

[numpty]

Luckily I'm making my way to Taiwan in late December for my own wedding but I really don't know where the frog hotspots are. Any pointers for me, Numpty? I will be in Taipei from December 27th til February. It's a little shameful of me because I grew up in Taiwan....

Firstly, congratulations!

Do you read Chinese? There are a couple of books giving info on Taiwan's frogs and good places to see them. Can't remember the titles though ... and they might be out of print. Okay, forget that ...

I can PM you more exact details closer to the date, when I'm better organised, but there are a few good places either in or very close to Taipei. FuYang Eco Park, near the Linguang MRT stop on the brown line, has at least eight species. The Taipei Green Tree Frog should be breeding there during your visit (it breeds through the winter; most others only start in February or so). There's also a good spot halfway between XinDian and WuLai that I forget the name of, which has loads of cool stuff (ornate narrow-mouthed frog, emerald green tree frog, Taipei green tree frog, Eiffinger's tree frog, etc etc) ... I can send more details later on. There are also lots of good spots in YangMingShan National Park, which is easily accessible and well worth a trip in its own right.

If you have time to get out of Taipei, you could also visit Taroko Gorge NP and other protected areas further south, which gives you the chance of seeing species that don't live in the north. All the salamanders live high in the Central Mountains, around 3,000 metres asl.

As I say, I'll send you more stuff later on. Honest!